Saint Hildegard (1098-1179) was the founder and first abbess of the Benedictine community
in Bingen, Germany. The tenth child born into an aristocratic family, she was given to the
Church at a young age, and lived a famously spiritual life. She was most famous during
her lifetime as a visionary and a prophet, regularly receiving visions from the Holy Spirit.
Hildegard was aware that she was part of a social and religious elite, and was highly out-
spoken about her mission and her gifts, but she championed humility and charity above all
virtues.
She founded two nunneries despite the opposition of male superiors in the Church. She
was a prolific writer and well-known composer, and among her surviving works are a
Christian doctrine uniting ethics and metaphysics, an encyclopedia of herbal medicine
and natural science, many letters to people from around Europe and from every societal
class who sought her advice on problems, mystical poetry, and a body of music including
seventy liturgical songs and the Ordo Virtutum, the first known morality play.
The Soul (female voice). The Virtues (sung by 17 solo female voices): Humility
(Queen of the Virtues), Hope, Chastity, Innocence, Contempt of the World, Celestial
Love, Discipline? (the name is scratched out in the manuscript) Modesty, Mercy,
Victory, Discretion, Patience, Knowledge of God, Charity, Fear of God, Obedience,
and Faith.
These Virtues were seen as role models for the women of the Abbey, who took joy
in overcoming their weaknesses and defeating the Devil in their own lives. Chorus
of the Prophets and Patriarchs (sung by a male chorus), Chorus of Souls (sung by
a women's chorus), and The Devil (a male voice) does not sing, he only yells or
grunts: according to Hildegard, he cannot produce divine harmony).
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