Based on historic quotations from the writings of Saint Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Dr. Annette Esser wrote these nine texts in which Hildegard, so to say, speaks herself. This well-researched multi-language book includes chapter notes, a detailed historic timeline, an illustrated color map of Hildegard Way in Germany, along with colorful images from the land of Hildegard.
Read Aloud Hildegard Speaks
Dr. Annette Esser is a German theologian, teacher and artist. In 2008, she founded the Scivias-Institute for Art & Spirituality. In 2017, she co-initiated the Hildegard of Bingen Pilgrimage Way along the historic sites where the Saint lived in the 12th century. She edited the 59 tableaux texts along the Way. In 2019, Dr. Esser was filmed speaking as Hildegard for nine videos. This short video series was created by pilgrim-filmmaker, Michael M. Conti, creator of The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegardand premiered theatrically as “Hildegard spricht” (2022) in Bad Kreuznach, Germany.
We encourage you to read these texts out loud, hearing how Hildegard might have sounded, as you take your own pilgrimage along the Hildegard Way. The book contains the text of those presentations in German, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish and Polish. We suggest doing this on the first nine stages of the Hildegard Way at the very spots which are marked by photos ahead of the nine chapters.
All the texts start with the heading “Hildegard speaks…”
Thus, Hildegard speaks
… about precious stones and the heavenly Jerusalem
… about her family and childhood
… about her visions
… about her art of healing
… about her entrance into the Monastery of St. Disibod
… about her teacher Jutta of Sponheim
… about pilgrimages and her preaching tours
… about how she gained fame as a seeress
… about the foundation of her Rupertsberg Women’s Monastery.
Experience a Pilgrimage with Saint Hildegard along the St. Hildegard Way in Germany.
Dr. Esser speaks in character as “Hildegard” at 9 stations along the trail and gives a small glimpse into the many teachings of Saint Hildegard. This special ecumenical video series has been created by pilgrim-filmmaker Michael M. Conti, who took the 85-mile “Hildegard Way” through the Nahe river region in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany.
To conclude with Hildegard’s words: Now also you, oh human, speak out aloud about what you see and hear.
What good movies are about Saints? When you fall in love with a Saint, there is a spiritual thirst that can’t be quenched, and you want to learn as much as you can about your chosen saint. Some of these movies about things or office that people have done that would be considered saintly. Some are canonized while others are still waiting like Dorthey Day. Even Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 17 September 1179) was only just canonized in 2012 into a full-fledged saint based upon the Catholic tradition. Some subjects will be familiar to you while others might be more obscure. There is no order of saintly preference on the list. I would probably easily do another list of movies about angels. What good movies about Saints would you recommend?
The Passion of Joan of Arc (French: La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc) is a 1928 French silent historical film based on the actual record of the trial of Joan of Arc.
In 1431, Jeanne d’Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.
Entertaining Angels (1996)
Entertaining Angels – The Dorothy Day Story is a 1996 independent film about the life of Dorothy Day, the journalist turned social activist and founder of the Catholic Worker newspaper. Trailer only.
Agony and the Ecstasy (1965).
This film deals with the conflicts of Michelangelo and Pope Julius II during the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Boys Town (1938)
Francesco is a 1989 docu-drama relating in flashback St. Francis of Assisi‘s evolution from rich man’s son to religious humanitarian and finally to full-fledged saint. Francis of Assisi
Boys Town is based on Father Edward J. Flanagan‘s work with a group of underprivileged and delinquent boys in a home that he founded and named “Boys Town”.
Claire of Assisi
She founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition, and wrote their Rule of Life, the first set of monastic guidelines known to have been written by a woman.
Francesco (1989)
The Hiding Place (1975)
The Hiding Place is a 1975 film based on the autobiographical book of the same name by Corrie ten Boom that recounts her and her family’s experiences before and during their imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust during World War II.
Hildegard of Bingen (2012)
In this one-woman film, international mezzo soprano Linn Maxwell embodies the extraordinary life of 12th century German prophetess, healer and composer, Hildegard of Bingen, who was canonized in 2012 and named a Doctor of the Church.
Jesus Of Nazareth (1977)
Jesus Of Nazareth (1977)Jesus Of Nazareth is a 1977 British-Italian television miniseries directed by Franco Zeffirelli and co-written by Zeffirelli, Anthony Burgess, and Suso Cecchi d’Amico which dramatizes the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Maximilian: Saint Of Auschwitz (Live drama)
Maximilian: Saint Of Auschwitz was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscanfriar who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II.
Faustina (1995)
Throughout her life, Faustina Kowalska reported having visions of Jesus and conversations with him, which she noted in her diary, later published as The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul. Her biography, submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, quoted some of the conversations with Jesus regarding the Divine Mercy devotion.
The Night of the Prophet (1996)
The first full-length drama on the incredible life of Padre Pio who had such great spiritual gifts as mystical prayer, bilocation, reading souls and suffered the five wounds of Christ for fifty years.
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952)
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima takes place in 1917, three shepherd children living just outside Fatima, Portugal have visions of a lovely lady in a cloud.
John of the Cross (Live drama)
John of the Cross is known especially for his writings. He was mentored by and corresponded with the older Carmelite, Teresa of Ávila. Both his poetry and his studies on the development of the soul are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and among the greatest works of all Spanish literature.
Miracle of Marcelino (1955)
Marcelino is an orphan who grows up in a monastery. One day when he eats his small meal in a room full of old things he gives a piece of his bread to an old wooden Jesus figure – and indeed it takes the bread and eats it. Getting a wish granted for his donation Marcelino wishes to see his mother.
Thérèse(Live drama)
St. Thérèse is best known today for her spiritual memoir, L’histoire d’une âme (The Story of a Soul).
