R76: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Helenger von Disibodenberg
A Voice in the Soul
Hildegard introduces a God-given vision and teaches that the soul must rule the flesh so that a person may live wisely and be taught by the Lord.
Hildegard's reply. In a spiritual vision that comes from God! I heard these words. It is very necessary for a person who wants to find their soul in its deepest desires. So that they may lose the evil works of the flesh. And may have blessed knowledge of how to live! So that the soul is the master and the flesh the servant, as the psalmist says. Blessed is the one you teach, Lord!
The Soul as Lady, the Body as Handmaid
Hildegard explains the image of the disciplined soul, describes mercy rising toward the Sun of Justice, and warns Helenger to feel compunction in the taste of his soul.
And teach him about your law. And who is this man? Namely the one who treats his body like a handmaid—1 and holds his soul like a most beloved lady.2 For he who is even fierce in impiety, like a bear, and refusing that ferocity — who is pious and merciful — breathes toward the sun of justice; this one pleases God.34 So that he may establish him above his precepts.5 Giving an iron rod into his hands for the teaching of his sheep — to the mountain of myrrh.✦✦678 Now hear and learn, so that in the taste of your soul you may blush over these things.9
Bear, Donkey, and Restless Birds
Hildegard rebukes Helenger's unstable behavior through animal imagery, showing how base habits overcome higher things yet cannot destroy what is lowest.
Because sometimes you have the habits of a bear, which secretly grumbles to itself. Sometimes you even have the habits of a donkey. Because you are not prudent in your affairs but tiresome. And you're also useless in certain other matters. So you don't sometimes carry out the malice of a bear in impiety. Sometimes you even have the habits of certain birds, which come neither from above nor from below.10 So that they overcome those higher things. And they cannot harm the lowest things.
Against Murmuring and Hidden Complaint
Hildegard answers Helenger's shifting conduct, condemns his murmuring against her justice, and laments that his good understanding leads to little prayer and hidden complaining.
To such behavior! A noble father answers. Ah, ah. I didn't want this shifting back and forth in your behavior. so that your mind murmurs against my justice. In this way you don't seek the right answer from it. but you hide a certain complaining within yourself, after the manner of a bear's growling. Since you have good understanding in yourself, you pray little.
Desires, Weariness, and God's Choice
Hildegard criticizes Helenger's half-hearted prayer and bodily cravings, yet acknowledges that God sometimes chooses such people, warning him not to mock God's work.
And again you grow weary and don't finish your prayer. But the path your body craves, you follow willingly. And you don't cut it off from yourself completely. But your longings rise up to me at times, in some part that is not wholly holy in its work. But you just lie there, as it were, in a mere opinion of faith. Yet at times I have chosen such people, for the shifting of their ways, so that I might hear the sound of their understanding — what they thought of themselves. But where they are found useless and have fallen. Now then, let your mind not mock the work God has done.
Fear the Sword, Love the Justice
Hildegard warns that God's judgment is unseen, confesses her vision of dark fire in Helenger, and urges him to forget his resentment, love God's justice, and trust in eternal reward.
because you don't know when he may strike you with his sword. But I, a poor little woman, see a very black fire in you, kindled against us. But forget this in good knowledge of him. so that the grace of God and its blessing don't depart from you in the time of your office. So love God's justice, in order to be loved by God. and faithfully believe in his wonders. so that you may receive eternal rewards.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. In spiritali uisione quę a deo est! hęc uerba audiui. Ualde necessarium est homini qui animam suam in desiderijs ipsius inuenire uult. ut mala opera carnis perdat. et beatam scientiam habeat quomodo uiuat! ita etiam ut anima eius domina et caro ancilla secundum quod psalmista dicit. Beatus homo quem tu erudieris domine!
et de lege tua docueris eum. Et quis est homo iste? Scilicet ille qui corpus suum sicut ancillam! et animam suam sicut dilectissimam dominam habet. Nam qui etiam ferox est in impietate tanquam ursus et ferocitatem illam recusans ad solem iusticię qui pius et clemens est anhelat hic deo placet. ita ut illum super precepta sua constituat. dans uirgam ferream in manus ipsius ad erudiendum oues suas ad montem mirrę. Nunc audi et disce ut in gustu animę tuę super his erubescas.
quia aliquando mores ursi qui in seipso occulte murmurat habes. interdum etiam mores asini. quia non es prouidus in causis tuis sed tediosus. et etiam in alijs quibusdam rebus inutilis. ideo maliciam ursi aliquando in impietate non perficis. Interdum etiam mores aliquorum uolatilium quę nec de superioribus nec de infimis sunt. ita ut ea superiora uincant. et infima illa ledere non possint.
Ad huiusmodi mores! nobilis pater respondet. He he. hanc uicissitudinem morum tuorum nolui. ut mens tua de iusticia mea murmuret. sic quod rectum responsum de ea non queris! sed quandam murmurationem in te abscondis secundum murmurationem ursi. Cum autem bonum intellectum in te habes modicum oras.
et iterum tedium incurris et orationem tuam non perficis. sed uiam quam corpus tuum sapit libenter facis. et eam a te totam non abscidis. Sed et desideria tua ad me aliquando ascendunt in aliqua parte quę non est ex toto sancta in opere. sed tantum iacens uelut in opinione fidei. Tales tamen aliquando elegi de uicissitudine morum suorum ut sonum intellectus ipsorum audirem quid in semetipsis reputarent. ubi tamen inutiles inuenti sunt et ceciderunt. Nunc autem mens tua non derideat opus quod deus fecit.
quia nescis quando gladio suo te percutiat. Ego autem paupercula uideo in te nigerrimum ignem contra nos accensum. sed eius in bona scientia obliuiscere. ne gratia dei et benedictio ipsius a te recedat in tempore officij tui. Dilige ergo iusticiam dei ut a deo diligaris. et fideliter crede mirabilibus ipsius. ut eterna premia percipias.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.2.9;Rev.12.5 — You will shatter them with a rod of iron; like a potter's vessel you will dash them to pieces. Rev.12.5 — She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
- ↩Song.4.6 — Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.
Notes
- 1 ↩The image of the body as handmaid (ancilla) reflects the Pauline and monastic trope of the soul ruling the body; the exclamation mark in the Latin suggests Hildegard's characteristic prophetic emphasis.
- 2 ↩The pairing of body-as-handmaid and soul-as-lady inverts worldly values: the flesh is subordinated while the soul is honored as the seat of one's relationship with God.
- 3 ↩iusticię is an uncertain medieval orthography, likely for iustitiae (genitive: 'of justice'). The image of the 'sun of justice' echoes Malachi 4:2 ('sol iustitiae'), a Christological and eschatological motif.
- 4 ↩Candidate allusion to Malachi 4:2 (sol iustitiae). Awaiting Moses resolution.
- 5 ↩The resultative ut + subjunctive expresses purpose or result: God's action leads to the person being placed above (i.e., firmly grounded in or elevated beyond mere observance of) divine precepts.
- 6 ↩The 'iron rod' echoes Psalm 2:9 and Revelation 12:5, a symbol of firm pastoral authority. 'Mountain of myrrh' is a richly symbolic image, likely drawn from the Song of Songs (cf. Song 4:6, 'mountain of myrrh'), pointing to Christ or to the place of suffering and devotion.
- 7 ↩Candidate allusions: Psalm 2:9 / Revelation 12:5 (iron rod); Song of Songs 4:6 (mountain of myrrh). Awaiting Moses resolution.
- 8 ↩mirrę is an uncertain form, likely ablative of mirra (myrrh). Rendered as 'myrrh' based on the Song of Songs tradition.
- 9 ↩in gustu animę tuę: 'in the taste of your soul' — a mystical-experiential idiom meaning interior, spiritual perception. erubescas ('you may blush') implies holy shame or compunction upon recognizing one's failings.
- 10 ↩The Latin uolatilium (birds) with the relative clause nec de superioribus nec de infimis sunt suggests creatures that belong neither to heavenly nor earthly realms — perhaps an allusion to vain or empty things that have no real origin. The sense is somewhat obscure.
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