Hildegard

ON ST. HILDEGARD, VIRGIN AND MISTRESS OF THE SISTERS OF THE ORDER OF ST. BENEDICT,

AT THE MOUNT OF ST. RUPERT NEAR BINGEN IN THE DIOCESE OF MAINZ.

IN THE YEAR 1179.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Hildegard, virgin, mistress of the sisters of the Order of St. Benedict on the Mount of St. Rupert near Bingen in the diocese of Mainz. (S.)

BHL Number: 3931

BY J. S.

§ I. The Acts of St. Hildegard already published, and their authors: certain others to be published from a manuscript: the Life to be supplemented in this Commentary chiefly from the Saint's own writings.

Among the Saints who flourished in the twelfth century, no common place is held by St. Hildegard the virgin, The Saint's Life in print, whose author is Theodoric, most illustrious for virtues, miracles, prophetic writings, and the wondrous celebrity of her name, whose deeds I now undertake to set forth. Her Life is printed at this day in Surius, and was already published at Cologne in the year 1566. All more recent writers commonly say that the author of the Life was Theodoric, a Benedictine abbot, but they do not add of what monastery he was abbot. In Surius this is noted of Theodoric: He flourished in the year 1200, and is distinct from Theodoric, abbot of St. Trond. This distinction is certain, since Theodoric, abbot of Sint-Truiden, flourished in the year 1100. Trithemius, in the Catalogue of illustrious men, page 138, speaks with too little exactness of Theodoric and his age: Theodoric, he says, abbot of the Order of St. Benedict, once the most chaste lover of blessed Hildegard, a man exercised and learned both in the holy Scriptures and in secular letters, ready in wit, scholastic in speech, wrote for the edification of many the Life of that same Hildegard, bride of Christ, in four books, and also various Letters to divers persons, and certain other things unknown to us. He flourished in the times of Henry VI (who died in the year 1198), in the year of the Lord 1200. Trithemius, by a slip of memory, or, as I rather believe, by an error of the transcribers or printers, seems to divide the Life into four books, whereas there are only three, as is clear and certain from the preface of each and from the conclusion of the third book. Of the writers' age, below.

[2] but together with Godfrey, who composed the first book: Trithemius is perhaps the first who called the biographer Theodoric an abbot; and I much doubt whether he was really an abbot — nay, I rather believe that he was a monk, not an abbot. Certainly he was only a monk when he wrote the Life. Moreover Theodoric did not alone write the praised Life of Hildegard; but before him Godfrey the monk began to write it, whose is the first book. But the second and third Theodoric composed, at the bidding of the abbots Ludwig and Godfrey. All these things are clearly drawn from the prefaces, all of which Theodoric composed. For he thus begins his preface to the whole Life: To the venerable lords, the abbots Ludwig and Godfrey, Theodoric, humble servant of the servants of God, greeting with devout prayers. I have received the command of your authority that, after Godfrey, a man of distinguished wit, I should set in order the Life of the holy and God-beloved virgin Hildegard (which he began in an honorable style but did not finish), and, weaving as it were garlands of fragrant flowers, should reduce her visions, inserted among her deeds, under a division of books, into the form of a single body. Then, after some excuses, he thus explains what he did: And so I have obeyed in such a manner that the book of the aforesaid man, holding the place of first position, may suffer no loss of its own arrangement: then that the second book should contain the most beautiful and admirable text of the visions; the third, of the miracles … a writing arranged, divided and ordered by us. And so the first book is Godfrey's, except the preface, and contains most of the Saint's deeds, but not her death: some visions also and miracles are related in this book. But the second book, on the visions, and the third, on the miracles and death of Hildegard, are Theodoric's alone.

