R100: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Nikolaus von Heilsbronn
The True Light and the Old Law
Hildegard contrasts the weariness of the old law with the rising of the Church under Christ's banner.
Hildegard's reply. The true light in light. It speaks through the mouth of Wisdom. The old law left behind its official signs. and hearing the word brought weariness! it did not wish to labor. And so it came to an end. Then the Church rose up in the banner of the King.
The Upright Soldier of Christ
Hildegard calls Nicholas to labor willingly like a brave soldier who lifts up the fallen standard and earns the love of his lord.
And he kept that same law in the purest eye and had no weariness. But he labored willingly. So do you, O upright soldier! And again: When a warrior leads out his own army,1 if some worthless man allows his standard to fall, another man, the bravest, lifts it up and carries it forward with vigor! Because of this his lord loves him greatly.2
Burning with God amid Weariness
Hildegard promises reward for laboring with Christ, acknowledges the mind's good intention and its weariness, and points to the Holy Spirit's purifying work.
And he gives him a great reward. So it will be done for you as well! If you work earnestly alongside Christ in his place. But your mind, directed toward God with a good intention, burns brightly. Yet a certain whirlwind of uselessness wearies you. But the Holy Spirit will drive it far from you. The streets of certain cities are muddy. And the shoes of certain people are full of rot.
Blind Shepherds and the Coming Light
Hildegard laments that church leaders violate God's precepts and lack spiritual sight, yet she insists these evils will end and a better light will shine.
And justice is clouded over by iniquity. And the precepts of the law are violated through the transgression of those who command the things of God. Therefore let the shepherds howl, and let them sprinkle themselves with ashes.✦ Because those appointed to the ranks of the church now refuse to know what they are. For the head has no eyes. And the feet have no paths, because the shameful acts of excessive iniquity by human hands have not yet been fully cleansed from the hand of God. But even so, these same evils will not last long — they will be brought to an end! And a better light will shine forth than the one before.
The Divided Heart and the Heart of Evil
Hildegard describes people torn between arrogant knowledge and hatred of righteousness, harassed by wicked spirits that distract them toward self-chosen destruction.
Now some people are divided into two parts within their own heart. That is, on the one hand they want to know everything with arrogant pride of mind. But on the other, because they hate the progress of those who walk the straight path. These people — that worst, diabolical crowd which is called the heart of evil! It harasses them most sharply and harmfully. And this kind of wicked spirits does not dare to contradict what God has established. But it distracts each matter in an alien, foreign way. So that what they themselves want and choose is in their own destruction.
Fleeing False Goodness through Humility
Hildegard warns that such people call their own destruction good and holy, leading others astray, and teaches that this is overcome by the humility and steadfastness of the faithful.
They say that this is good and holy, both in their own estimation and in God's. And in this way they lead people into great scorn. But how is something like this to be fled from? It is destroyed in the humility and steadfastness of faithful people.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardi. Lux uera in lumine. dicit per os sapientię. Uetus lex officialia signa reliquit. et in auditione uerbi tedium habuit! nec laborare uoluit. Ac sic finita est. Tunc ęcclesia in uexillo regis surrexit.
et eandem legem in purissimo oculo obseruauit nec tedium habuit. sed libenter laborauit. Sic tu o probe miles fac. Et iterum. Cum uir preliator exercitum suum educit. si uexillum suum aliquis uilis homo cadere permittit. alius uir fortissimus illud eleuat et strenue portat! propter quod dominus suus ipsum ualde amat.
et magnum premium ei dat. Sic et tibi fiet! si in uice christi strenue cum eo laboras. Mens autem tua in quadam bona intentione ad deum rutilat. sed quidam uentus turbinis cuiusdam inutilitatis te fatigat. quem tamen spiritus sanctus a te abiciet. Plateę quarundam ciuitatum lutulentę sunt. calciamenta etiam quorundam hominum putredine plena sunt.
et iusticia cum iniquitate obnubilata est. et precepta legis cum preuaricatione preceptorum dei uiolata sunt. Quapropter pastores ululent et cinere se aspergant. quia constituti gradus ęcclesię iam scire nolunt quid sint. Nam caput oculis caret. et pedes itinera non habent quoniam flagicia superfluę iniquitatis hominum de manu dei nondum ad plenum purgata sunt. Sed tamen eadem mala non post longum tempus finientur! et melior lux priore lucebit.
Nunc autem quidam homines in duas partes cordis sui diuisi sunt. scilicet in alteram partem quod cum elatione mentis omnia scire uolunt. in alteram uero quod odio habent profectum illorum qui in uia recta ambulant. Hos pessima diabolica turba quę cor mali nominatur! acerrime et noxie fatigat. Et hoc genus malignorum spirituum contradicere non audet illud quod deus constituit. sed unamquamque causam aliene distrahit. ita ut quod ipsi in perditione uolunt et eligunt.
hoc in estimatione sua bonum et sanctum in deo esse dicunt. Et sic in magnam irrisionem populum ducunt. Sed quomodo hoc genus effugandum est? In humilitate et stabilitate fidelium hominum destruitur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Joel.1.13 — Gird yourselves and weep, priests; wail, ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my God, for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.
Notes
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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