Letter 14: Arnold, Archbishop of Cologne, to Hildegard
The Letters ofHildegard ofBingen 3. Sed Dem illam plus dilexit. Iddrco noluit Deus amicam main dare inimico amatori, id est mundo. The blending of secular and divine love in this paragraph, or, perhaps better, the expression of divine love in earthly terms is simply exquisite: the beautiful, highborn lady, beloved for both her beauty and her wit and wooed by two very different lovers, is carried off by the worthiest of the two.
Arnold, Archbishop of Cologne, to Hildegard 1150-56(?) The archbishop of Cologne writes to ask Hildegard to send him a copy of the Scivias. Van Acker indicates some little latitude (1150-56) for the date of this letter, and even then with an additional question mark. If the requested book
"which you wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit" is indeed—and there seems no reason to doubt that it is—the Scivias ("whether it is complete or not"), one would think that an earlier date (say, 1150-52) might be more appropriate, since the Scivias was finished in 1151.
Arnold, archbishop of Cologne by die grace of God, to Hildegard, a blazing lantern in the house of the Lord at Mount St. Rupert. May you forever remain in the protection of the God of Heaven.
If you are well, with all things around you being directed by the Lord, we rejoice. Thanks to your merits with the Lord, we also are well. We are, however, unable to visit you as we had planned some time ago. Nevertheless, we entrust ourselves to you as far as we can at the present time, putting our hands into yours, joining our faith to yours, completely commending ourselves to you.
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to send, through the good offices of the present messenger, that book which you wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For whether it is complete or not, we are neither willing nor able to do without it—not because we wish to tempt God, but because we long to see His miracles.
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14r Hildegard to Arnold, Archbishop of Cologne 1150-56(?) Hildegard's response notifies the archbishop that she has sent her "book of truthnil visions" out to him. Once again she affirms that nothing in the book is from her own will, but all from the Living Light. Then, oddly, she claims the same thing for the present letter, a curious remark indeed for a letter which merely indicates that she is fulfilling the interlocutor's request. There is, clearly, something amiss with the text as we have received it. The version in the Patrologia is much longer and does indeed report a vision in detail. But see Van Acker, Der
Briefwechsel (1989), p. 140, for details.
Now then, O shepherd of your people, I—poor little woman that I am—sent my book of truthful visions to you, just as you requested. I remind you that it contains nothing originating from human wisdom nor from my own will, but rather it contains those truths which the unfailing Light wished to reveal through his own words. Indeed, this very letter which I am now writing to you came in a similar manner, not from my intellect nor through any human mediation, but through divine revelation.
Dean Philip1 and the Clerics of Cologne to Hildegard 1163(?) Philip writes Hildegard to request a copy of the sermon she recently preached at Cologne.
Philip, unworthy dean, and the entire chapter of the cathedral of Cologne send greetings to that venerable partaker of the portion which Mary chose [cf. Luke
10.42], Hildegard of St. Rupert in Bingen, who, in the purity of her heart, gaz.es upon God in the present life, and, in the life to come, face to face [cf. I Cor 13.12].
Because we esteem your maternal piety, we want to inform you that after your recent visit to us at God's command when, through divine inspiration,
The Letters of Hildegard ofBingen you revealed the words of life to us,2 we were greatly astonished that God works through such a fragile vessel, such a fragile sex, to display the great marvels of His secrets.
But "the spirit breatheth where he will" [John 3.8].3 For since it is abundantly clear that the Spirit has chosen a dwelling pleasing to Himself in your heart, understandably we come to you in admiration as if to the living temple of God to offer up prayers, and we seek responses of truth from your heart, as if from the very oracle of God.a We sincerely beseech you, blessed lady, to commend our desires earnestly to God, since they pertain to the welfare of souls. And if your soul, clinging to God as usual, sees anything concerning us in a true vision, please inform us in a letter. We further request that you commit to writing and send us those things that you said to us earlier in person, since, given over as we are to carnal lusts, we all too readily ignore spiritual matters, neither seeing nor hearing them.
Farewell, beloved lady. May God whom you love with your whole heart be with you.
