R6: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Hadrian IV.
Prophetic Warning of Suffering
Hildegard, speaking as one who gives life to the living, warns the pope that he will endure fierce opposition and spiritual peril, yet he is granted divine discernment to restrain savage forces.
Hildegard. Who gives life to the living. She says. O man, you will endure by suffering through the dreadful hardness of lionesses and the strength of leopards. And you will feel shipwreck in the seizing of spoils! Because you have been given to all these as a source of weariness to those who rush against you. But you have a clear understanding against the most savage customs of men. In these things, by raging you will bridle the manes of running horses!
The Inner Fight Against Greed
The pope is urged to fight against his own complicity with plunder and dead wealth, warned of the consequences of greed, and called to seek inner salvation and rest from envy and turmoil.
They never stop running to the paths of plunder. But nevertheless, by fighting against yourself. You bend yourself at times as if toward the uprightness of certain men! Where you hide the money-chests of some who are dead, to fight on level roads. For this you will suffer the battle of savage fighting! But you will destroy the movable goods of the relics of those who go into the pit through their own harshness. And yet you have the strongest vein of a key, which does not go willingly to the unleavened bread in the form of a sardius. In your heart, then, seek the salvation of waters, so that you do not go into a whirlwind, but that in gentleness you may rest from the weariness and envy of those who are mixed up in the torment of various wounds!
Imitating the Savior Amid Danger
Hildegard calls the pope to imitate his Savior, acknowledges the dangers of his office—bears, leopards, and asps—but assures him that God's sword will slay the wicked and a good leader may yet arise.
In this, imitate your Savior, who redeemed you. But this heavy weight of office that you carry is not in the indignation of God. Where there are even the ways of bears and leopards. And sometimes the venom of asps. They will come upon you and those who follow you! But the sword of God will slay them. So may it be that among them a good leader arises. Now I warn you.
A Call to Vigilant Leadership
The pope is urged to restrain his subjects, guard against secret enemies, remain alert and strong according to the times, and remember his humanity with the assurance that God will not abandon him.
so that you may impose restraint on those subject to you! and don't let them speak evil against you. And so the true light says to you: Why don't you strike down the most wicked servants who secretly lie in wait for you, like spiders that sting? So stay alert and be strong! as the situation demands, given the character of the people at this time. O most gentle Father, remember that you are a human being on this earth. And don't be afraid, because God won't abandon you.
The Promise of Divine Light
The letter closes with the promise that the pope will see God's light.
because you will see its light.
Read the original Latin
Hildegardis. Qui uitam uiuentibus dat. dicit. O homo diram duriciam leenarum et fortitudinem leopardorum paciendo sustinebis. et naufragium in captura predarum senties! quoniam omnibus his datus es in fatigationem ad te currentibus. Habes autem intelligibilem intellectum contra seuissimos mores hominum. in quibus estuando frenabis capillos currentium equorum!
qui non desistunt currere ad semitas predarum. Sed tamen rixando contra teipsum. inclinas te interdum quasi ad probitatem quorundam hominum! ubi celas loculos aliquorum qui mortui sunt preliari in planis uijs. Vnde pacieris pugnam seuicię preliorum! sed destrues mobilia reliquiarum illorum qui in foueam uadunt per asperitatem suam. Attamen uenam habes fortissimę clauis quę non uadit libenter ad azima in forma sardii. In pectore ergo tuo quere saluationem aquarum ne in turbinem uadas sed ut in mansuetudine requiescas ad languorem et liuorem illorum qui permixti sunt maceratione diuersorum uulnerum!
in hoc imitans saluatorem tuum qui te redemit. Sed hoc graue pondus magisterij quod portas non est in indignatione dei. ubi etiam mores ursorum et pardorum. et interdum uenenum aspidum. tibi et subsequentibus te occurrent! sed gladius dei illos occidet. ita dum inter illos bonus dux surgat. Nunc autem moneo te.
ut subiectis tuis frenum imponas! nec eos malum aduersus te loqui sinas. Unde et uera lux tibi dicit. Quare non percutis nequissimos seruos qui tibi occulte insidiantur sicut araneę quę pungunt? Vigila ergo strenue! quod postulat causa in moribus populi in hoc tempore. O mitissime pater memorare quod homo in terra es. et ne timeas quia deus derelinquat te.
quoniam lumen illius uidebis.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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