Hildegard of Bingen · Theology

Viriditas: The Greening Power of God

Hildegard&rsquo;s most original idea: <em>viriditas</em>, the &lsquo;greening power&rsquo; - the moist, fresh, life-giving force by which God quickens all creation, the sap of the Holy Spirit running through plants, bodies, and souls alike, in a theology that reads almost like an ecology.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that viriditas (&lsquo;greenness&rsquo; or &lsquo;greening power&rsquo;) is Hildegard&rsquo;s name for the moist, fertile life-force by which God vivifies all things, closely tied to the Holy Spirit; that its opposite is ariditas , a withering dryness; and that it links spirit, body, and the natural world…

Leads to Francis of Assisi.

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