Contemptus Mundi
Leaving the World Behind
Contemptus Mundi declares her luminous nature, renounces the suffering of earthly pilgrimage, and calls the Virtues to ascend with her to the fountain of life.
I, Contempt for the World, am the brightness of life. O wretched earthly pilgrimage, so full of labors—I'm leaving you behind. O Virtues, come to me, and let's ascend to the fountain of life!✦
Read the original Latin
Ego, Contemptus Mundi, sum candor vite. O misera terre peregrinatio in multis laboribus – te dimitto. O Virtutes, venite ad me et ascendamus ad fontem vite!
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rev.21.6 — And he said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the one who is thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.'
Ordo Virtutum (Order of the Virtues) companion
Let a different Virtue meet you each morning
Chosen Portion walks you through the whole Ordo Virtutum — and Hildegard's Scivias — as free daily devotionals.
The Ordo was performed scene by scene by Hildegard's nuns, and Chosen Portion restores that rhythm — one scene of the Virtues' drama as each day's devotional.
- The complete 84-scene drama, one short scene per day, in modern readable English
- Each portion pairs the scene with its Scripture echoes — 26 references resolved across the play
- Finish Hildegard, then continue with 70+ other works from Europe's royal devotional archive