R234: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Morard von Disibodenberg
The Noble Lady and Her Bedchamber
Hildegard introduces a vision of a noble, beautiful lady who adorns her chamber with gold and chooses two graceful companions, drawing the admiration of many crowds who seek to dwell with her.
A response from Hildegard. Dear son, listen to this parable! which I saw in a true vision. A certain noble and beautiful lady had a bedchamber adorned with gold. She often chose to have two young women with graceful faces stay with her. Many crowds, seeing this lady, praised her face. And when they wanted to stay with her, she herself said to them:
The Lady's Refusal of the Unworthy
The noble lady refuses to give her gifts to those who would not benefit, declaring she will not hand her nobility and beauty to mockery, while a wrinkled, red and dark-faced woman undeservedly claims the same nobility and beauty and wanders restlessly through every region.
I will give you the gifts that please you, because it would benefit neither me nor you. so that we might be together. For I don't want to hand over my nobility and beauty to foxes and dogs and for mockery. But a certain wrinkled woman, red and dark-faced, wanted to be compared to this noble lady! and she bore both her nobility and her beauty undeservedly. This same wrinkled woman walks over the mountains and runs through regions and in every place.
The Wrinkled Woman's Restless Pursuit of Praise
The wrinkled woman seeks praise and honor but receives none, as people recognize her restlessness as from the devil, while a merchant woman gathers beautiful crafts and displays them, placing a pure crystal in the sunlight to kindle its light.
Seeking praise and honor. And no one gives her any! But everyone says— These things are restless and undisciplined, from the devil, and must be driven away by everyone. A certain merchant woman also gathered to herself from every craft. which are beautiful to the eyes for seeing. And she was eager to make those things unknown and marvelous to people, in sight and in hearing. Afterward, she placed a beautiful and exceedingly pure crystal in the fire of the sun.1
The Crystal's Light and the Call to Discernment
The crystal, kindled by the sun, gives light to all, and the noble woman holds her arts in moderation; Hildegard calls her son to attend to the first woman and her maidens, to flee the wrinkled woman, and to gather the merchant woman to himself.
which the sun had kindled in this way. so that it could give light to everyone! And so she herself also kept all her arts in moderation. Now, my son, pay attention to the first woman and her maidens. But the wrinkled woman — flee from her with everything you've got! Draw the merchant woman to yourself. For the first woman is love, along with her maidens — namely, generosity and kindness!2 But the wrinkled woman has a red and black face.
The Meaning of the Parable
Hildegard reveals that the first woman is love with generosity and kindness, the wrinkled woman is worldly love, the merchant woman is philosophy, and the fiery crystal is faith through which one reaches God, concluding with a prayer that her son share in these gifts offered through the Lord's passion and resurrection.
Worldly love is what wanton people use to entangle one another in their shameful pursuit. But the merchant-woman, philosophy, who established every art, does indeed exist. And she discovers crystal — that is, faith — through which one reaches God. I trust in God that you may share in these gifts. Since in fiery crystal — the gifts of the Lord's passion and resurrection. you offered to God.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. Care fili parabolam hanc audi! quam in uera uisione uidi. Quędam nobilis et pulcra domina cubiculum ex auro ornatum habuit. quę frequenter duas puellas elegantes uultus habentes secum habitare elegit. Multę autem turbę dominam hanc uidentes faciem eius laudauerunt. et cum illa habitare uoluerunt. Quibus ipsa dixit.
Munera quę uobis placent uobis dabo. quia nec mihi nec uobis prodesset. ut simul essemus. Nobilitatem enim et pulcritudinem meam uulpibus et canibus et in irrisiones dare nolo. Sed quędam rugosa mulier rubea et nigra facie huic nobili dominę assimilari uoluit! et nobilitatem et pulcritudinem ipsius indigne tulit. Hęc eadem rugosa mulier super montibus ambulat. in regionibus et in omnibus locis currit.
laudem et honorem querens. et nemo illi dat! sed omnes dicunt. Ista inquieta et indisciplinata a diabolo est et ab omnibus abigenda est. Quędam etiam mulier mercatrix de omni arte ad se collegit. quę oculis pulcra ad uidendum sunt. et studebat ut ea ignota et mirabilia hominibus in uisu et in auditu faceret. Postea uero cristallum pulcram et nimis puram ad ignem solis posuit.
quę de sole sic accendebatur. ut lumen omnibus daret! unde etiam ipsa omnes artes suas in moderatione habuit. Nunc fili mi primam mulierem et puellas eius adtende. sed mulierem rugosam omni studio fuge! mulierem autem mercatricem ad te collige. Prima enim mulier caritas est cum puellis suis uidelicet beniuolentia et largitate! sed rugosa mulier rubeam et nigram faciem habens.
amor secularis est quo turpi studio lasciui homines ad inuicem se complicant. mulier uero mercatrix philosophia existit quę omnem artem instituit. et quę cristallum id est fidem inuenit cum qua ad deum peruenitur. Ego in deum confido quod cum his partem habeas. quoniam in ignea cristallo munera passionis et resurrectionis domini. deo obtulisti.
Notes
- 1 ↩uero rendered as a narrative transition ('afterward') rather than a strong adversative, following the discourse-marker sense appropriate to the prophetic vision context.
- 2 ↩Caritas rendered as 'love' in the theological-virtue sense; the allegorical framework identifies the first woman with charity itself, attended by benevolence and generosity as her companions.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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