Letter 9: Hildegard to Pope Hadrian
The Letters ofHildegard ofBmgen
Hildegard to Pope Hadrian 1154-59 This is Hadrian IV, Nicholas Breakspear, the first and only English pope. He was consecrated in office on 5 December 1154 and served until his death on 1
September 1159—hence Van Acker's dating. If this letter is an exhortation to Hadrian to take stern measures with the unruly, ever-fickle Romans, it was perhaps unneeded. Hadrian took the unusual and bold step of putting the city under interdict soon after coming into power. This letter with its allegorical creatures and its vague allusiveness is one of the most difficult to grasp the sense of—or to translate. For Hildegard's use of allegorical animals, see Scivias, especially Book
III.
He who gives life to the living says: O man, because you allow the fierce rage of she-lions and the mighty strength of leopards, you will fall victim to them yourself, and you will come to realize that there is shipwreck in the capture of booty, because you have been given to all those who run to you in weariness.
But you have an intelligence keen enough to confront the fierce character of men, and by raging against them, you will rein in those careening horses which never leave off running down the paths of plunder. But, for all that, you are at times in conflict with your own better self in your partiality toward the putative probity of certain people when you conceal the coffers of those who died fighting on the plains. For this reason you will experience a battle of great ferocity, but you will destroy the chattel of those remaining, who fall into the pit because of their hardness of heart. Yet you have the power of the mighty key [cf. Matt
16.19], which does not go gladly to the Passover in the form of a sard.1'1
Lest you fall into the whirlwind, therefore, in your heart seek the salvation of waters so that you may find rest in gentleness to the distress and hurt of those who have been wounded by the wounds of disorder. In this you will imitate the Savior, who redeemed you. And God will never desert you, but you will see by His light.
Note 1. This is quite obscure. For the Latin text, see the Endnote. On the sard, cf. Ex
28.17 and Apoc21.