R111: Abt W. von Hane an Hildegard von Rupertsberg
Salutation and Greeting
The abbot of Hane greets Hildegard and the sisters at Rupertsberg, wishing them divine gifts.
The abbot at Hegenhee. To Hildegard. To Hildegard, beloved of God, and to the sisters of Saint Robert at Pingis, venerable teacher. Vv. Of the brothers at Hegenhee. A prelate, though unworthy! The gift of knowledge and of wisdom. And the reward of lasting integrity.
Repeated Letters
The abbot explains his uncertainty about earlier letters and his persistence in writing until he receives confirmation.
As soon as I heard the report of your holiness, I hastened to greet her with the letters sent to you. But because I am unsure whether or not I hold it uncertain. And so I am adding new ones to the earlier letters. I do not cease sending them again and again! until I have learned whether they have been presented to you.
Personal Frailty and Bodily Decline
The abbot confesses his spiritual poverty and describes his failing senses and inner weakness.
And now, in these letters I'm sending you, I turn to the help of your prayers. I, deeply poor and needy, take refuge. For I don't know what I've received from the gifts of the Most High beyond what suits human frailty.1 My sight grows dim. My hearing grows dull. From lack of speech, my tongue is restrained. Through failing voice and devotion of mind, I grow mute in the praises of God; through slowness of understanding, I'm hindered.2 Memory is emptied by its own fickleness.
Assaults of the Vices
He lists the vices that afflict him and adds a severe infirmity, fearing the approach of death.
Through pride the spirit is puffed up. Through anger the fire is kindled. Through sadness the heart is crushed. Through sloth one is cast down. Through faintheartedness and shame and insult one is confounded. But on top of all these evils, a severe and grievous infirmity has come upon me. Unless the mercy of God through you delivers me from it. It is necessary for me, through Him, before long to face the danger of death.
Appeal for Prayer amid Suffering
Trusting in God's mercy, the abbot begs Hildegard's prayers for deliverance from his afflictions.
But because God is merciful and compassionate, he will also bring about the will of those who fear him. I beg that through your prayers I may escape all these evils, in body and in soul. Once the yoke of my enemies' domination has been lifted from me, For their yoke weighs heavily on me; therefore may he bestow some portion of the abundance of his mercies on me. Has he even kept a blessing for me? I beg him also to bless me. I ask also for your holiness — if I dare ask for it.
Request for Guidance and Commendation
The abbot asks Hildegard to seek God's guidance for him, commends himself to her prayers, and says farewell.
Please instruct me about the future state of my life. But the reason I ask you to seek all these things from God is presumption.3 For his renowned fame has proclaimed that all these things are possible for you through Christ, who dwells in you. Farewell, my lady! And may God make me worthy, both by my answer and by the help of your prayers. For living and dead alike!4 I entrust myself to your holy prayers.
Read the original Latin
Abbas in hegenhee. hildegardi. Hildigardi deo dilectę et sororum de sancto Roberto in pingis magistrę uenerandę. Vv. fratrum in hegenhee. prelatus quamuis indignus! donum scientię et sapientię. et perpetuę integritatis premium.
Ut primum uestrę sanctitatis famam audiui! ad salutandam eam missis uobis litteris meis maturaui. Sed quia utrum presentię uestrę allatę sint. an non. incertum habeo. et ideo nouas prioribus adiciens. multociens mittere non cesso! quousque eas presentię uestrę exhibitas esse cognouerim.
Et nunc in his uobis transmissis litteris meis ad opem orationum uestrarum. pauper ualde et egenus confugio. quia post figuram hominis nescio quid de donis altissimi acceperim. caligat uisus. surdescit auditus. inopia loquelę lingua constringitur. defectu uocis et deuotione mentis in diuinis laudibus mutesco tarditate intellectus prepeditur. memoria labilitate exinanitur.
superbia animus inflatur. ira accenditur. tristicia constringitur. accidia deicitur. pusillanimitate et uerecundia contumelię confunditur. Sed his malis omnibus accessit mihi grauis et molesta infirmitas. quam nisi misericordia dei per te euadam. necesse est mihi per eum post modicum periculum uitę imminere.
Sed quia pius et misericors est deus. et uoluntatem timentium se faciet. peto ut per orationes uestras hęc omnia mala tam in corpore quam in anima euadam. sublatoque a me iugo dominationis inimicorum meorum. ualde enim aggrauatum est super me iugum eorum mihi aliquam partem de multitudine misericordiarum suarum impendat. Num et mihi seruauit benedictionem? Michi obsecro etiam ut benedicat. Peto etiam uestram sanctitatem si tamen petere audeo.
ut de futuro statu uitę meę me doceatis. Hęc autem omnia a uobis querere ea presumptio fecit. quia hęc omnia uobis possibilia esse per eum qui in uobis habitat christum celebris fama diuulgauit. Uale domina! et dignum me deus faciat tam responsione quam adiutorio orationum uestrarum. Nam uiuum et defunctum! sanctis orationibus uestris me committo.
Notes
- 1 ↩Post figuram hominis rendered as 'beyond what befits human frailty' to capture the sense of limitation implied by figura hominis — the outward form or condition of a human being — in context of the writer's self-deprecation about divine gifts received.
- 2 ↩The sentence pairs physical decline (defectu vocis) with spiritual devotion (devotione mentis) as twin causes of the writer's muteness in divine praise — the devotion itself, not only the infirmity, silences him. Tarditate intellectus prepeditur rendered as 'through slowness of understanding I am hindered' to preserve the passive construction.
- 3 ↩The Latin is compressed and slightly awkward: 'ea presumptio fecit' ('that presumption made [me do it]'). The sense is that the writer recognizes boldness in asking, yet proceeds anyway. Rendered here as candid admission of presumption.
- 4 ↩The Latin 'Nam vivum et defunctum!' is an exclamatory fragment, likely meaning '[I pray] for the living and the dead' or '[God keep you] in life and in death.' The exact sense is uncertain; rendered here as a prayerful wish covering both.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
Read one voice like Hildegard's every morning
Chosen Portion delivers daily excerpts from Hildegard and 77 other historic devotional writers, free on iOS.
Hildegard directed souls through short written portions sent one at a time, and Chosen Portion continues that letter-a-day rhythm as daily devotionals.
- Daily 2-minute readings including Hildegard's letters and visions
- 78 complete historic works, translated into modern readable English
- A weekly email tracing one writer's story in depth