Pilgrimage with Saint Hildegard Poster

Pilgrimage with Saint Hildegard: Directed by Michael M. Conti. With Annette Esser, Susanne Praß. Who was the remarkable Hildegard of Bingen? A Benedictine nun, she founded two women's monastic communities, wrote visionary treatises and multiple theological works, designed illustrations, interpreted the Bible, composed liturgical songs, and developed works on natural science and medicine. Educated in the monastery and instructed through visions, Hildegard reached a level of literary and artistic production that was achieved by few men in the Middle Ages. She was named a Doctor of the Church in 2012. Hildegard was the only medieval woman who systematically interpreted the Gospels; that is, she explained the multiple meanings of biblical texts methodically and theologically. She achieved a rich, creative, and coherent presentation of Christian theology, from the origins of the world and humankind to the afterlife. She affirmed repeatedly that divine visions taught her the deepest meaning of the Scriptures, Viriditas, or greenness, a unifying capacity of nature, lies at the core of Hildegard's natural science, medicine, cosmology, and theology. The life-giving power of the Holy Spirit offers hope, refreshment, and faith in God's creation, even when human perversion destroys it. For Hildegard, the lives and spirits of all creatures are interdependent-a crucial lesson for a world suffering from a pandemic and the destruction of natural life. Her belief in the interconnectedness of all living beings influences the international movements for integrative medicine and for environmental protection. Hildegard's influence on healing, creation theology, and women's leadership continues today, as evidenced by the spiritual pilgrimage to her homeland, so beautifully presented in the videos that follow.