The Viriditas Chapel of Perpetual Adoration

The Viriditas Chapel of Perpetual Adoration is the northern chapel of Cathedral-in-the-Clouds available as a VR program that can be downloaded for free. More information on cathedral-in-the-clouds.net/viriditas.

The Viriditas Chapel of Perpetual Adoration is a VR experience inspired by the visions and music of Hildegard von Bingen.

Hildegard von Bingen was an 12th century abbess in the valley of the Rhine in present day Germany. She was a mystic, a scientist, a composer and a writer. In 2012 she was declared Doctor of the Church, among luminaries such as Theresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo. Viriditas is a guiding concept in her thinking. It expresses the vital power of nature, specifically of plants. Within this context, she imagined Jesus Christ to be a flower that blooms on the branch that is the Holy Virgin. It is this idea, combined with her vision of the cosmos in an eternal embrace of the divine, that inspired the Viriditas Chapel.

O greenest branch whose breath inspires the wonder of saints. Hail!
When you bloom in your branches the heat of the sun flows from you like ointment.
In you a beautiful flower blossomed whose fragrance awakened all that was withered.
And all emerged in full vigor!

The Viriditas Chapel of Perpetual Adoration is released free of charge as a Virtual Reality application for the Windows OS. In it you approach the altar of the chapel reverently and kneel down to meditate assisted by the heavenly sounds of Hildegard's musical poem O viridissima virga. After these five spectacular minutes you remain in silent adoration of The Most Holy Eucharist for as long as you please.

The Viriditas Chapel of Perpetual Adoration is published as part of FoAM's Anarchive, a collection of artifacts that looks at the multi-decade existence of FoAM, a transdisciplinary organisation founded by Maja Kuzmanovic and Nik Gaffney, who became patrons of the chapel during the crowdsourcing campaign for Cathedral-in-the-Clouds.

Cathedral-in-the-Clouds is an umbrella project for the creation of contemplative art inspired by Christian narratives and iconography in the context of contemporary culture. The digital cathedral is being built piece by piece by artists Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn, formerly Tale of Tales, now Song of Songs.

CREDITS

Art by Michael Samyn
Music by Hildegard von Bingen
Sung by Stevie Wishart’s ensemble Sinfonye
Patrons are Maja Kuzmanovic & Nik Gaffney
Fascicle No019 of FoAM Anarchive
Published by Liminous Editions
First released on Michaelmas 2022