R245: Mönchskonvent von Hirsau an Hildegard von Rupertsberg
Greeting to Hildegard
The monks of Hirsau address Hildegard with praise for her divine calling and the grace she brings to the Church.
The convent at Hirsau to Hildegard. Lady Hildegard, divinely chosen for the building up of the church! the poor and humble flock of monks at Hirsau. thus to be adorned with divine piety. so that he may know to console the humble of Christ in tribulation. Blessed is the glory of the Lord, which from his lofty throne has looked upon us with wondrous and unprecedented care! when he willed such a great light of his grace to shine upon the world through you.
Joy amid Decline
The monks express their joy at Hildegard's light while confessing their grief over the decline of their monastic order and asking her to listen to their concerns.
From there all the children of the church rejoice. But especially we who are spiritual are flooded with a new light of exultation! while we endure in grief over the decline of our order. We hope to be gladdened by divine consolation through you. What then are the things that produce the greatest anxiety for us? — the things that especially gnaw at our minds! Pay attention in a few words. With God as witness, we disparage the lord abbot in nothing!
Lament over the Abbot
The monks carefully describe their distress over the abbot's excessive leniency, internal conflicts, and the resulting contempt their community endures, while affirming their loyalty.
Yet we groan over the one whose fatherly gentleness, shown in so many ways, has made us forgetful toward ourselves. And over the fact that he has been too lenient with certain of those close to him. We groan that he has used his free authority in all things too sparingly. Indeed, we realize that our reputation has been torn apart by the greatest accusations and scandals over these matters. And especially over the tearful discord that arose among us long ago. And likewise over the disturbance recently stirred up between our abbot and the prior. We lament that our religious life is held in the greatest contempt by secular people. And so, uncertain what we should do,
Appeal for Prayer and Guidance
The monks humbly ask Hildegard to pray that God's will be revealed to them and promise to respond with grateful prayer in return.
We humbly ask that through your prayers God's will may in some small way shine out on us in all this. And if through consolatory letters we come to learn whatever is especially pleasing to God in this—whatever it may be—we will have earned through you the one thing we alone can give, which we know is most welcome to your love. We will always strive to repay the recompense of your prayers for this gift.
Read the original Latin
Conuentus in hirsaugia. hildegardi. Dominę hildegardi ad edificationem ęcclesię diuinitus electę! monachorum grex pauper et pusillus in hirsaugia. sic diuina pietate adornari. ut nouerit humiles christi in tribulatione consolari. Benedicta gloria domini quę de excelso solio suo mirabili et inusitato ordine prospexit! dum tantum lumen gratię suę mundo per uos illucescere uoluit.
Inde omnes ęcclesię filij iocundantur. sed precipue nos qui spiritales noua exultationis luce perfundimur! dum in merore quem pro defectu nostri ordinis toleramus. diuina consolatione per uos letificari speramus. Quę igitur sint quę summam nobis sollicitudinem pariant. quę maxime mentem nostram remordeant! paucis animaduertite. Deo teste domino abbati in nullo detrahimus!
quem tamen paternę lenitatis per multa in nobis immemorem. et quibusdam familiaribus suis laxius indulgente. libera quoque potestate in omnibus moderacius utentem ingemiscimus. Siquidem maximis calumpnijs et infamijs opinionem nostram super hęc lacerati perpendimus! et precipue pro lacrimabili discordia pridem inter nos orta. et nichilominus inter ipsum abbatem nostrum et priorem nuper commota. religionem nostram quam maximo contemptui a secularibus haberi deflemus. Quapropter incerti quid agamus.
ut uestris orationibus diuina uoluntas nobis aliquatenus super his elucescat humillime imploramus. Quod si litteris consolatorijs quod potissimum quodue sit deo in his placitum per uos certificari meruerimus id quod solum possumus uestręque caritati gratissimum scimus. precum uestrarum remunerationem huic beneficio rependere semper studebimus.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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