[3] neither was an abbot, both were monks. Now that both these writers were not abbots but monks I have from the manuscript Acts composed for the Canonization of St. Hildegard, to be published by us, in which at num. 7 this is read: Bruno, custos of St. Peter's at Strasbourg and priest, on oath says concerning the life of blessed Hildegard … that he read it in the little book which was written about her life, immediately after her death, by two Religious, namely Godfrey and Theodoric, who dwelt with the blessed Virgin: which he believes to contain the truth in every way, etc. From these words we have, first, that the authors lived with the Saint, and were not only contemporaries but in many things also eyewitnesses. For this reason Theodoric, although in the prefaces he uses many excuses after the custom, never alleges as an excuse ignorance of St. Hildegard's deeds, visions or miracles, and scarcely ever even suggests that he needs the information of others, or uses the report of others, for writing the Saint's deeds. And so we cannot doubt that Godfrey and Theodoric were among those monks who performed the divine service in Bl. Hildegard's monastery, and for that reason could have everything most thoroughly known. Godfrey was probably the elder, and he alone would have written the Life had not death intervened. For that Godfrey was dead when Theodoric was writing is clear from the preface of the second book, in which Godfrey is called of good memory. We have, secondly, that the Life was written immediately after the Saint's death. We have, thirdly, that Baillet erred in his critical table, not only because with Trithemius he makes Theodoric an abbot and the sole writer of the Life, but still more because he said that he lived twenty or thirty years after St. Hildegard's death, as if he were not an entirely contemporary writer. This Life I shall reprint in the first place from Surius, collated however with the Böddeken manuscript, whose variant readings we have received.

[4] Another manuscript Life, not to be published: We have also another Life of St. Hildegard in our manuscript codex which is marked P. Ms. 17: and the same, somewhat interpolated, has been transmitted to us from the Utrecht codex of St. Saviour's. I have collated both manuscripts, and at the beginning found almost no difference; but toward the end I found certain notes inserted into the Life in the codex of St. Saviour's which are not in our codex, formerly also of Utrecht. The author of this Life is unknown, but probably he did not dwell at Mainz or in its territory, since he speaks thus of the Saint's writings: Assuredly, if it please anyone to read of her visionary words, let him get them from her writings, which are now published in scattered form about the parts of Mainz. Moreover I do not think that the author of that Life was altogether a contemporary of the Saint. For which reason I do not judge that it should be published, especially since it teaches very few things that are not read in the former Life, and is almost wholly woven together from the Saint's writings without much selection. I shall therefore give from that brief Life, in the Commentary, whatever I shall believe useful for instructing the reader, omitting long passages which can be read in the Saint's own writings and which by no means bear on her deeds or character. [The Acts of the inquiry into her virtues and miracles, to be published from a manuscript.]

[5] Another writing about St. Hildegard was sent to Bolland in the year 1641 by Fr. Johann Gamans, very frequently praised in this Work. Whence he had received it, Gamans noted in these words: From the notable manuscript Passional on parchment for the month of September, of the monastery of Böddeken of the Regulars of St. Augustine, of the diocese of Paderborn, folio 247, where after a mutilated Life of St. Hildegard the following is appended. The title of the writing is this: On the testimony of the miracles of Saint Hildegard, which the Lord wrought by her merits, both in her life and after her death. It is an abridgment of the Acts which were composed in the year 1233 by those who inquired into the virtues and miracles of St. Hildegard and transmitted the Acts of their inquiry to the Apostolic See. Of the time and of the Acts sent to the supreme Pontiff it is clear from the end of this abridgment. But the collector of this abridgment so cut away everything bearing on the mere form of the Acts that from it I cannot perceive by whose authority those inquisitors were delegated — whether of the archbishop of Mainz, who was then Siegfried III, or indeed of the supreme Pontiff Gregory IX. But from the Letter of Gregory IX, to be recited at num. 208 and 209, we have that those Acts were composed by the order of Gregory himself, who for the setting up of that examination delegated the provost, dean and scholastic of Mainz. But in that same Letter the Pontiff complains that some defects were found in those Acts, because not everything had been set forth clearly enough. Yet by those defects the historical credit of the Acts does not perish. Wherefore I shall give these Acts of the inquiry after the Life, illustrated with due annotations. The Saint's Works to be praised in the Commentary, and other writers.

