O Clarissma Mater

While Hildegard exerted influence in both political and religious spheres unheard of in her time for a woman holding no royal title, and while she ostensibly would seem a medieval forerunner of feminism, she fully embraced the church's attitude toward women, an attitude that assigned them subservient roles and viewed Eve as the central figure in mankind's fall from grace. This response, O clarissima mater (O luminous mother), features a Latin text, by Hildegard, that endorses that attitude. Yet the poetry and music combine to largely rise above mundane concerns, elevating the work to a mystical, serenely religious, plane. This response, like all of Hildegard's chants, is for a single vocal line of generally somber character. It begins with a relatively limited, rather low range, but rises high when the text refers to the healing powers of the Blessed Mother, beginning with the word ungenta (salve), and thereafter maintains a wider expressive range and exhibits greater color. Like most of Hildegard's chants, this attractive effort has a soothing mystical quality throughout its seven- or eight-minute duration.

Hildegard was the tenth child of a noble German family. At the age of 8, she was sent to live with Jutta, the sister of a count whom Hildegard's father served as a knight. When Hildegard was 14, she, Jutta, and one or two others, were enclosed as anchorites. At some point Jutta's anchorhold grew into a Benedictine monastery, connected to the adjacent male monastery of St. Disibod. The number of nuns grew to about 10 at Jutta's death in 1136 and to about 20 twelve years later.

After Jutta's death, Hildegard was named prioress, leader of the nuns but under the authority of the abbot of St. Disibod. Within a few years, Hildegard told her confessor of visionary experiences; he had her write them down and showed them to the abbot. The abbot and the local archbishop ordered Hildegard to continue writing. After some resistance, Hildegard agreed and began the ten-year task of writing what would become Scivias, a report of 25 visions that would sum up Christian doctrine on the history of salvation.

In 1147, Hildegard was still concerned, not about the truth of her visions, but about whether they should be published, so she wrote to Bernard, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux. He responded favorably, and when Hildegard's archbishop showed part of Scivias to Pope Eugenius, Bernard encouraged his fellow Cistercian ...