Voices Found: Hildegard at the Cathedral, Laus trinitati VF 105,
Voices Found # 105
Laus Trinitati quae sonus et vita
ac creatrix omnium in vita ipsorum est.
Et quae Laus angliquae turbae
Et mirus splendor arcanorum
quae hominibus ignota sunt est et
quae in omnibus vita est
Words and Music: Antiphon 17 by Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
O Praise be to you Holy Trinity, resounding jubilation
and life of all that is.
To our Mother Great Creator of all things living and of life itself.
O angelic chorus sounding forth in joyful praise!
O the wonderful silent splendor the holy mysteries,
Trinity shining brilliance unknown to women or to men.
O quickening sparkle dwelling in all!
Life giving life! Life of all things gloriously created!
Singing translation: Lisa Neufeld Thomas
Hildegard of Bingen wrote Laus trinitati a Psalm antiphon which was used in daily prayer to chant the Divine Office. Her Sisters loved singing her songs in the Abbey liturgies.
At a service of prayer for the nation January 2025, in the Washington National Cathedral, soprano Kristen Dubenion-Smith sang Laus trinitati as the Christian call to worship along with Jewish and Muslim calls.
It was especially fitting to bring Hildegard to life in this interfaith service; the Abbess wrote letters and spoke courageously to the temporal and spiritual leaders of her time, often challenging them to rule with mercy and justice. In one instance, she wrote to the Pope insisting on justice for a young man who was buried on holy ground at her Abbey. The pope argued that the man had been excommunicated and could not be buried there. He demanded that the abbess dig him up and move the body. Hildegard refused, contending that the man had received appropriate absolution.
The pope was not swayed. Hildegard disobeyed the edict and the body remained buried. In 1178, to punish Hildegard and the community, he placed the Abbey under interdict, meaning they were forbidden to sing the Offices, they could only read their prayers without music. He also denied them the Eucharist. Much as she hated the interdict, Hildegard obeyed and the Abbey worshipped without music for about nine months. In 1179, the Pope rescinded the interdict a few months before Hildegard died.
In her musical drama Ordo Virtutem, or Play of Virtues, Hildegard demonstrated the crucial importance of music in the life of the Spirit. All of her characters in the play embody Christian virtues and sing. Only the Devil does not and cannot sing. In this liturgical play, Hildegard shows us her vision of the demise of ecclesiastical rulers who would forbid singing in worship.
Meditation:
O Creatrix, Mother Creator, source of the life of all, grant us mercy, grant us wisdom. Let Wisdom guide us on the path to justice, showing us what Love must do.
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