Being Benedictine

I wonder about Hildegard.

Recently I shared this image and quote attributed to St. Hildegard of Bingen:

The quote and image so resonated with me, that I shared it on my Being Benedictine Facebook page. Just as I was posting it, two finches, as seen in the image, landed just a few feet away near the birdfeeder I received as a Mother’s Day gift, hung just the day before.  (For more on my love of birdwatching, see Birds Are Still My Prayer.)

I love synchronicities like this, little holy surprises—the same birds, the same colors, the same postures, at the same moment I shared the image. It’s a whoa, you-need-to-pay-attention kind of moment. Curious, I began a deeper dive into what context Hildegard had made the statement.

I love Hildegard. I was enthralled with my visit to the Abbey of St. Hildegardin Germany on pilgrimage in 2019. I love that she was a 12th-century mover and shaker, truly a woman who used her voice. Hildegard, a German Benedictine nun, was a mystic and theologian, prophet and artist, poet, playwright and composer, healer, naturalist, and pharmacist. She became a Benedictine abbess, was both challenged and received affirmation from church clergy, bishops, and popes, moved her monastery of sisters to be independent of the male monastery, and, throughout her life, had visions of the Divine that she was reluctant, but ultimately encouraged, to share in writing.

But spoiler alert: The quote in the image is NOT a direct quote from St. Hildegard. It is from an article written ABOUT Hildegard. Here is some context I discovered that contains (closely) the quote from the shared image:

“We often look to someone like Hildegard or to other great people throughout the ages as if what they have is not ours to have; we admire them, honor them, study them. We want to make use of them, and we allow them to consummate our inner light for us. We allow them to be the still point of our turning world. We feel incapable, yet the world wants to infuse us and to be infused by us. At that point no one can help us, not angels, not men, not Hildegard, not Jung, not Rilke. We cannot live securely in a world which is not our own, in a world which is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to put our ears to our own inner voices, to see our own light, which is our birthright, and comes to us in silence.” (Source: Hildegard of Bingen, Warrior of Light, Elaine Bellezza, Gnosis magazine, vol 21, 1991)

The quote, incorrectly attributed to Hildegard of Bingen in sermons, social media posts, and even books, has been widely shared. There is no doubt that the image and quote need to be attributed correctly—to Elaine Bellezza not Hildegard of Bingen.