I, the fiery life of divine essence, am aflame beyond the beauty of the meadows, I gleam in the waters, and I burn in the sun, moon, and stars.
Hildegard of Bingen
Life of Divine Essence
Topic: Divine Love & Goodness
I, the highest and fiery power, have kindled every living spark and I have breathed out nothing that can die; I judge them as they are, for I have established the circle of their orbits with my wings, that is, with wisdom. I, the fiery life of divine essence, am aflame beyond the beauty of the meadows, I gleam in the waters, and I burn in the sun, moon, and stars. With an airy wind I have quickened all things with a hidden life that sustains all.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a Benedictine abbess and mystic of medieval Germany. She was born into a noble family in Bermersheim vor der Höhe, Germany, and entered religious life at the age of eight. She received a rudimentary education, but at the age of forty-two, she began to experience a series of visions that would shape her life and work.
Hildegard described these visions as "the living light," and they were often accompanied by physical sensations such as heat, cold, and pain. She believed that these visions were a gift from God, and she felt called to share them with the world. She began to write down her visions, and she also composed music and poetry to express her spiritual insights.
Hildegard was a prolific writer, and her works cover a wide range of topics, including theology, natural science, medicine, and music. She is best known for her three volumes of visionary theology: Scivias, Liber Vitae Meritorum, and Liber Divinorum Operum. These works are rich in symbolism and imagery, and they offer a unique perspective on the nature of God, the human soul, and the world.
In addition to her writings, Hildegard was also a gifted musician and composer. She wrote over 70 songs, including the Ordo Virtutum, an early example of liturgical drama. Her music is characterized by its simple melodies and its use of plainchant.
Hildegard was a complex and multifaceted figure, and her work continues to inspire and challenge people today. She was a visionary, a mystic, a writer, a composer, a scientist, and a healer. She was also a woman of great courage and determination, and she used her gifts to make a difference in the world.
Hildegard of Bingen was a remarkable woman who left a lasting legacy. She was a pioneer in the fields of theology, natural science, and music, and her work continues to be studied and appreciated today. She was also a powerful voice for women's rights, and she challenged the patriarchal structures of her time. Hildegard of Bingen was a true visionary, and she continues to inspire us with her courage, her intellect, and her creativity.
Book of Divine Works
Hildegard of Bingen. The Book of Divine Works. Translated by Nathaniel M. Campbell, Catholic University of America Press, 2018. Part 1, Vision 1, Section 2.
Hildegard of Bingen
Theme: Divine Love
About This Hildegard of Bingen Quotation [Commentary]
Hildegard of Bingen lets the passage unfold in its own order. First comes the voice of the one who has “kindled every living spark,” who has “breathed out nothing that can die,” and who orders all things “with wisdom.” Then this same voice says, “I, the fiery life of divine essence, am aflame beyond the beauty of the meadows.” The meaning is that divine life is not absent from creation or confined to its beginning. It is living and active now. In this sequence, love is joined to power, wisdom, and creation. It is the holy life within them, giving being, order, and breath to all that lives.
The quoted line becomes clearer in the movement of the whole passage: “I gleam in the waters, and I burn in the sun, moon, and stars.” Hildegard of Bingen is not simply naming beautiful parts of the world. She shows that the “fiery life of divine essence” is present from meadow to water to the lights of heaven. Divine Love is not distant from the world or set apart from it. It “gleam[s]” and “burn[s]” within it. The closing words deepen that meaning: “With an airy wind I have quickened all things with a hidden life that sustains all.” That “hidden life” is unseen, yet fully present, giving life and sustaining it.
Read this way, the passage speaks of Divine Love not as sentiment but as living divine reality. Hildegard of Bingen holds together “the highest and fiery power” and the life that “sustains all.” The one who establishes “the circle of their orbits” is the same one who quickens “every living spark.” Order and tenderness belong together here. So do wisdom and life. In these words, divine care is both strong and nourishing, radiant and near, holding every creature within the “fiery life of divine essence.”
Commentary on the Feminine Divine in Hildegard’s Vision
In the first vision of The Book of Divine Works, the speaker is identified by Hildegard as Caritas, or Divine Love. In the accompanying medieval illuminations of this vision, such as those found in the Lucca Manuscript, this figure is depicted as a woman of immense stature with a countenance of radiant light. Hildegard intentionally uses the feminine Latin noun Caritas to personify this “highest and fiery power.” By assigning the first-person “I” to this feminine figure as she claims to have “kindled every living spark,” Hildegard attributes the primary act of creation and the animation of all life to a feminine-gendered manifestation of the Divine.
The passage further establishes the role of the Mother of Creation through the concept of immanence and sustenance. The speaker claims to be the “fiery life of divine essence” that “gleams in the waters” and “burns in the sun,” indicating that the feminine aspect of God is not merely a distant observer but the very fabric of the material world. This mirrors Hildegard’s specific language in Scivias, where she explicitly names Wisdom (Sapientia) as the “mother of all created things.” In this context, the “hidden life that sustains all” functions as a divine womb or matrix, providing the vital energy required for the cosmos to persist and flourish.
Finally, the speaker exercises a sovereign authority that is traditionally attributed to the Godhead without being framed as a derivative of a masculine counterpart. The declaration “I judge them as they are” and the claim to have “established the circle of their orbits” demonstrate a singular, autonomous power over the laws of the universe. Hildegard links this authority to the “wings” of Wisdom, a recurring motif in her work where Sapientia encompasses the heights and depths of the earth. This proves that Hildegard viewed the feminine Divine as an equal and essential partner within the divine essence, possessing the inherent right to order, judge, and maintain the creation she birthed.
The Cosmic Vision of Caritas
Hildegard of Bingen presents a cosmic vision where Divine Love, personified as a young woman, serves as the singular origin of existence. She writes: “I heard a voice speaking to me: ‘The young woman whom you see is Love. She has her tent in eternity… It was love which was the source of this creation in the beginning when God said: ‘Let it be!’ And it was. As though in the blinking of an eye, the whole creation was formed through love.” This figure is described as being radiant with a “lightning-like brilliance of countenance” that defies human comprehension, yet she maintains a deeply intimate relationship with the cosmos, as she “holds the sun and moon in her right hand and embraces them tenderly.” By establishing that “all of creation proceeded” from this maiden whom the universe calls “Lady,” Hildegard identifies a sovereign feminine principle that brought forth all creatures, including Adam and Eve, from the “pure nature of the Earth.”
The Integration of the Divine Feminine
The significance of this vision lies in its capacity to dismantle power-over dynamics through the integration of a resurrected Divine Feminine with a healthy Sacred Masculine. As only the fourth woman to be named a Doctor of the Church—joining Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, and Thérèse of Lisieux—Hildegard’s work suggests that the healing of the planet requires moving beyond the constraints of patriarchy. Her theology culminates in the realization of an immanent God who dwells within the human experience and the material world: “I, God, am in your midst. Whoever knows me can never fall, Not in the heights, Not in the depths, Nor in the breadths, For I am love, Which the vast expanses of evil Can never still.” This enduring presence provides a spiritual stability that transcends all earthly turmoil, framing the feminine aspect of the Divine as an unshakeable and eternal force.
Sources and Citations
Fox, Matthew. Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint For Our Times. North Atlantic Books, 2012. pp. xiii, xiv, xvi.
Hildegard of Bingen. The Book of Divine Works. Translated by Nathaniel M. Campbell, Catholic University of America Press, 2018. Part 1, Vision 1.
Hildegard of Bingen. Scivias. Translated by Columba Hart and Jane Bishop, Paulist Press, 1990. Book III, Vision 9.
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