Saint Patrick – The Irish Legend (2000)
A young Christian boy attends a druid worship that is attacked by invading Irish tribes. Taken captive, he is taken back to Ireland to become a slave. Enduring many hardships, he finds comfort and eventually salvation in his faith. After several years, he escapes back to England, where he joins a convent to prove his faith. His greatest desire is to return to Ireland
The Reluctant Saint aka Joseph Desa – The Story of St. Joseph of Cupertino (1962)
In 17th century Italy, a simple and clumsy young man joins a Franciscan order, pursues full priesthood and performs a miracle that eventually ensures his sainthood.
A Time for Miracles (1980)
Miracle at Moreaux (1985)
A French Catholic boarding school allows three Jewish children to take refuge at Christmas during the Nazi occupation.
Pope John Paul II (2005)
Thanks to his unshakable tenacity, Pope John Paul II helps to change the course of history: the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 decrees the collapse of Communism. But the Pope does not stop being the voice of Christ, even among the injustices of the capitalistic Western world, and even among the provocations and challenges of modern times.
The Jewelers Shop (1988)
La bottega dell’orefice is based on The Jeweler’s Shop, a play written by Karol Józef Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II). In this romantic story The Jeweler (Burt Lancaster) sells wedding rings to a young couple and teaches them some precious truths about the meaning of love and marriage. The jeweller also helps another couple to fight for their troubled marriage, rebuilding their relationship. The reborn love between this second couple teaches their daughter that a loving marriage is possible, and she eventually accepts the marriage proposal from the first couple’s son.
The Fourth Wise Man (1985)
The story of Artaban, the fourth Magi, who spends his life looking for Jesus his King.
Ocean of Mercy (2011)
It tells the story of Maximilian Kolbe, Sor Faustina and Pope Johannes Paulus II, how they devoted their life to God, the difficulties they went through life and how well they went through adversities convinced that they were not alone.
Brother Sun – Sister Moon (1972)
Dramatization of events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi from before his conversion experience through his audience with the pope, including his friendship with St. Clare.
Vision – From the Life of Hildegard Von Bingen (2011)
A visionary in every sense of the word, this famed 12th-century Benedictine nun was a Christian mystic, composer, philosopher, playwright, poet, naturalist, scientist, physician, herbalist and ecological activist.
Please let me know in the comments below what other movies about saints or saintly behavior should be listed here. This list is first, basically Catholic leaning, but obviously, the saint and mystic tradition is widespread within other religions.
Hildegard as Shaman: Matthew Fox writes in his Daily Meditations of 4/27/2021: “A shaman lives in two worlds at once. Poet Bill Everson speaks of the link shamans have with the Animal Powers and recognizes Christ’s relationship to such animal powers in Mark’s gospel following his baptism when he went into the desert. Says Everson, “Christ related to the Animal Powers that preceded our more sophisticated religious impulses.””
As a pilgrim-filmmaker, my own work with Saint Hildegard through the making of my film, The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegard, has made me also question if we could see Hildegard as Shaman through our modern-day lens. I realize that equating a Catholic Saint with shamanism is bound to rub some people the wrong way. I can thank Matthew Fox for the courage and insight to share that interesting perspective.
“Hildegard too is much in touch with the Animal Powers. Time and time again she is visited by animals in her visions and paints them, including snakes that frame several of her paintings. She includes images of bears, leopards, lions, birds, vipers, scorpions, lobsters, and fish. Many of these beasts speak to her and advise her. She devotes an entire chapter in her book Physica to a discussion of animals and their uses for healing and assistance in our work. She recognizes that
…birds symbolize the virtue a person reveals in his thinking when, by his internal premeditation, he reckons many things before they come forth in an illustrious deed.“
“Animals that run on land represent the “thoughts and meditations a person brings to completion in work,” as well as spiritual longing. Lions mirror the will of a person, while panthers show “ardent desire.” Tame animals that walk on land show “the gentleness of the human being.” In short, “animals have in them qualities similar to the nature of the human.””
“A shaman is one who has undergone deep initiation and emerges to serve and heal the community. Hildegard was such a person. Estes defines an “initiated woman” this way:
To be the keepers of the creative fire, and to have intimate knowing about the Life/Death/Life cycles of all nature—this is an initiated woman.”
“Was there anyone who was busier keeping the creative fire alive than Hildegard?”
Feather along the Hildegard Way, Germany 2019
As one who has been creatively inspired by Hildegard as a filmmaker, I would answer with a resounding “No”. While I am sure others were keeping the “creative fire alive” during those times, we luckily have Hildegard’s work still with us. I see her as the Patron Saint of Creativity. Yet to think of her as a shaman as Matthew Fox shares?
I have two ways of looking at that perspective. Having walked in Hildegardland as a pilgrim-filmmaker, I can testify the experience there resonated with me on a deeply spiritual level, similar to other places that are thinly veiled or considered as sacred landscapes. Specifically, I share a those experiences in my second film, The Unruly Mystic: John Muir.
While those experiences might be profound for me personally, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is because someone blessed once was there. How Hildegard perceived her environment during her time, both internally and externally in her work, connects the past with the present. That is clearly evidence of someone that has a deep connection to spirit and the land.
Finally, shamanism is also much like mysticism. Both are subject to cultural definitions as seen through our modern lens. I would invite us to think of the contributions and attributes that Fox has associated her with from his own unique perspective. There is much value in that observation.
This particular thread that Matthew Fox started continues on his website. You can also find out more about Hildegard through his book below.
Matthew Fox writes in Hildegard of Bingen about this amazing woman and what we can learn from her.
In an era when women were marginalized, Hildegard was an outspoken, controversial figure. Yet so visionary was her insight that she was sought out by kings, popes, abbots, and bishops for advice.
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