[6] Besides these ancient documents concerning St. Hildegard we have many of her own Works, partly printed, partly still in manuscript. Of these, the Letters beyond the rest will afford greater matter for enlarging this Commentary, a great number of which we have printed at Cologne in the year 1566 together with some little Works and the Saint's Life, and reprinted in the Bibliotheca Patrum of the Lyons edition, vol. 23. Another not small part Martène gave in the Amplissima Collectio, vol. 2. Some also I have found published in other places, some I have in manuscript: nor do I doubt that more still lie hidden in various places in archives or libraries. Yet I judge that the chief ones, which had been collected into one volume in the Saint's monastery, have all been published. Other Works of the Saint also, which I shall review more fully in their place, will likewise afford some help for setting forth her deeds and virtues. Certain somewhat later writers, such as Vincent of Beauvais, Richer of Senones, Alberic the monk in his Chronicle, who flourished in the thirteenth century, and several others, are not altogether to be neglected for the deeds of St. Hildegard. But these and others we shall praise in their places, and shall follow or refute as reason shall seem to require. For the rest, it is not necessary to review all the Lives written in later centuries and in various languages. I have indeed an Italian, a Spanish, a German, a French, a Dutch one. But none of them adds anything to the ancient documents save errors. Baillet indeed professes criticism, and that a severe one, but he often corrupts more than he corrects, and rarely brings forward documents unknown to others. Yet him we are wont from time to time to correct, because at least by the severity of his criticism he has won himself a name.

§ II. Her birth, childhood, monastic life on the Mount of St. Disibod: she is enlightened with visions from childhood, and at length is compelled to write them: in what manner she wrote her Works.

[ ] The Saint was born in the year 1098, Of the time of St. Hildegard's birth the manuscript Life, both in our codex and in the Utrecht one of St. Saviour's, has thus: In the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1100, which was the forty-fifth year of Henry the illustrious, of this name the fourth king and third emperor, there was in the parts of Hither Gaul, in the territory of the city of Mainz, a virgin noble both in family and in the nobility of holiness. For the year designated, the words of St. Hildegard are presently adduced in this manner: After the Incarnation of the Lord, she says, in the year one thousand one hundred, when the teaching of the Apostles and the burning justice which the Holy Spirit had established among the Christian people began to be relaxed, I was born, and my parents with sighs devoted me to God. These words indeed make Hildegard born in the year 1100, and are cited as the Saint's own words in favor of that opinion. But from the Life to be published, in which, in book 2, chapter 1, that very passage of St. Hildegard is more correctly cited, we understand that the epoch of the year 1100 is given only for designating the time at which justice began to be relaxed; and that the Saint says only that she was born in those times.

And the words in those times ought to be explained with some latitude, as if it had been said about those times; since St. Hildegard assigns the year of her birth in another way and more certainly in the preface of her chief Work, which she named Scivias. Certainly in the praised preface she asserts that she was bidden to write her visions in the year 1141, and that she was then forty-two years and seven months old. According to these words the Saint was born in the year 1098, or in the earlier months of the year 1099. But what makes us unable to believe that her birth can be put off to the year 1099 is the year of her death, which is to be fixed at none other than 1179, in which she was in her eighty-second year. She was born, therefore, in the year 1098, and indeed before the 17th of September, on which she died, since otherwise she would not have begun her eighty-second year of age.

[8] of noble family in the county of Sponheim. From infancy Johann Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, in the Chronicle of Hirsau at the year 1150, speaks thus of the parents and country of St. Hildegard: And this most holy Virgin was … sprung from the county of Sponheim, from the estate called Bickelnheim, born of her father Hildebert, a knight, and of her mother Mechtild, born into the world in the times of the emperor Henry IV, namely in the seventh year of Gebhard, abbot of Hirsau. Whose father lived serving as a knight in the court of the counts of Sponheim, an upright man and devoted to God. The county of Sponheim is in the Palatinate between the rivers Moselle and Nahe, and for spiritual jurisdiction in the diocese of Mainz. The seventh year of abbot Gebhard, in which Trithemius sets Hildegard's birth, is by the same writer connected with the year 1098, which we too have set as the Saint's birth-year. What befell St. Hildegard in the third year of her age, she herself sets forth in the Life, book 2, num. 16. The manuscript Life agrees, in which this is read, adduced from Hildegard's writings: And in the third year of my age I saw so great a light from heaven that my soul trembled within me: but through the hindrances of infancy I could bring forth nothing about these things. Wonderful also is what is related in the testimony of the miracles to be published below, num. 7; and she is said to have said this when she was five years old. But in the Proem already cited she writes thus of these matters: But the power of mysteries, of secret and wondrous visions, I had felt in myself in a wonderful manner from girlhood, namely from that time when I was five years old, until the present time, as I do still; which nevertheless I have made known to no man, save to a few religious persons who lived in the same manner of life in which I too was. And so in the third year of her age she saw a wondrous light without sufficient understanding, but at five years old she began to understand the visions.

