Hildegard to the Abbot Philip
The Letters
Hildegard to the Abbot Philip 1170-73 Uncharacteristically, Hildegard refers to a specific event in her life, noting that the abbot came to hear her speak (apparently on her fourth preaching tour, which she undertook in 1170). She asks for his prayers, and exhorts him to govern his subordinates with mercy.
The faith that one has before God in his blazing heart through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is very glorious when he embraces with the embrace of true love the things he cannot see as if they were the visible things he prizes [cf. Heb 11.1].
And so it is a praiseworthy thing in you that, out of your love of God, you deigned to come and hear me, a weak and uneducated woman. For a wind blew down from a lofty mountain, and with its breath sent a small feather into the presence of the people and towers in all their finery, a feather which has no ability to fly save by the wind. Assuredly, God almighty took care to do this so that He could reveal what He could do through a thing which would not presume anything of itself.
You, however, who stand manfully in the office of the prophets, to whom the care of the apostolic order has been assigned, please extend the petition of your prayers to me, whom you have seen prostrate for a long time upon the bed of my infirmity. Pray for me that I may remain in God's grace, because, having no security in myself, I have set all my hope and confidence in the mercy of God alone.
Now, O father, you who are Christ's representative, tend the sheep of His flock with the rod of God's precepts by which you chastise and guide them, lest they are puffed up with pride. For pride is like a city that is not founded on rock: it collapses and falls because it did not have a strong foundation [cf. Matt 7.24ff].
Frequently anoint with the oil of mercy those wounded with sin, whatever kind it may be, lest they stink from the evil habit of their sins like the four-day-dead
Lazarus [cf.John 11.39]. And lift up over all your subordinates the horn of salvation [Luke 1.69], that is, the horn of true humility, a virtue that is like a sapphirecolored cloud through which the sun shines brightly. In this way, you will imitate the true sun, that is, the Son of the Virgin, Who descended to earth in utmost humility, and also in humility ascended to the right hand of His Father. Cut off the evil habit of their sins from them, and in this way be zealous to adorn them like a necklace set with precious stones, so that you may come with them, and they with you, to eternal joy.
Now may the grace of the Holy Spirit make you the lamp of true love for God almighty. May He deign to grant you eternal reward for the help you render me, in both spirit and body.