SR
← Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England/Book 1 · Epistolae
Chapter 270HildE.1.270

R270: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Klerus von Trier

A Humble Prophet Speaks

Hildegard introduces herself as a poor, lowly woman, yet from true vision she accuses the clergy of Trier of refusing to sound the trumpet of justice.

Hildegard to the clergy of Trier. I am a poor, lowly woman, and in myself I have neither health, nor strength, nor courage, nor learning. But I am one who is subject to my teachers! From the mystical light of true vision I heard these words addressed to the prelates and to the clergy of Trier. Teachers and masters, you refuse to sound the trumpet of justice. That is why the dawn of good works has been extinguished in you — the very dawn that illuminates the whole world. It is like a mirror of light, For this dawn ought to shine with teaching in you, guiding diverse precepts — just as the sphere of the sun is manifold.

The Four Winds of a Cold Heart

Using the symbolism of the four winds, Hildegard says the clergy lack the warmth of virtues, ignore Christ’s humility, and cling to what they call their own.

The south wind of virtues, too, with its own warmth in them, is as cold as winter! Because good works, even those kindled by the fiery Holy Spirit, have no fire in themselves! And since they are without vitality, they are barren. The west, too, has turned mercy into the blackness of sackcloth. Because by living well they do not honor the passion of Christ. Who through humility descended into humanity! And veiled his divinity, just as the sun is sometimes hidden. But the north wind with the northeast wind works in them.

Hidden Sins and Black Winds

Because clergy hide in selfish possessions, their works will become soul-punishment, and the devil sends three black winds against them.

This is where each one of them exercises the full breadth of what they call their own. And this is what will be turned into punishment for souls. Just as sackcloth binds and constricts the human body, so they themselves do not rise through good works with the east, and they don't burn with the heat of the sun. Nor do they turn away from evil things with the west! But with the north wind they hide themselves away into what their own heart claims as its own. Because of this the devil truly sends out three black winds from the north with a mocking hiss.

Three Winds of Ruin

The three black winds are named: pride against the Risen One, forgetfulness of God, and unfaithfulness, yet those who once followed the Lamb bound these winds through obedience.

First, clearly, since pride and hatred against the Rising One — who has been extinguished — second, with forgetfulness of God against the south wind, third, with unfaithfulness against the west, For when teachers and masters, by walking rightly, have imitated God, the east wind so bound the north wind within them that it could not even sigh. And the south wind was burning him up in good works among them. And the west cast his strength down into darkness. When these men, following the Lamb, were abandoning the world and themselves —✦

A Womanly Time

Hildegard laments that spiritual strength has become womanly weakness in a womanly time begun by a tyrant, yet she has learned this from true vision.

But now the force of manly strength has bent down into womanly weakness. She ought not to fight with manly fortitude!1 Because the husband is the head.✦✦ This is indeed a womanly time. It began with a certain tyrant. Since every evil has sprung up. But I've learned from a true vision that often any householder who is a powerful lord —2

The Lord’s Zeal and Adam’s Fall

She warns that God does not leave transgression unpunished, recalling Adam’s loss of the bright garment and vision through the zeal of the Lord.

To his sons and servants who are themselves displeased because of the transgression of their own commands. He sets forth uprightness and power and his own ability. And that afterwards, extending his hand with the rod of correction, he bends them. And he scatters them according to the nature of their offense, saying. Where do you come from? And what are you without me? And I have heard about the zeal of the Lord. That God does not let go the transgression of their own commands without punishment. Adam violated God's commandments! He lost the vision of heavenly things and his bright garment!✦✦ And he was sent into a place of misery.✦ Through the zeal of the Lord as well!✦

From Cain to the Flood

From Cain’s blood to the many descendants who forgot God, the earth was cleansed by the flood, striking terror into the ancient serpent.

Cain was driven out for shedding his brother's blood, whom he killed.✦ Very many peoples also arose from Adam's sons, who had forgotten God. So much so that they did not wish to know that they were human beings. Whence, sinning shamefully, they lived according to the customs of cattle. Except for the sons of God, who separated themselves from those people and from their ways. From whom Noah was born. Then the zeal of the Lord was aroused. And the Spirit of the Lord was carried over the waters, and the cloud tore open. And he led forth the waters in the flood. And so the land was cleansed from its grievous sins and from the blood of Abel, which it had drunk. For God did these things. And so the neck of desire belonging to the ancient serpent was struck with terror.