[9] she has visions: at eight she is handed over to the monastic life. Some moderns by a slip of memory ascribe Hildegard at five years old to the monastic life under the discipline of Jutta. But the Life at num. 2 testifies that she was nearly eight years old when she was handed over to Jutta, sister of the count of Sponheim, to be trained in religious discipline. The Testimony of the miracles at num. 7 agrees about her eighth year of age, and testifies that from that age she was offered by her parents on the Mount of St. Disibod under the Rule of blessed Benedict. And of these matters, in the manuscript Life, these words of the Saint herself are cited: And in my eighth year I was offered to the holy manner of the spiritual life, and until my fifteenth year I was seeing many things and speaking many simply, so that those who heard these things wondered whence they were and whence they came. Then I too wondered within myself that, when I saw these things inwardly in my soul, I had also an outward sight, and that I heard this of no man. Wherefore I was seized with great fear, and no longer dared to make known to anyone anything of my inward light. Nevertheless in speaking much and telling of things to come I often brought them forth. And when I was fully suffused with the vision of this light, I spoke many things which seemed strange to those who heard. These same things are read more fully recited in the Life to be published, book 2, chapter 1, where she also declares that, as her age increased, she kept more and more silent about her visions, so long as she was under the discipline of her mistress Bl. Jutta, and for some years after her death too, until God compelled her to reveal what she had seen and at length to write it down. Hence of those visions she says again in the proem to the book Scivias: Meanwhile, until that time when God by his grace willed it to be made manifest, I kept it down under quiet silence. And of the manner in which she enjoyed those visions she subjoins this in the same place: But the visions which I saw, I perceived them not in dreams nor sleeping, nor in frenzy, nor with bodily eyes, nor with the ears of the outward man, nor in hidden places; but I received them waking, looking about in a pure mind, with the eyes and ears of the inward man, in open places according to the will of God. How this comes about is difficult for a carnal man to search out. These things meanwhile concerning the Saint's visions, of which I shall give more below.

[10] But while St. Hildegard concealed her visions with such zeal, Bl. Jutta being dead, St. Hildegard presides: her mistress Jutta departed from among the living, whom she was wont humbly to obey, and she herself began to preside over others. Dodechin, toward the end of that same century abbot of St. Disibod, in the Appendix to the Chronicle of Marianus Scotus at the year 1136, has this to our purpose: There died the lady Juda of blessed memory, who for twenty-four years was enclosed on the Mount of St. Disibod, sister of Megenhard, count of Sponheim. This holy woman was enclosed on the Kalends of November, and three others with her, namely Hildegard, and two of the name Sumet (Mabillon reads suimet, that is, of Jutta), whom also, as long as she lived, she was zealous to imbue with holy virtues. This chronology indeed does not altogether agree with what is asserted about the monastic life begun by St. Hildegard when she was nearly eight years old. For if Jutta was enclosed for twenty-four years and died in the year 1136, she first enclosed herself in the year 1112, or at least about 1112, if those years perhaps were not complete, or if some months are to be added to them. But St. Hildegard in the year 1106 was eight years old, and for that reason seems to have led the monastic life with Bl. Jutta for six years before Dodechin's epoch. It must therefore be said either that an error crept into Dodechin's numbers, or that Hildegard lived earlier in another place under the discipline of the same Jutta. Certainly all the ancient documents by unanimous consent make Hildegard a nun on the Mount of St. Disibod from her eighth year of age. The place was in the county of Sponheim, and there was there a monastery of the Benedictine Order, of which we have treated at length at the 8th of July in the preliminary Commentary to the Life of St. Disibod its founder. And Fulchard, abbot of the monastery, died in the same year as Jutta, and had as successor Cono or Cuno, consecrated toward the end of the year 1136. Under his obedience, therefore, was St. Hildegard when in the same year she began to preside over a few.

