R24: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Hillin von Fallemanien
A Lament for the Fallen Time
Hildegard opens with a prophetic lament over a corrupt age, tracing humanity's ruin back to Adam and the branching of his corrupted seed.
Hildegard's reply. Wisdom sounds forth, saying: Now is a squalid time of womanly form. Alas! Alas! Adam, the new covenant of all righteousness! And there was the root of all human seed. Afterward, a masculine spirit arose within his own lineage, and it split into three bands!
The Withered Tree of Mankind
The image of a tree splitting into three branches depicts the spread of human recklessness, murder, and idolatry, leaving the world withered and overturned.
Like a tree that spreads into three branches, the first group was such that the sons of Adam chose whatever their ability allowed. the second, that people rose up to the recklessness of murder. the third, that they did whatever they wanted with idols and similar errors. Now this tree is withered! And the world has been overturned amid many dangers, for this time looks back to that time, when the first woman made a sign to the first man in deception.
Woman as Fountain of Wisdom
Despite man's greater strength, woman is the fountain of wisdom and joy, yet the present age remains squalid, neither cold nor warm.
But nevertheless, man has greater strength than a woman can accomplish. Woman, however, is the fountain of wisdom and the fountain of abundant joy — the parts that man leads to perfection.1 These.2 These.3 This time is neither cold nor warm but squalid.4
A Time of Great Dangers
Prophetic dangers and human injustice will abound like the four winds, yet the shepherd is reminded that God's grace has appointed him for a purpose.
After this, a time will come when there will be great dangers, and fear, and the injustice and fierceness of men will bring forth their manly strength. Then the error of those who err — the error of errors — will blow abroad. just as the four winds that pour forth their own fame in the midst of great dangers. Now then, O shepherd, listen! because the grace of God has not appointed you for nothing.✦
The Fainthearted Shepherd
The shepherd is rebuked for quick weariness in good works and spiritual dryness, then introduced to the allegory of a king and his entrusted city.
Hold fast to his justice. When you begin to do good works, you quickly grow weary. But when you're called to the banquet, you stand at prayer only to dry up at once. Alas. Ah. You who stand in the place of Christ, listen once more. A certain king held a particular city in great honor.
The City Entrusted to the Shepherd
A king entrusts his city to three men—the tower, the open ground, and the wall—placing the shepherd as the guardian of the tower, his people below, and his clergy on the wall.
—the one whom he entrusted to three of his own men, so that they would have charge of him under guard. First, the tower. Second, the open ground of the city. Third, he entrusted its wall together with its battlements. You are placed in the tower. Your people are on the open ground of the city. Your clergy are on its wall together with its battlements.
Guard the Tower
Even if the wall is attacked and the ground plundered, the shepherd must guard the tower so the whole city is not destroyed, watching with the dove's likeness and teaching with authority.
If the wall of the city is attacked, and its open ground is plundered, still, you — guard its tower, and be such that the whole city is not destroyed. and it will not be scattered. The appearance of a dove teaches you. And the Word of God does not lack knowledge in you. Now therefore watch, and restrain with a rod of iron. Teach.
Heal Your Wounds and Live
The shepherd is called to anoint the wounds he has inflicted on himself, with the promise that he will live forever.
And anoint the wounds you've inflicted on yourself! And you will live forever.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. Sapientia sonat dicens. Nunc squalidum tempus muliebris formę est. Oi. oi. adam nouum testamentum omnis iusticię! et radix omnis seminis hominum fuit. Postea in genere ipsius uirilis animus surrexit qui in tres turmas exijt!
uelut arbor quę se in tres ramos extendit. Prima turma talis erat quod filij adę elegerunt quicquid possibilitas eorum habuit. secunda quod homines in temeritatem homicidij surrexerunt! tercia uero quod fecerunt quicquid in idolis et similibus erroribus uoluerunt. Nunc arbor hęc arida est! et mundus in multis periculis euersus est. Tempus enim istud ad tempus illud respicit! quando prima mulier nutum primo uiro in deceptione fecit.
Sed tamen uir plures uires habet! quam mulier perficere possit. Mulier autem est fons sapientię et fons pleni gaudij. quas partes uir ad perfectum ducit. Hę. hę. tempus hoc nec frigidum nec calidum est! sed squalidum.
Post hęc tempus ueniet! quod in magnis periculis. in timore. iniusticia et ferocitate uirorum uiriles uires proferet. Deinde error errantium errorum flabit. sicut quatuor uenti qui in magnis periculis famam suam effundunt. Nunc autem o pastor audi. quia gratia dei in uanum te non constituit.
unde iusticiam ipsius contine. Cum bona opera facere incipis cito fatigaris. cum uero ad symphoniam uocaris. ita quod ad orationem consistis ilico arescis. He. hę. qui in uice christi es iterum audi. Quidam rex quandam urbem in magnis honoribus habuit.
quam tribus uiris de suis hominibus commendauit! ita ut curam illius in custodia haberent. Primo autem turrim. secundo planiciem urbis. tercio murum ipsius cum propugnaculis commisit. Tu in turrim positus es! populus tuus in planiciem urbis! clerus autem tuus super murum eius cum propugnaculis.
Quod si murus urbis impugnabitur. et planicies illiusu depredabitur. tu tamen turrim eius custodi et talis esto ne tota urbs destruatur. et non dissipabitur. Species columbę te docet. et uerbum dei non caret in te scientia. Nunc ergo uigila et in uirga ferrea constringe. doce.
et uulnera tibi commissorum ungue! et in eternum uiues.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.127.1 — A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
Notes
- 1 ↩The antecedent of 'quas partes' is ambiguous: it may refer to the roles or aspects of woman (wisdom and joy) that man directs toward perfection, or to stages of spiritual progress. The translation preserves the ambiguity.
- 2 ↩The abbreviated demonstrative 'Hę' (hæ) refers back to the preceding statement. The referent is ambiguous without further context.
- 3 ↩The abbreviated demonstrative 'hę' (hæ) is a repeated or variant form of the preceding sentence. Its referent is ambiguous.
- 4 ↩The adjective 'squalidum' (squalid, wretched, unkempt) as a characterization of the present age is theologically loaded. It suggests moral and spiritual degradation beyond mere lukewarmness.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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