R146: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Propst G. von Frankfurt
Vision at Dawn
Hildegard introduces a true vision using the image of dawn breaking, then veiled by clouds and stirred by the north wind.
A response. Of Hildegard. In a true vision! I saw and heard these words. The first light of day blazes. Then the dawn is laid bare. And at times it is wrapped around with a great shifting of clouds. And so the north wind rises and brings great sighs.
Warning to the Soul
Hildegard exhorts the one who knows good and evil to live carefully before God and not be dismayed by the uncertainty of death.
because the early hours of the day were beautiful, without the shifting of a whirlwind. And so, O man, you who have knowledge of good and evil— take heed what your conduct and your works are before God. From your youth onward, do not let the zeal of the Lord strike you down! And do not let your soul, when it has departed from your body, say:1 O woe is me—where am I walking? And where shall I go? Or what sort of days are these before me!
Call to Visionary Courage
Hildegard insists that her works are visionary, warns against trembling at heavenly speech, and commands eternal life in God.
And what sort of works touch me? Those, to be sure! which have shown me the mill of my body.2 But take care that you do not tremble!3 when the heavenly citizens have spoken to you.4 See! what kind of God is. Now live into eternity.
Read the original Latin
Responsvm. hildegardis. In uera uisione! hęc uerba uidi et audiui. Prima lux diei rutilat. postea aurora denudatur. et etiam interdum cum magna uicissitudine nubium implicatur. et sic aquilo surgit et magna suspiria facit.
quia priora tempora diei absque uicissitudine turbinis pulcra erant. Vnde o uir qui scientiam boni et mali habes. prouide qui mores tui et quę opera tua coram deo sint. a puericia tua ne zelus domini te percutiat! et ne anima tua cum de corpore tuo exierit dicat. O ue mihi quo ambulo. et quo ibo. uel quales dies mihi sunt!
et qualia opera me tangunt? Illa scilicet! quę mihi molendinum corporis mei exhibuit. Caue etiam ne tremiscas! cum superni ciues tibi dixerint. Uide! qualis sit deus. Nunc in eternum uiue.
Notes
- 1 ↩exierit is ambiguous between future perfect indicative ('will have gone out') and perfect subjunctive ('has gone out'); the subjunctive reading fits the ne + subjunctive construction and is rendered here.
- 2 ↩Molendinum corporis is metaphorical: the body figured as a mill, perhaps grinding or testing the person.
- 3 ↩Caue etiam ne tremiscas: prohibitive sense; 'etiam' intensifies the warning.
- 4 ↩Cum here is temporal: 'when' the heavenly citizens speak to you.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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