[11] After the death of Bl. Jutta, of whom we must treat at the 22nd of December, she is stirred up by God to write her visions; St. Hildegard, as she herself asserts in the Life at num. 17, went on having visions after her custom and keeping them down in silence, until at length, stirred by divine goads, she consulted a monk her master about them. Of these matters she has this in the proem to Scivias: But when the goal of girlhood was passed, and I had come to the aforesaid age of full strength, I heard a voice from heaven saying: I am the living light and the illuminator of darkness; I have set the man whom I willed, and whom I have wondrously shaken as it pleased me, among great marvels beyond the measure of the men of old, who saw many secrets in me. All these things are said of St. Hildegard, whom God willed to advance to a lofty degree of visions. What follows is likewise of her, and teaches how greatly God humbled her, lest by the excellence of the visions she should be lifted up into pride. I subjoin the words: But I laid him low upon the earth, that he should not raise himself up in any elation of his mind. The world too had in him no joy nor delight, nor employment in those things which pertain to it, for I drew him away from stubborn boldness, so that he had fear and was afraid in his labors. These things are indeed obscure, but the sense is: that the world had nothing for St. Hildegard in which she might rejoice, by which she might be delighted or employed, because she was full of the fear of God.

[12] but keeping silence long from shame and fear, These things are somehow explained by the following words: For he grieved in the marrow and in the veins of his flesh, having a straitened mind and understanding, and suffering much passion of body, so that no security dwelt in him, but in all his affairs he reckoned himself blameworthy. For I hedged about the ruins of his heart, lest his mind should raise itself by pride or by vainglory, but should rather feel in all these things fear and grief rather than joy or wantonness. Whence in my love he searched in his soul where he might find one who would run the way of salvation. And he found a certain one (namely a monk as director), and loved him, recognizing that he was a faithful man and like himself in some part of that labor which tends toward me; and holding fast to him, he strove together with him in all these things by heavenly zeal, that my hidden marvels might be revealed. And that same man did not exalt himself above himself, but bowed himself down with many sighs toward the one whom he had found, in the ascent of humility and with the intention of a good will. Do thou therefore, O man, who receivest these things not in the disquiet of deception but in the purity of simplicity, being directed to the manifesting of hidden things, write what thou seest and hearest. All these things, though somehow obscure, were directed by God to encourage Hildegard to write her visions according to the counsel of that monk whom she had then begun to consult.

[13] by sickness and by another vision, What she did after a vision of this kind, she subjoins in this manner: But I, although I saw and heard these things, yet on account of doubt and evil opinion, and on account of the diversity of men's words, refused so long to write — not in obstinacy, but in the office of humility — until, pressed down by God's scourge, I fell upon a bed of sickness; so that at length, compelled by many infirmities, on the testimony of a certain noble girl of good character and of that man whom (as has been said before) I had secretly sought and found, I set my hand to writing. And concerning that vision by which she was especially encouraged and helped to write, she records this immediately at the beginning of her Proem: Behold, in the forty-third year of my temporal course, when with great fear and trembling attention I was clinging to a heavenly vision,

I saw a very great splendor, in which there came a voice from heaven, saying to me: O frail human being, and ash of ash, and rottenness of rottenness, say and write what you see and hear. But because you are timid in speaking and simple in expounding and unskilled in writing these things, say and write them not according to the mouth of man, nor according to the understanding of human invention, nor according to the will of human composition; but according to that which you see and hear in the heavenly places above amid the marvels of God, so shall you bring these things forth by expounding them, even as a hearer, taking in the words of his teacher, publishes them according to the tenor of that man's speech, he himself willing, showing and commanding it. So therefore do you also, O human being, say the things which you see and hear: and write them, not according to yourself nor according to any other man, but according to the will of him who knows and sees and disposes all things in the secrets of his mysteries.

