Hildegard to the Monks
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen 113r Hildegard to the Monks Before 1173 Divine Wisdom established all things in proper measure, and in this way, Hildegard writes the troubled monks, He provided a pattern for the governance and appropriate regulation of monasteries. Then providing specific examples from the Scripture and working out a detailed allegorical description of the difficulties in their monastery, Hildegard implores the brothers to let the inextinguishable fire of life burn in them so that their community can return to the brilliance it had before.
Although burdened for a long time with a grave illness, I, a poor little form of a woman, was forced by the true Wisdom to offer these words of His to the people of this monastery. And these are the words that I heard: Since that same Wisdom had expounded His work to this people, that is, how He established heaven and earth in proper measure, He had thereby given the pattern by which the brothers of this monastery might know how their institution had been established in the beginning, and how it has now degenerated.
And Wisdom said: "I have compassed the circuit of heaven" [Ecclus 24.8], establishing the height and depth in such a way that they would not exceed the proper measure, and, moreover, I so ordained the width of the entire world that it would not exceed its measure. I also made the sun so that it would give light in the day and dispel the darkness, and I set the moon so that, along with the stars, it would shine in the night [cf. Gen l.lff].
For in that word when God said: "Let there be" [Gen 1.3], all these things were made, and they still remain. Hence, O people, see yourselves reflected in these things as in a mirror, so that you may continue that which you began. For God breathed the breath of life into mankind [Gen 2.7], and so flesh and blood was given life. Then He gave to mankind a host of angels to praise and minister unto him, and He made the other creatures subject to him [cf. Gen 1.26ff]. For God had given the light of eternity to mankind. But despite all this honor, mankind listened to the worm, and, by going astray, the light was extinguished, and he became blind to the precepts of God. And the devil rejoiced within himself and said: I was unable to conquer God in heaven, but in His work, that is, man
(who is another god), I have conquered Him. Note that the devil called man a god, just as he himself wanted to be a god. But God, in the ancient plan that He had in Himself before the ages, considered how He could so work out His ordering of things that nobody could stand out against Him with respect to it, and He hid the knowledge of that plan from all creatures. Thus the devil did not know it, and still does not, and will forever, until the last day, be ignorant of it.1 But then, then on that last day, in his great confusion, he will sense some parts of that plan and will know how he will be utterly confounded through it. For the devil thought that mankind was absolutely damned, just as he wished.
The Letters
In forgetfulness of God and in great foolishness, people forgot that they would be restored as human beings. And so they lived as something less than human beings, until that ancient plan chose a certain sanctified people unto itself And God foreshadowed sobriety and virginity in Abel, who became a martyr for the sake of justice [cf. Gen 4.8], doing what his father had neglected to do.
That sanctified people knew themselves to be human beings, and they lived like humans. From these Noah arose, whom God preserved in the ark. But God, wishing to drown iniquity, opened up the mouth of the abyss, and covered most of creation with water. Then, He swore by His own Godhood that He would never again destroy all flesh by water [cf. Gen 9.11-17], for it was through water that mankind would be regenerated and saved.
After the flood the ancient plan disclosed many miracles by which the devil was confounded. After the murder of Abel, the devil rejoiced, saying: Behold, the work of God that I cast out of paradise lies destroyed on the earth. But sanctified by the Holy Spirit, Noah worked, and he built an altar to God, through which the ancient plan foreshadowed that altar which John saw in Apocalypse, from which the prayers of the saints ascended [cf Apoc 8.3–5], For when man prays in penitence for sin and when he seeks salvation from God, he is called saintly.
The ancient plan also brought forth many signs in Abraham. For Abraham, by his own will, left his homeland and his relations, and, in his sanctity, initiated that severe law through which death was confounded and the iniquity of the serpent was wounded with an incurable wound [cf. Gen 12. 1ff]. Thus he fulfilled the precepts of God, as Adam failed to do when he deserted God's precept and followed his own will.
