The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegard von Bingen ~ An inspirational documentary of how the filmmaker reaffirms his life’s work when he fell in love with a 12th century Saint.
Discover why Saint Hildegard von Bingen is considered to be the patron saint of creativity, and about her continued impact today. This 12th-century abbess became famous as a Christian Mystic and visionary, as well as a musical composer and writer, and whose natural medicine is still practiced in Europe today
People ask me how I came to make a documentary about Saint Hildegard of Bingen. It all started two years ago when I decided to take my first ever pilgrimage to the Rhineland. I took a 10 day retreat which was billed as a Birthing Vision, coinciding with spring equinox in the Rhineland, and the opportunity to immerse into the Light and Greening Power of Hildegard. The result of that retreat was for me the start of a film entitled The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegard which is a prescriptive documentary of how I as the filmmaker reaffirms my life’s work when I fell in love with a 12th century Saint. It is a journey that has now taken me to Germany several more times, and given me to the opportunity to meet artists, writers, musicians, theologians and doctors around the world that have found their life changed by Saint Hildegard.
Included are other insightful interviews with Benedictine Sr. Lydia from the Abbey of St. Hildegard, Germany; Professor Beverly Mayne Kienzle at the Harvard Divinity School; Lynn Maxwell, a world-class mezzo soprano on her one-woman Hildegard show; Doctor Wighard Strelow’s healing work at the Hildegard Center in Allen Bach, Germany; and American Episcopal priest and theologian Matthew Fox.
For me, Saint Hildegard of Bingen evokes a calling, that sweet spot of creativity that we all yearn to play in, which is also spiritual in nature. The film reveals how she is still venerated for her widely recognized impact on today’s theologians, artists, musicians, doctors and educators.
She is indeed the unruly mystic. Her story, invites us all to embrace the connection between God, Nature and Art. This is the story of a powerful muse who invites us to create magic in our own lives by letting the ordinary touch the divine.
It has been an amazing birthing process these past two years when I first took that pilgrimage, and now with the film’s birth, there is another journey about to begin for me in screening and promoting the film’s message.
Available on Amazon:
The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegard of Bingen