[14] And again I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: [by which her understanding is wondrously enlightened, she is more strongly impelled.] Say therefore these marvels, and write them thus taught, and say: It was done in the one thousand one hundred and forty-first year of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ the Son of God, when I was forty-two years and seven months old, that a fiery light of the greatest flashing, coming from the opened heaven, poured itself through my whole brain, and so inflamed my whole heart and my whole breast, like a flame yet not burning but warming, as the sun warms a thing upon which it sends its rays. And suddenly I had understanding of the exposition of the books, namely of the Psalter, of the Gospels, and of the other Catholic volumes both of the Old and of the New Testament; but I did not know the interpretation of the words of their text, nor the division of syllables, nor had I knowledge of cases or tenses. Thus far the Saint herself, whose latter words are inserted in the Life at num. 2. Now certain things come to be observed. First, from what has been cited it is clear that the Saint, with humble and modest fear, long refused to write of her visions, and in some fashion resisted the divine inspirations that invited her to write, until, seized by a grave and wondrous sickness, she communicated the matter to a monk, and through him to abbot Cuno, as the Life has at num. 4, where it is also added that she was freed from the sickness as soon as she set her mind to writing. Stirred by that prodigious healing no less than by the preceding sickness, equally prodigious, the abbot after some time carried the Saint's earlier Writings to Mainz, and there communicated them to archbishop Henry and to the chief ecclesiastical men, as the Life has at num. 4, and again at num. 17, where the Saint's own following words are cited: When these things had been brought to the hearing of the church of Mainz and discussed, all said that they were from God, and from that prophecy by which the prophets prophesied of old.

[15] Secondly, it is established from the words brought forward that St. Hildegard's knowledge was not acquired by study, She did not use learning acquired by study, but in a wondrous manner, but infused by God. Hence in the Life at num. 17 she herself says that she began to write when she had scarcely any knowledge of letters, she says, such as an unlearned woman had taught me. She certainly did not know the Latin tongue, because she had never learned it. Yet, being enlightened by a light from above, she understood Latin writings, so far as appears, in this sense: that she knew what was contained in those writings, not what the individual words meant. Concerning that wondrous manner in which she understood mysteries, and by which at length she was compelled to write them, many things have been gathered together in the manuscript Life from various of her writings, some of which have not been published. These, therefore, since they are not all found in the Life to be printed, I shall here transfer: From my infancy, she says, until the present time, when I am now more than seventy years old, I always see this light in my soul; and I perceive it not with outward eyes, nor with the thoughts of the heart, nor by any conferring of the five outward senses — the outward eyes nevertheless remaining open, and the other bodily senses in their power. For the light which I see is not local, but far brighter than the cloud that bears the sun; nor can I consider height or length or breadth in it. And it is named to me the SHADOW OF THE LIVING LIGHT: and as the sun, moon and stars appear in water, so writings and discourses and virtues and certain works of men formed shine back to me in it. And whatever I see or learn in this vision, I keep the memory of it for a long time: and at once I see and hear and know, and as it were in a moment I learn what I know. But whatever I do not see, that I do not know, because I am as it were unlettered; and of those things which I write from that light I set down no other words than those which I hear, and Latin words unpolished (add I use, or something similar). Nor do I hear words such as sound from the mouth of man, but as a flashing flame, and as a cloud moved in the pure air. And the form of this light I can in no way know, just as I cannot perfectly gaze upon the sphere of the sun.

[16] as it is set forth, infused by God. Yet I sometimes behold in that same light another light, which is named to me the LIVING LIGHT; but this I do not see often, and I am much less able to determine its form than the form of the former light. And while I gaze upon that light, all sadness and all pain is taken from my memory, so that I then have the manners of a simple girl and not of an old woman. But my soul at no hour lacks the first light, which is called the shadow of the living light: and I see it as though I were beholding the firmament without a star in a bright cloud; and in it I see the things of which I speak concerning the brightness of the living light. And I remained from my infancy until my fortieth year of age always seeing the aforesaid things, and often speaking somewhat of them, but writing nothing at all. And then in that same vision I felt my veins and my marrow fully restored to their strength, in which through many infirmities I had failed from my youth. And then, the Spirit compelling me, I disclosed these things to a certain monk whom I had set over myself as master. And he, wondering greatly at these things, enjoined me that I should write secretly what I was seeing and what I had seen, so that he himself, having seen the beginning and end of the writings, might be able to judge of them, or at least to estimate what the matter was.

