Hildegard of Bingen

Music’s Power to Awaken Hidden Possibilities

This idea lands differently when we remember who Hildegard was: a 12th‑century abbess, composer, and visionary who treated music as more than ornament. In works like “Ordo Virtutum” (c. 1151), she staged morality as sung drama, giving virtues distinct musical presence as if sound itself could clarify inner conflict. Seen in that context, “music awakens possibility” is not a metaphor she tosses off lightly. It reflects a worldview in which song participates in transformation—spiritually, emotionally, and communally—so that the act of singing becomes a way of making new inner realities feel reachable. [...]

Your Work as the Signature You Leave

Spoken by Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), a Benedictine abbess, composer, and polymath, the line invites us to see work as witness. In Scivias (c. 1151), she describes viriditas, the greening vitality that runs through creation; to work well is to let that vitality pass through our hands into the world. Her Ordo Virtutum (c. 1151) still resounds in modern performances, while her herbals Physica and Causae et Curae continue to be studied. Even her radiant illuminations act as a name written in color and gold. Thus, when she says your work is your signature, she does not mean mere careerism; she means a lived imprint, where craft, devotion, and service converge into a legible mark others can read long after you are gone. [...]