Hildegard

Have you ever had the experience of being very very near to something wonderful, and unknowingly passed it by?  Something which, in later life, made a big difference to you?

Years ago, my husband John’s jazz band was invited to the Wine Festival in Bingen am Rhein, Germany.  We all went along as guests.  The event was part of the European Exchange programmes, to help us Europeans get to know each other better. 

My, we had a wonderful time!  The welcome was rich and warm, the bratwurst sizzingly succulent, the wine….well what can I say?   Live music and dancing and laughter and sharing full to the brim of warm cordiality.

Little did I know then that Bingen was also the home of a startlingly amazing woman in the 12^th century who would knock my socks off.

Years later, a beloved relative sent me a recipe for St Hildegard’s Cookies of Joy – out of the blue, this non-cook sent me a recipe!  Suddenly, all the cogs clicked into place, the wheels started moving and once again I was on yet another Journey of  Discovery.  Oooooh!  How I wished I had known about her when we were actually there! I could have learned so much from others about their beloved saint!

One did not trifle with Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179), Abbess of a Benedictine community. A fully literate intellectual, when she saw wrongdoing and corruption she didn’t whine:  “Oh I knowww, isn’t it awful, but what can you do?”  No!  She wrote copiously to royalty, politicians and archbishops alike, and – always with God’s direction, she told them to mend their ways.  Others wrote to her, from all walks of life, asking for advice. 

And she was stubborn.  With God on her side, she had approached the Abbot asking to form a female community. When he had refused, she lay “like a rock” on the floor with arms outstretched until he agreed.  And, nearing the end of her 82 years she allowed an excommunicated man to be buried in the Abbey cemetery.  Insisting that he’d asked forgiveness before he died, she refused his exhumation.  So, the whole community was excommunicated.  More horrible yet, they were not allowed to sing!   We can learn from such dedication to what is true.

But most of all, most of all, she was brilliant.  She wrote more books than others – man or woman – did in her time.  She wrote about spirituality, medicine, theology, her visions, cosmology, anthropology, a record of plants, animals, and minerals.  She was an artist, a healer, a preacher (!).

AND she was a composer.  We are still singing her music today.  There are many recordings on Youtube. Have a listen to this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6qFCYRQKVA&t=20s

In our age of specialisms these days, who is missing out?  Who is being suppressed because they are good at “just” one thing? Is it you?

With all her other attributes and talents, I guess it was not surprising that Hildegard could come up with a cooky recipe, too.

Spicy Cookies of Joy

Using Hildegard’s ingredients, here is an adaptation of her recipe. As I prepared them, the kitchen was warm and spice-scented on a cold autumnal day.

Find yourself a cup that holds 8 fluid ozs (225 ml) and use it for the cup measurements.  Makes 2 dozen cookies.

6 tablespoons butter

½ cup brown sugar

2 ½ tablespoons honey

1 egg

1 ¼ cups or so spelt flour*

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons nutmeg

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

(2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger in syrup)

Melt the butter, add to sugar, honey, and egg.  Beat gently, then fold in the rest of the ingredients.  Refrigerate for an hour.

*Spelt flour is an ancient grain that came to England with the Romans.  It is more volatile than its sister, plain wheat flour, so went out of use.  But!  Thanks to organic farmers, it is quite easy to find in supermarkets these days – white and dark spelt, just like white and wholemeal flour. 

Notes about St Hildegard came from thoughtco.com.  Have a look.