Saint Hildegard of Bingen Figurine

Product Description

The Saint Hildegard of Bingen Figurine depicts Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), the “Sibyl of the Rhine,” a gifted woman of many talents: writer, composer, philosopher, polymath, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and mystic. This plaque is a wonderful gift for a birthday, first communion, confirmation, Christmas stocking stuffer, and St. Hildegard’s feast day on September 17th.

A Solid Bronze Figurine

This solid bronze figurine stands 3.2 inches high. This lovely depiction of Saint Hildegard was conceived and cast in a a Benedictine monastery foundry in Germany.  This figurine is a wonderful gift for that very special “Hildegard” in your life!

Saint Hildegard of Bingen – Mystic, Composer, Doctor of the Church

Saint Hildegard wrote major works of theology (including Sci Vias, as depicted on this plaque – go to History/Story tab).  She also related accounts of her mystical visions at a time when few women were even literate. Bishops, popes, and kings sought her out for her wisdom and counsel. She delved into and wrote treatises about the healing powers and medicinal uses of herbs, plants, animals,  and trees.  She is the earliest well-known composers of music. Her Ordo Virtutum is perhaps the oldest extant morality play and an early example of liturgical drama. Although she has been popularly held to be a saint for centuries, and more than one Pope has referred to her as such, she was never officially canonized. Pope Benedict XIV announced on May 10, 2012 that St. Hildegard of Bingen is now inscribed in the catalog of saints. On October 7, 2012, he then declared her a Doctor of the Church – along with three other female Doctors of the Church (St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Therese of Lisieux) and 30 male Doctors of the Church.

In Scivias (Latin: “Know the ways”), her first theological text, Saint Hildegard describes her struggle within:

But I, though I saw and heard these things, refused to write for a long time through doubt and bad opinion and the diversity of human words, not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility, until, laid low by the scourge of God, I fell upon a bed of sickness; then, compelled at last by many illnesses, and by the witness of a certain noble maiden of good conduct [the nun Richardis von Stade] and of that man whom I had secretly sought and found, as mentioned above, I set my hand to the writing. While I was doing it, I sensed, as I mentioned before, the deep profundity of scriptural exposition; and, raising myself from illness by the strength I received, I brought this work to a close – though just barely – in ten years. (…) And I spoke and wrote these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person, but as by the secret mysteries of God I heard and received them in the heavenly places. And again I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, ‘Cry out therefore, and write thus!’

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