R141: Balderich von St. Simeon an Hildegard von Rupertsberg
Salutation to the Daughter of Zion
Balderich identifies himself and greets Hildegard as the Daughter of Zion, rejoicing in the reports of her blessedness and hoping to contemplate the God of gods in her.
The provost of Saint Simeon. to Hildegard. Balderich, brother of Saint Simeon, provost in name only in the church of the Treveri. And among the number of those sitting and weeping by the rivers of Babylon.✦ to Hildegard. Daughter of Zion.✦ In her, to see the God of gods at some time.✦ Drawing in through the hearing of my own body the sweetest fragrance of your blessedness, as it has been reported by many.
God's Wondrous Gift in a Wicked Age
Balderich marvels that God bestows an unprecedented charismatic gift of divine secrets and living water upon an unlearned woman in this time of exile and wickedness.
I'm gladdened and amazed at the things that have been told to me. Gladdened, I say. Because in this time of a most wicked age— Truly, those placed in wickedness are known to have chosen for themselves such a bride — that Bridegroom who is beautiful beyond the sons of men.✦1 I am indeed amazed, because it is by a customary and unheard-of charism.2 He is seen to endow her even in this exile. For who has ever read or heard of an unlearned woman, or one completely illiterate, breathing forth from the deepest abyss of divine secrets such great outpourings?3 To offer from the rivers of living water so great an abundance to those who thirst.✦4
God Alone Does Great Wonders
Balderich breaks into praise of God who alone works wonders, using even the irrational and unlearned as instruments of divine will, just as God does all that He wills.
Truly, God is wonderful. Truly, the Lord is blessed. God! who alone does great wonders. But what's so strange about that? If he makes a rational, reasoning person into an instrument for himself however he wills! who even made a brute animal the teacher of the Teacher? For he does just as God does, of whom it is written.
A Humble Request for Commendation
Balderich affirms God's sovereign will and then humbly asks Hildegard to commend his devotion to her beloved, assuring her of his faithful reciprocity, before closing with a farewell.
All things, whatever he willed — he did. I beg your love, however — that she herself might strive to commend my humility to your beloved more readily and more frequently! knowing that the same reciprocity is faithfully and unceasingly to be repaid by me to her. Farewell.
Read the original Latin
Prepositus de sancto Symeone. hildegardi. Beldericus frater de sancto Simeone in treuirorum ecclesia solo nomine prepositus. et ex numero super flumina babilonis sedentium et flentium. hildegardi. filię syon. in ipsa deum deorum quandoque uidere. Multorum relatu proprijque corporis mei auditu suauissimum tuę beatitudinis odorem hauriens.
letatus et admiratus sum in his quę dicta sunt mihi. Letatus inquam. quia hoc tempore nequissimi seculi. uere in maligno positi talem sibi sponsam sponsus ille speciosus pre filijs hominum elegisse cognoscitur. admiratus uero quia solito et inaudito carismate. ipsam et in hoc exilio dotare uidetur. Quis enim umquam legit uel audiuit mulierem indoctam uel penitus illiteratam de profundissima abysso diuinorum archanorum tantas eructuationes exhalare. de fluminibus aquę uiuę tantam habundantiam sicientibus propinare.
Uere mirabilis deus. uere benedictus dominus. deus! qui facit mirabilia magna solus. Sed quid mirum. si racionalem et racionabilem hominem organum suum quomodo uult facit! qui etiam brutum animal magistrum magistri fecit? Facit enim quomodo deus de quo scribitur.
omnia quecuque uoluit. fecit. Precor autem tuam dilectionem. quatenus ipsa dilecto tuo propensius et frequentius humilitatem meam commendare studeat! eandem uicissitudinem a me fideliter et indesinenter sciens sibi rependi. Valete.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.136.1 — Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
- ↩Zeph.3.14;Zech.9.9 — Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. Zech.9.9 — Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king comes to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
- ↩Ps.83.8 — Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre
- ↩Ps.44.3 — For it was not by their own sword that they took the land, nor did their own arm save them; but it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them.
- ↩John.7.38 — The one who believes in me, just as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him.
Notes
- 1 ↩sponsus ille speciosus pre filijs hominum echoes Psalm 44:3 (Vulgate), 'speciosus prae filiis hominum.'
- 2 ↩carismate rendered as 'charism' to preserve the theological sense of a divine gift or grace.
- 3 ↩eructuationes rendered as 'outpourings' to capture the sense of abundant spiritual utterance; the term carries a scriptural resonance (cf. Psalm 44:2, eructavit cor meum).
- 4 ↩fluminibus aquae vivae echoes John 7:38, 'flumina de ventre eius fluent aquae vivae.'
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