O Quam Mirabilis Est (How Wonderful It Is)

O Quam Mirabilis Est is a votive antiphon to God, the Creator by the German mystic Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). It begins: "O quam mirabilis est prescientia divini pectoris que prescivit omnem creaturam (How wonderful it is, that the foreknowing heart divine has first known everything created!)". Complete Latin text, English translation, musical score, and commentary can be found here (opens in new window). Supported and approved of by St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Pope Eugene III in her own lifetime, in 2012 Benedict XVI declared her a Doctor of the Universal Church, citing this 12th century Benedictine abbess as "an authentic teacher of theology and a profound scholar of natural science and music."