R194: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Äbtissin I. von Dietkirchen
The Weight of Restless Waters
Hildegard describes a restless mind troubled by muddy places and many waters, symbolizing harmful habits and stony hearts untouched by Scripture.
A reply of Hildegard. A restless mind on account of muddy places. and the anxiety of many waters, which fail by their own flowing. you have. For muddy places are those for them. which have the shifting of the worst habits. and waters which fail. For those, namely, who are dreadful and stony!
The Parable of the Cave Digger
A wise man digs a cavernous place but encounters fire in the stone, yet he marks it out and carves caverns so that those who come after him will labor more easily.
nor are they softened by the streams of holy Scripture's teaching. But you say to yourself: What? or what am I? and how could I endure such things? Now hear the tale of a wise man. A certain man wanted to dig a cavernous place, but when he dug with wood and iron, Fire burst out from a certain stone he'd been digging into. So much so that there was no way the same spot could have been broken through. Even so, that man marked out the width of the same site. And with great effort he carved out some caverns in it. And this man said to himself, I've worked so hard! But whoever comes after me will have an easier time of it. Because he'll find these things already prepared for him.
Praise for the One Who Labors First
The one who labors first in hard, stony ground surpasses those who follow, just as the Maker of the world began creation and then gave work to ministers.
This person, surely, will be praised before the Lord his God. Because his work, in its length and breadth, is far more useful than work done in soft soil that's turned by the plow. And so his lord considers him as a bravest soldier, one who can sustain his army well. And he sets him before other farmers who give fruit in their seasons. For whoever labors first! Surpasses the labor of the one who follows after him. For the Maker of the world first began to create! And afterward he gave to his ministers to work according to himself.
A Call to Interior Steadfastness
Hildegard exhorts her daughter in God to restrain her land, gather her heart, and be like good, well-watered soil that brings forth good herbs through moderate living.
O daughter of God, restrain your land within yourself, so that it doesn't dry up without the fruitful usefulness of children. Gather your heart into one point as well, and don't fix it on the excess of restless behavior. Don't let your daughters flee from you. Be also like good soil that is frequently watered with fitting rain. so that it may bring forth good and delightful herbs. How so? When a person feeds the flesh moderately.
The Fruit of Moderation and Excess
Moderate feeding yields cheerful and gentle manners, while excess in food or immoderate fasting produces harmful vices or constant anger; instead, be good soil.
Cheerful and gentle manners are what she has! But when she lives in an excess of food and feasts, she makes every harmful vice sprout up within herself. But whoever torments the body through immoderate fasting goes around angry all the time. In all these things, be good soil. so that you may comfort your daughters when they weep. And when they rise up in anger, correct them as you should.
Correcting Daughters with Discipline and Humility
Driven daughters should be brought under discipline, those who stray should be called back with Scripture, and if they disobey, remember Jacob who blessed both sons.
And when they have been driven to madness, through you let them be subject to regular discipline. But those who have turned themselves away from you into forgetfulness— call these back with words from history and with words of the Gospel, between you and two others.✦ And if they then do not obey you— you, be obedient to the highest Master! and be mindful of Jacob, who exchanged the two sons of Joseph with blessings.✦ Now, therefore, consider the beginning of your good endeavor, so that you may be brought to completion with a confident end!
Persevere to the End
The abbess is urged to consider the beginning of her good endeavor so she may reach completion and receive eternal rewards from the greatest Master.
and may you receive eternal rewards from the greatest master.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. Inquietam mentem propter lutulenta loca. et sollicitudinem multarum aquarum quę fluendo deficiunt. habes. Lutulenta enim loca illis sunt. qui uicissitudinem pessimorum morum habent. et aquę quę deficiunt. illis scilicet qui diri et lapidei sunt!
nec riuulis doctrinę sanctę scripturę molliuntur. Sed tu intra te dicis. Quę. uel quid ego sum. et quomodo talia perferre possem? Nunc sapientis uiri fabulam audi. Quidam cauernatum locum fodere uoluit! sed cum ligno et ferro foderet.
ignis de quodam lapide in quem foderat euolauit. ita ut idem locus nullo modo perfodi potuisset. Ille tamen eiusdem loci latitudinem notauit! et cum magno labore aliquas cauernas in eo fecit. Et homo iste intra se dixit. Ego ualde laboraui! sed qui post me ueniet leuius me laborabit. quia hęc preparata sibi inueniet.
Hic nempe homo coram domino suo laudabitur. quia opus suum longitudine et latitudine multo utilior est quam opus in molli terra quę aratro subuertitur. Ideoque dominus suus ceum pro fortissimo milite computat qui exercitum suum bene sustentare potest. et alijs agricolis qui fructum in temporibus suis dant eum proponit. Quicumque enim prius laborauerit! laborem illius qui eum subsequitur supereminet. Faber enim mundi primo creare cepit! et postea ministris suis secundum ipsum operari dedit.
O filia dei terram tuam in temetipsa coherce. ne sine fructuosa utilitate filiorum arescat. Cor etiam tuum in unum collige nec illud in immoderationem inquietorum morum figas. ne filias tuas a te fuges. Esto quoque similis bonę terrę quę congrua pluuia frequenter irrigatur! quatenus bonas et delectabiles herbas proferat. Quomodo? Cum homo carnem suam moderate pascit.
letos et mansuetos mores habet! cum autem in nimietate ciborum et conuiuiorum uiuit. unumquodque nociuum uicium in se pullulare facit. Sed qui per immoderatam abstinentiam corpus macerat! semper iratus uadit. In omnibus his bona terra esto. quatenus filias tuas cum fleuerint consoleris. et cum in iram surrexerint eas recte corripias.
et cum rabidę fuerint. per te disciplinę regulari subiaceant. Quę autem in obliuione se a te uerterint. has cum historialibus uerbis et uerbis euangelij inter te et alios duos reuoca. et si tunc tibi non obedierint! tu summo magistro obediens esto! et memor esto iacob qui duos filios ioseph cum benedictionibus commutauit. Nunc ergo inicium boni studij tui considera ut cum fiduciali fine finiaris!
et eterna premia a summo magistro recipias.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.18.16 — But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter may be established.
- ↩Gen.48.13-Gen.48.20 — Then Joseph took both of them—Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right—and brought them close to him. Gen.48.14 — But Israel reached out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, though he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands — for Manasseh was the firstborn. Gen.48.15 — And he blessed Joseph and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day— Gen.48.16 — the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Gen.48.17 — When Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; and he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Gen.48.18 — Then Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; place your right hand upon his head." Gen.48.19 — But his father refused and said, 'I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall be a multitude of nations.' Gen.48.20 — And he blessed them that day, saying, "By you Israel will bless, saying, 'May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.'" And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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