Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne.
Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns
ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor.
Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground,
and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew,
not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along.
Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God.
- visionary, poet, composer, naturalist, healer, and theologian -
founded convents; corresponded with secular and ecclesiastical leaders,
as well as a vast range of people of lesser rank; and
ventured forth as a monastic trouble-shooter,
consultant exorcist, and visiting preacher.
Even more remarkable for a woman of her time was the body of written work she produced.
Its range - from natural history and medicine to cosmology,
music, poetry, and theology -
possesses great beauty
.
extraordinary creativity was her accomplishment in music.
In the poetry and melody of her songs, she reveals the full authority,
intelligence and striking originality of her genius.
~ Hildegard von Bingen