New Wine, Abraham, and Obedience

After the flood, wisdom begins again, but the devil sins anew; then Abraham’s obedience and circumcision presignify Christ and reverse Adam’s transgression.

Then the earth, which had earlier been violated in the blood of Abel, brought forth a new juice of wine, and wisdom began to work again. nouum sucum uini protulit! et sapientia iterum operari cepit. Sed diabolus cum irrisione scelus in filio noe perpetrauit. unde et zelus domini peccantem in seruitutem dedit ac benedictionem ei subtraxit. et in maledictionem seruitutis peccantes tradidit. Et ita sapientia noua in celo et in terra operata est. Deinde sancta trinitas in abraham magnum opus ostendit. Foreshadowing and pointing to obedience — both in the place he left his homeland and in the place he circumcised himself —✦ and in obedience he foreshadowed those of whom it was said: Who are these who fly like clouds?✦ And in circumcision, the wound of the ancient serpent's confusion. But the woman, through laughter, followed in the folly of the first woman. Yet in her fertility, the Son of God was prefigured.✦ For in the obedience of Abraham, God changed the transgression of Adam. And in his circumcision, he inflicted a wound on death.✦

Barren Womb, Law, and Purification

The barren woman’s fruitfulness prefigures Christ’s birth; Moses gives the law, yet Israel falls into idols, and God’s zeal will purify even to the end.

And in the fruitfulness of the barren woman he foresaw✦ that another woman was about to bear another son. because the Son of God fulfilled every one of these presignifications in his birth.✦3 Moses, the lawgiver, came as an aid to circumcision and gave the law. which was also accomplished by God. But that people, on account of their many transgressions of God's precepts, fell into idols and into other sins. The zeal of the Lord will work such purifications right up to the end of the world.✦ But nevertheless, when God sends forth his vengeance—

Warnings, Penance, and Prophecy

God foretells judgments so people have no excuse; many do penance as with Jonah, and God’s sons and daughters prophesy, leading to the obedient virgin who reverses Eve’s pride.

Time and again God foretells it through someone or some other creature. This is so that people have no excuse for their own evils. For this reason, many often rise up among them. and do penance. just as it happened with Jonah. And so God is praised through his friends. and through his enemies he is proclaimed. For God has often touched the form of his own finger, with the showing already mentioned, in men and in women. As it is written. Your sons will prophesy! and your daughters. Yet after God had prefigured what he willed to do— he remembered what he had said, that he would crush the serpent's head. And a certain woman—namely, a virgin—endowed with obedience and chastity. and he poured every good thing over her and filled her with every good thing. So that the pride that was in Eve withered away in her.

The Virginal Conception and Christ’s Work

The virgin conceives the Son of God by the Holy Spirit, who comes wonderfully into the world and gives power to return flesh to spirit through undefiled flesh.

But this virgin conceived the Son of God by the Holy Spirit. who came forth wonderfully. and came into the world in miracles. Then God rested from that work. which he had thus accomplished in the flesh. And to this Son of his he gave the power to bring all things of the flesh back to the things of the Spirit. because that flesh of holiness is one that came forth through a nature not its own. and which the serpent's cunning never violated.

Baptism, Repentance, and Pentecost

The Son shows holiness in baptism, gives repentance, confirms all in death, and after his passion sends new fire to his disciples, making the four winds shine with Gospel harmony.

So the same Son of God watered the old law. When in baptism, through faith and obedience and through abstinence from bodily desires, he showed the way of holiness. And when he gave repentance to people. And when he confirmed all these things in a mortal body through his death. And when he gave wonders and signs to his disciples. Just as the Father had given them to him. For because God appeared as a human being, with the thunder of divinity he sent a new fire into his disciples — something that had never appeared before. And the disciples were filled with new tongues of fire and new understanding,✦ which taught people to live according to a heavenly harmony. Then the east shone forth in its strength,✦ and the south burned with its heat. Nor was the west dark, nor did the north drift off with the north wind. For through the passion of Christ they were held in check, right up to a certain tyrant, from whose time every evil and injustice and corruption arose.4 But these things too were tested by famine and pestilence.

