R69: Abt E. von Neuenburg an Hildegard von Rupertsberg
Salutation and Longing
The abbot of Neuenburg greets the holy Hildegard with humility and expresses how reports of her holiness have stirred him to desire a visit, which he planned for last summer.
[Gap in the text] The abbot of the Neuenburg community, to Hildegard, most blessed and holy woman. E., who am abbot of the Neuenburg brothers in name only. Whatever affection can desire for each person, because the report of your holiness has sprinkled the ears of everyone with its sweet sound! has most eagerly stirred us up to see your face and spirit. This was last summer.
War, Hindered Journey, and Repeated Request
Explaining that wartime storms prevented his journey and that no reply to his earlier messenger has arrived, the abbot resolves to repeat his request concerning the fellowship of brotherhood.
The cost of supplies for the journey. I hurried on the journey I was about to set out on to come to you! But, frightened by the storms of war and the pressures of that time, I didn't dare to go. I did, however, send a messenger with letters to you. Through him I haven't yet received any reply. And in case this happened through the messenger's negligence— I'll repeat the contents in them once more. First, concerning the fellowship of brotherhood you undertook.
Prayer Amid the Storms of Governance
The abbot gives thanks and urgently asks Hildegard's prayers, confessing that the whirlwinds of worldly governance drive him to seek the haven of her holiness so he may stand firm in sin and be saved in body and spirit.
From the bottom of my heart I give you thanks. And so I earnestly ask, through your prayers and in the pressing dangers at the Lord's throne, to be helped. For because I am placed in governance, I am driven by the whirlwinds of worldly affairs. I flee for refuge to the haven of your holiness and prayer! So that in all these things, through everything and above everything, I may not yield to sin. And although I may earnestly ask for these things, especially so when the course of my life has been completed. I beseech you by your prayers, that I may deserve to be saved by the Lord, both in body and in spirit.
A Special Burden and a Token of Salvation
Pressed by a hardship greater than the rest, the abbot begs Hildegard to send a pledge of salvation through the bearer, reaffirming his resolve to visit her and closing with a farewell.
Among these hardships, one more daunting than the rest hangs over me. It is on this account that I ask you all the more urgently to beg the Lord on my behalf. Send some pledge of salvation by which I may be brought to prosper, and so that I may hold you in memory! Send it through the bearer [REDACTED] is here with you. The desire to come to you will not be lacking to me. Until then, if life is my companion, I will fulfill this in deed. Farewell.
Read the original Latin
[lacuna] Abbas nuenburgensium. Hildigardi beatissimę sanctimonialis feminę. E. solo nomine nuenburgensium fratrum abbas. quicquid utriusque hominis ualet optare affectus. Quia fama sanctitatis uestrę cunctorum aures dulci rumore respersit! ad uidendam faciem uestram animum nostrum ardentissime prouocauit. Unde in estate preterita.
sumptus ad uiaticum. iter arrepturus ad uos properaui! sed bellorum tempestatibus territus tunc temporis instantium ire non presumsi. Nuncium tamen cum litteris ad uos direxi! per quem nichil adhuc responsionis accepi. Et ne hoc ex nuncij incuria euenerit. in eis continentia iterum replicabo. Primum de consortio fraternitatis a uobis susceptę.
ex intimo corde gracias ago. deinde uestris precibus et in instantibus periculis apud dominum iuuari deposco. Quia enim in regimine positus secularium turbinibus impellor. ad portum sanctitatis et orationis uestrę confugio! ut in his per omnia et super omnia non succumbam peccato. Et licet hęc studiose deposcam. precipue tamen expleto uitę cursu. ut a domino saluari merear et corpore et spiritu uestris precibus exoro.
Inter quas pressuras una prestantior ceteris imminet. pro qua et uos instantius dominum exorare peto. Aliquod pignus salutis per quod prosperari ualeam et uestri memoriam habeam! per presentium latorem transmittite. Ueniendi ad uos mihi non deerit affectus. donec si uita comes fuerit opere compleam. Valete.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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