Notes 1. Philip of Heinsberg will later (1167) become archbishop of Cologne, and exchange letters with Hildegard in that capacity. An able and powerful administrator, he favored Barbarossa during the schism, and served as imperial chancellor. It was apparently Philip who later as archbishop of Cologne commissioned Guibert of Gembloux to produce his life of Hildegard.
2. On her third preaching tour which took place some time between 1161 and 1163, Hildegard preached at Cologne. Later in this letter, Philip asks for a written copy of the sermon delivered at that time, and Hildegard's response, Letter 15r, apparently fulfills that request.
3. It is interesting to note how frequently this verse is used to justify God's use of a woman. See also Letter 20.
15r Hildegard to the Shepherds of the Church 1163(?) With this letter, Hildegard fulfills Philip's request for a copy of the sermon preached at Cologne, a scathing public sermon charging the clerics of Cologne with negligence in their cure of souls. As a result of their neglect and of their sinful ways, she charges, people are being seduced away from the True Way by the Cathars (who were known for their chastity and virtue) and it is toward the
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sect of the Cathars, especially active in Cologne, that she directs her most piercing, mordant criticism. Indeed, the stress throughout on the sanctity of the created world seems directed at the Cathar doctrine of the inherent evil in all created things. The appendices furnishing material from the Riesenkodex may not be entirely spurious, that is, non-Hildegardian, but as Barbara Newman suggests
(Sister, p. 234, note 89), may be material inserted from sermons on a like theme that Hildegard preached on other occasions.
"The one who was, and is, and is about to come" [Apoc 1.4] speaks to the shepherds of the Church: He Who Was was about to make all creation, so that it had the testimony of testimonies in itself by doing all His works just as He wished. He Who Is made all creation and showed the testimony of testimonies in all His works, so that each created thing appeared. He Who Is About To Come will purge all things, and He will re-create them in a different way, and He will wash away all the blemishes of the times and the seasons, and He will make all things ever new, and after the purgation He will reveal unknown things. From Him the wind blows, saying: lacking no power, I have set the firmament with all its ornaments, with eyes to see, ears to hear, a nose to smell, a mouth to taste. For the sun is like the light of His eyes, the wind like the hearing of His ears, the air like His fragrance, the dew like His taste, exuding viridity like His mouth. The moon marks the times of the seasons, and reveals knowledge to men. And the stars, which seem to be rational, are indeed so, because they are circular, just as rationality embraces many things. I shored up the four corners of the earth with fire, cloud, and water, and in this way I joined together all the boundaries of the world like veins. I formed rocks from fire and water like bones, and I established earth from moisture and viridity like marrow. I stretched out the abyss like feet which hold up the body, around which the exuding waters serve as its foundation. Everything was made in this way so as not to fail. If the clouds did not have fire and water, there would be no firm bond, and if earth did not have moisture and viridity, it would crumble like ashes. And if the other luminaries did not have the light of the sun's fire, they would not shine through the waters, but would be invisible."
These are the materials for the instruction of mankind, which he comprehends by touching, kissing, and embracing, since they serve him: by touching, because a man remains in them; by kissing, because he gains knowledge through them; by embracing, because he exercises his noble power through them. Thus mankind would have no freedom of possibility if they did not exist with him. So, they with mankind, and mankind with them.1
0 my children, you who feed my flocks as the Lord commanded, why do you not blush, since none of the creatures desert the precepts they received from the Master but, rather, bring them to perfection?2 I set you like the sun and the other luminaries so that you might bring light to people through the fire of doctrine, shining in good reputation and setting hearts ablaze with zeal.
1 did this in the first age of the world. For I chose Abel, I loved Noah,3 I instilled in Moses the precepts of the law, I established as prophets those who most loved me. Thus Abel prefigured the priesthood; Noah, the papal office;
Moses, the regal messenger; and the prophets, the many other offices.4 More-
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingcn over, Abel poured forth his brightness like the moon, because he revealed the time of obedience in his burnt offering; and Noah, like the sun, because he brought the edifice of obedience to perfection;5 and Moses, like strong planets, because he received the law through obedience. And the prophets, like the four corners which hold up the boundaries of the world, persevered mightily when they rebuked the whole world for its terrible iniquity, and thus made God known.