Sorrow, Purification, and the Daughter of Zion

The Church is tested by famine, war, and repentance, yet now the law is neglected; therefore a voice from heaven mourns that the daughter of Zion’s crown will bow down.

And because of wars and battles, they are bowed down! And because of the punishments of repentance, they are purified.5 But now the law is neglected among a spiritual people. Whoever despises doing good and teaching. Teachers and prelates too. With justice set aside, justice sleeps. That is why I heard this voice from heaven speaking. O daughter of Zion, the crown will bow down from your head.

Exile, Destruction, and the Faithful Remnant

Zion’s riches will be compressed, she will be driven into exile, cities and cloisters destroyed, yet some will cling to God like Elijah’s remnant and be purified in this womanly time.

And a cloak of the expansion of your riches will hang over you. And it will be compressed into a tiny number! And you will be driven from region to region. For through powerful men, very many cities and cloisters must be destroyed. And the leaders will say, Let us tear away the wickedness from them. which overthrows the whole world within them. And I saw and heard that these dangers and afflictions will come upon regions and cloisters because of the violation of obedience and of other legal precepts and statutes. And yet I saw that even in such acts of defiance some will cling to God, and will strain toward him, just as in Elijah's time some did.✦ These indeed will persist with great honor. And they will be regarded as a sacrifice to God, because they turned away from evil, like Noah and Lot. And this same purification will begin modestly in this womanly time, and afterward it will grow greater.

A Coming Manly Age

After this brief womanly age, a manly age will come with wars and God’s just judgment, restoring discipline, fear of God, and a humble few among spiritual people.

And then a manly age will come. In it there will be wars and battles, from the just judgment of God. But this womanly age will not last so long! Only as long as it has lasted up to now. Then the justice and judgments of God will arise.6 And discipline and the fear of God will be among the people. And just and good men will come to be among the spiritual people. Yet they will remain few in number, on account of humility.

Hermits, Prophecy, and Adorned Understanding

At the first dawn the faithful will return like hermits in fear, strong men will prophesy, and they will gather Scripture and teaching, adorning understanding like precious stones.

And at the first light of dawn they will return, like hermits, and they do this also in fear of times past. They have seen the troubles that came upon them. And then people won't behave recklessly, like boys. But they'll endure sorrow over unknown times yet to come. And then strong men will rise up and prophesy. And they'll gather together all the old and new writings of Scripture and every teaching poured out through the Holy Spirit. And they'll adorn their understanding like a necklace with precious stones.

Holy Zeal and the Warrior of Christ

Through these wise ones many secular folk will live holy lives in lasting zeal, with many martyrs, because the warrior who looks to the beginning and end of his works will bring it all to pass.

Through these and through other wise people, a great many secular folk will become good. and they'll live holy lives. Yet this zeal for holiness won't quickly dry up. It'll last a long time. because all these things will come about in a time gone astray. where many martyrs will stand firm in faith. For the warrior will bring these things to pass. who looks to the beginning and the end of his own works in all of this!

The Body of the Church Restored

God has ordered the Church as a body with prophets as head, wise as eyes, teachers as mouth, and the faithful as members, opening prophecy to their understanding.

—so that it may hold the wandering people back in this. For he himself first appointed the prophets as its head, the wise as its eyes, teachers as its mouth! just as through God's word all things were also made. And since, then, the remaining members—that is, the faithful—will work good things, as it is said, God places the head in their embrace. that is, he will open prophecy to their understanding.

Sorrow, Strength, and the Living Book

The princes will turn to sorrow like captive Israel, yet afterward they will be strengthened without weariness, gaze on the living book, and be filled with health and virtues.

Then the princes will turn their lyres and drums into revelry and sorrow! Just as the people of Israel did when they were captured. After all this, they will be strengthened in every spiritual gift without weariness or failure. And humanity will gaze upon the pupil of the living book. And then strength, fortitude, and health will arise among the people. Because the warrior will fill the air with health. And he will bring forth the greenness of virtues. So that the faithful may not fail in body or soul during this time of wandering.

The Time of Wandering and God’s Gardener

This time of wandering will last until God scatters error; the faithful will hurry toward death like a feast, and the gardener will cast out useless plants and gather the useful.

