R9: Heinrich I. von Mainz an Hildegard von Rupertsberg
Salutation and Excuse
The archbishop greets Hildegard with grace and paternal affection, then confesses his inexcusable slowness in visiting her despite hearing of his wonders, hindered by many affairs.
Heinrich, Archbishop, to Hildegard. Heinrich, by the grace of God, Archbishop of the See of Mainz. To Hildegard, beloved teacher, from the mountain of the blessed Robert the Confessor! His favor, with paternal affection. Since we hear of many good and wonderful miracles concerning you, our laziness must be reckoned as inexcusable!1 The fact is that we do not visit you as often as we could.2 But we are hindered by a great many affairs!3
A Request Delayed by Earthly Business
He admits that earthly cares scarcely allow time for eternal things, yet he presses forward to make his request known.
We can scarcely ever lift our minds to the things that are eternal, and even then only tardily. So that we may come to the very thing we are aiming for! We are making this known to you.
Command for an Abbess
Religious messengers from a noble church have asked for a sister to be given them as abbess, and the archbishop commands Hildegard to comply.
Certain religious messengers from a noble church known to us have come to us earnestly asking that the sister they are seeking — who remains with you in the religious habit — be granted to them, according to their election, as abbess. And we, by the authority of our prelacy and our paternity, command you, and in commanding we enjoin you:
Promise and Admonition
If Hildegard presents the sister now, she will gain fuller goodwill; if not, the archbishop will command more firmly and will not cease until his instruction is carried out.
So that in the present you may present her to those seeking and desiring her for their teaching office. And if you do this, you'll experience our goodwill from now on more fully than you have up to now. But if not, we'll command the same thing to you again, more firmly. And we won't stop until you carry out our instructions in this matter.
Read the original Latin
Heinricus archiepiscopus hildegardi. Heinricus dei gratia mogontinę sedis archiepiscopus. hildegardi dilectę magistrę de monte beati Roberti confessoris! gratiam suam cum paterno affectu. Cum multa bona et admiranda miracula de te audiamus. pigricię nostrę reputandum est! quod te tam sepe non uisitamus ut possemus. Sed plurimis negotijs impediti!
animum ad ea quę eterna sunt uix aliquando et tarde sustollere ualemus. Vt autem ad id ueniamus ad quod intendimus! notum tibi facimus. quod nuncij quidam religiosi cuiusdam nobilis ęcclesię nobis notę ad nos peruenerunt. obnixe rogantes quatinus soror illa quam petunt quę apud te in religioso habitu manet. ieis secundum electionem suam concedatur in abbatissam. Quod et nos auctoritate prelationis et paternitatis nostrę. tibi mandamus et mandando iniungimus!
ita ut in presenti eam querentibus et desiderantibus ad magisterium suum representes. Quod si feceris gratiam nostram deinceps plus quam hactenus experta fueris senties. sin autem eadem tibi iterum fortius mandabimus! nec cessabimus dum precepta nostra in hoc facto compleas.
Notes
- 1 ↩pigriciae nostrae: dat. of reference with impersonal gerundive reputandum est — rendered as possessive 'our laziness' for natural English.
- 2 ↩ut possemus: result clause rendered as 'as we could' to preserve the implied comparison with tam saepe non.
- 3 ↩impediti: participial adjective with implied sumus — rendered as 'we are hindered' for natural English.
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