But your tongues are silent, failing to join in with the mighty voice of the resounding trumpet of the Lord, for you do not love holy reason, which, like the stars, holds the circuit of its orbit. The trumpet of the Lord is the justice of God, which you should meditate upon zealously in holiness, and through the law and obedience of your office make it known to the people at the proper time with holy discretion, rather than pounding them mercilessly with it.
But you are not doing this on account of the waywardness of your own will. Thus the luminaries are missing from the firmament of God's justice in your utterances, as when the stars do not shine, for you are the night exhaling darkness, and you are like people who do not work, nor even walk in the light because of your indolence. But just as a snake hides in a cave after it has shed its skin, you walk in filth like disgusting beasts.
Oh woe, just as it is written: you ought to be "Mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt" [Ps 73.2]. For, blessed and sealed in the celestial persons, you ought to be the little habitation redolent of myrrh and incense, in which God also dwells. But you are not so. Rather, you are quick in your pursuit of adolescent lust, incapable, like children, of even speaking of your own salvation. You do whatever your flesh demands. Wherefore it is said about you: "Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary!" [Ps 73.3J. For the power of God will crush and destroy your necks which have become stiff with iniquity, for they have been puffed up as with the breath of the wind, since you neither know God nor fear men. Indeed, rather than despising iniquity, you have no desire to cast it out of yourselves. You do not see God nor even wish to do so, but you look at your own works and judge them according to your own standards, that is to say, by doing or abandoning at your own pleasure.
Oh, what great evil and enmity this is! that a person is unwilling to live an upright life, either for God's sake or mankind's, but, rather, seeks honor without work and eternal rewards without abstinence. Such a one, in his supposed sanctity, vainly longs to cry out, as the devil does, I am good and holy.
But this is not true.
What do you say now? You do not have eyes,6 since your works do not shine before men with the fire of the Holy Spirit, and you do not meditate on good examples for them. Therefore, the firmament of God's justice in you is lacking in the light of the sun, and the air has lost the edifice of virtues, sweetened by a pleasing fragrance. Whence it is said: "They have eyes and will not see. They have noses and will not smell" [Ps 113.5, 6]. For just as the winds blow and penetrate the whole world, so should you be mighty winds teaching all people, just as it is said: "Their sound has gone forth into all the earth" [Ps
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18.5]. You are worn out by seeking after your own transitoiy reputation in the world, so that, at one moment, you are knights, the next slaves, the next mere jesting minstrels, so that in the perfunctory performance of your duties you sometimes manage to brush off the flies in the summer.1'
Through the teaching of the Scriptures, which were composed through the fire of the Holy Spirit, you ought to be the corners of the Church's strength, holding her up like the corners that sustain the boundaries of the earth. But you are laid low and do not hold up the Church, retreating instead to the cave of your own desire. And because of the tedium brought on by your riches, avarice, and other vain pursuits, you do not properly teach your subordinates, nor indeed do you even allow them to seek instruction from you.
For you say, We can't do everything. But you ought to steep them in the precepts of the law, and thereby restrain them, lest any of them, in his frailty
(his marrow, as it were), do whatever he wishes, just as the earth is steeped and restrained by humidity and viridity, lest it turn to ashes. On account of you, however, they are scattered like ashes and always do whatever they wish.c
You ought to be a pillar of fire going before them [cf. Ex 13.21] and crying out to them, performing good works before them, saying: "Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way" [Ps 2.12].
For the Lord's law consists of discipline through love and fear. Thus both natures—the spiritual and the carnal—must be exercised righteously, lest the Creator threaten those He has created, because they are not walking in His ways.
But you are deceiving yourselves when you say, We have no control over any of them, because if you were to chastise your subordinates properly through the reason which God gave you, they would not dare to resist the truth, but, as far as they could, they would say that your words are true. But because you are not doing this, it is said of you: "They were troubled, and reeled like a drunken man; and all their wisdom was swallowed up" [Ps 106.27].
