Virtutes:
The Living Fountain and the Fallen
The Virtues praise God as a living fountain whose sweetness never fails, rejoicing that those drawn from the serpent's deception now shine restored in a greater light.
O living fountain, how great is your sweetness! You did not lose sight of those who placed their trust in you, but you clearly foresaw how you would draw them away from the angelic fall — those who thought they possessed what it is not permitted to claim and hold so securely. So rejoice, daughter of Zion, because God restores to you many whom the serpent wanted to cut off from you, and who now shine in a greater light than would have been theirs otherwise.✦
Read the original Latin
O vivens fons, quam magna est suavitas tua, qui faciemn istorum in te non amisisti, sed acute previdisti quomodo eos de angelico casu abstraheres qui se estimabant illud habere quod non licet sic stare; unde gaude, filia Syon, quia deus tibi multos reddit quos serpens de te abscidere voluit, qui nunc in maiori luce fulgent quam prius illorum causa fuisset.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Zeph.3.14;Zech.9.9 — Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. Zech.9.9 — Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king comes to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
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