R235: Priester C. an Hildegard von Rupertsberg
Greeting to the Chaste Dove
A priest greets Hildegard as a chaste dove hidden in the rock, humbly commends her holiness, and glorifies God for making her a shining lamp within the Church.
A certain priest. To Hildegard. To Hildegard, a chaste dove hiding in the clefts of the rock.✦ C. The least priest among the servants of Christ. The deepest devotion of prayer. And whatever pertains to eternal salvation. Because by the grace of God your light shines beneficially before men, I glorify your father, who has placed you as a burning lamp for the illumination of the church.✦✦
Rejoicing, Longing, and Humble Prayer
The priest confesses his own frailty, rejoices in Hildegard's bridal union with Christ, expresses his longing to see her, remembers her in prayer, and asks her intercession for himself.
And though I'm frail and a sinner, I still heartily rejoice with you in your holiness, by which you cling by singular privilege to the embraces of your heavenly Bridegroom.1 I do not want to be ignorant of your love either, because night and day I long to see you face to face.2 And constantly keeping your memory in my prayers, I sometimes embrace you in spirit, absent in body as though you were present. Therefore I humbly beseech your perfection: commend yourselves to your Bridegroom, under whose shadow you rest securely.✦✦3 Commend me as I beg along the way.4 Lest the passing crowd silence my cry!5
Petition for Illumination and Teaching
He asks to be healed from blindness of heart and seeks instruction on the Body and Blood of Christ and on how a priest approaches the sacrament, commending all to God's glory in the Church.
But, led by your prayers to the Lord, may I deserve to be illuminated. And may I be healed from the blindness of the heart. Concerning the Body and the Blood of Christ, in which the whole hope of the faithful rests. Teach me even this as well. And how, in the spirit, you may see a priest approaching the same Sacrament both unprepared and prepared.6 Be sure to make these things known to me in the Lord. The Lord, who is in all things and above all things. May he pour into you the things that serve the glory of his holy Church.
Farewell
The letter closes with a brief farewell.
Farewell.
Read the original Latin
Sacerdos quidam. hildegardi. Hildigardi castę columbę in foraminibus petrę latitanti. C. ex famulis christi minimus sacerdos. intimę orationis deuotionem. et quicquid spectat ad eternam salutem. Quia dei gratia lux uestra coram hominibus salubriter lucet patrem uestrum qui uos ardentem lucernam ad illuminationem ęcclesię supposuit glorifico.
et quamuis fragilis et peccator. sanctitati tamen uestrę qua celestis sponsi amplexibus singulari priuilegio inheretis cordialiter congaudeo. Caritatem etiam uestram ignorare nolo quod die noctuque uos facie tenus uidere desiderio. et assidue uestri memoriam in oratione mea faciens. uos absentem corpore quasi presentem interdum amplector mente. Ergo perfectionem uestram humiliter deprecor ut sponso uestro sub cuius umbra secure requiescitis. me iuxta uiam mendicantem commendetis. ne preteriens turba clamorem meum compescat!
sed orationibus uestris ad dominum adductus merear illuminari. et a cecitate cordis sanari. De corpore et de sanguine christi in quibus tota spes fidelium est. etiam docete me. et qualiter in spiritu tam incorrectum quam correctum ad idem sacramentum sacerdotem accedentem uideatis. mihi in domino manifestare curetis. Dominus qui in omnibus et super omnia est. uobis infundat ea quę ęcclesię sanctę suę ad gloriam conueniunt.
Valete.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Song.2.14 — O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding place of the steep path, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
- ↩Matt.5.16 — In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.
- ↩John.5.35 — He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a time in his light.
- ↩Song.2.3 — Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. In his shadow I delighted to sit, and his fruit was sweet to my palate.
- ↩Ps.91.1 — Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Notes
- 1 ↩inheretis: morphological identification uncertain; rendered as 'you cling' following candidate gloss
- 2 ↩tenus: function uncertain; rendered as modifying 'face' (facie tenus) in the sense of 'face to face'
- 3 ↩sub cuius umbra secure requiescitis — 'under whose shadow you rest securely' echoes the Song of Songs and Psalm 91 imagery of divine protection
- 4 ↩commendetis: mood uncertain (indicative vs. subjunctive); rendered as imperative following the hortatory context
- 5 ↩compescat: mood uncertain; likely subjunctive in a ne-clause of fear/purpose
- 6 ↩The Latin tam...quam ('both...and') pairs the unprepared (incorrectum) and the prepared (correctum) as two states in which the priest may approach the Sacrament; the writer asks Hildegard to perceive this spiritually.
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