And this will last right up to the time of wandering. In that time God's faithful people will hurry toward death as eagerly as toward a feast. But this time of error will hold fast in this way. until God, in his grace and mercy and zeal, scatters that time of error. In all these things the gardener will throw the useless plants out of his garden and gather the useful ones to himself. As it is written. The Lord is the God of vengeance! The God of vengeance has acted freely.

God of Vengeance

God in his zeal crushes the head of all wickedness, for he is the God of vengeance who establishes and brings about all things from himself alone.

What a thing this is! God, in his own zeal, crushes the head of all wickedness. And the Lord brings it down in its fall! Because all wickedness comes from the devil, who is buried in hell. For he himself is the God of vengeance, because he has looked at no one or looked back at anyone. From whom would he assume that anything should be added to himself? But in himself he distributes each thing. He establishes and he brings about.

Vengeance, Suffering, and Pillars of Heaven

God condemns the lost with the devil, yet bends many through suffering and raises them up so that by good works they become pillars of heaven.

And he did this freely, in this way. Because he alone is just and good, and to be feared in all his judgments. For God is the one who takes vengeance on the lost, because they refused the good. And so he condemns them along with the devil. He freely bends many through suffering. And afterward he freely raises them up again. So that through good works they may be, as it were, a pillar of heaven. Just as he made very many from tax collectors and sinners into saints.

The Devil Scattered

The devil tries to rise in his lost son, but God overcomes him, scatters his power like a craftsman, and casts him into the abyss as in his first fall.

Then the devil, rising up, wishes to fly on the wings of the winds in his lost son. But God, in himself, arranges the things he wills, since no one can overcome him. And he scatters all the devil's power, just as a craftsman who reduces every useless thing in his workshop to nothing. And he stretches out his hand in his zeal. just as he did there, where he cast that same Satan down into the abyss in his first fall. From there, like a serpent, it enters its hole.

The Unknown Fire and the Church’s Weariness

Afterward a divinity unknown to creatures will work, for the time of purification by fire is hidden; once the Church shone in golden faith, but now she is weary with squalid manners and will face vengeance unless destroyed by repentance like Nineveh.

So he hides himself in the abyss, and will never rise again. because now he is completely deceived. Afterward, a divinity unknown to every creature will work. because it is unknown to every human when the purification of the world by fire will take place.✦✦ And I saw it in Trier — with a new fire that appeared to the disciples in tongues of fire.✦ Among the faithful I saw it at first, adorned in a striking way. so that all its streets, in golden faith together with miracles, had then been spread abroad.✦✦ But now, through a wandering in squalid ways, she is wearied as though God does not know, surrounded and polluted by countless other evils. And in these things she has grown old in weariness and in the fading of the loveliness and beauty of her principal and honorable institutions. And she has sunk into the oblivion of many sins. Therefore the fires of vengeance from her enemies will come upon her. Unless they are destroyed through repentance, just as it was done in the case of Jonah.

Read the original Latin

Ad clerum treuirorum hildegardis. Ego paupercula forma quę in me nec sanitatem nec uim nec fortitudinem nec doctrinam habeo. sed quę magistris subdita sum! de mistico lumine uerę uisionis ad prelatos et ad clerum treuirensium hęc uerba audiui. Doctores et magistri tuba iusticię canere nolunt. ideo oriens bonorum operum in eis extinctus est qui totum mundum illuminat. et qui quasi speculum luminis est. Oriens enim iste cum doctrina in eis lucere deberet quę diuersa precepta regeret sicut et spera solis diuersa est.

