One of the most wonderful concepts that Hildegard gifts us with is a term that I have never found in any other theologian. She made up the word viriditas or greening power. . . . She talks of "the exquisite greening of trees and grasses," of "earth's lush greening." She says that all of creation and humanity in particular is "showered with greening refreshment, the vitality to bear fruit." Clearly, creativity and greening power are intimately connected here. . . . She believes that Christ brings "lush greenness" to "shriveled and wilted" people and institutions.
— Matthew Fox, Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen