Praefatio
The Call to Record the Vision
Hildegard receives a divine command to document the heavenly visions she has experienced since childhood.
Look, in the forty-third year of my life, while I was clinging to a heavenly vision with great fear and a trembling heart, I saw a brilliant light in which a voice from heaven spoke to me, saying: "O fragile human, ash of ashes and rot of rot, speak and write what you see and hear." But because you are timid in speaking, simple in explaining, and unlearned in writing these things, speak and write them not according to human speech, nor according to the understanding of human invention, nor according to the will of human composition, but according to what you see and hear of them in the heavenly places above, in the wonders of God; and present them by explaining them just as a listener who hears the words of their teacher and makes them known according to the tenor of that speech, with the teacher himself willing, showing, and commanding it. So, you too, O human, speak what you see and hear, and write it not according to yourself, nor according to any other person, but according to the will of the One who knows, sees, and arranges all things in the secrets of His mysteries. And again I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: "Speak these wonders, and write them as you have been taught, and speak." This happened in the year 1141 of the incarnation of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, when I was forty-two years and seven months old. A fiery light of immense brightness came from the open heaven and poured through my whole brain, and it inflamed my whole heart and chest like a flame that doesn't burn, but warms, just as the sun warms an object upon which it casts its rays. And suddenly I understood the meaning of the books—namely, the Psalter, the Gospels, and other catholic volumes of both the Old and New Testaments—but I did not know the interpretation of the words of their text, nor did I know the division of syllables, nor the knowledge of cases or tenses. I had felt the power of these mysteries, secret and wondrous visions, in a miraculous way within me from my childhood—from the time I was five years old until the present—just as I still do. Yet I revealed this to no one, except for a few religious people who lived as I did, but I kept it in quiet silence until the time when God in His grace willed it to be revealed. The visions I saw, however, I did not receive in dreams, nor while sleeping, nor in a frenzy, nor with the physical eyes or ears of the outer person, nor in hidden places; rather, I received them while awake, looking with the eyes and ears of the inner person in a pure mind, in open places, according to the will of God.
The Discipline of Humility
God explains the necessity of suffering and humility in the life of the visionary to prevent pride.
It's difficult for a person of the flesh to search out how this happens. But once the limit of childhood had passed and I had reached the aforementioned age of full strength, I heard a voice from heaven saying: "I am the living light, and I illuminate the darkness; I have placed the person whom I willed—and whom I miraculously shook up, just as it pleased me, into great wonders beyond the measure of the ancient people who saw many secrets in me—but I have laid him low upon the earth, so that he might not lift himself up in any pride of his own mind." The world also had no joy in him, nor pleasure, nor any exercise in those things that pertain to it, because I drew him away from his stubborn boldness, keeping him in fear and trembling in his labors. He suffered in the very marrow and veins of his flesh, with a constrained spirit and sense, enduring much bodily suffering so that no security lived in him; in all his affairs, he considered himself guilty. For I fenced in the ruins of his heart, so that his mind would not lift itself up through pride or vain glory, but rather that in all these things he might feel fear and sorrow more than joy or petulance. Therefore, in my love, he searched within his own soul for where he might find someone who was running the way of salvation. And he found someone and loved him, recognizing that he was a faithful person and similar to himself in some part of that labor which tends toward me, and holding him together with himself in all these things, he strove through a heavenly zeal so that my hidden miracles might be revealed. And this same person did not exalt himself above himself, but bowed himself down in many sighs toward the one he found in the ascent of humility and in the intention of good will.
Obedience and Completion
After initial hesitation, the author obeys the divine command and completes the work through illness and grace.
You, therefore, human, who receive these things not in the restlessness of deception, but in the purity of simplicity, directed toward the manifestation of hidden things—write down what you see and hear. Even though I saw and heard these things, I refused to write them down for a long time—not out of stubbornness, but out of humility—because of my own doubts, the negative opinions of others, and the conflicting things people were saying. I only took up my pen when I was brought low by the lash of God and fell into a sickbed; finally, compelled by my many infirmities and the testimony of a certain noble girl of good character and the man I had secretly sought and found (as mentioned before), I began to write. While I was doing this, sensing the great depth of the books' exposition as I had previously mentioned, and having recovered my strength after my illness, I managed to finish this work, which took me ten years. These visions and words were recorded during the days of Henry, Archbishop of Mainz; Conrad, King of the Romans; and Cuno, Abbot of the monastery of the blessed bishop Disibod, under Pope Eugenius. I have spoken and written these things not according to the inventions of my own heart or those of any other person, but just as I saw, heard, and perceived them in the heavenly realm through the secret mysteries of God. And again I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: 'Cry out, therefore, and write it down like this.'
Read the original Latin
Ecce quadragesimo tertio temporalis cursus mei anno, cum coelesti visioni magno timore, tremula intentione inhaererem, vidi maximum splendorem, in quo facta est vox de coelo ad me dicens: O homo fragilis, et cinis cineris et putredo putredinis, dic et scribe quae vides et audis. Sed quia timida es ad loquendum, et simplex ad exponendum, et indocta ad scribendum ea, dic et scribe ea non secundum os hominis, nec secundum intellectum humanae adinventionis, nec secundum voluntatem humanae compositionis, sed secundum id quod ea in coelestibus desuper in mirabilibus Dei vides et audis; ea sic edisserendo proferens, quemadmodum et auditor verba praeceptoris sui percipiens, ea secundum tenorem locutionis illius, ipso volente, ostendente et praecipiente propalat. Sic ergo et tu, o homo, dic ea quae vides et audis: et scribe ea non secundum te, nec secundum alium hominem, sed secundum voluntatem scientis, videntis et disponentis omnia in secretis mysteriorum suorum. Et iterum audivi vocem de coelo mihi dicentem: Dic ergo mirabilia haec, et scribe ea hoc modo edocta, et dic. Actum est in millesimo centesimo quadragesimo primo Filii Dei Jesu Christi incarnationis anno, cum quadraginta duorum annorum septemque mensium essem, maximae coruscationis igneum lumen aperto coelo veniens, totum cerebrum meum transfudit, et totum cor totumque pectus meum velut flamma non tamen ardens, sed calens ita inflammavit, ut sol rem aliquam calefacit super quam radios suos immittit. Et repente intellectum expositionis librorum videlicet Psalterii, Evangeliorum et aliorum catholicorum tam Veteris quam Novi Testamenti voluminum sapiebam, non autem interpretationem verborum textus eorum, nec divisionem syllabarum, nec cognitionem casuum aut temporum callebam. Virtutem autem mysteriorum, secretarum et admirandarum visionum a puellari aetate, scilicet a tempore illo cum quinquennis essem usque ad praesens tempus, mirabili modo in me senseram, sicut et adhuc: quod tamen nulli hominum exceptis quibusdam paucis et religiosis qui in eadem conversatione vivebant qua et ego eram, manifestavi, sed interim usque ad id temporis quo illud Deus sua gratia manifestari voluit, sub quieto silentio compressi. Visiones vero quas vidi: non eas in somnis, nec dormiens, nec in phrenesi, nec corporeis oculis aut auribus exterioris hominis, nec in abditis locis percepi, sed eas vigilans, circumspiciens in pura mente oculis et auribus interioris hominis, in apertis locis secundum voluntatem Dei accepi.
Quod quomodo sit, carnali homini perquirere difficile est. Sed puellari meta transacta: cum ad praefatam aetatem perfectae fortitudinis pervenissem, audivi vocem de coelo dicentem: Ego lux vivens, et obscura illuminans; hominem quem volui, et quem mirabiliter secundum quod mihi placuit excussi in magnis mirabilibus ultra modum antiquorum hominum qui in me multa secreta viderunt posui; sed in terram stravi illum, ut se non erigeret in ulla elatione mentis suae. Mundus quoque non habuit in eo gaudium, nec delectationem, nec exercitationem in rebus illis quae ad ipsum pertinent, quia eum de pertinaci audacia abstraxi, timorem habentem, et in laboribus suis paventem. Ipse enim in medullis et in venis carnis suae doluit: constrictum animum et sensum habens, atque multam passionem corporis sufferens, ita quod in eo nulla securitas habitavit, sed in omnibus causis suis se culpabilem aestimavit. Nam ruinas cordis ejus circumsepsi, ne mens ipsius per superbiam aut per vanam gloriam se elevaret, sed magis in omnibus his timorem et dolorem quam gaudium aut petulantiam sentiret. Unde in amore meo scrutatus est in animo suo, ubi illum inveniret qui viam salutis curreret. Et quemdam invenit et eum amavit, agnoscens quod fidelis homo esset et similis sibi in aliqua parte laboris illius qui ad me tendit, tenensque eum simul cum illo in omnibus his per supernum studium contendit, ut absconsa miracula mea revelarentur. Et idem homo super semetipsum se non extulit, sed ad illum in ascensionem humilitatis et in intentione bonae voluntatis quem invenit, se in multis suspiriis inclinavit.
Tu ergo, o homo, qui haec non in inquietudine deceptionis, sed in puritate simplicitatis accipis ad manifestationem absconditorum directa, scribe quae vides et audis.
Sed ego, quamvis haec viderem et audirem, tamen propter dubietatem et malam opinionem, et propter diversitatem verborum hominum, tamdiu non in pertinacia, sed in humilitatis officio scribere recusavi, quousque in lectum aegritudinis, flagello Dei depressa caderem, ita quod tandem multis infirmitatibus compulsa: testimonio cujusdam nobilis et bonorum morum puellae et hominis illius quem occulte (ut praefatum est) quaesieram et inveneram, manus ad scribendum apposui. Quod dum facerem, altam profunditatem expositionis librorum, ut praedixi, sentiens, viribusque receptis de aegritudine me erigens: vix opus istud decem annis consumans ad finem perduxi. In diebus autem Henrici Moguntini archiepiscopi et Conradi Romanorum regis et Cunonis abbatis in monte Beati Disibodi pontificis, sub papa Eugenio, hae visiones et verba facta sunt. Et dixi et scripsi haec, non secundum adinventionem cordis mei aut ullius hominis, sed ut ea in coelestibus vidi, audivi et percepi per secreta mysteria Dei. Et iterum audivi vocem de coelo mihi dicentem: Clama ergo et scribe sic.
Scivias (Know the Ways of the Lord) companion
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