Hildegard to the Priests
The Letters
170r Hildegard to the Priests Before 1153 A letter of general admonition and advice to the priests with a special emphasis on chastity.
The voice of living wings [cf. Ezech 3.13; Apoc 9.9] says: O you who support the stones, and gird the members of diverse people, hear what I say to you: Run through the level streets to perform the sacrifices prescribed by the law. And gird your loins and restrain your limbs, as this figure shows through the mystical gift of God: "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty" [Ps 44.4]. For divinity looked upon the simple character of a humble girl, and rested there in sweetest chastity, which was not touched by earthly viridity, but by supernal heat in its secret." Then, True Man arose as if from dry earth, which the plow did not break. And the fruit of this earth was not inseminated, but produced a flower from the heat of the sun. Therefore, this Most Powerful One was girded with a sword, that is, with pure and piercing true justice, for the heat of the flesh and sin were not in Him. But as the son is from the father, the noble from the noble, the king from the king, and each from its own kind, so priests were established by Me, just as the father bequeaths his substance to his son, as it is written: "Israel is my inheritance" [Is 19.25], because it is imparted to the highest priesthood by mercy and grace and truth.
This testament is transmitted from Me to you, just "as a man of war" [Is 42.13] who has a large army passes it on to his son. So let priests imitate their Father and Lord, and just as He walked, let them walk in restraint of their bodies. Yet if a priest commits sin in the putridity of the flesh or in the wantonness of pride and lasciviousness, let him rise up, seek out a physician, and vomit up that sin as if it were poison, certainly not hold onto it longer, as if it were his close friend.
Therefore, hear: A lord had two regions: one, humid; the other, dry. In the humid region, all sorts of business transactions were being carried on, as in Tarsus, Tyre, Macedonia, and Ethiopia. In Tarsus, understand those who were running quickly and growing in everything, but still struggling with difficulty; in Tyre, those laboring in straitened circumstances and sometimes suffering want in their great need; in Macedonia, those burning in dry ness, like the fruit that at one time flourishes, at another fades, or like a wolf, which at times devours, at times desists, at times carries off, at times kills; in Ethiopia, those feasting furtively and rejoicing in venomous tyranny and burning in shamelessness. In the arid region, on the other hand, there were opulent men, who had the beauty of herbs and flowers not planted by human hand. These remained in quiet contemplation of their Lord, where there was the sweetest odor and the most delightful sound, just as was prefigured in Abel, who was the first to act properly
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingett [cf. Gen 4.4], and in Abraham, who revealed obedience [cf. Gen 22.9ff], and in Moses, who gave instruction to souls by establishing the precepts of sacrifice
[cf. Ex 29], and in the Son of God, Who fulfilled all good things. This parable denotes the world, which grows among secular people because they bring forth children, but which decreases among spiritual people because they do not sow their seed. But God established chief teachers over the common people for the instruction of their souls. And also the Son of God came as the supernal teacher, as it is written: Behold the Lord will appear on a white cloud [cf. Apoc 14.14],
"and with him thousands of saints" [Deut 33.2], "and he hath on his garment, and on his thigh written: King of kings, and Lord of lords" [Apoc 19.16]. For the Son of God appeared in the innocence of a simple girl as in a cloud, "and he hath set His tabernacle in the sun" [Ps 18.6] when He marvellously illuminated the mind of that Virgin, when she said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word" [Luke 1.38]. And there arose in her a great column towering over all those who are born after the flesh when the Son of God came forth "as a bridegroom out of his bride chamber" [Ps 18.6], born of that sweetest Virgin, as if in a delightful dream and in the sweetest desire, as a bridegroom sweetly joins his spouse to himself in his mind. Therefore, many admirable virtues appeared with Him, far exceeding in good works the institutes of the Old Law. And so on His vestment and on His thigh was written: "King of kings, and Lord of lords," for His flesh sweetly sweated forth from the Virgin, and not from the thigh of a man.b Therefore, He rose up over all creatures, like a king who rules men, because sin did not bring Him forth, but the mighty power of divine might that foreknew all creatures before they came forth in the world. Thus He administered all the institutes of the law to His members, like a good steward who shows the people subject to him what is necessary for them, and what is not, as it is written: "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel" [Ps
2.9]. For in the strongest might of divinity, the Living Fountain sprang forth, Who, through Himself, shows the purest and most constant precepts of the law, thus commanding justice to the righteous with an iron rod, both breaking and establishing all things according to what was just, as a potter breaks one vessel and makes another.
Now, hear, O you who would emulate Me [cf. I Cor 4.16; Phil 3.17]: From the beginning of the world, My people had predecessors and teachers. Why, therefore, do you display indignation and audaciousness and instability of character in your garrulous pride, as if you could create new heavens or a lofty mountain of ivory? For the wind easily disperses these things, and men trample them underfoot In this way, you bear away in your souls the ten pounds and that penny which is the payment of the heavenly kingdom among righteous men [cf. Luke
19.12ff;Matt20.1ff].
Rather, "Embrace discipline" [Ps 2.12], that is to say, the precepts established by the Law for your members, and be as pure in your thoughts, your words, and your works as the burnt sacrifice offered up by a priest, avoiding venomous words in the vanity of this world, because transgression of the Law is not expedient to
The Letters
you. But bear the light of faith in your hands so that all the people will run to you. These are the precepts of the Law, like a great mountain upon which a light cannot be hidden. And embrace discipline in the girding of your loins, shining as a good example to other people, for you hold the rod of governance over them.
Also, "take heed" [Josh 23.6], "lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way" [Ps 2.12], for you ought to walk according to the example of the Son of God on the path of good works. For these attributes of your office were anciently prefigured in the sacrifice of calves and lambs. In the Old
Testament, the priests were not restrained in their loins, because no one girded in his loins had preceded them. Now, however, the "sun of justice" [Mal 4.2] has shone forth. Therefore, walk in that sun and preserve your chastity, for neither a calf nor a goat nor a lamb was hanged on the wood of the cross for you, but the great and good Shepherd was given to the Passion of the cross for you. Imitate
Him in your works.
Against injustice, however, "be ye angry, and sin not" [Ps 4.5], that is, do not have hatred, or envy, or harshness in the derision of your heart when you see people fall on account of the foolishness of their way of life, but anoint them with compassion, and correct them with gentleness [cf. Ps 140.5]. And do not be puffed up in your own self-esteem as if you are holy on account of the tonsure of your flesh so that you say in your hearts: The Lord chose us in sanctity, and nobody can exceed us in virtue. And why do you scorn the bright face of those who have embraced My garment through circumcision of their minds [cf. Rom 2.29], those who according to my ordination imitate the angels (who are the mirror of My face), and in contempt of the temporal world follow them. For an angel announced salvation to all people [cf. Luke 1.26ff]. And also in Abraham and in Jacob and in the rod of Aaron, angels announced salvation to the people beforehand [cf Gen 22.15ff;
32.1ff; Num 17.2ff]. Why, therefore, should not these imitators of angels and of My garment not be able to, or even be obliged to, foresee the salvation of the people
"for the present necessity" [I Cor 7.26] of those in need?
Therefore, enlist in the army of sanctity and "be sorry upon your beds" [Ps 4.5], so that humility may build a tower in you, a tower with windows of the virtues of good works, and with vaults of holy medicine, to each according to his measure [cf Eph 4.7]. And let them see your interior mysteries, which are your good works. Therefore, be solicitous to see to it that your sanctity is gold, and not lead, because Jacob was upright in the height of felicity, but Esau was straitened and laid low in his conceit Likewise, your mind is moved in the two parts of the spiritual life. Now, therefore, be vigorous and strengthen yourselves in all good things so that you do not fail.