Scivias (Know the Ways of the Lord)
Scivias Domini
Catalogue updated 2026-06-08
Full Sub Rosa translationRead the full translationOpen reader →Open the chapter reader with the full English translation, source text, notes, and scripture echoes.What is Scivias (Know the Ways of the Lord)?
Hildegard's first and most celebrated visionary work, composed c. 1141–1151, presents twenty-six visions on creation, redemption, and the Church in three books dictated to her scribe Volmar. Sections were read aloud to Pope Eugenius III at the Synod of Trier (November 1147 – February 1148) at the urging of Bernard of Clairvaux, receiving papal approval for publication.
Sci vias Domini: Et ecce in quadragesimo tertio anno cursus mei temporis, cum caelesti visioni magno timore et tremebunda intentione inhaererem...
Our renderingKnow the Ways of the Lord: And behold, in the forty-third year of my earthly course, I gazed upon a heavenly vision with great fear and trembling attention...
What it is
Hildegard's first and most celebrated visionary work, composed c. 1141–1151, presents twenty-six visions on creation, redemption, and the Church in three books dictated to her scribe Volmar. Sections were read aloud to Pope Eugenius III at the Synod of Trier (November 1147 – February 1148) at the urging of Bernard of Clairvaux, receiving papal approval for publication. Frederick Barbarossa granted the Rupertsberg monastery an imperial charter of protection on 18 April 1163 (MGH, DDF.I 2/10:274-275), directly linking Scivias and Hildegard's wider prophetic ministry to the Hohenstaufen imperial orbit. The illuminated Rupertsberg Codex was almost certainly produced under Hildegard's direct supervision.
Why it still matters
The three books offer a structured guide from creation through redemption to eschatology; modern readers use it for sustained lectio divina through Hildegard's visionary theology, especially Book II on the sacraments and Book III on virtue and vice.
Common questions
What is Hildegard of Bingen's Scivias about?
Answer-first notes for readers and search engines
What is Scivias about?
Scivias, whose title means Know the Ways of the Lord, is the first visionary work of Hildegard of Bingen, composed between 1141 and 1151. Across three books it records twenty-six visions on creation, redemption, and the Church, each first described and then interpreted. Hildegard dictated the text to her scribe Volmar as she received it.
Who wrote Scivias and when?
Scivias was written by Hildegard of Bingen, a German Benedictine abbess, composer, and visionary, between 1141 and 1151 in Latin. Sections were read aloud to Pope Eugenius III at the Synod of Trier around 1147 to 1148, at the urging of Bernard of Clairvaux, and the work received papal approval for publication.
Where can I read Scivias in English?
You can read Scivias in English at Sub Rosa, which publishes a complete modern-English translation of all three books and twenty-six visions free online. Hildegard of Bingen's twelfth-century Latin visions on creation, redemption, and the Church open with her account of a heavenly vision received in the forty-third year of her life.
Scivias (Know the Ways of the Lord) companion
Keep Hildegard in your mornings
Get the free 14-day Scivias reading plan, then continue with daily historic devotionals in the Chosen Portion app.
Hildegard's visions were meant to be read and prayed over daily by her community; Chosen Portion continues that pattern with a curated historic devotional reading each morning.
- Read all three parts of Scivias in curated excerpts — about 15 minutes a day for 14 days
- One reflection question and one short prayer per day, so you never wonder what to do next
- A day-15 handoff into a daily prayer rhythm you can sustain in the free Chosen Portion app
Kept alongside
Liber Divinorum Operum (Book of Divine Works)
Liber divinorum operum
Hildegard's third and final major visionary work, composed c. 1163–1173/74, presents ten visions in three parts inspired by the Prologue of John's Gospel, exploring the relationship between the cosmos, the human person, and the divine Word. It was completed and first copied (the Ghent manuscript) in 1174, during the period when the Rupertsberg monastery continued to operate under the Hohenstaufen imperial protection charter granted by Frederick Barbarossa in 1163. An illuminated version was produced in the early 13th century for distribution. No single named Hohenstaufen court ownership record survives, but the text belongs to the same Rupertsberg corpus as Scivias.
Liber Vitae Meritorum (Book of the Rewards of Life)
Liber Vitae Meritorum
Hildegard's second major visionary work, composed 1158–1163, consists of six visionary sequences presenting thirty-five dialogues between vices and virtues — each vice given a seductive speech countered by its opposing virtue — with extensive treatment of purgatory, repentance, and restored union with God. It was composed at Rupertsberg during the peak of Hildegard's correspondence with Frederick Barbarossa and circulated within imperial German monastic networks. No single ownership record ties it to a named court member, but its composition period coincides exactly with Hohenstaufen patronage of Rupertsberg.
De Arca Noe Morali et Mystica (On the Moral and Mystical Ark of Noah)
De arca Noe morali; De arca Noe mystica
Two companion treatises composed c. 1125–1130 by Hugh of Saint Victor, structuring the contemplative ascent through an elaborate diagrammatic image of Noah's Ark overlaid on salvation history. The De arca Noe morali addresses moral formation and affective preparation for contemplation; the De arca Noe mystica (Libellus de formatione arche) provides a visual-theological diagram intended to be drawn, taught, and meditated upon. Together they constituted a standard curriculum for advanced spiritual formation in 12th-century cathedral schools and monasteries across the German-speaking world, making them directly relevant to the Hohenstaufen court's religious formation networks.