Hildegard's Feast Day - first as official saint and doctor of Roman Catholic Church

But of course this is a long-standing local event. As I said in the last post, Hildegard has long been honored as a saint in Germany, a true saint of the people. 

Great statue of Hildegard 

We first went for lunch at the Hildegard Forum, a private foundation that honors Hildegard's broad legacy: especially her medicinal and herbal knowledge. We had a wonderful and very healthy meal based on Hildegard's nutritional ideas. Even the centerpiece at each table was special. 

Then Betsy Beckman performed her wonderful interpretive dance on Hildegard's life. 

We sang our Hildegard-viriditas song in the abbey full of people - will post link to a YouTube video later. 

And then we joined the celebration and procession at the church where her second monastery was originally built (now a parish church). And then we joined the nuns for vespers at the Abbey. Only once a year on St. Hildegard's feast day, they process in for vespers. At both the procession and vespers they sang (and had English version for us): Holy God, We Praise Your Name - one of Mom's favorites. I felt her there with me. 

What a day!

Along the way of the procession there were many personal altars to Hildegard. 

The nuns of Hildegard's Abbey processing out after vespers.