Hildegard to the Abbot Bertolf
The Letters
that the fire of love for you that once blazed in our hearts has grown cold. Therefore, blessed lady, please be no less mindful of us, puny as we are, in the presence of Him with Whom you are one spirit [cf. I Cor 6.17]. Likewise, please instruct the sisters entrusted to you to pray without ceasing both for us and for our community.
We also desire to hear words of admonition from you, and with all our hearts we wish you to be always in good health. Farewell.
209r Hildegard to the Abbot Bertolf 1148-59 Hildegard advises the abbot on the dudes of an administrator, stressing love and mercy.
"He Who Is" [Ex 3.14; Apoc 1.4] says: O man, you have put on the breastplate of faith [cf. I Thess 5.8], and you are girt with the belt of sanctity. Yet you are like a person who takes no joy in looking at his face in a mirror, because he sometimes doubts whether or not his face is comely. For your mind is like a building seen from afar that is sometimes covered by a cloud. And just as a porter quickly carries off a bundle to sell it, you are hasty.
Therefore, consider which of the following is the more useful: an ox or an ass, a fertile field or an arid one, a family name or a given name, a mountain or a valley situated between a man and his enemies. But the upright administrator is more useful than all the rest, just as air is beneficial in producing various kinds of fruit. Without the oversight of an administrator, a person's works do not come to fruition.
Now, beware lest you grow weak in your governance, as long as you have even one eye in your head. But hold out the light for your subordinates with maternal gentleness, cleanse their wounds, and fear to be regarded a tyrant. For the good Physician is not slow to mercifully anoint the wounds of mankind. For He gave a kiss to His own sheep, and He washed it in His blood.
You, therefore, O man, set Mercy, the beautiful friend of the King, in the bridal chamber of your mind, and in sweetest love put on sanctity like purple and a crown. Also, gather sweet aromatic herbs into your lap, and you will live in eternity, like the mountain of myrrh and incense [cf. Cant 4.6].
Be watchful, therefore, as you bear your burdens with the key of restitution,' so that when the sun shines over all things with no hint of whirlwind or storm, you may regard yourself to your benefit.