St. Hildegard of Bingen is our patron saint. It is most appropriate that this icon of our patron is prominently displayed in our sanctuary. The building was founded originally as a Byzantine Catholic Church, therefore, icons are a part of its history.

This icon of St. Hildegard was commissioned for our space in 2017 by an anonymous donor.  It took over a year to be completed by Marek Czarnecki, an iconographer in Connecticut. The piece depicts St. Hildegard with her traditional symbols of staff/crozier (a symbol of her authority as a magistra or leader in her community), a ray of Living Light illuminating her text, and a feather. The text on the scroll was selected by our founding pastor and is the opening line to the antiphon, Karitas habundat in omnia (translated, Love abounds in all things).

The following is the full English text of this antiphon translated by Dr. Barbara Newman:

Charity abounds toward all, most exalted from the depths above the stars, and most loving toward all, for she has given the High King the kiss of peace.

One of the most vivid details of this piece is the gold paint. It calls to mind a theme repeated in the Sacred Scriptures; You will be like gold tested in fire…  (Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3: 2-3; 1 Peter 1:7)

Hildegard’s faith and her courage were “like gold tested in fire” at various times throughout her life, most especially near the end of her life when she had been placed under an interdict (canonical penalty) for disobedience to the hierarchy. 

Under the icon is a gold binder containing high-quality copies of Rev. Dr. Shanon Sterringer’s excommunication letters that she incurred between 2019 and 2023. Each sleeve containing a letter is divided in the binder with a gold page as a reminder that there will be trials we will inevitably have to face when we follow the path God has called us to walk. These trials will test our strength, and at times our faith. However, we have been given all that we need to endure. In the end, if we remain steadfast in our call, we too will emerge as gold from the fire.