O How Wondrous | O how wondrous is

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by Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

O quam mirabilis

Language: Latin

Our translations: ENG

O quam mirabilis est
prescientia divini pectoris
que prescivit omnem creaturam.
Nam cum Deus inspexit faciem hominis
quem formavit,
omnia opera sua in eadem forma
hominis integra aspexit.
O quam mirabilis est inspiratio
que hominem sic suscitavit.

E. Budai sets lines 1-3, 8-9

Text Authorship:

by Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Erika Budai (b. 1966), "O quam mirabilis", lines 1-3,8-9 [ women's chorus ], from Mystica, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "O How Wondrous", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2025-03-12
Line count: 9
Word count: 37

O How Wondrous

Language: English after the Latin

O how wondrous is
the foreknowledge of the divine breast, 
which dictated all creation. 
For when God considered the human figure
which he had formed,
he saw that all his works were complete
with that very human form.
O how wondrous is the inspiration 
that so raised up humankind.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Latin by Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-03-05
Line count: 9
Word count: 49