R61: Abt E. von St. Anastasius an Hildegard von Rupertsberg
Greeting to Hildegard
The abbot opens with a formal, affectionate greeting to Hildegard, invoking God's glory.
Lady Hildegard. Abbot of Saint Anastasius. Beloved in the Lord and most devoted sister Hildegard, teacher by the grace of God in the monastery of Saint Rupert. Brother E. of Saint Anastasius, called abbot! Greetings and prayers. Glory to God.
Hildegard, Fragrance of Christ
The abbot praises Hildegard as Christ's good fragrance and a vessel of honor through grace.
Because you are the good fragrance of Christ, and among your own people.✦ And among ours as well. The good name of Christ is both blessed and praised through you! And whoever is sanctified in you. For you glorify and carry Christ in your body, worthily, by the worthy calling by which you were called, making yourself such. And by cooperating with the grace that has been given to you.1 In the house of the Lord, showing yourself to all as a vessel for honor. And since you are Christ's familiar instrument and the receptacle of his Spirit.
Humble Prayer for Guidance
With humble prayer, the abbot asks Hildegard to intercede and seeks discernment about his own path of obedience.
With humble prayer we ask you: that in spirit and truth you may pray for me and for those who have been entrusted to our care!✦ that he may bring to completion what he has begun in us.✦ both to will and to complete, by his good will.✦ so that we too may complete the course of our good struggle in Christ, and together may glory in his praise.✦ For the rest, I ask that the Spirit who reveals the secrets and hidden things of his wisdom may show them to you.✦ what would be most helpful to me in carrying the burden of obedience to Christ. That is, whether to persevere or to rest.
A Ready Heart and a Request
Expressing a heart ready for God's will, the abbot asks for any revelation about his situation and requests a copy of Hildegard's book.
so that I may be free for contemplation of him himself. Whatever has been revealed to you about this, don't hide it from me. My heart is ready, O God.✦ My heart is ready to do your will.✦ The book you wrote — we need it to be written out for us, both by your counsel and by your assistance! and with your good will. For we want very much to have it! and to look at the wonders of God in it.
Consolation and Farewell
The abbot closes by asking for consoling letters, sends greetings, and requests continued prayers.
Furthermore, I earnestly ask that by a reply in your letters we may be visited and consoled. In labor and in patience for Christ, from the breasts of Christ's consolation, through you.2 Farewell. Greet your sisters! And pray for us.
Read the original Latin
Dominę hildegardi. Abbas sancti Anastasij. Dilectę in domino et deuotissimę sorori hildegardi dei gratia magistrę in cenobio sancti Roberti. frater. E. sancti Anastasij uocatus abbas! salutem et orationes. Gloria deo.
quia bonus odor christi es et apud tuos. et apud nostros. Bonum nomen christi et benedicitur et laudatur per te! et qui sanctificatur in te. Glorificas enim et portas in corpore tuo christum digne dignam uocatione qua uocata es te ipsa faciens. et cooperando gratię quę data est tibi. in domo domini omnibus te exhibens uas in honorem. Et quoniam familiare christi organum et receptaculum spiritus eius es.
humili prece te poscimus. ut in spiritu et ueritate ores pro me et his qui curę nostrę commissi sunt! ut quod cepit in nobis perficiat. et uelle et perficere pro bona uoluntate sua. ut et nos cursum boni certaminis in christo consummemus et gloriemur simul in laude eius. De cetero rogo ut spiritus qui reuelat archana et occulta sapientię suę indicet tibi. quid mihi expediat in portando obedientię christi onere. scilicet perseuerare an quiescere.
ut uacem ipsius contemplatione. Quicquid super hoc reuelatum fuerit tibi ne abscondas mihi. quia paratum cor meum deus. paratum cor meum ut faciam uoluntatem tuam. Librum quem scripsistis ut scribatur nobis et consilio et adiutorio uestro opus habemus! et bona uestra uoluntate. Desideramus enim quam maxime habere illum! et inspicere mirabilia dei in illo.
Preterea obnixe rogo ut rescripto litterarum uestrarum uisitemur et consolemur. in labore et pacientia pro christo ab uberibus consolationis christi per uos. Valete. Salutate sorores uestras! et orate pro nobis.
Scripture echoes
- ↩2Cor.2.15 — For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
- ↩John.4.23-John.4.24 — But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeks such as these to worship him. John.4.24 — God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
- ↩Phil.1.6 — I am confident of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
- ↩Phil.2.13 — For God is the one working in you, both to desire and to work for his good pleasure.
- ↩2Tim.4.7 — I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
- ↩1Cor.2.10 — But to us God has revealed it through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
- ↩Ps.57.7 — They set a net for my steps, and my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit before me, but they fell into the middle of it. Selah.
- ↩Ps.40.8 — Then I said, 'Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.'
Notes
- 1 ↩The source text shows abbreviated forms (gratię, quę); the normalized text expands these to the full form. Rendered as "grace that has been given to you."
- 2 ↩'ab uberibus consolationis christi' — literally 'from the breasts/bosom of the consolation of Christ' — is a richly metaphorical phrase. 'Uberibus' (breasts) evokes nurturing consolation, possibly echoing the image of being nursed at the breast of divine comfort. Rendered here as 'from the breasts of Christ's consolation' to preserve the maternal/nurturing imagery without flattening it.
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