Auster etiam uirtutum cum calore suo in ipsis frigidus ut hiemps est! quia bona opera et de igneo spiritu sancto ignita in se non habent! et quoniam absque uiriditate aridi sunt. Occidens quoque misericordię in nigredinem sacci cilicini uersus est. quia bene uiuendo passionem christi non colunt. qui per humilitatem in humanitatem descendit! et diuinitatem suam obtexit sicut sol interdum absconditur. Sed septentrio cum aquilone in eis operatur.

ubi unusquisque eorum latitudinem proprietatis suę exercet. quę in penas animarum conuertetur. sicut etiam cilicium corpus hominis constringit. Ipsi namque per bona opera cum oriente non surgunt. et cum ardore solis non ardent. nec cum occidente a malis declinant! sed cum septentrionali aquilone in proprietatem cordis sui se abscondunt. Ob hoc uere diabolus tres nigros uentos ex aquilone cum ludibili sibilo emittit.

primum scilicet cum superbia et odio contra orientem qui extinctus est. secundum cum obliuione dei contra austrum. tercium cum infidelitate contra occidentem. Nam cum doctores et magistri recte ambulando deum imitati sunt. oriens aquilonem in eis ita constrinxit quod suspirare non potuit. et auster in bonis operibus eum in illis cremabat. et occidens uires eius in tenebras deiecit. quando isti mundum et seipsos agnum sequentes relinquebant.

Nunc autem uis uirilis fortitudinis in muliebrem debilitatem inclinata est. quę cum uirili fortitudine pugnare non debet! quia uir caput est. Muliebre uero tempus istud. cum quodam tyranno incepit. cum omne malum exortum est. Ego autem ex uera uisione didici. quod multociens quilibet pater familias qui potens dominus est.

filiis et famulis suis qui propter preuaricationem preceptorum suorum ipsi displicent. probitatem ac potentiam et possibilitatem suam proponit. et quod postea manum suam extendendo cum uirga correptionis eos inclinat. et dissipat secundum qualitatem delicti ipsorum dicens. Vnde uenitis. et quid absque me estis. Et de zelo domini audiui. quod deus absque ultione preuaricationem preceptorum suorum non dimittit.

Adam enim precepta dei preuaricatus! uisionem celestium et claram uestem amisit! et in locum miserię missus est. Per zelum etiam domini! cain propter effusionem sanguinis fratris sui quem occidit expulsus est. Plurimi etiam populi ex filijs adam surrexerunt qui obliuionem dei habebant. ita quod se homines esse scire nolebant. unde turpiter peccando secundum mores pecorum uiuebant.

exceptis filijs dei qui ab eisdem hominibus et a moribus eorum se separabant. de quibus noe natus est. Tunc zelus domini eleuatus est. et spiritus domini super aquas ferebatur et nubes scidit. et aquas in diluuio eduxit! et sic terra de criminalibus peccatis mundata est et de sanguine abel quem biberat. Deus enim ista fecit. Et sic collum cupiditatis antiqui serpentis exterritum est.

Tunc terra quę in sanguine abel prius uiolata fuerat. nouum sucum uini protulit! et sapientia iterum operari cepit. Sed diabolus cum irrisione scelus in filio noe perpetrauit. unde et zelus domini peccantem in seruitutem dedit ac benedictionem ei subtraxit. et in maledictionem seruitutis peccantes tradidit. Et ita sapientia noua in celo et in terra operata est. Deinde sancta trinitas in abraham magnum opus ostendit.

presignando et ostendendo obedientiam ubi ille patriam reliquit et ubi se circumscidit! et in obedientia illos presignauit de quibus dictum est. qui sunt hi qui ut nubes uolant. et in circumscisione uulnus confusionis antiqui serpentis. Sed mulier per cachinnum stulticiam primę mulieris secuta est. in fecunditate autem eius filius dei prefiguratus est. Nam in obedientia abrahę deus preuaricationem adę mutauit. et in circumscisione ipsius morti uulnus intulit.

et in fecunditate sterilis feminę preuidit. quod alia femina alium filium paritura esset. quoniam filius dei omnem presignificationem istam in natiuitate sua compleuit. Moyses autem legifer in adiutorium circumscisionis uenit et legem dedit. quod etiam a deo perpetratum est. sed populus illius propter multas preuaricationes preceptorum dei in idolis et in aliis peccatis inijt. Zelus autem domini huiusmodi purgationes usque in finem mundi operabitur. Sed tamen cum deus uindictam suam emittit.

multociens eam per hominem aut per aliam aliquam creaturam prenuntiat. ne homines excusationem malorum suorum habeant. quapropter sepe et multi inter eos surgunt. et penitentiam agunt. sicut et in iona factum est. Et sic deus per amicos suos laudatur. et per inimicos suos predicatur. Nam deus formam digiti sui cum prefata ostensione in uiris et in feminis sepe tetigit!

ut scriptum est. Et prophetabunt filij uestri! et filię uestrę. Postquam autem deus prefigurauit quod facere uoluit! recordatus est quod dixerat quod contereret caput serpentis. Et quandam mulierem scilicet uirginem obedientia et castitate. ac omni bono perfudit et omni bono impleuit. ita quod superbia quę in eua fuit in hac aruit.

