Mulieris Mysterium: An Operatic Tapestry

There is a place for the saints’ lives to be portrayed in biopic form to honor their great political and cultural accomplishments, but the opera Mulieris Mysterium seeks to do something different. It seeks to present them—specifically female visionaries in the faith—in the context of the shrouded light of eternity. It seeks to present them as alive.

Inspired by the oral and written tradition of the Church and practices of popular piety, this opera paints an image of the invisible world colliding with our visible reality, a portrait of finitude altered by the infinitude of the eternal. This opera strives not to intellectualize the lives of the saints on Earth but to provide a glimpse into how their lives continue to impact the world as we see it through their intercession and stories. I place saints whose stories span almost a millennium in direct conversation with one another, unafraid to bend space and time as I engage with an invisible reality extending beyond temporality. To portray eternity is an impossible task, but through music and theater, perhaps the task brings us closer to encountering eternity itself and its divine source. As Saint Hildegard von Bingen once said, “There is music of Heaven in all things.”

The holy women featured in this opera were more than great philosophers; they are mouthpieces of the Word which is everlasting, and I seek to honor them as such with this work.