| A friend gave me a tape recording called A Feather on the Breath of God, music by Hildegarde of Bingen which at first I did not like but, because I liked my friend, I listened more to it and it started to get under my skin. Who was this Hildegarde? She was one of 10 children born to wealthy parents in what is now western Germany. At the age of eight she was, put in the charge of the Abbess Jutta in a Benedictine Order. She was dearly loved by the nuns and encouraged to develop her gifts and interests far beyond the normal expectations of a girl of that period. When Jutta died, Hildegarde became Abbess. In 1141 she saw tongues of flame descend on her from the sky. From this time she devoted herself to expressing her mystical visions through compositions, poetry and plays. Through these she had greater influence than most women of her time and she became both a diplomat and a missionary, travelling throughout Germany over a period of 10 years. She was a prolific writer and an eminent physician. She thought of herself as "The Feather on the Breath of God", a mystic rather than a composer. She founded a nunnery at Rupertsberg near Bingen where she died in 1179. For me she is one of the first feminists and inspires us to follow our gifts and interests regardless of current thought and fashion. |