The verse novel Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey by Australian poet Colleen Keating uses biographical poetry
to bridge medieval history with contemporary ecological spirituality.
By retelling the saint’s life across 100 chronological poems, the book focuses heavily on Hildegard’s concept of viriditas
(the divine “greening” and interconnected power of nature). It has evolved from a literary work into a functional tool used
in both European pilgrimages and American research.
1. Use in Local Pilgrimage
The verse novel is highly integrated into the culture of the Hildegard of Bingen Pilgrimage Way (Hildegard von Bingen Pilgerwanderweg),
a 140-kilometre trail in Germany that runs from Idar-Oberstein through the ruins of Disibodenberg to Eibingen.
- Meditation Companion on the Trail: Dr Annette Esser, the founder of the Scivias Institute for Art and Spirituality in Germany,
- explicitly endorses and uses Keating’s poetry to guide walking meditations. The book is used by pilgrims while sitting in places
- like the Disibodenberg basilica ruins to match the topography with the text.
- Bridging Language and Experience: Because it captures the sensory landscape of the Nahe and Glan river valleys
- (such as the specific flora Hildegard studied), local tour operators and pilgrim groups use sections of the verse novel
- to provide English-speaking hikers with an intuitive, emotional connection to the physical terrain. [1]
2. Use in US Academic Research & Eco-Spirituality
In the United States, the verse novel is utilized across academic and clinical research circles focused on medieval literature, feminist theology,
and ecological psychology:
- Eco-Theology and “Greening” Studies: US institutions and spiritual networks—such as Dr Christine Valters Paintner’s Abbey of the Arts
- —frequently use the book to analyze how medieval mysticism aligns with modern environmental conservation.
- Researchers study Keating’s verse to examine how Hildegard’s ancient theological worldview can be translated into modern eco-justice framing.
- Intuitive and Narrative Research Models: Rather than relying solely on dense, translated Latin texts like Scivias,
- US researchers in narrative medicine and creative writing programs use this verse novel as a template for “poetic inquiry”.
- It serves as a prime case study for how poetry can synthesize historical data, medical history, and spiritual biography into an accessible text.
Some example
Australian author Colleen Keating’s biographical novel/poetry collection, Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey, the author maps
Hildegard’s life backward, capturing her transition from her later life as a magistra back to her early, hidden years.
The poems focusing on her time at the Disibodenberg monastery dive into her profound connection to viriditas
(the greening power of God) and her struggle to reconcile her stifling, early monastic life with her vibrant visions.
Specific poems and themes that explore her time at Disibodenberg include:
1. “Last Swallows” (The Anchorage Era)
- The Context: This poem focuses on Hildegard’s early, cloistered years at the Disibodenberg monastery.
- She was enclosed in a dark cell as a young woman alongside her mentor, the ascetic Jutta von Sponheim.
- The Focus: Keating vividly contrasts Hildegard’s love for the healing, life-affirming properties of herbs
- and gardens with Jutta’s extreme, life-denying penance. In the poem, Hildegard tends to the dying Jutta
- with nurturing physical care—warmed broth, olive oil, and fennel—capturing a tension between
- rigid medieval asceticism and Hildegard’s innate, vibrant spirituality. [1]
2. “Voice of the Living Light” (The Seeds of Vision)
- The Context: Set during her mid-years at Disibodenberg, before she receives the divine mandate to share
- her visions and leave the monastery.
- The Focus: This poem explores the agonizing beauty of her visions while trapped within the patriarchal
- and restrictive confines of the monastery. She begins experiencing the “Fiery Light” but is forced to quietly
- cradle her ache for expression. These poems emphasize her developing sense of viriditas, hearing
- the cosmic web of creation and the “choir of hosannas” from the surrounding landscape while
- she secretly navigates her mystical gifts.
3. “Ordo Virtutum” (The Greening Through Music)
- The Context: Reflecting on her time as the teacher (Magistra) of her community of nuns at Disibodenberg,
- before their eventual migration to the newly founded monastery on the Rupertsberg.
- The Focus: The poems spanning this period explore her use of music and writing as an outlet for her divine messages.
- Keating’s poems in this section highlight how Hildegard’s poetic, musical plays allowed the sisters to burst into song,
- softening their tired, discouraged hearts and walls of stone. It is here that her mystical theology—
- centering on the interconnectedness of all life and humanity being “a feather on the breath of God”—truly takes root.
Colleen Keating’s lyrical storytelling captures how Hildegard’s quiet, oppressed decades at Disibodenberg ultimately
acted as fertile soil—the necessary viriditas incubation period—for her later life as a celebrated visionary, composer, and mystic.
You can read excerpts of these poems and find out more about the collection on the Colleen Keating Poet Official Website. [1]
Written by Colleen Keating with the help of AI
