today morgana and chanda wrote about hildegard of bingen in their lesson books.
we've been reading about her over the past week or so, from several books we checked out of the library.
it's been interesting learning about hildegard. she entered the church at a very young age and was sequestered in a small room with another nun, jutta, daughter of stephan of sponheim. it was not uncommon for well born families in the 12th century to tithe one of their children to the church. from the book i read, it's not certain how much freedom she had; whether she was committed to one room, or had access to a courtyard. hildegard has recorded that jutta taught her to read and write and that they would sing the psalms together.
hildegard had many visions, beginning when she was a child, which she related only to jutta who in turn shared it with a monk named volmar who later became hildegard's secretary and devoted friend. it wasn't until she was forty-two years old that she received a vision that instructed her to write down what she heard and saw for others to know.
these visions were made into beautiful illuminations that she would describe in detail to the monks at the monastery. her writings were probably scratched onto wax tablets and then copied into manuscripts. she wrote plays and composed music. she was knowledgeable about herbs and healing, and had strong opinions about how one should live one's life (she did not believe in self-flagellation, but thought one should eat well and take care of the body one was given).
chanda acknowledged hildegard's respect for nature: "hildegard had a deep appreciation of the world around her which was reflected in her musical compositions, her botanical writings, and her poetry."
on garlic
garlic
is hot in nataure, and vibrant, because it grows down low, in the dew.
it's healthier to eat than leeks, and everyone--both sick and
well--should eat raw garlic. cooking ruins the flavor. but eating too
much garlic is also unhealthy. it makes a person's blood excessively
hot. also, old garlic is no good because it's lost its vitality.
-from physica
hope
i'm the sweet vision of the living eye,
the bud of life. no lazy trick deceives me, and you, darkness, can never dim my power.
-from the play of the virtues
we listened to a few of her compositions, along with gregorian chants from the time period.
the first daylight (a song)
you're the word of our father,
the light of the first sunrise,
god's omnipotent thought.
before anything was made,
you saw it,
you designed it, and
you tucked your all-seeing nature in the middle of your sinew,
like a spinning wheel
with no beginning and no end,
still encircling everything.
"hildegard died in the eibingen abbey in 1179, where she was abbess, when she was eighty-one. throughout her life she was a nun, a prophet, an abbess, a healer, a botanist, a musician, a composer, a writer, an artist, a poet, a traveling preacher and a political consultant (she corresponded with kings and queens), and was known as the 'sibyl of the rhine.'"
several of the books which we found helpful . . hildegard of bingen by fiona maddocks (gave an informative account of her life, explaining many of the beliefs and practices of a 12th century monastery); hildegard of bingen, a spiritual reader, by carmen acevedo butcher (my favorite as it explained in simple terms what her writings were about and gave samples of each, in addition to her biography and a history of the time);
and finally: the vita, the oldest biography about hildegard by the monks gottfried and theodoric from the 12the century.
(afterwards, for lunch, we had deviled eggs that korrina had made).
morgana wandered in around dinner time dripping wet. she made the salad (apples and cucumbers with fresh mint and a white wine vinegar dressing).
chanda came home in the middle of the preparations wet and hungry . .
we made cheese fondue . . 
and dipped apple chunks and fresh classic rustico bread from eataly.