Sed uirgo hęc filium dei de spiritu sancto concepit. qui mirabiliter processit. et in mundum in miraculis uenit. Tunc deus ab opere illo cessauit. quod sic carnaliter patrarat. Et huic filio suo omnia carnalia ad spiritalia reuocare dedit. quia ille caro sanctitatis est quę per alienam naturam processit. et quam consilium serpentis numquam uiolauit.

Vnde idem filius dei ueterem legem rigauit. cum in baptismo per fidem et obedientiam et per abstinentiam carnalium desideriorum uiam sanctitatis demonstrauit. et cum perenitentiam hominibus dedit. et cum omnia hęc in mortali corpore cum morte sua confirmauit. et cum miracula et signa discipulis suis dedit. sicut pater ipsi dederat. Nam quia deus homo apparuit cum tonitru diuinitatis in discipulos suos nouum ignem misit. qui antea numquam apparuerat.

et discipuli nouis igneis linguis et noua scientia infusi sunt. quę secundum celestem armoniam homines uiuere docuit. Tunc oriens in uirtute sua resplenduit. et auster in calore suo arsit. nec occidens noxialis erat. nec septentrio cum aquilone bachabatur. quia per passionem christi temperati fuerunt usque ad tyrannum quendam a cuius tempore omne malum et iniusticia ac preuaricatio exorta est. Sed et hęc cum fame et pestilentia examinata sunt.

et cum bellis et prelijs incuruata sunt! et cum penis penitentię purgata sunt. Nunc autem lex in spiritali populo neglecta est. qui bona facere et docere contempnit. Magistri quoque et prelati. relicta iusticia iusticia dormiunt. Vnde uocem hanc de celo dicentem audiui. O filia syon corona de capite tuo inclinabitur.

et pallium dilatationis diuitiarum tuarum tibi imminuetur. et in paruum numerum constringetur! et de regione ad regionem expelleris. Per potentes enim homines plurimę ciuitates et claustra dissipanda sunt. Et principes dicent. Abstrahamus ab his iniquitatem. quę totum mundum in ipsis subuertit. Et uidi et audiui quod hęc pericula et contritiones regionibus et claustris propter preuaricationem obedientię et aliorum preceptorum legalium constitutionum occurrent.

Et uidi quod tamen in huiusmodi preuaricationibus aliqui deo adherebunt. et ad ipsum anhelabunt. quemadmodum in tempore helię factum est. Hi uero cum magno honore persistent. et uelut holocaustum dei habebuntur! quia a malis recesserunt ut noe et loth. Et hęc eadem purgatio in hoc muliebri tempore in modico incipiet. et postea maior fiet.

et deinde uirile tempus ueniet. in quo bella et prelia ex iusto dei iudicio erunt. Sed hoc muliebre tempus tamdiu non durabit! quamdiu hucusque perstitit. Tunc iusticię et iudicia dei surgent. et disciplina ac timor dei in populo erunt. et iusti et boni homines in spiritali populo fient. qui tamen in paruo numero propter humilitatem manebunt.

et in primam auroram sicut heremitę reuertentur! et hoc etiam in timore preteritorum temporum faciunt. quę sibi aduersa fuisse perspexerunt. Et homines stulticiam lasciuorum morum tunc non habebunt more puerorum. sed tristiciam de ignotis temporibus sustinebunt quę uentura sunt. Et tunc fortes uiri surgent et prophetabunt. et omnia uetera et noua scripturarum et omnes sermones per spiritum sanctum effusos colligent. et intellectum eorum sicut monile cum preciosis lapidibus ornabunt.