For you are troubled, since you have no regard for the good in yourselves, and thus do not walk properly. You reel and stumble, since your works do not give you the right answer, and, like a drunk man, you do not know what you are doing. This is because you wilfully do whatever you want. Whence all the wisdom which you sought so hard to find in Scripture and in instruction has been swallowed up in the pit of your own will, since you did those things you learned by touching and tasting merely to fulfill your own desires in the fatness of your flesh, just like a child who does not know what he is doing because he is a child.
Therefore it is again said to you: Unlike the feet that hold up the body, you are not presenting a wholesome and stable example of morality before the people, so that you can surround them by the Scriptures, just as the abyss is completely surrounded by oozing waters. But you say, We don't have time now for talking, and there is not even time for us to be heard as there used to be. And 1 reply, Abel did not fail to perform his sacrifice, despite his brother's hatred, but he presented it to his Lord, even though he was killed for it. And Noah sweated profusely, greatly dismayed at the terrible judgment that all
The Letters ofHildegard ofBingen creation was to be drowned, for he greatly feared death when he stood above the cloud.7'1 When others saw him, they cried out, What is that fool doing?
The winds will surely destroy him. Nevertheless, he fulfilled God's command.8
Similarly, Moses the lawgiver suffered cruelly at the hands of his brothers and neighbors, but, for all that, he did not abandon the law. Rather, he fulfilled
God's commands. Also, in their obedience to God, the prophets were killed by infidels, as if by rabid wolves.
But you are unwilling, in this short and comfortable life, to endure injuries at the hands of the people, and thereby you are laying up infinite torments for yourselves. You ought to be the day, but you are the night. For you will be either the day or the night. Choose, therefore, where you wish to take your stand. You are not the sun and moon and stars in the firmament of God's law and justice. Rather, you are the darkness, in which you lie as if you are already dead.
Whence the devil says to himself about you: Just as I had intended, they busy themselves with feasting and riotous living. But my eyes and ears and belly, and my very veins, are full of their froth, and my breasts, with their vices.
For they refuse to labor for their God, and they consider Him nothing. Therefore, I will begin to wage war on them, and, by playing my games with them,
I will lead them astray, since I do not find them laboring in the field of their
Lord, as He commands them. O you, my disciples and followers, you have been punished publicly far more than they. And because this is so, rise up against them, strip away all their riches and honor, despoil and destroy them.
Thus says the devil to himself, and in this way he will fulfill the judgment of God against many people. But I Who Am say to those who hear me: When this time comes, ruin will fall upon you at the hands of certain people, you wicked sinners, and they will pursue you relentlessly, and they will not cover up your works, but will lay them bare, and they will say about you: These are scorpions in their morals and snakes in their works. Moreover, in their zeal toward the Lord, they will curse you, saying "the way of the wicked shall perish" [Ps 1.6]. For they will mock your wicked ways and sneer at you.
But the people who will do this, themselves seduced by the devil and serving as his emissaries, will come with wan faces and, clothing themselves in sanctity, will ally themselves with great secular princes.9 And they will say to them about you: Why do you keep them with you and how can you stand to have them near you, when they are polluting the whole earth with their iniquity?10
The people who say these things about you will walk about in black robes, with proper tonsure, and will appear to men serene and peaceful in all their ways. Moreover, they do not love avarice, and do not have money, and, in their secret selves, they hold abstinence as so great a virtue that they can scarcely be reproached. The devil, however, is within these men, revealing himself to them in the obscuring lightning, just as he was at the beginning of the world before his fall. And he makes himself, as it were, like the prophets, saying: People foolishly imagine that I appear like rabid and unclean animals or come in the guise of flies, but, in reality, I fly on wings in the flashing thunder and deceive
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them so fully that they fulfill my will perfectly. In this way, I will make myself like the almighty God in the wonders I perform.
