Tuesday, September 14
Hildegarde Again
In the face of those who assume, in posting some of Hildegarde of Bingen's work, I've been brainwashed by the mushy rabid new-agey feminist crowd, and as the Shrine's resident Knight-Errant, I find it incumbent 'pon me to defend the old girl's honor. I point you to the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, which lists her as a saint. It notes, interestingly, that, while "no formal canonization has ever taken place, but her name is in the Roman Martyrology and her feast is celebrated in the Dioceses of Speyer, Mainz, Trier, and Limburg, also in the Abbey of Solesmes, where a proper office is said."
Since she belongs to the tail end of that hazy era when the causes of Saints were only starting to become a prerogative of Rome, I find no reason to question the imagination of popular piety, and the Martyrology is nothing to sneeze at. (Incidentally, perennial Shrine fave St. Christina the Astonishing was also never officially canonized, so she's in good company). Plus, the Encyclopedia doesn't make her sound like a closet Dan Brown-ist like some of her modern apologists pretend her to be.
Just because some clown trumpets a spurious 'sacred feminine' doesn't mean that we should shrink back from saying that Woman is not truly glorious in her God-given dignity, in her complementary covenant with Man which images the eternal procession of the Trinity. Heck, take a look at the golden Lady on top of the Dome here!
While the Sibyl of the Rhine may be a favorite among those (ahem) ladies who can't spell 'women' correctly, respondeo that even a blind pig occasionally finds an acorn, as we sometimes say in folksy Florida.
In this day and age when true femininity is trampled in the mud like a silken battle standard trailing from a shattered staff, we should do our part to shout the authentic praise of women and highlight those most noble ladies, Catherine, Joan, Clare (and Hildegarde) who only rose to prominence in the medieval world created by the Church. It is the Church that tamed Man, that gave us chivalry; that gave us the cult of the Virgin, surely the single largest civilizing institution in Catholicism. The Church is Herself a woman, and knows that where women are, civilization lies. Let us never forget this, and hope these models of true womanhood will turn the hearts of those swayed by confused ideas, impure concepts and misbegotten doctrines.
In the face of those who assume, in posting some of Hildegarde of Bingen's work, I've been brainwashed by the mushy rabid new-agey feminist crowd, and as the Shrine's resident Knight-Errant, I find it incumbent 'pon me to defend the old girl's honor. I point you to the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, which lists her as a saint. It notes, interestingly, that, while "no formal canonization has ever taken place, but her name is in the Roman Martyrology and her feast is celebrated in the Dioceses of Speyer, Mainz, Trier, and Limburg, also in the Abbey of Solesmes, where a proper office is said."
Since she belongs to the tail end of that hazy era when the causes of Saints were only starting to become a prerogative of Rome, I find no reason to question the imagination of popular piety, and the Martyrology is nothing to sneeze at. (Incidentally, perennial Shrine fave St. Christina the Astonishing was also never officially canonized, so she's in good company). Plus, the Encyclopedia doesn't make her sound like a closet Dan Brown-ist like some of her modern apologists pretend her to be.
Just because some clown trumpets a spurious 'sacred feminine' doesn't mean that we should shrink back from saying that Woman is not truly glorious in her God-given dignity, in her complementary covenant with Man which images the eternal procession of the Trinity. Heck, take a look at the golden Lady on top of the Dome here!
While the Sibyl of the Rhine may be a favorite among those (ahem) ladies who can't spell 'women' correctly, respondeo that even a blind pig occasionally finds an acorn, as we sometimes say in folksy Florida.
In this day and age when true femininity is trampled in the mud like a silken battle standard trailing from a shattered staff, we should do our part to shout the authentic praise of women and highlight those most noble ladies, Catherine, Joan, Clare (and Hildegarde) who only rose to prominence in the medieval world created by the Church. It is the Church that tamed Man, that gave us chivalry; that gave us the cult of the Virgin, surely the single largest civilizing institution in Catholicism. The Church is Herself a woman, and knows that where women are, civilization lies. Let us never forget this, and hope these models of true womanhood will turn the hearts of those swayed by confused ideas, impure concepts and misbegotten doctrines.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
