R34: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Adalbert III. von Chiny
Greeting in the Living Light
Hildegard opens her reply by invoking the living light that reveals miracles.
Hildegard's reply. The living light that reveals miracles! she says.
Watch Over the Lord’s Garden
Hildegard exhorts Adalbert as shepherd to guard his flock, tend the garden of souls, and remove corruption.
You who are a father in your own person and a shepherd in the care of souls! Stretch out your arm, so the enemy doesn't sow weeds in your field. Tend, then, the garden that the divine gift planted. And be careful that its spices don't dry out! But cut away the rot from them.
Let the Light of Joy Return
Hildegard warns against letting silence and weariness darken his garden, and calls him to act with true light and discretion.
And send her out. which suffocates the usefulness of those people. And so make them grow strong. For when the sun hides its rays, the world also withdraws its joy. And I say: Do not darken your garden in the weariness of silence! but in true light, with discretion, rebuke those things that need to be rebuked.
A Prayer Ascending as Incense
Hildegard prays that his temple be illumined and that his offering of incense rise to God, promising eternal life.
Illuminate also your temple through your benevolence. And in your censer kindle a fire, placing myrrh upon it! So that its smoke may ascend to the palace of the living God. And you will live forever.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. Lux uiuens quę miracula ostendit! dicit. Qui pater es in persona tua et pastor in propositione animarum! extende brachium tuum ne inimicus homo superseminet zizania in agro tuo. Prouide ergo hortum illum quem diuinum donum plantauit. et caue ne aromata illius sint arida! sed ab eis putredinem abscide.
et eam foras mitte. quę utilitatem illorum suffocat. Et sic fac ea uirescere. Nam quando sol radios suos abscondit. mundus etiam gaudium suum subtrahit. Et dico. Non obscura hortum tuum in tedio silentij! sed in uero lumine cum discretione corripe ea quę corripienda sunt.
Illumina quoque templum tuum per beniuolentiam. atque in turibulo tuo ignem accende mirram imponens! ita ut fumus eius ascendat ad palacium uiuentis dei. Et in eternum uiues.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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