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Jessica Tucker's avatar

My daughter was reading about Saint Hildegarde, and we found out that a "Hildegarden" is a thing. We found many websites of people sharing their 'Hildegardens', including tips on what to plant and how to use the plants. It was very interesting!

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Judson Carroll's avatar

Yes, they are really nice! Saint Hildegard's work is absolutely amazing. I pray to her daily. The Healthy Hildegard website has a lot of good articles y'all may wish to check out. There are actually herbalists that are called Hildegard Practitioners in Europe. We need more of that in the US!

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Jenny duBay's avatar

I just checked out the Healthy Hildegard website, I'd never heard of it before. It's excellent! I bookmarked it for future reference, because my daughter and I plan to open a tea shoppe/cafe on the coast of Maine, using locally-grown herbs along with speciality herbs such as Butterfly Pea Flower (my favourite!) The Hildegard site is a great reference for us.

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Kaleb Hammond's avatar

Excellent work! And don't worry - alongside my family of converts, I am the only one in my parish with a southern accent too! Even in my hometown of Dawsonville, GA, before moving to Indiana, almost everyone in my parish was from the northeast or midwest, so, as we say, I stuck out like a sore thumb. God bless!

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Judson Carroll's avatar

Much appreciated - thannks!

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Jenny duBay's avatar

Thanks for this great article! I'm a Certified Holistic Nutrition Consultant and Certified Holistic Wellness Consultant. The college I went to (American College of Healthcare Sciences) focused wonderfully and exclusively on the healing nutrients of herbs and whole foods. There was nothing in the course work whatsoever that was against Catholic doctrine. I loved the course work and felt I received and excellent education, and love healthy eating, herbs, and whole foods, since my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. I plan to treat it that way, and for me, herbal remedies are a healthy part of that. I even learned a bit of Latin in my coursework, so there's another bonus!

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Judson Carroll's avatar

I am very glad to hear that! It is very important that such biases do not enter the classrooms. I have had very good teachers who were of other religions or secularists, who recognized the Catholic contributions to herbal medicine ... others who were quite offensive and even confrontational. One school, I won't mention but that is near me, offered substantial tuition discounts for basically everyone but Christians and heterosexual men. My hope is that my book will find a home in many Christian households, so that when the kids began to be led astray, the record can be set straight.

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sebastian liew's avatar

Hi Judson, great article. I am practicing medical and Western herbalist in Singapore for the past 20 years and also learned St Hildegard medicine from Dr Strehlow of Germany. I was struggling with my Catholic faith and naturopathic practice and found support finally from Hildegard. But my country's church is still far way from the holism concept and many priests don't know much about Hildegard. Finally I just promote on my own with my own understanding and with the support of a French priest who was my patient.

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Judson Carroll's avatar

Thanks. It is a struggle. Modern culture does not respect traditional Christianity. They will deify science or accept paganism, but not tradition.

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