For the devil works through the spirits of the air,11 who, because of men's wicked deeds, buzz around in the air in countless hordes like the flies and gnats which plague people in the sweltering heat with their sheer numbers. For the devil deceives them in this way because he does not dissuade them from chastity, but indeed permits their desire to be chaste.12 Therefore, they do not love women, but flee from them. And thus they appear in public as if they were filled with sanctity, and say with mocking words: Before now, all other people who wanted to remain chaste burned themselves up like roast fish. But no pollution of the flesh or lust dares to touch us, because we are saintly and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Wake up!c The misguided people of today have no idea what they are doing, no more than those who went before us in times past. For, at that time, others who err in the Catholic faith will fear them and will serve them slavishly, imitating them as much as possible." And when the full gamut of this error has been run, these people will everywhere persecute and exile the teachers and wise men who remain true to the Catholic faith—but not all of them, because some of them are mighty knights for God's justice. Moreover, they will not be able to affect certain congregations of saints, whose way of life is upright. For this reason, they advise princes and wealthy men to coerce teachers, wise men, and clerics with club and staff so that they may be made "just."
And in some cases this will be accomplished, causing others to tremble with fear.14
In the beginning of this their seduction into error, they will say to women: it is not permitted for you to be with us, but because you do not have good and upright teachers, obey us and do whatever we say, whatever we command, and then you will be saved. And in this way they draw women to themselves and lead them into their own error. Therefore, they will say in the pride of their puffed-up spirit: We are completely victorious.15
But I Who Am say: Thus the iniquity which will purge iniquity will fall upon your heads, just as it is written: "He made darkness his covert, his pavilion round about him: dark waters in the clouds of the air" [Ps 17.12]. And, because of your wicked deeds, which are devoid of light, God will wreak His vengeance upon you, and He will be so hidden in that vengeance that you will have no hope of deliverance. For no one will call out for mercy for you, but everybody will say that you are wicked. The law and doctrine are from heaven, and, if you were an ornament of virtue and a fragrant garden of delights, God should have been living in you through these.
But you are a bad example to others, since no rivulet of good reputation flows from you, so that, with respect to the soul, you have neither food to eat nor clothes to wear, but only unjust deeds without the good of knowledge.
Therefore, your honor will perish and the crown will fall from your head. Thus injustice calls forth justice, and it seeks out and searches for eveiy scandal, just as it is written: "For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh" [Matt 18.7]. Thus the wicked deeds
The Letters ofHildegard of'Bingen of mankind must be purged through tribulation and contrition,16 and many woes are laid up for those also who, through their irreligious acts, bring misery upon others. These are people of no faith, seduced by the devil, and they will be the scourge to discipline you rigorously, because you do not worship God with pure hearts. And they will not cease to torment you until all your injustice and your iniquities are purged.
These, however, are not those deceivers who will come before the last great day when the devil has flown on high, just as he began to fight against God in the beginning, but these are their precursors. Nevertheless, after their perverse worship of Baal and their other depraved works are made known, princes and other great men will rush upon them, and will kill them like rabid wolves, wherever they can be found. Then the dawn of justice will arise, and your last days will be better than those before, and, on account of your past trials, you will be devout, and you will shine like pure gold, and thus you will remain through long ages.17
At that time many people will be amazed that such mighty storms heralded this time of mercy. But those who lived before these times fought mightily against their desires to the great peril of their bodies, but they were unable to extricate themselves. In your times, however, you will be engaged in restless wars on account of your desires and your unsettled morals, and, through them, you will be reduced to nothing.
Whoever wishes to escape these dangers, therefore, let him beware lest with darkened eyes he run into the nets of these woes. But let each, to the best of his ability, escape them through good works and the safe harbor of uncorrupted will, and God will provide him with His aid.
Poor little timorous figure of a woman that I am, I have worn myself out for two whole years so that I might bring this message in person to the magistrates, teachers, and other wise men who hold the higher positions in the Church. But because the Church was divided,181 have kept quiet.
