R246: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Mönchskonvent von Hirsau
Greeting and Call to Steadfastness
Hildegard greets the Hirsau congregation and exhorts them to steadfast thought, holy desire, and discernment amid prosperity and adversity.
To the congregation of Hirsau. Hildegard. The serene light speaks. O weeping sheepfold, adorned with the sign of the bond of obedience. Be steadfast in your thoughts. And let your desires yearn toward the love of God. You, therefore, consider: where prosperity or adversity may be found.
The Valleys and Unforgotten Care
Using the image of valleys now flourishing, now parched, Hildegard assures the community that she will not forget them, for wisdom's holy work remains among them.
Hear the measure of the valleys. Valleys sometimes are green and flourish from the dew of heaven and from the heat of the sun. And sometimes they dry up and fail in the changing of storms. But I do not hold those valleys, which on account of the diversity of storms at some time lose their beauty, entirely in such oblivion. I do not hold them entirely in such oblivion. As if from now on they might not rise again in their beauty. So also I will not forget this place in which you stand. Because wisdom will not lack in it the material of holiness.
A Bright Sheepfold and Right Discipline
Hildegard calls the monks to be a victorious sheepfold, to trample vices, embrace humble confession, and accept that withdrawn mercy and harsh discipline must be rightly ordered.
so that he himself first went forward in uprightness. But you — be a bright sheepfold in victory!1 Trampling the vices that shake you in troubled times! And don't be ashamed to accuse yourself for your evil deeds, because God anoints and wipes away all wounds in penitence.2 But the living eye has nevertheless noted the past cause in that pain.3 Because you are agitated in obstinacy against your superiors and prelates, since the sweetness of a mother's ointment — that is, of mercy — was withdrawn from certain of your sheep.4 They lie in guilt — those who were not properly judged in the penalty they received in their penitence.5 For it was an ill-timed rain.6
Despair, Mercy, and the Living Light
Warning that unanointed sin leads to despair, Hildegard urges the hearers to seize the mercy that comes from God and hear the voice of the living light.
It makes the ground dry. So it is with the one who sins. if there is no one to anoint him. immediately he flees into despair and dries up. because no remedy is offered to him that he himself can endure. Now, dear sons! Hear the voice of the living light. Seize hold of mercy, which does not arise from yourselves.
Restoring Souls by Mercy
Hildegard concludes by urging that mercy, which is God's gift, not be withdrawn but used to draw the brothers back to spiritual health.
But that which comes from God and so don't withdraw her from those to whom she is to be devoted.7 Draw them back, therefore, into the health of their souls.
Read the original Latin
Congregationi hirsauiensium. hildegardis. Serena lux dicit. O plangens ouile et ornatum in signo ligaturę obedientię. esto stabile in cogitationibus tuis. et desideria tua anhelent ad amorem dei. Tu ergo considera! ubi sit prosperitas uel aduersitas.
Audi mensuram uallium. Valles interdum uirent et florent de rore celi et de calore solis. et interdum arescunt et deficiunt in uicissitudine tempestatum. Sed tamen ualles istas quę propter diuersitatem tempestatum aliquando pulcritudinem suam perdunt. non habeo omnino in tali obliuione. quasi amodo in pulcritudine sua non resurgant. Sic etiam non obliuiscar loci huius in quo tu stas. quia sapientia non carebit in eo materia sanctitatis.
ut ipse primum in rectitudine processit. Tu autem esto lucidum ouile in uictoria. conculcans uicia quę in inquieto tempore concutiunt te! et non erubesce quod te propter mala opera tua accuses quoniam deus omnia uulnera in penitentia unguit et tergit. Sed tamen uiuens oculus notauit preteritam causam in dolore illo. quod tu commotum es in contumacia superiorum prelatorum tuorum quia dulcedo unguentis matris scilicet misericordię subtracta fuit a quibusdam ouibus tuis. in culpa iacentibus quę non recte diiudicatę sunt in pena quam habuerunt in penitentia sua. Incongrua enim pluuia.
facit terram aridam. Sic homo qui peccauerit. si non habuerit illum qui eum unguat. protinus in desperationem fugit et arescit. quoniam nulla medicina exhibetur ei secundum quod ipse sustinere potest. Nunc cari filij! audite uocem uiuentis lucis. Apprehendite misericordiam quę non est ex uobis orta.
sed quę ex deo uenit. et ideo non abstrahite eam ab illis quibus impendenda est. Retrahite ergo illos. in sanitatem animarum suarum.
Notes
- 1 ↩lucidum ouile: 'bright/sheepfold' — the metaphor blends clarity of faith with pastoral care of the community; 'bright' captures lucidum as luminous, not merely clean.
- 2 ↩unguit et tergit: the pairing of anointing and wiping suggests both healing and cleansing; Hildegard presents penitence as the place where God both soothes and removes the damage of sin.
- 3 ↩uiuens oculus: likely God's eye or the eye of divine providence; 'living' contrasts with any suggestion of a distant or indifferent God.
- 4 ↩dulcedo unguentis matris scilicet misericordię: the mother is likely the Church or Mary; the 'ointment of mercy' is a maternal comfort now removed, causing the community's unrest.
- 5 ↩non recte diiudicatae sunt in pena: suggests the punishment was disproportionate or unjustly assessed, not that penitence itself was wrong.
- 6 ↩Incongrua pluuia: a brief, cryptic judgment. Likely refers to a spiritual blessing or disciplinary measure that came at the wrong time and so failed to nourish. The terseness is characteristic of Hildegard's prophetic voice.
- 7 ↩eam likely refers to the mercy (misericordia) mentioned in the preceding section; 'impendenda' rendered 'to be devoted/bestowed' — agreement and precise sense uncertain.
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