R70: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Abt E. von Neuenburg
The Ordered Mind and Its Troubles
Hildegard describes the abbot's God-given, starlike mind, clouded by inner turmoil and moral conflict, yet calls him to rejoice as a new soldier of Christ.
Hildegard's reply. Your mind is in the likeness that has the fixed arrangement of the stars. and it distributes them this way and that. But the cloud is often troubled by the whirlwind and the blackness of fires and of waters. until the sun pierces through all things with its fiery sphere. You have weariness from doubting. and because of the various wars of human morals you do not wish to labor. For a new soldier rejoices when carrying arms.
The Shame of the Unarmed Soldier
Hildegard warns that a soldier who throws away his weapons out of fear is mocked and called naked, especially when he refuses to endure the storms of leadership.
Because a soldier is named in the mightiest strength. When his enemies fight against him, but if he says, 'I can't overcome my enemies,' and throws away his weapons, he's called a fool because of people's mockery. For his weapons don't strike with integrity in war. For you, teacher, call yourself naked, as a snake lies in the cracks! When through armor you don't strive to overcome the variety of people's storms.
Stewards Armed with Scripture
Hildegard recalls that from the beginning God appointed stewards who must give account, arming themselves with Scripture and parables against the storms of sin and forgetfulness.
But it won't be like that. For in the earliest age the Lord appointed stewards and overseers over every possession, who would give an account to him. For when a steward receives gifts, he hoards weapons and arrows to himself— weapons, that is, rabid with the Scriptures, and with arrows—the impious, the deceitful, and the thievish—imbuing them with the parables of the other Scriptures. But if meanwhile a great storm overtakes him—with the darkness of fire and of water, with wrath and forgetfulness and the transgression of God's commands—
Mercy, Love, and the Heavenly Jerusalem
Hildegard urges patience in the storm, remedy through Scripture, the priority of mercy over sacrifice, and prays that the Holy Spirit ignite fiery love leading to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Let it yield until that storm is calmed. And let it apply a remedy with the light of the scriptures, as it is written!1 "For I want mercy, and not sacrifice."✦2 Mercy demands the prayer that God loves. And may the Holy Spirit make that fiery love between us and you!3 May he lead us into the heavenly Jerusalem.✦ Amen.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. Mens tua in similitudine est quę fixuram luminarium habet! et illa hac et illac distribuit. Sed de turbine et nigredine ignium et aquarum nubes sepe turbatur! usque dum sol per igneam speram suam omnia perforet. Tu tedium dubitando habes. et propter uaria bella morum hominum laborare non uis. Nam nouus miles gaudet cum arma portat.
quia in fortissima ui miles nominatur. cum inimici eius contra eum preliantur. sed si dixerit inimicos meos superare non possum. et arma abiecerit. stultus nominatur propter irrisionem hominum. quoniam arma illius in probitate belli non fulminant. Tu enim magister nudum te nominas sicut coluber in foraminibus iacet! cum per armaturam non contendis superare uarietatem tempestatum hominum.
Sed non sic erit. Nam in prima etate dominus uillicos et procuratores in omni possessione constituit! qui racionem sibi darent. Cum enim uillicus dona accipit. arma et sagittas ad se colligat! in armis scilicet rabidos scripturis. et in sagittis impios et dolosos et furtiuos imbuendo cum parabolis ceterarum scripturarum. Sed si interim tempestas magna cum nigredine ignis et aquę et ira et obliuione et transgressione preceptorum dei occurrerint.
cedat usque dum tempestas illa attenuatur. et adhibeat medicinam cum sole scripturarum ut scriptum est! quia misericordiam uolo et non sacrificium. Misericordia orationem postulat quam deus diligit. et quam spiritus sanctus inter nos et uos igneam faciat! quatenus nos in celestem ierusalem perducat. Amen.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Hos.6.6;Matt.9.13 — For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Matt.9.13 — But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
- ↩Rev.21.2;Gal.4.26 — And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Gal.4.26 — But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Notes
- 1 ↩The phrase cum sole scripturarum ('with the sun/light of the scriptures') is metaphorical: sol likely means the illuminating radiance or warmth of Scripture, not the literal sun. Rendered as 'light' to preserve the metaphorical sense.
- 2 ↩Direct quotation of Hosea 6:6 (also cited in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7). Final source resolution belongs to a later stage.
- 3 ↩The antecedent of quam is ambiguous — it likely refers to caritatem (love) implied from the preceding sentence, with igneam agreeing with an implied feminine noun (caritatem or flammam). Rendered as 'that fiery love' to supply the natural antecedent.
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