R12: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Arnold von Seelenhofen
Greeting and the Living Light
Hildegard greets her father and insists her words come not from herself but from the living light, often beyond her own desire.
Hildegard. O father! The living light gave these words from me to you. Why do you hide your face from God!✦ As if in the disturbance of an angry mind of yours? For I do not bring forth mystical words from myself. But only as I see them in the living light! So that often those things which my mind does not desire—
Compelled Vision and Blessing
Hildegard describes her compelled reception of revelation and blesses her addressee with salvation, grace, and mercy.
And yet things I myself don't even desire are shown to me — things my own will doesn't seek. But I see those things, often compelled. Still, I ask God that his help to you not be like an exile. And may your soul be devoted in pure knowledge! Look toward the mirror of salvation — so that you may live forever. May the splendid light of God's grace never be cut away from you. But may the mercy of God protect you!
Warning and the Call to Holy Strength
She warns against the ancient ambusher, calls the eye to live in God, and challenges the addressee to strength in divine fear rather than misplaced zeal.
So don't let the ancient ambusher deceive you. Now, let your eye live in God!✦ And may the greenness of your soul never dry up.✦ The living light speaks to you.✦ Why aren't you strong in my fear? And why do you have zeal as if you were sifting wheat!✦1 So that by overcoming you may cast down what is opposed to you. But I don't want this.
Purification, Courage, and Imitation of Christ
Hildegard urges purification of heart and community, courageous correction amid moral collapse, and fearless endurance grounded in Christ’s suffering.
As for the eye of your heart, wipe away your restless mind. And cut away injustice — both from yourself and from your people. Because the time of wars now presses upon the customs of men! So that they are neither in discipline nor in the strictness of the fear of the Lord. Nevertheless, do not be afraid to restrain them for their good! Since if you endure tribulation and distress on account of this. Do not be afraid! For the Son of God suffered the same things.✦
Rise to God in Urgency
The letter closes with a brief, urgent call to rise to God because the addressee’s time is near.
Rise up, then, to God! because your time is coming soon.2
Read the original Latin
Hildegardis. O pater! uiuens lumen hęc uerba mihi ad te dedit. Quare faciem tuam abscondis a deo! quasi in perturbatione iracundę mentis tuę? Nam mistica uerba a me non profero. sed secundum quod ea in uiuenti lumine uideo! ita quod sepe illa quę mens mea non desiderat.
et quę etiam uoluntas mea non querit mihi ostenduntur! sed illa multociens coacta uideo. Posco tamen a deo ut auxilium suum tibi non sit quasi exilium. et anima tua sit deuota in pura scientia! respiciens in speculum saluationis. ut in eternum uiuas. Splendidum etiam lumen gratię dei a te numquam abscidatur. sed misericordia dei te protegat!
ita ne antiquus insidiator te decipiat. Nunc autem oculus tuus in deo uiuat! et uiriditas animę tuę non arescat. Lux uiuens tibi dicit. Cur non es fortis in timore meo? Et quare zelum habes quasi triticum excribres! ita ut superando deicias quod tibi contrarium est. Sed hoc nolo.
De oculo autem cordis tui inquietam mentem absterge. et de teipso et de populo tuo iniusticiam abscide. quia tempus bellorum in moribus hominum nunc instat! ita quod nec in disciplina nec in districtione timoris domini sunt. Tu tamen ne formides eos ad bonum coercere! quoniam si propter hoc tribulationem et angustiam sustinueris. ne paueas! quia filius dei eadem passus est.
Surge ergo ad deum! quoniam tempus tuum cito ueniet.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.10.1;Ps.11.1 — Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Ps.11.1 — To the choirmaster. Of David. In the LORD I take refuge. How can you say to me, ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain’?
- ↩Ps.25.15;Matt.6.22;Luke.11.34 — My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will free my feet from the net. Matt.6.22 — The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. Luke.11.34 — The lamp of the body is your eye. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but when it is diseased, your body is full of darkness.
- ↩Ps.1.3;Ps.92.12-Ps.92.14 — He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither; and whatever he does prospers. Ps.92.12 — My eye looks upon my watchful foes; my ears hear of those who rise up against me, who do evil. Ps.92.13 — The righteous will flourish like the palm tree; they will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Ps.92.14 — Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
- ↩John.1.4-John.1.5;John.8.12 — In him was life, and the life was the light of men. John.1.5 — And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John.8.12 — Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'
- ↩Matt.3.12;Luke.3.17 — His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. Luke.3.17 — His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
- ↩1Pet.2.21;Heb.12.2-Heb.12.3 — For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. Heb.12.2 — fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb.12.3 — For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against yourselves, so that you may not grow weary, being exhausted in your souls.
Notes
- 1 ↩excribro is a rare verb meaning 'to sift, winnow.' The image is of winnowing grain — separating wheat from chaff — applied to zeal. Hildegard seems to be questioning why the addressee's zeal is directed toward fine distinctions or outward sorting rather than wholehearted devotion.
- 2 ↩tempus tuum likely refers to the appointed time of death or divine reckoning, not merely a general season; the urgency matches the eschatological tone of the surrounding context (tempus bellorum, tribulationem et angustiam).
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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