 Hildegard did not accept this idea, replying that it was a sin and that the man had been reconciled to the church at the time of his death.Hildegard said that she first saw "The Shade of the Living Light" at the age of three, and by the age of five she began to understand that she was experiencing visions.She used the term 'visio' (the Latin for "vision") to describe this feature of her experience and recognized that it was a gift that she could not explain to others.