Per hos et per alios sapientes plurimi seculares boni fient. et sancte uiuent. Hoc autem studium sanctitatis cito non arescet. sed diu durabit. quia hęc omnia propter errans tempus fient. ubi multi martires in fide erunt. Nam uir preliator hęc faciet. qui inicium et finem operum suorum in his aspicit!

quatenus erranti populo in hoc resistat. Ipse namque prophetas primum constituit uelut caput. sapientes uelut oculos. doctores uelut os! sicut etiam per uerbum dei omnia facta sunt. Et quia deinde reliqua membra scilicet fideles bona operabuntur ut dictum est. deus in sinum eorum caput ponit. id est intellectui ipsorum prophetiam aperiet.

Tunc et principes cytharas et tympana in erumpnas et in tristiciam uertent! quemadmodum filij israel fecerunt cum capti fuerunt. Post hęc omnia spiritalia sine tedio et defectu confortabuntur. et homines pupillam uiuentis libri inspicient. Et tunc uires et fortitudo ac sanitas in populo fient. quia uir preliator aerem sanitate replebit. et etiam uiriditatem uirtutum producet! ne fideles corpore et anima in errante tempore deficiant.

Istud autem usque in errans tempus ita perdurabit! in quo fidelis populus ad mortem quasi ad epulas festinabit. Sed et tempus hoc errorem hoc modo tenebit! usque dum illud deus in gratia et misericordia ac in zelo suo discutiat. In omnibus his hortulanus inutilia de horto suo proiciet et utilia ad se colliget! quemadmodum scriptum est. Deus ultionum dominus! deus ultionum libere egit.

Quod tale est. Deus in zelo suo caput omnis iniquitatis conterit. et illud dominus in casu prosternit! quia omnis iniquitas ex diabolo est qui in inferno sepultus est. Ipse namque deus ultionum est quia in nullum aspexit uel respexit. a quo quicquam sibi addendum assumeret. sed in semetipso unumquodque distribuit. constituit et facit.

et istud libere hoc modo egit. quia ipse solus et iustus et bonus et timendus in omnibus iudicijs suis est. Deus etenim in ultione perditorum est quia bona noluerunt. et ideo cum diabolo eos dampnat. multos quoque per dolorem libere inclinat. quos iterum postea libere eleuat. ut propter bona opera uelut columpnę celi sint. sicut plurimos ex publicanis et peccatoribus sanctos fecit.

Tunc diabolus se erigens. in perdito filio suo super pennas uentorum uolare uult. Deus autem in semetipso disponit ea quę uult. quoniam nemo eum superare potest. et omnem uim diaboli dissipat uelut faber qui omnia inutilia in fabrica sua ad nichilum redigit. et manum suam in zelo suo extendit. sicut ibi fecit ubi eundem satanan in prima deiectione in abyssum proiecit. Vnde ille sicut coluber foramen suum intrat.

ita in abyssum se abscondit. nec amodo se eriget. quia nunc totus deceptus est. Postea diuinitas ignota omni creaturę operabitur. quia omni homini ignotum est quando purgatio mundi per ignem fiat. Et treuerim nouo igne qui discipulis in igneis linguis apparuit. inter fideles primo ualde ornatam uidi. ita quod omnes plateę ipsius in aurea fide cum miraculis tunc diffuse fuerant.

