I Am That Great and Fiery Force

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I am that great and fiery force

Author: Saint Hildegard
Published in 2 hymnals

Representative Text

1 I am that great and fiery force
sparkling in everything that lives;
in shining of the river’s course,
in greening grass that glory gives.

2 I shine in glitter on the seas,
in burning sun, in moon and stars.
In unseen wind, in verdant trees
I breathe within, both near and far.

3 And where I breathe there is no death,
and meadows glow with beauties rife.
I am in all, the spirit’s breath,
the thundered word, for I am Life.

Source: Singing the Living Tradition #27

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Author: Saint Hildegard

Hildegard, St., Virgin and Abbess, was born at Bockelheim, or Bockenheim, Frankfurt, 1098. Her father, Hildebert, was one of the Knights of Meginhard, Count of Spanheim. When eight years old she was committed to tho care of a sister of the Count, Jutta, the Abbess of St. Disibod, a position in which she was succeeded by Hildegard in 1136. Under the rule of Hildegard the convent became so crowded that a new one was built at Rupertsberg, near Bingen, into which, in 1147, Hildegard removed with eighteen Sisters. Hildegard gained great notoriety in very early life on account of visions to which, it is said, she was subject from her 6th to her 15th year. In later life she filled a considerable place in the history of her times, not only as a wri… Go to person page >

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First Line:	I am that great and fiery force
Title:	I Am That Great and Fiery Force
Author:	Saint Hildegard
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Source:	Liber Divinorum Operum (The Book of Divine Works), 12th c.; Trans. Singing the Living Tradition, 1993
Language:	English
Copyright:	Trans. © Singing the Living Tradition