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. She 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 this time, she was forty-two. Six years later, she wrote a letter to Bernard of Clairvaux asking him to confirm her vocation. ‘Noble and most gentle Father,’ she wrote, ‘I depend upon your soul. Make it clear to me, if you will, through this exchange, whether I should say these things in the open or maintain my silence.’

Bernard confirmed her vocation. It was further confirmed by the Pope himself. Pope Eugenius III belonged to the same order as Bernard of Clairvaux and had heard about Hildegard from him. He sent a delegation to her monastery to obtain a copy of her writings. He was impressed.