September 17th – St Hildegarde of Bingen, Virgin

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September 17 – St Hildegarde of Bingen, Virgin

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger  (1841-1875)

At Bingen, in the diocese of Mayence, Saint Hildegarde, Virgin. Let us salute the “great prophetess of the New Testament.” What St. Bernard’s influence over his contemporaries was in the first half of the twelfth century, that in the second half was Hildegarde’s; when the humble virgin became the oracle of popes and emperors, of princes and prelates. Multitudes from far and near flocked to Mount St. Rupert, where the doubts of ordinary life were solved, and the questions of doctors answered. At length, by God’s command, Hildegarde went forth from her monastery to administer to all alike, monks, clerics, and laymen, the word of correction and salvation.

The Spirit indeed breatheth where he will. To the massy pillars that support his royal palace, God preferred the poor little feather floating in the air, and blown about, at his pleasure, hither and thither in the light. In spite of labors, sicknesses, and trials, the holy Abbess lived to the advanced age of eighty-two, in the shadow of the living light.

PRAYER
O God, who didst adorn thy blessed virgin Hidlegarde with heavenly gifts: grant, we beseech thee, that walking in her footsteps and according to her teachings, we may deserve to pass from the darkness of this world into thy lovely light. Through our Lord.