Hildegard to the Abbot
The Lettert
wonder to men and women alike. And so already, already, I say, the reputation of your sanctity has spread far and wide. Everyone can easily see that He that is mighty has done great things for you [cf Luke 1.48f], and it is clear that He regards you as His humble handmaiden [cf. Luke 1.48f], for He takes care to disclose unheard-of things to you. Now, the heavenly King has taken you, His bride, nay rather His daughter, by the hand, and, by His will, He has brought you into His chamber [cf. Cant 2.4], and, there, leaning on your Beloved [cf. Cant 8.5], you have merited to hear His secrets, and to utter them gloriously to mortals.
This is fitting, saintly lady, for, as it has been reported to us, you have heard this command from the very cradle: "Hearken, O daughter, and see" [Ps 44.11], etc.
As for us, "What great things have we heard and known" [Ps 77.3], and again, "As we have heard, so have we seen" [Ps 47.9],
Therefore, with all our prayers we beseech Him to bring to perfection the mighty work He has begun in you [cf. Phil 1.6]. We also pray you to offer supplication for us for our sins, and we humbly beseech you to impart to us some revelation from heaven about ourselves and our church.
148r Hildegard to the Abbot About 1166(?) A longish letter warning the abbot against the sin of doubt.
O man, "Decline from evil and do good" [Ps 36.27], because it is a natural inclination for a human being to go astray in his mind, and, besides, he sets the number one thousand1 as his goal, which he can never achieve.Just so was it that Adam did not look at what he was doing when he desired to be like God, and did not consider it sinful to envy the honor and power of God.
O son of God, through faith dispel every storm. For Adam rejoiced to think that he was like to God in honor and power, which was great vanity, and yet he knew Him to be God. This is possible for every human being: to know that he has a God, whom he credits as his creator and liberator. And for this reason, flee to God, for, in faith, you know that He is God, as it is written: "All the nations thou hast made shall come and adore before thee, O Lord: and they shall glorify thy name" [Ps 85.9]. Here is the meaning of this verse: Man, who was made with the other creatures, knows that he has a God, and that, therefore, he should be faithful, and should zealously seek God, worship Him, and glorify His name.
Therefore, let every man decline from that evil of doubting that there is a God Who created him. Rather, let him love the One Who created and liberated him, and in Him let him love his neighbor, who has done him a kindness [cf. Mark
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen 12.30f], and not imitate the devil, who hated his creator, even though He had given him many good things.
By not loving God, the devil did not know Him, and, therefore, he does not seek liberation from Him. But he knows that God is mightier than he is.
Adam, however, did not reject God out of hatred, but he vainly sought to be like Him. And so the devil did not find the same hatred for God in Adam that he himself has, but he deceived him, nevertheless, by his cunning. Thus he compassed Adam with a thousand machinations, seeking to find one who might doubt God. Just so the devil keeps man from good with a thousand machinations spewed from his belly,' so that when a person sighs to do good, he pierces him with his shafts; and when he desires to embrace God with his whole heart in love, he subjects him to poisonous tribulations, seeking to pervert good work before God. And when a person seeks the viridity of virtue, the devil tells him that he does not know what he is doing, and he teaches him that he can set his own law for himself.
The fight is against just this kind of thing, as it is written: "A thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armour of valiant men" [Cant 4.4]. The meaning of that verse is this: The first shield is confession of sins, something not found in the Old Law, for the Old Law was blind. Penitence follows the confession of sins, as the good shepherd commands, and this is the covering of the nakedness of the Old Law. Thus "as the tower of David" [Cant 4.4], his neck was exalted in the humanity of the Savior, from which hangs "all the armour of valiant men" [Cant
4.4], that is, those who live well in accordance with the teaching of the law, the chaste and the virgins who "hang" from that tower. The Old Law foreshadowed all these things, and Christ revealed them through Himself by His incarnation, and after His ascension He will fulfill them through His disciples and all those who come after them until the last day. That is, they are the "thousand bucklers" which "hang upon it," with which the battle is waged against the ancient serpent, who seduced all mankind in the first man [cf. Apoc 12.9]. These stand as a defense, so that a man may defend himself when in the midst of his enemies, and fight them everywhere so that he will not be killed, just as the bridegroom says to the bride in Canticles: "My head is full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the nights" [Cant 5.2]. Here is the sense of this verse: like hairs on the head, mortal man is joined to Jesus Christ, the head of all [cf. Eph 4.15], but they are full of transgressions and sins because of man's delight in the flesh. But the Church regenerates and purifies these from the unclean stench and filth of sin by penitence and confession, just as hair is cleansed from dew and drops, and as dust is shaken out and cleansed from wool.
Go and do likewise, dear son of God, because you will live forever and will be a precious stone in the heavenly Jerusalem [cf. Apoc 21.10f]. This is why you need to be polished vigorously.
Note 1. That is, perfection, according to medieval number symbolism.
The Letters
Kirchbeim-Bolanden
Werner to Hildegard
During one of her preaching tours, Hildegard made a stop at Kirchheim. In this letter, the priest Werner requests a copy of the sermon preached there.
To Hildegard, immaculate in body and mind, and dedicated to God from the cradle, Werner of Kirchheim and all his brothers who serve God, however unworthily, under the patronage of the blessed N., with a prayer that, by the example of Deborah, she crush the forces of the enemy with God as her guide [cf.
Judges 4.4-14; 5.Iff], The fragrance of your virtues has spread widely over the earth, because the grace of the Holy Spirit has illumined your pure heart not only to do good, but also to prophesy things to come, and to contemplate heavenly matters.* And so we have considered it worthy (although we are unworthy) to entrust ourselves to you in the name of brotherhood, saintly lady. And, assuredly, because we are the least of Christ's servants—though we will be, as we faithfully believe, members of Christ's body, along with you—we beseech you to fulfill whatever we ask you in His name, whenever you can do so.
Mother and bride of the Lamb, kindly remember us abundantly in your prayers. As for us, be assured that we will constantly make mention of you in our prayers, for what worth they are before God.
We presume to put one further petition to you: We pray you to put into writing those words you spoke through the guidance of the Holy Spirit to us and to the many others present at Kircheim during your visit. Please send us this sermon about the priests' negligence of the divine service so that we may keep it ever before our eyes, lest we forget. For we gape after earthly and secular matters more than we should, and so many times carelessly cast transitory words into the wind.
Farewell, beloved mother.