Blog on the Learig

  24 September 2026 Throughout the second half of her life, Hildegard embarked on several major initiatives. At forty-two, she began writing down and interpreting her visions. At fifty-two, she decided to establish her own monastery at Petersberg. Up until then, the community of nuns was part of a bigger monastery which was under the authority of an abbot. Whilst Hildegard ran the community of women, she depended on the abbot to provide priests for the Sacraments and finance to pay the bills. Luckily for Hildegard, God agreed with her! She had another vision. But the abbot was not convinced. A community largely full of richly endowed noblewomen provided useful income for the monastery. The abbot didn’t want to lose it. Hildegard took to her bed and remained there motionless! The abbot tried to lift her but to no avail. Seeing this as a sign of divine disapproval (rather than Hildegard’s) he relented. As soon as he did, Hildegard got out of bed, fully restored to health. A m...

  23 September 2026 ‘When I  was three years old,’ Hildegard of Bingen  said to her teacher, Jutta, ‘I felt close to God. Ever since then, I can see him in everything he has made – plants, animals, people, everything. It has made me so happy.’  This relationship was greatly enriched by a series of visions which she had during her life. S he explained how they came to her. ‘The visions which I saw I did not perceive  in dreams nor when asleep nor in a delirium nor with the eyes or ears of the body. I received them when I was awake and looking around with a clear mind, with the inner eyes and ears, in open places according to the will of God.’ She was unsure about them. In the first place, they were often accompanied by bouts of ill health – and so she suffered for them. In the second place, she didn’t feel free to share them with anyone. Jutta knew. But it was only when Jutta died and Hildegard gained the authority of abbess that she wrote her visions down. By ...

    22 September 2026 I have a copy of ‘The Times: Greatest Sermons of the Last 2000 Years’.  In it, there are eighty-five sermons altogether. All the big names are there – Jesus, Peter, Paul, Patrick and Francis, Knox, Bunyan, Wesley and Newman, Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King. All the preachers are men except one. In this collection of eighty-five sermons, there is only one sermon which has been preached by a woman and that is Hildegard of Bingen. The theme of her sermon is ‘The Devil’. It begins with one of her celebrated visions. She unpacks the detail in an  allegorical way. She makes important points about being wise to the devil’s wiles, resisting temptation and valuing the things of God. It’s quite a remarkable achievement for one who didn’t start preaching in public until she was sixty years old. Despite bouts of prolonged ill-health, she made four preaching tours in twelve years, travelling within a 200km radius of Bingen. ‘I permit no woman t...

  21 September 2026 Bede’s historical record about Hilda and the monastery at Whitby has a contemporary ring to it. Her ministry as the leader of a double monastery is remarkable. She was not alone in exercising so much power in the church. How was it possible for a woman to do this in the seventh century? Anne Warin in her biography of Hilda argues that it was partly to do with the position of noble women within Anglo-Saxon society. They were ‘guardians of knowledge … able administrators of court and estate … Their rights of property and inheritance were protected by law …’ Whilst the ministry of women has been developed in the Kirk and the Church of England, it has yet to be developed more fully in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches. What happened to this wise, vibrant and influential ministry of women celebrated so brilliantly in seventh century Whitby? As well as the difficulties surrounding the ministry of women, Bede also exposes the theological diffe...

  20 September 2026 Of all the things which happened at the monastery under the rule of Abbess Hilda, the most dramatic was the Synod of Whitby, called by Oswy, King of Northumbria in 664AD. Whilst the King was brought up in the Celtic traditions of Iona, his wife was brought up in the Roman traditions of Augustine. Things came to a head in 663AD. Oswy was celebrating Easter according to the Celtic Church but his wife was observing Lent according to the Roman Church. The Synod was called. Several differences emerged between the two traditions – style of tonsure, the date of Easter, the validity of holy orders. Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne, put forward the Celtic cause. Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, put forward the Roman cause. Colman wasn’t a match for Wilfrid who proved to be more persuasive. He traced his authority back to Peter. ‘Although your Fathers were holy men,’ said Wilfrid, ’do you imagine that they, a few men in a corner of a remote island, are to be preferred before...

    19 September 2026 Of all the people whose gifts were brought to birth through Hilda’s extraordinary leadership at Whitby, Caedmon, the herdsman, must be the most extraordinary. In his old age, he knew nothing of poetry nor music. He was shy of the harp and didn’t participate in communal singing on feast days. One night, he was in the stable looking after the beasts. He had a dream. ‘Caedmon,’ said   man, ‘sing me a song.’ Caedmon was surprised. ‘What should I sing about?’ he asked. ‘Sing about the creation of all things.’ And this is his song: How must we praise The guardian of heaven’s realm The Creator’s might And his mind’s thought The glorious works of the Father How of every wonder He the Lord Eternal Laid the foundation. When he awoke, Caedmon remembered everything and added more verses to his song. He told his superior who took him to see Hilda. She invited him to sing ‘in the presence of many learned men, so that a decision might be rea...