26 September 2026

As well as running two monasteries, going on preaching tours, writing and illustrating books, engaging with the abbot, emperor and pope, Hildegard also wrote about seventy-seven songs and set them to music.

 Love

Gives herself to all things,

Most excellent in the depths,

And above the stars

Cherishing all:

For the High King

She has given

The kiss of peace.

This is her ‘Antiphon for Divine Love’. The music she wrote for the words was based on the plainsong which was sung in the monastery. God’s praises were not only to be made with the voice but with a variety of instruments. The outer song was not only praise in itself but an opportunity to tune  the inner life to praise God too!

Surprisingly enough, much of Hildegard’s understanding of music has been gleaned from a letter which she wrote to the clergy of Mainz. In 1178, she had given permission for a nobleman to be buried in the monastery grounds. Although he had been excommunicated, he had made his peace with the church.

This was disputed by the clergy. They ordered Hildegard to exhume the body. She refused. The result was an interdict which forbade the nuns from hearing mass and using music in their worship! Eventually the ban was lifted but seven months later, Hildegard was dead. She was eighty years old.