Appendix I19 And so again I say: God sets the works which He Himself made as an example for those who fall away from Him, since they are not bearing good fruits, just as a father sets good examples before his sons when they turn away from him and act dishonorably. In His benevolence, God gave His teaching to Adam, but Adam failed through the devil's counsel. Thus he lost his heritage in paradise and the brightness which he wore like a shining garment, and he put on a woeful garment in its place, and went out into a land of darkness. Then the devil rejoiced because he had made a fool of man, and he continued to do so until the time of Abel, who loved God with a perfect will, and he showed that will in his good work. But then the devil laid hold of Cain and caused him to kill his brother. God saw these things in his mind as if they were written in a book. But the devil was ignorant of these mysteries, because they were intelligible only to holy divinity. For virginity was adorned in Abel through the performance of his priestly duties and in the blood of his martyrdom, all of
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which was brought to full consummation in the Son of God.'" Then, in Noah, God prefigured the foundation of the celestial kingdom through the building of the ark when He brought forth a new world.'1 For at that time the earth produced a new juice, that is, wine, in which there is life and death, and through it the devil persuaded Noah's son to dishonor his father's nakedness [cf. Gen
9.20-25]. As a result, that son, stripped of the blessing of liberty, became a slave. Afterward, through circumcision and true revelation, God disclosed the walls of that foundation in Abraham and his barren wife [cf. Gen 17]. For circumcision was the downfall of the devil and the wound of death. The first woman was also barren of life, but the Church through faith was teeming with life. Through murder and other wicked works, the devil maliciously made some of the generation of Abraham into objects of scorn so that they fell from God's blessing. But the finger of God wrote the law for Moses [cf. Ex 31.18; Deut
9.10], and thereby raised the lofty towers of the aforementioned foundation.
As a result, the devil sank to new depths of evil (long premeditated, and now openly revealed) when, in the guise of Baal, he claimed to be God. Thus God punished the children of Israel with many plagues. Then the unicorn came and slept in the lap of the Virgin22 when the Word of God became flesh [cf. John
1.14] and completed the foundation of the kingdom. For through virginal nature, He completely fulfilled the sacrifice of Abel by the blood of martyrdom.
The ancient serpent tried to entrap Him, however, because he didn't know who He was since he did not know the mysteries in the mind of God, and thus he urged the Jewish people not to be persuaded by His miracles but to seize
Him when He was sold by His disciple.23 Wherefore they were sold into various countries and lost their own country. But through his disciples, the Son of God taught the faith to leaders, princes, and kings, and set His Church, like
Noah's ark, upon other lofty mountains, and filled it with publicans and sinners, as well as the just. He also began obedience in Abraham, and He Himself, as the incarnate Word, was obedient to His father even unto death [cf. Phil
2.8], and for circumcision He gave baptism in the name of the holy Trinity, commanding His disciples to baptize all believers. And through baptism the serpent was confounded and strangled, and death was wounded and defeated.
Then the Church gave birth in a way different from Eve's, since she was sterile of life. Mary's grace was greater than the harm Eve had done/ But the ancient serpent persuaded the Jews and infidels to persecute His saints and kill them.
The Son of God, however, achieved the banner of victory in all His works, and just as He gave the law to Moses, He commanded His disciples to teach all people, establish teachers, and adorn the Church in all its orders. And this they did through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who wrote true doctrine in their hearts. Because the Word of God was made flesh, it pleased God that all the orders of angels, which were known by name, be spiritually represented among spiritual people, such as priests, bishops, and the other spiritual orders of this kind.24 Then the Church appeared like dawn among spiritual people, and was so refulgent in virtue that it had a defense like a shield and protection like a breastplate for their defense. And so spiritual people were greatly honored by God and men up to the time of a certain tyrant, who began to be a
The Letters of Hildegard ofBingen worshipper of Baal, serving idols.'5 When the spiritual people saw this, they at first sighed and trembled. But then later they departed from their original unity, each one following his own desires, and turned away from the covenant which God had promised through the Holy Spirit. Abandoning one divine precept after another, just as the Jews had done, each order wilfully established laws in accordance with its own desires, and turned aside from upright life and sound doctrine.26 Then, like Adam, they were stripped of the garment of obedience, and began to live according to the flesh. And they did this like a dark land, just as, after his disobedience, Adam was called "the dark one" by God.
