Category: Travel

  • The Hildegard of Bingen Trail in Germany

    The Hildegard of Bingen Trail in Germany

    Hildegard Pilgrimage Path

    “I love this sign, don’t you? I’ve traveled to a lot of holy places, but Bingen, Germany, is the only place where the pilgrimage route is marked by a nun sign. Hildegard is their most famous resident, and they want to make it easy for pilgrims to follow in her footsteps.

    And more people are doing just that, for Hildegard of Bingen is enjoying a surprising career resurgence for someone who’s been dead for nine centuries (for more information on her biography, see The Life of Hildegard of Bingen). Her fan club is certainly diverse: feminists hail her as a foremother, environmentalists praise her views on nature, New Age enthusiasts recognize her as a kindred spirit, and musicians record her chants (the CD A Feather on the Breath of God was a surprise best-seller in 1988). And in 2012 Hildegard was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI, an honor given to only four women saints.”

    The Hildegard von Bingen pilgrimage route leads approximately 135 kilometers from Idar-Oberstein to Bingen am Rhein and Rüdesheim-Eibingen through the land of Hildegard.

    Hildegardweg / Hildegard Pilgrim Path

    Itinerary program for an 8-day pilgrimage path (see map) — 8-Strecken-Programm oder 8-Tage-Pilgerwanderweg (von Sonntag bis Sonntag)

    • Erste Strecke — 18.7km / 4h 7min
      Idar-Oberstein – Herrstein – Niederhosenbach – Bundenbach – Hahnenbach
    • Zweite Strecke — 6.8km / 1h 31min
      Hahnenbach – Oberhausen – Kallenfels – Bergen – Kirn – Schloss Dhaun
    • Dritte Strecke — 17.7km / 3h 39min
      Schloss Dhaun – Simmertal – Bad Sobernheim – Staudernheim – Disibodenberg – Odenheim/Glan
    • Vierte Strecke — 12.2km / 2h 38min
      Disibodenberg – Duchroth – Oberhausen/Nahe – Burg Schlossböckelheim – Waldböckelheim – Burgsponheim – Sponheim
    • Fünfte Strecke — 9.1km / 2h 06min
      Sponheim – Spabrücken
    • Sechste Strecke — 8.4km / 1h 48min
      Spabrücken – „Drei-Madonnen-Weg” – Schöneberg – Madonnenweg – Stromberg
    • Siebte Strecke — 9.8km / 2h
      Stromberg – Bingerbrück
    • Achte Strecke — 5.4km / 1h 02min
      Bingerbrück – Bingen – Eibingen

    Good Reading

    I stumbled across this blog about Spiritual Travel and pilgrimage — Read more from Lori Erickson.

    Travel writer, Episcopal deacon, and author of the Holy Rover blog at Patheos, Erickson is an engaging guide for pilgrims eager to take a spiritual journey. Her book describes travels that changed her life and can change yours, too.

  • September 17th is the Feast Day of St. Hildegard of Bingen

    September 17th is the Feast Day of St. Hildegard of Bingen

    Hildegard Feast Day

    Hildegard von Bingen has been venerated as a Saint in the Rhineland for centuries. Although she is listed in the Acta Sanctorum — the official Calendar of Saints in the Catholic Church — more than 800 years after her death had passed before Pope Benedict XVI officially canonized her for the whole Catholic Church on Pentecost Monday, May 10, 2012. On October 7 of the same year, also by the personal intervention of the German pope, Hildegard became the fourth woman — after Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and Thérèse of Lisieux — to be promoted as a Doctor of the Church.

    September 17th — Feast Day of Saint Hildegard

    September 17th is a special day on the Catholic Church calendar as it marks the feast day of a Doctor of the Church: St. Hildegard of Bingen. While some would like to think of her as the patron saint of creativity, the Catholic Church hasn’t made that an official acknowledgment yet — but we can hope.

    On September 17, 2013, American filmmaker Michael M. Conti was in Germany completing filming for his documentary and took part in the procession of Hildegard’s relic during her feast day. It was a remarkable experience included in the film The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegard.

    Hildegard Feast Day procession, September 17th
    Feast Day for Saint Hildegard of Bingen, September 17th — Catholic Calendar

    How Feast Days Are Assigned

    A saint’s feast day can be the day of their actual death or a day assigned by the Church. Typically, the Church only assigns a different day when the date of death is unknown, or when several other saints are already assigned to that day. Since the number of canonized saints exceeds the number of days in a calendar year, two or more saints often share the same feast day. When overlap occurs — or when the date of death is uncertain — another date is sometimes chosen, such as the day the saint was canonized.

  • The Unruly Mystic and Unruly Me: Nicole Barchilon Frank

    The Unruly Mystic and Unruly Me: Nicole Barchilon Frank

    The following is taken from a review of The Unruly Mystic, by my longtime friend, Nicole Barchilon Frank, who was about to embark on her own 10 month spiritual sabbatical in Ireland when I saw her in Boulder, Colorado.

    Nicole Barchilon Frank

    A few days ago I watched my friend Michael Conti’s film, The Unruly Mystic. The film is about his spiritual journey and his exploration of the life of Saint Hildegard of Bingen. I first learned about Hildegard from my botanist friend Jolie Egert Elan of Go Wild Consulting. Jolie is definitely an unruly herbal mystic. I guess I am one also, unruly in all kinds of directions.

    It turns out Michael, Jolie and I, we’re in good company.

    Excerpt

    In today’s era, heeding the call of the Divine, is still thought of as crazy or radical. It’s never really a safe thing to pay attention to the other side, to the call of the wild, the earth, the angels, the Holy (however you conceive of that or connect to it). Once you listen, really listen, there are oceans full of energy, voices, and information. It can actually make you a little “nuts.”  Not paying attention though, is truly dangerous. With our world full of mess, suffering, climate change and violence, the only way through into what Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche calls Enlightened Society, is to wake up and listen and start making a connection with the basic essential goodness of who we are. Once we do that we can move towards repair and mending and healing of the world around us. We can embody Tikkun Olam.

    So, being called unruly, makes sense, once you are able to hear the call of the Wild and Powerful Divine within, then you have to figure out how to translate that. If your message is true, it will survive naysayers, wars, eons, folks who cannot relate and it will come into the greater world. Hildegard of Bingen was hearing voices, healing, and channeling what she experienced in the Middle Ages.

    Read the rest of the amazing gems offered by Nicole Barchilon Frank here.