Feasts: St. Hildegard von Bingen (Sept. 17)

(by Darrell Grizzle of Blog of the Grateful Bear via AnamTuras)

This Saturday, Sept. 17th, is the feast day of Hildegard von Bingen -- not Celtic, but many have been inspired by her mystical writings.

In the last several years, several CDs of her music have been released. Here are three of my favorites: "Vision" (Angel Records) combines the beauty of female voices with contemporary settings of Hildegard's music; a more traditional rendition, the very moving "Canticles of Ecstasy" by Sequentia (the Cologne Sequentia Ensemble for Medieval Music); [and] "Lux Vivens (Living Light): The Music Of Hildegard Von Bingen" by Jocelyn Montgomery, is a CD which features a video you can play on your computer.

Prayer for the feast day of Hildegard (traditional language):

O God, by whose grace thy servant Hildegard, enkindled with the fire of thy love, became a burning and shining light in thy Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and may ever walk before thee as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever.