The feast day of St. Hildegard of Bingen (or Hildegard von Bingen in German) is today, September 17, in the church calendar. She was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, but she has been venerated as a saint in various parts of the Catholic Church for centuries before that. She is also venerated by the Anglican Church and parts of the Lutheran Church. Today is the anniversary of her death in 1179 AD.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179 AD) was a German Benedictine abbess and mystic. She founded several monasteries and produced an incredibly broad range of writing in her lifetime. She wrote on theological, medical, and botanical subjects, produced a large collection of letters (to recipients that ranged from popes to emperors), wrote poetry and sermons, and composed hymns and antiphons for the liturgy. She composed both the music and the lyrics for many of her works, and the number of surviving chants by her is truly impressive. Her mystical and theological writings are filled with images of nature and creation.
She saw visions from a very young age (as young as three years old) and was raised from the age of eight in a monastery. Although she had these visions of God throughout her life, she did not start writing about them until she was in her forties. The body of work she produced from that time on while still serving as abbess in the Middle Ages is mind boggling, and her brilliance is being rediscovered by many today.
I hope you’ll also take a few minutes to explore the depth and range of her works as described on her Wikipedia page or the International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies website and perhaps explore some recordings of her music there as well.
The prayers below are designed for use with an Anglican rosary. The prayer used with the invitatory bead was written by Mirabai Starr in her book Hildegard of Bingen: Devotions, Prayers & Living Wisdom, but all other prayers are from Hildegard’s own writings. These prayers were found in a number of sources, and you can find a full list of those sources at the bottom of this post.
| Cross: | Holy spirit, making life alive, moving in all things, root of all created being, cleansing the cosmos of every impurity, effacing guilt, anointing wounds. You are lustrous and praiseworthy life, You waken and re-awaken everything that is. Amen. |
| Invitatory bead: | O God, by whose grace your servant Hildegard, kindled with the fire of your love, became a burning and shining light in your House: Grant that I may also be aflame with the spirit of love and devotion, and walk before you as a child of light. O Sophia, Spirit of Wisdom, who speaks the language of God in our hearts, speak to me now; And infuse me with the courage to listen. Amen. |
| Cruciform beads: | O Shepherd of souls and O first voice through whom all creation was summoned, now to you, to you may it give pleasure and dignity to liberate us from our miseries and languishing. Amen |
| Week bead 1: | O leafy branch, |
| Week bead 2: | standing in your nobility |
| Week bead 3: | as the dawn breaks forth: |
| Week bead 4: | now rejoice and be glad |
| Week bead 5: | and deign to set us frail ones |
| Week bead 6: | free from evil habits |
| Week bead 7: | and stretch forth your hand and lift us up. |
| Invitatory bead: | O God, by whose grace your servant Hildegard, kindled with the fire of your love, became a burning and shining light in your House: Grant that I may also be aflame with the spirit of love and devotion, and walk before you as a child of light. O Sophia, Spirit of Wisdom, who speaks the language of God in our hearts, speak to me now; And infuse me with the courage to listen. Amen. |
| Cross: | To the Trinity be praise! God is music, God is life that nurtures every creature in its kind. Our God is the song of the angel throng and the splendor of secret ways hid from all humankind, But God our life is the life of all. Amen. |
Sources of prayers used above:
Cross (1): De Spiritu Sancto (To the Holy Spirit) by Hildegard of Bingen as found at https://uniteinprayer.org/2019/09/17/journey-into-the-heart-of-god-with-saint-hildegard-of-bigen/
Cross (2): Laus Trinitati (Antiphon for the Trinity) by Hildegard of Bingen and translated from Latin to English by Barbara Newman as found at https://uniteinprayer.org/2019/09/17/journey-into-the-heart-of-god-with-saint-hildegard-of-bigen/
Invitatory bead: Prayer by Mirabai Starr from her book Hildegard of Bingen: Devotions, Prayers & Living Wisdom (location 46 in Kindle version)
Cruciform beads: prayer by Hildegard of Bingen as found at https://hallow.com/saints/hildegard-of-bingen/
Week beads: O Leafy Branch by Hildegard of Bingen as found at https://mothersforpriests.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/prayers-of-st-hildegarde-von-bingen.pdf
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to learn about new blog posts and the latest Deal of the Month.