Sed nunc per uagationem squalidorum morum cum tedio quasi deum nesciat circumdata et alijs plurimis malis coinquinata est. et etiam in his tedio et in defectione iocunditatis et pulcritudinis principalium et honestarum institutionum inueterata est. atque in obliuionem multorum peccatorum inclinata. Quapropter igneę ultiones ab inimicis super eam uenient. nisi per perenitentiam sicut in iona factum est deleantur.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rev.14.4 — These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among mankind as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
  2. ↩1Cor.11.3 — But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of a woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.
  3. ↩Eph.5.23 — For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church; he himself the Savior of the body.
  4. ↩Gen.3.21 — And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
  5. ↩Gen.3.6-Gen.3.7 — And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Gen.3.7 — Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
  6. ↩Gen.3.23-Gen.3.24 — So the LORD God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. Gen.3.24 — So he drove out the man, and he settled east of the Garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flaming sword that turns every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
  7. ↩John.2.17;Ps.69.10 — His disciples remembered that it is written, 'The zeal of your house will consume me.' Ps.69.10 — For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
  8. ↩Gen.4.10-Gen.4.11 — And he said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground." Gen.4.11 — And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
  9. ↩Gen.12.1 — Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
  10. ↩Isa.60.8 — Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows?
  11. ↩Gen.3.15 — I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
  12. ↩Col.2.11-Col.2.15 — In him you were also circumcised—not with a circumcision performed by human hands, but with the circumcision of Christ, having been stripped of the body of the flesh. Col.2.12 — having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. Col.2.13 — And you, who were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses. Col.2.14 — having canceled the written code, the regulations that were against us and stood opposed to us, he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Col.2.15 — He disarmed the rulers and the authorities, made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
  13. ↩Isa.7.14;Gen.18.10-Gen.18.14 — Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Look, the young woman will conceive and bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel. Gen.18.10 — And he said, 'I will surely return to you at this time next year, and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.' And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance, and he was behind him. Gen.18.11 — Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years; it had ceased to be with Sarah as it is with women. Gen.18.12 — So Sarah laughed within herself, saying, 'After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, and my lord is old?' Gen.18.13 — And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?'" Gen.18.14 — Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.
  14. ↩Matt.1.22-Matt.1.23;Gal.4.4 — All this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: Matt.1.23 — "Look, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Immanuel," which means, "God with us." Gal.4.4 — But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
  15. ↩Isa.9.7;Zech.1.14 — A word Adonai sent in Jacob, and it has fallen in Israel Zech.1.14 — Then the angel who spoke with me said to me, "Cry out, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great jealousy.'"
  16. ↩Acts.2.3-Acts.2.4 — And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed, and it sat upon each one of them. Acts.2.4 — And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
  17. ↩Luke.1.78 — because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from on high
  18. ↩1Kgs.19.18 — Yet I will leave in Israel seven thousand—all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.
  19. ↩2Pet.3.10-2Pet.3.12 — But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing roar, and the elements, being burned up, will be dissolved, and the earth and the works in it will be found. 2Pet.3.11 — Since all these things are to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be, living in holy conduct and godliness? 2Pet.3.12 — waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved by fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat
  20. ↩Matt.25.41;Mark.9.48 — Then he will also say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' Mark.9.48 — where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
  21. ↩Acts.2.3 — And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed, and it sat upon each one of them.
  22. ↩Rev.3.18 — I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may become rich, and white garments to clothe yourself, so that the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
  23. ↩Matt.6.33;Isa.54.11-Isa.54.12 — But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Isa.54.11 — O afflicted one, storm-tossed, not comforted— behold, I am laying your stones with antimony and founding you with sapphires. Isa.54.12 — And I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The antecedent of quę is ambiguous — it may refer to uis (force) or debilitas (weakness), personified as feminine. The sense is that what has become weakened should not presume to fight with the strength it once had.
  2. 2 ↩This sentence appears to be incomplete or the beginning of a longer construction that continues beyond this section. The quod clause is introduced as the content of what Hildegard learned, but the sentence breaks off without a main verb for the quilibet clause.
  3. 3 ↩presignificatio is a rare medieval formation; rendered as 'presignifications' to preserve the technical sense of prophetic foreshadowing.
  4. 4 ↩'temperati fuerunt' carries a dual sense of 'being tempered/refined' and 'being restrained/held in check'. The rendering 'held in check' emphasizes the restraining sense (the passion as a check on evil), but 'tempered through Christ's passion' is an equally valid alternative that foregrounds interior transformation.
  5. 5 ↩penis penitentię is ambiguous: 'punishments of repentance' or 'penances of penitence.' The phrase likely refers to the purifying suffering that accompanies genuine repentance.
  6. 6 ↩iusticię (normalized from iusticię) rendered as 'justice' in the singular, paired with plural iudicia 'judgments'; the pairing echoes prophetic language of God's justice and judgments rising.

Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion

Read one voice like Hildegard's every morning

Chosen Portion delivers daily excerpts from Hildegard and 77 other historic devotional writers, free on iOS.

Hildegard directed souls through short written portions sent one at a time, and Chosen Portion continues that letter-a-day rhythm as daily devotionals.

  • Daily 2-minute readings including Hildegard's letters and visions
  • 78 complete historic works, translated into modern readable English
  • A weekly email tracing one writer's story in depth
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →