R78: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Abt H. von Kempten
A Call to Turn from Vanity
Hildegard calls the hearer to abandon evil and avoid the wandering vanity that led Adam to desire likeness with God rather than true obedience.
Hildegard's response. O man, turn away from evil and do good. Because a person has within them a mind that always wanders, and sets before them a thousand things to pursue. which they by no means accomplish. Just as Adam, too, did not consider what he would do. desiring to be like God. but he did not have that evil. so that he might envy God the honor and power to be held.
Flee to God with Faith
Through Christ the storms of temptation are overcome, and the hearer is urged to flee to God in faith, recognizing Him as Creator and Redeemer.
Son of God, cut away every storm through faith. For Adam, when he thought he could rejoice with God in power and honor, was great vanity. And yet, he knew that He is God. So also, to every person it is present. So that he may know himself to have God, whom he believes to be his Creator and Redeemer. And for this reason, you too, flee to God. Since you know in faith that He is God. Just as it is written.
All Nations Shall Worship
Citing Psalm 86:9, Hildegard teaches that God is present to every person so that they may know Him, believe, and glorify His name.
All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord!✦ and they will glorify your name.✦ This is so. A person who was made alongside the creatures knows that they have God. And for this reason, may they stand firm in true faith. And may they earnestly seek him and worship him. and may they glorify his name. For to each person may God be present, so that they may turn away from the evil of doubting that he exists — the very one who created them!
Love God and Neighbor, Not the Devil
The hearer is urged to love God and neighbor and not imitate the devil, who in hatred and deception did not truly know God, whereas Adam fell through vanity, not hatred.
but let the one who created him and freed him love him. and let him love his neighbor in him who does him good. and let him not imitate the devil, who hated his creator who had granted him many good things. The devil did not recognize God by loving. and therefore he does not seek deliverance from him, but knows him to be above himself. In this aspect of hatred, Adam did not reject God. but in great vanity he sought his likeness. And the devil did not find the hatred with which he hates God in Adam.
The Devil’s Thousand Wiles
Hildegard describes how the devil circles around those wavering in faith, hindering good works, harassing wholehearted love, and suggesting self-made laws.
But through his own counsel he deceived him. And so with a thousand schemes of his own he circles around, seeking out the one who wavers in faith. For with a thousand arts he forbids good to man. Because when a man strives to do good, he hurls his weapons against him. And when he desires to embrace God with his whole heart in love, he swoops down on him with harmful harassment, so that this might not be right before God! And when he seeks the fresh growth of virtues, that one says to him in his own suggestion that he doesn't know what he should do. And he teaches him so that he sets up this law for himself according to his own nature—a law he himself knows well.
The Armor of the Strong
Using the image of a thousand shields and the tower of David, Hildegard presents confession, penance, and Christ’s humanity as spiritual armor.
Against these things, the battle is as it is written. A thousand shields hang from it. The full armor of the strong. This is. The first shield is confession of sins, which the old law did not have—and so it, too, was blind. And penance after confession of sins, as a good shepherd commands. The cloak of the nakedness of the old law is. And so, like the tower of David, its neck is exalted in the humanity of the Savior, from which hangs the full armor of the strong.
From Shadow to Fulfillment in Christ
The old law foreshadowed the chaste and holy who cling to Christ; through His incarnation and ascension, spiritual battle and nuptial mystery are completed.
Those who live well in union according to the law's precept, and those who are chaste and virgins, who hang from that tower. All these things the old law foreshadowed, and Christ showed in his incarnation through himself. And after his ascension he will bring them to completion through his disciples and through the rest who follow them, even to the last day. That there are a thousand shields hanging from it, with which war is waged against the ancient serpent, who led the others astray in the first man. So that when a person stands in the midst of his enemies, he may defend himself with these and fight everywhere, and not be killed by his enemies! As a bridegroom speaks to his bride in songs. My head is full of dew! And my locks with the drops of the nights.
Joined to Christ the Head
Humanity is joined to Christ like hairs to the head; the Church cleanses sinners as dew and rain refresh and purify, calling the hearer to imitate this cleansing.
What is said. To Christ Jesus, who is the head of all. Human beings are joined to him like hairs — people who are full of offenses, of the sweetness of the flesh, and of criminal sins. The Church regenerates them anew. And from the foul stench of the dust of sins, she purifies them through penitence and confession! Just as hairs are shaken loose and set free by the dew and by drops of rain, just as wool is shaken free of dust and made clean, so you, dear son of God, do the same.
Polished for Heaven
Because the addressee will live forever and become a stone in heavenly Jerusalem, he must be sharply polished.
Because you will live forever, and because you will be a stone in the heavenly Jerusalem. For that reason, too, you must be sharply polished.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. O homo declina a malo et fac bonum. quia homo in se habet quod semper in mente errat et millenarium numerum sibi proponit. quem nequaqam perficit. sicut etiam adam non aspexit quid faceret. desiderans se similem deo esse. sed tamen illud malum non habuit. ut deum honorem et potestatem habere inuideret.
O fili dei unamquamquam tempestatem per fidem abscide. Adam enim cum deo in potestate et honore se simul gaudere estimabat quod magna uanitas fuit. et eum tamen deum esse sciuit. Sic etiam omni homini adest. ut se deum habere sciat quem creatorem et liberatorem suum credit. et ob hoc etiam tu ad deum confuge. quoniam eum in fide deum esse scis. quemadmodum scriptum est.
Omnes gentes quascumque fecisti uenient et adorabunt coram te domine! et glorificabunt nomen tuum. Hoc est. Homo qui cum creaturis factus est se deum habere scit. et ob hoc in bona fide sit. et studiose eum querat et adoret. atque nomen eius glorificet. Unicuique enim homini assit ut ab illo malo declinet quod deum esse dubitet qui ipsum creauit!
sed ipsum qui eum creauit et liberauit amet. et in illo proximum suum diligat qui ei benefacit. et non imitetur diabolum qui creatorem suum qui multa bona illi concesserat odio habuit. Diabolus deum amando non cognouit. et ideo liberationem ab ipso non querit sed illum super se esse scit. In hac autem odiali parte adam deum non recusauit. sed in multa uanitate similitudinem eius quesiuit. Et diabolus odium quo deum odit in adam non inuenit.
sed per consilium suum eum decepit. unde et millenis artibus suis circuit querendo illum qui in fide dubitet. Cum millenis enim artibus homini bonum prohibet. quia cum homo bona facere anhelat tela sua ad ipsum mittit. et cum toto corde deum in caritate amplecti desiderat. noxiali molestia eum peruolat ne hoc coram deo rectum sit! et cum uiriditates uirtutum querit ille in suggestione sua dicit ad ipsum quod nesciat quid faciat. eumque docet ut secundum proprietatem suam hanc legem sibi constituat quam ipse bene cognoscat.
Contra hęc prelium est ut scriptum est. Mille clippei pendent ex eo. omnis armatura fortium. Hoc est. Primus enim clipeus confessio peccatorum est quam uetus lex non habuit unde etiam ceca fuit. et penitentia post confessionem peccatorum ut bonus pastor iubet. pallium nuditatis ueteris legis est. et ideo sicut turris dauid collum eius exaltatum est in humanitate saluatoris de qua pendet omnis armatura fortium.
quod sunt bene uiuentes in coniunctione secundum preceptum legis et continentes ac uirgines qui ex turre ista pendent. quę omnia uetus lex presignauit et christus in incarnatione sua per seipsum ostendit. et post ascensionem suam per discipulos suos et per ceteros qui eos secuntur usque in nouissimum diem complebit. quod sunt mille clipei qui pendent ex ea cum quibus bellum contra antiquum serpentem qui in primo homine ceteros seduxit fit. ut cum homo in medio inimicorum suorum stat his se defendat et ubique pugnet ne ab inimicis suis occidatur! quemadmodum sponsus ad sponsam in canticis loquitur. Caput meum plenum est rore! et cincinni mei guttis noctium.
Quod dicitur. Christo iesu qui caput omnium est. homines uelut crines adiuncti sunt qui delictis per dulcedinem carnis et criminosis peccatis pleni sunt. quos illi ęcclesia denuo regenerat. et ab immundo fetore pulueris peccatorum per penitentiam et confessionem purificat! uelut etiam crines de rore et de guttis concutiuntur et soluuntur. quemadmodum etiam lana de puluere excutitur et mundatur. Sic tu care fili dei fac.
quia in eternum uiues et quoniam lapis in celesti ierusalem eris. ideo etiam acriter limari debes.
Scripture echoes
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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