Hildegard to the Abbot Manegold
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard to the Abbot Manegold 1156–65 Hildegard senses that something is amiss with the abbot and the monastery, and she urges him to assert himself O father and gentle brother, I see that there is some matter that is causing you to become weary and forgetful. I see also that the fire is not blazing brightly in either your spirit or in your sheepfold. But you say to yourself, "I cannot stand against them." And so you settle your mind as if you were asleep.
But it cannot rest there. For the day of salvation shines forth in you because God helps you in everything you have undertaken with His guidance. For He brought forth all creatures, and He named them in Himself. Now, may He Who will gather all things unto Himself on the last day make the fire in you blaze brightly.
Hildegard to the Abbot Manegold 1156–65 Hildegard once again touches on the problems in the monastery—all of which seem to stem from Manegold's mild and gentle manner of governance.
O loving father, you are a son of the toils of this age, but still God draws you to Himself. The present age is a time of tribulation and grief, a time, among the sons of men, of going astray. And we, who are supposed to be spiritual people, have been overshadowed by the deceptions of the spirits of the air. And so even in your community I see malignity like lead. Still, God's light is with you.
Wisdom says to you: Withdraw and retire a short while and a short distance from your sons. Still, do not cast aside the rod of your authority, but hold it in your hand, just as a father sometimes withdraws from his son when that son has brought disgrace upon him. But when the son falters, he calls his father back, and begs him for forgiveness [cf. Luke 15.1 Iff].
This is now your situation. For your sons will be greatly embarrassed by the prelates and the other members of the community, who say to them that they refused to tolerate a good and upright man as their superior. Thus your sons, embarrassed and humbled, will call you back, beating their breasts, and your