For just as they had, previously, shone brightly in the Church, they no longer gave off light, but became like the darkness of the whirlwind. In this they were like Adam, who was obscured by a dark cloud through disobedience, and, walking in darkness, no longer gave off light, neither for himself nor for others.27
Again, I heard a voice from the Living Light saying: O daughter of Zion, the crown of honor will fall from the heads of your children, and their riches will diminish, because they did not take advantage of the time that I gave them for overseeing and teaching their subordinates. For I gave them breasts to nourish my little ones, and because they failed to perform this task fittingly and at the proper time many of these little ones, like children far from their homes, have died from hunger, because they were not refreshed with correct doctrine. Moreover, these people have a voice, but they do not cry out, and they were given work but they do not labor. Withotit merit, they wish to have glory; and merit, without work. Whoever wishes to have glory with God must cut off his own will, and whoever desires to have merit with God must work for it. But because you are not doing this, you will be accounted the slaves of slaves, and slaves will be your judges. Your freedom will fall from you, just as my blessing departed from Canaan. These scourges will be the precursors of other, worse ones to come.
Appendix H2S For the devil brought about a flaw in the work which God began in the first man, when he spewed out the poison of his vices upon the spiritual people.
But God will preserve in righteousness those people He has chosen, just as He also preserves some people from this latest error,29 so that they may do away with it. Thus the devil will be confounded in the tail of this error and will hide himself away like a snake in a cave, just as, in this latest error, he will also be brought to confusion. For God foresaw all His works in Adam (whose bones and flesh He made from the mud) when He breathed the breath of life into him. When the spirit goes out of a man, however, his flesh and bones become ashes, but on the last day they will be renewed. God's creation of man from mud prefigured the old law, but the resurrection of man's flesh and bones from the mud shows the spiritual law, which the Son of God brought forth through Himself. Moreover, he who is raised up from his ashes will be eternal, and, rewarded with sanctity and the true law, he will see the face of his Creator, because, then, he will be truly renewed, just as it is written, "Send forth thy
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spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth"
[Ps 103.30]. This means: O, God, Creator of all things, you will send forth your Spirit at the last trumpet, and men will rise, immortal, so that from then on they will neither grow, nor wither, nor decay. And so you will renew the face of man, that is to say, his body and spirit will be one in knowledge and perfection. God, Who has neither beginning nor end, will do this. For God has need of nothing, because He is perfect in Himself. When God created man, He placed in him all His miraculous works, and entrusted to him every edifice of the virtues, through which man makes his way to that One Who loves him very much, because He is Love [cf. I John 4.8, 16]. For God is like a head of a household who entrusts his goods to a close friend, so that, in return for his good work, he may receive his reward. Now, O children of God, hear and understand what the Spirit of God says to you so that you will not lose the better part. And the Spirit of God says to you: Look to your city and your district, and cast out those wicked men from your midst, for they are like the Sadducees and worse than Jews. For as long as they are with you, you cannot be safe and free from anxiety. The Church weeps and mourns over their iniquity, which is defiling her children. And so drive them out, lest your city and congregation perish, for long ago the banquet of the royal wedding was prepared in Cologne, and to this day its streets still resound.
Notes 1. Sed et homo nullam licentiam possibilitatis haberet, si ista cum eo nan essent. Sic ista cum homine, et homo cum ittis. This letter is perhaps Hildegard's fullest, most detailed expression of man the microcosm. In the remainder of the letter, note the intricate ways she uses to re-express the idea of the larger world of the universe reflected in the little world of man.
2. This idea is, of course, not new with Hildegard. It was perhaps given the most notable—certainly, the most influential—expression in twelfth-century thought by Alanus de Insulis in De Planctu Naturae. Alanus's vision of a monumental personified
Nature, on whose robe was figured all the creatures of the world, with a rip in the garment only in that place where man was represented, is the most famous literary, allegorical representation of this idea.
3. At this point some MSS add "I showed myself to Abraham." And below after Noah's prefiguration, they have "Abraham, the renewal of the offspring."