That plan also established, in Moses, the purification by law, and through the blood of goats and cattle [cf. Lev 16.15] foreshadowed that the innocent Lamb would be sacrificed for mankind. For the Son of God, coming forth from the heart of the Father, was born of the Virgin and fulfilled all these things in Himself.
Virginity arose in the Son of God, and penetrated the heavens with banner raised, because that same Son of the Virgin was wholly untainted and fully holy, and through Him the great order of the virgins arose, an order that the Old Law had not known. But the Son of God was a priest when He sacrificed Himself for mankind on the altar of the cross.a Thus priests are joined in His priesthood, and they ought to imitate the angels, who are the messengers of God. The duty of angels is to show the works of mankind, as in written form, to God. And so it is with priests when they receive the sins of mankind through penitence and show them to God through indulgent mercy.
This is what the steward did who was accused before his master "that he had wasted his goods" [Luke 16.1] when he told all of his master's debtors to write less than they owed. For this steward is the synagogue, which could not have freedom through the blood of goats and cattle, but still prefigured the sacrifice of the innocent Lamb, by whom the steward feared that he would be deprived of his office. And he said to himself that he could not abide the hardness of the Law, which commanded: If a person do such and such, he shall die the death
[cf. Lev 24.16]. Also, he was ashamed at being cast out so that he could not be
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen reinstated by any petition for mercy. And yet it was through mercy that many were brought to indulgence in the Son of God, and so that mercy granted for one's deeds was almost praiseworthy, because when a servant gives recompense to his lord through penitence and confession, that lord praises him highly, because the servant loved him greatly, just as Mary Magdalene loved Christ. This
Scripture about mercy is applicable to priests, and so it behooves them to imitate Christ, to love chastity, and to flee inchastity. For the Son of God suffered on the cross to make the unjust just, and He draws them to Himself, as was said of the steward.
Abel became a martyr for justice. After the Passion of the Son of God, however, a multitude of martyrs arose, who suffered for the faith and for the confession of His name. Other martyrs joined their ranks, that is, those who, by fighting against sin and vice, conquer themselves. These are the wings of the aforesaid martyrs. God's vengeance, however, will fall on those who persecute them unjustly. And those who persecute and torment virginity so that they bring tribulation upon it will not escape God's vengeance. And so it happens many times that, through God's justice, the noble become ignoble and the rich poor, and are, furthermore, subjected to many other dangers and calamities. Moreover, those who oppress and blaspheme the priesthood are as guilty as Cain, who killed his brother. Therefore, they should suffer Cain's own punishment [cf. Gen 4.8–16],
For the priestly office derives its authority from the Lord God.
Wisdom built a tower within the community of this monastery and adorned it with pearls and topaz and sapphire, and He stationed watchmen in that tower.
And near the tower He constructed a winepress [cf Is 5.2], which He entrusted to certain men so that they might use it to press out the wine. Moreover, He built a house in the vicinity, and ordered other men to live in it so that they might take care of all matters that pertained to His fields. But a terrible storm came, and a wave of insanity arose so that the men in charge of the winepress threw javelins at the tower, and the ones in the house threw stones at the tower, and then the men in the tower threw stones back at them.
This tower signifies the height of governance, which is decorated with pearls, that is, with those who have lived in innocence from childhood. And it is decorated with topaz, that is, with those who, having chosen the best part [cf. Luke
10.42], renounce the world. And it is decorated with sapphire, that is, with those who, on account of their love of God, have renounced themselves and the pomp of the world. In this tower are the watchmen, that is, those who are placed in governance over those subject to them. The winepress signifies the office of those who, joined through consecration, administer the sacrament of Christ's Passion at the altar, and cultivate and preserve the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth. The house stands for the management and regulation of those who are ignorant and who live in the world and yet have renounced the world and themselves for God.
They labor for bodily necessities and still preserve the spiritual life. And the storm denotes the temerity of those in the winepress who hurl spears of pride at their prelates, and that same temerity makes those in the house defiantly disobedient to their prelates. At the same time, the prelates, provoked as they are, become harsh toward their subordinates, and take an angry tone with them.