Editing Hildegard of Bingen (section)

===={{lang|la|Scivias}}====
[[File:Meister des Hildegardis-Codex 004.jpg|thumb|left|The Church and Mother of the Faithful in Baptism. Illustration to {{lang|la|Scivias}} II.3, fol. 51r from the 20th-century facsimile of the Rupertsberg manuscript, {{Circa|1165}}–1180.]]

With permission from Abbot Kuno of Disibodenberg, she began journaling visions she had (which is the basis for {{lang|la|Scivias}}). {{lang|la|Scivias}} is a contraction of {{lang|la|Sci vias Domini}} ('Know the Ways of the Lord'), and it was Hildegard's first major visionary work, and one of the biggest milestones in her life. Perceiving a divine command to "write down what you see and hear,"<ref>"Protestificatio" ("Declaration") to Hildegard of Bingen, ''Scivias'', translated by Mother Columba Hart and Jane Bishop (Paulist Press, 1990), pp. 59–61.</ref> Hildegard began to record and interpret her visionary experiences. In total, 26 visionary experiences were captured in this compilation.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

{{lang|la|Scivias}} is structured into three parts of unequal length. The first part (six visions) chronicles the order of God's creation: the Creation and Fall of Adam and Eve, the structure of the universe (described as the shape of an "egg"), the relationship between body and soul, God's relationship to his people through the Synagogue, and the choirs of angels. The second part (seven visions) describes the order of redemption: the coming of Christ the Redeemer, the [[Trinity]], the church as the Bride of Christ and the Mother of the Faithful in [[baptism]] and [[confirmation]], the orders of the church, Christ's sacrifice on the cross and the [[Eucharist]], and the fight against the devil. Finally, the third part (thirteen visions) recapitulates the history of salvation told in the first two parts, symbolized as a building adorned with various allegorical figures and virtues. It concludes with the Symphony of Heaven, an early version of Hildegard's musical compositions.<ref>SCIVIAS.</ref>

In early 1148, a commission was sent by the Pope to [[Disibodenberg]] to find out more about Hildegard and her writings. The commission found that the visions were authentic and returned to the Pope, with a portion of the {{lang|la|Scivias}}. Portions of the uncompleted work were read aloud to [[Pope Eugenius III]] at the Synod of Trier in 1148, after which he sent Hildegard a letter with his blessing.<ref>Letter 4 in ''The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen'', translated by Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman (Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 34–35.</ref> This blessing was later construed as papal approval for all of Hildegard's wide-ranging theological activities.<ref>Van Engen, John. "Letters and the Public Persona of Hildegard," in ''Hildegard von Bingen in ihrem historischen Umfeld'', ed. [[Alfred Haverkamp]] (Mainz: Trierer Historische Forschungen, 2000), pp. 375–418; and [[Kathryn Kerby-Fulton]], "Hildegard of Bingen", in ''Medieval Holy Women in the Christian Tradition'', c. 1100–c. 1500, ed. Alastair Minnis and Rosalynn Voaden (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010), pp. 343–69, at pp. 350–52.</ref> Towards the end of her life, Hildegard commissioned a richly decorated manuscript of {{lang|la|Scivias}} (the Rupertsberg Codex); although the original has been lost since its evacuation to Dresden for safekeeping in 1945, its images are preserved in a hand-painted facsimile from the 1920s.<ref name="Rupertsberg MS images" />