4. Vnde etiam Abel sacerdotium prefigurabat, Noe principale magisterium, Moyses regale nuntium etprophete plurima magisteria. The only one of these four that is absolutely clear is Abel, who prefigures the priesthood. Since they all have to do with religious functions, however, Noah, with the "principal office," would seem to prefigure die papacy. In Letter 8, for example, Hildegard refers to the pope as sitting in principali cathedra. The function of Moses, as the regal messenger, is less clear, and the prophets, with their many offices, are clearly intended to be generalized.
5. Here, some MSS add "and Abraham, like strong planets, when he established circumcision," and then after Moses replace "strong planets" with "the other stars."
6. Note how nicely she carries out her microcosm/macrocosm thought pattern ("For the sun is like the light of His eyes" just above) and how well she ties it into the biblical passage cited just below.
The Letters of Hildegard ofBingen 7. Van Acker suggests that Hildegard may have confused Noah with Moses in Ex
24.15-16: "And when Moses was gone up, a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days: and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of the cloud."
8. Some MSS add at this point: "And Abraham, too, despite the pain of his heart and the love for his son, did not refuse to bind up his son as a burnt offering."
9. I.e., the Cathars.
10. Some MSS add here "These are the drunken and the lecherous, and unless you cast them out of your midst, the whole Church will be destroyed."
11. Hildegard speaks frequently of the spirits of the air, or airy spirits, as she does in a passage from the Vita (II.ii.27) where she describes how certain aerei spiritus came and talked with one another about their plans for her.
12. Some MSS add here: "And again he [the devil] says to himself, 'God loves chastity and continence, and so I will make a show of these among them.' In this way does the ancient enemy, through his airy spirits, 'inspire' [inflat] men to abstain from sexual sins."
13. Some MSS add: "Then the people will rejoice at their way of life, because they will appear to be just."
14. Some MSS add: "Yet, as Elijah said, many of the just who are not taken in by these errors nor uprooted from their fundamental beliefs will be preserved."
15. Some MSS add at this point "Yet, later, they will engage in secret lechery with these women, and thus the iniquity of their sect will be laid bare."
16. Cf. Scivias III.v. 187ff: "When a person understands that he has acted contrary to God's will, he must be purged either by a bodily punishment or by the penalty of penitence or by tortures in the next life."
17. Some MSS add the following at this point: "For the first dawn of justice will then arise in spiritual people, just as, at first, it began with a small number, and they will not want to have great power and wealth which destroy souls, but they will say:
' "Woe to us, because we have sinned" ' [Lam 5.16]. For from their past fear and grief they will be strengthened for justice, just as the angels were strengthened by the love of God when the devil fell. And thus, afterwards, they will live in humility and will not desire to rebel against God by performing wicked deeds, but, cleansed of their many errors, they will remain in the mighty strength of uprightness."
18. The schism began in 1159 when the cardinals elected two popes, Alexander III and Victor IV. The latter was given Barbarossa's approval, and he retained his schismatic position until his death in 1164. At this point Barbarossa, in blatant defiance of the Church, elected his own pope, Paschal III, and, after him, another, Calixtus III. The schism lasted until 1177, when Barbarossa and Alexander III were reconciled.
19. This portion of Letter 15r, attested by only two MSS, Van Acker prints only as an appendix. To be read in the context of the letter as a whole, it should be inserted, as in the MSS, at line 14, p. 58, immediately after the sentence, "Rather, you are the darkness, in which you lie as if you are already dead."
20. For Abel is the Old Testament antetype of Christ.
21. The Glossa ordinaria interprets the ark as a figure of the Church, as in the following interpretation of God's sealing the door of the ark: "Nemo enim intrat in Ecdesiam, nisi per sacramentum remissionis peccatorum, quodde latere aperto emanavit." Note how carefully Hildegard works out her argument by her recurrent use, as here, of the word foundation.
22. The unicorn of Physiologus and Bestiary has become fully Christianized. This is one of the earliest (oblique though it is) references to the Holy Hunt, where the