Couverture Polaire Catholic Blanket - Art by St. Hildegard

This mandala shows the cosmic connection of all angels, all people, and all beings celebrating the creation that God has made for us. It is from the “Second Vision of the Second Part of De Operatione Dei,” based on one of Hildegard’s mystic visions. Painted around 1150 A.D. Here is an excerpt from Pope Benedict’s letter declaring Hildegard a Doctor of the Church “In addition to books on theology and mysticism, [Hildegard] also authored works on medicine and natural sciences. Her letters are also numerous — about four hundred are extant; these were addressed to simple people, to religious communities, popes, bishops and the civil authorities of her time. She was also a composer of sacred music. The corpus of her writings, for their quantity, quality and variety of interests, is unmatched by any other female author of the Middle Ages. “Creation is an act of love by which the world can emerge from nothingness. Hence, through the whole range of creatures, divine love flows as a river.”