Among her many charisms, St. Hildegard was a visionary. She had multiple encounters with the Living Light from the time she was a child up through her last year of life. From these encounters, she produced three visionary works, two of which were illuminated with visual pieces to accompany the text.

There has been conversation among Hildegard scholars regarding Hildegard’s involvement (or lack of) with the production of the visual pieces. Many agree that she may have been involved with the artwork from her first theological work Scivias (completed around 1151). If she was not directly responsible for creating these pieces from Scivias, she may have at least supervised the work. The artwork for the 10 visions in the Book of Divine Works (completed around 1173-1174), however, was likely produced following Hildegard’s death in 1179.

The Hildegard Haus contains many representations of these visions. Our back sanctuary wall depicts her vision of the Fallen Stars. Around the sanctuary and church walls are many framed prints of visions from both Scivias and Book of Divine Works. Out in our garden is a pergola depicting her vision of the Zeal of God. We will take a look at a few of these pieces individually as we tour the space.

It is important to note that Hildegard’s visions were not necessarily mystical in nature, though they are often presented as such. A precise articulation of this can be found in a work entitled, “Picturing Hildegard of Bingen’s Sight: Illuminating Her Visions, ” written by Nathaniel Campbell. He wrote: “Her writings… are not mystical, for their focus is not union with the Godhead but the communication of divine truths. On the few occasions when she records losing consciousness in the flood of the Living Light, the result was not mystical union but inspired understanding of God’s Word. She repeatedly stresses that her common visionary mode was wakeful rather than in ecstasy, because what she saw was ordered not for her own delight but toward the instruction of the faithful…” (The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, 262-263)

All art finds its value and meaning in the “eye of the beholder” and so there is room when sitting with Hildegard’s visions to allow them to speak to us personally. At the same time, they were produced with a particular theological and catechetical goal in mind. To understand what Hildegard was trying to convey, we need to understand something of the 12th century Roman Catholic world within which she was born and formed.

Several of the pieces of art depicting St. Hildegard’s visions were gifted to the Hildegard Haus by Rev. Dr. Lillian Lewis in 2019. The other pieces have been brought back from Germany at various times by Rev. Dr. Shanon Sterringer, or they have been acquired through antique shops and online auctions. Our collection of Hildegard’s visions is not complete. New pieces are expected to be added over the next several years.