Novena to Saint Hildegard of Bingen – 9 Days of Prayer

A nine-day novena to Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), the extraordinary Benedictine abbess who was a composer, visionary, healer, scientist, and Doctor of the Church — patron of musicians, writers, and those seeking wisdom.

St. Hildegard of Bingen was a German Benedictine abbess of the twelfth century who composed music, wrote about medicine and recorded her visions in works like Scivias. She was named a Doctor of the Church in 2012. This novena asks for creativity and wisdom. Her feast is September 17. She is honoured for her chants, her writings on creation and her insistence that every creature praises God. Pray the novena for those whose gifts are overlooked, and for healing of body and soul.

Saint Hildegard of Bingen · September 179 dayssaint

A novena is nine consecutive days of prayer. Begin nine days before the feast (September 17) and finish on its eve. You can pray this novena at any time of year.

Pray this novena with daily reminders in the Sacred Novenas app

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Novena to Saint Hildegard of Bingen – prayer for all nine days

Intention: For Musicians, Artists, Scientists, and All Who Seek to Understand the World as God's Creation

Saint Hildegard, you who heard the living light and gave it form — in music, in words, in the healing arts — you were a woman centuries ahead of her time, and a soul entirely at home in God. Pray that we too might dare to use the gifts we have been given, and that we might see creation as you saw it: radiant with the viriditas, the greening power of God. Amen.

Saint Hildegard of Bingen,
you saw the world with different eyes.
You heard music in the spheres,
the feathers of God in the flight of birds,
the living light behind all things.

You were enclosed in a monastery at eight.
You could have grown bitter. You grew radiant.
You could have grown small. You became vast.

From that cell you wrote theology that still instructs us.
From that cloister you composed music still sung today.
You corresponded with emperors.
You rebuked popes when they needed rebuking.
You healed bodies with herbs and wisdom.
You described the cosmos with breathtaking precision.

All of this from a woman the world would have silenced.
All of this because you would not be silenced.

Saint Hildegard, pray for us.
Pray for musicians who are afraid their gift is not enough.
Pray for artists who wonder if beauty matters.
Pray for scientists who love truth and also love God.
Pray for women whose gifts have not been recognized.
Pray for anyone enclosed — by circumstance, by illness,
by limitations they did not choose —
and show them how much can flourish in a small space
when God is in the center.

Teach us your word: viriditas.
The greening power of God.
Let it flow through us.

Amen.
Hail Mary... Our Father... Glory Be...

Saint Hildegard of Bingen, pray for us.

Pray this prayer once a day for nine days in a row.

Traditional Catholic Devotional Prayer · Feast Day: September 17. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a Benedictine abbess, mystic, composer, and scientist. She received visions she called the 'living light' from age five and wrote them in Scivias. She composed liturgical music still performed today, wrote treatises on medicine and natural history, and corresponded with popes and emperors. Declared Doctor of the Church in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.

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Frequently asked questions

When should I start the Novena to Saint Hildegard of Bingen?

Begin on September 8 to end on September 16, the eve of the feast on September 17.

How do I pray the Novena to Saint Hildegard of Bingen?

Pray the daily prayer once a day, and listen to a chant if you can.

Who is the Novena to Saint Hildegard of Bingen for?

It is for musicians, writers and herbalists.

Pray this novena with daily reminders in the Sacred Novenas app

Open in the app App Store Google Play