Hildegard to the Priest Bertolf
/ 52 The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen 187r Hildegard to the Priest Bertolf 1151-53 Hildegard exhorts the priest to be about his duty, and not to concern himself with his companions who remain idly behind.
It is a praiseworthy and marvelous thing when a pilgrim hastens to his homeland. How great then is the mourning and sorrow among his acquaintances and fellow citizens, who feasted and enjoyed life with him, and how those wanton fellows blush when their companion has abandoned the vessel he used to carry with them.
Bear in mind that you were foreseen by the eye of the Living One to be a man of great zeal, just as the gentle Father requires of His sheep.* Those companions who sit idle have peace among themselves, but the valiant knight finds himself amid violent storms. Therefore, stand on the path of righteousness, and prepare your soul to fight along with those who continually serve with the King's mandate.
Take note that if a hornet leaves the swarm, and flies high, looking up to the sun, the entire swarm will rush upon it to crush it, but the sun covers it with its light so that it can no longer be seen, and it thus escapes. Then the whole swarm is thrown into confusion, but that one becomes, as it were, a valiant knight.
May God stretch out His hand to you, and may you live forever in those regions where the sun does not grow dark.
The Priests Conrad and Bertolf to Hildegard Before 1153 The priests ask Hildegard to intercede with God for them.
To Hildegard, friend of God, and virgin to be admired beyond all other persons of this age, Conrad and Bertolf, unworthy priests in Reutlingen, with their prayer that she continue, as she has begun, in the fear and love of God, and that she illumine the darkness [cf. II Sam 22.29; Ps 17.29] of the world through the Living Light at which she gazes ceaselessly.