September 17th.

Hildegard of Bingen [1098-1179].

Strictly speaking, she is not a canonised saint. the process begun in the 13th/14th centuries was never formally completed. But to all intents and purposes, she is seen as one. At the present time, with the wave of interest in mysticism, feminism and the cult of the 'all-round person', Hildegard is enjoying, along with that other remarkable mystic woman Julian of Norwich, a possibly unexpected popularity.

Her life was externally uneventful; a native of Bokelheim in Germany, she became a nun at the age of 15, and later abbess, at several houses (because of the expanding community), latterly being installed at Rupertsberg. near Bingen, hence her title. At the age of 32 she began to receive the visions on which her fame rests, and which were written down in a book called 'Scivias' (a Latin abbreviation for 'knowing the ways [of the Lord]'. These visions caused her to break out of the conventional boundaries of medieval feminine silence, and write to (and criticise) Popes, Kings and Emperors, including our own Henry II and the great Frederick Barbarossa. She was writer of poems, hymns, morality plays, studies of natural history and medicine (the last being particularly remarkable for one living confined to a cloister). She was also a painter (her visionary paintings have been compared to those of William Blake), and a composer - indeed, at the present time purchase of CD's of Hildegard of Bingea is essential activity for 'trendsetters' and - reportedly - her music, along with Gregorian Chant, has been used to help people 'chill out' at rave parties. Such are the manifold ways of sanctity!