[17] In the year 1141 she began to write, and finished her first Work in ten years. Further, the Saint, where she testifies that she was at length compelled by sickness to write, in the words already given from the proem to Scivias, subjoins this: And while I was doing this, perceiving (as I said before) the deep profundity of the exposition of the books, and raising myself from my sickness with recovered strength, I scarcely brought this Work to its end, completing it in ten years. And in the days of Henry, archbishop of Mainz, and of Conrad, king of the Romans, and of Cuno, abbot on the mount of blessed Disibod, under Pope Eugenius, these visions and words were made. And I said and wrote these things not according to the invention of my heart or of any man, but as I saw, heard and perceived them in the heavenly places through the secret mysteries of God. And again I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: Cry out therefore, and write thus. The epoch given has no difficulty, except in Pope Eugenius and archbishop Henry; for Conrad was long king, and Cuno abbot, before the Saint began to write, that is, before the year 1141. But Eugenius was made Pope only in the year 1145, and the beginning of Henry, archbishop of Mainz, is fixed in the Gallia Christiana, vol. 5, col. 471, in the year 1142. I reply that these things do not prevent us from believing that the Saint began in the year 1141. For she seems to have named Eugenius because the greater part of that Work was written under his pontificate, and because he saw and approved part of the Work, although she had begun to write some things under two of Eugenius's predecessors. The same was the reason for naming Henry of Mainz, who had already seen part of the Work before Eugenius. Hence, however, we gather that the Saint's writings were not carried to the archbishop of Mainz as soon as she had begun to write them, but later, when a notable part was finished. Alberic in his Chronicle at the year 1141 wholly agrees with us, writing thus: In this year St. Hildegard, when she was forty-two years and seven months old, being visited by the Holy Spirit, began the book Scivias, and finished it in ten years, etc.

[18] It remains to inquire whether St. Hildegard wrote her books with her own hand, The Saint, in writing her books, being ignorant of the Latin tongue, and plainly in that speech and manner in which we have them written. Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau at the year 1147 speaks thus of the Saint's writings, as though he had believed that she used no one else's help in writing, and so he speaks also in other places. But he seems to have examined the matter more closely in the Chronicle of Sponheim at the year 1179, where he writes thus of the Works composed by St. Hildegard: This holy Virgin deserved from her youth to be visited by divine revelations: out of which, by divine command, she wrote many things for the profit of those who should come after. But since she was ignorant of the Latin tongue, and had learned nothing from man beyond simple psalmody, being taught by the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit she perfectly understood all writing, the position or the construction of a sentence. But her revelations and heavenly visions she brought forth partly in Latin, partly in German speech; which Godfrey, monk of St. Disibod, her chaplain and confessor, made Latin and fitting, reducing them into that order and form in which they are read today. And among her other volumes there is in the same place a great volume which contains her Letters to divers persons, Homilies, Lives of Saints, and other things which, taught from God, she published: which the nuns of that place falsely affirm that she wrote with her own hand, since she was both ignorant of the Latin tongue and wholly unfitted for writing on account of her frequent infirmities and the moisture of her head. For it is to be believed that she wrote with her own hand none of those things which are shown there today: since indeed she did not know how to write; but the aforesaid monk either wrote all things or procured that they be written. Thus far Trithemius, whose opinion is conformable to the ancient documents. And that Gotfrid or Godfrey the monk, whose service the Saint used in writing, is perhaps the same as he who composed the first book of the Life.

[19] And that all St. Hildegard's writings were composed in that manner which Trithemius sets forth she had a monk as helper, who joined all things together, is gathered from her Life itself, in which at num. 2 Godfrey asserts that she was so ignorant of letters that she knew neither the interpretation of words nor the division of syllables, nor had knowledge of the cases or tenses of Latin words. Then Theodoric, in the preface of the second book, describes the manner

of writing, writing thus: This too is great and worthy of admiration, that the things which she heard or saw in the Spirit she wrote with her own hand and uttered with her mouth in the same sense and in the same words, with a circumspect and pure mind, content with one only faithful man as her fellow-initiate; who, for the clear observance of the grammatical art, which she herself did not know, ventured indeed to arrange the cases, tenses and genders, but to add or take away nothing at all as to the sense or understanding of them. The author adds, from Hildegard's own Letter to Pope Hadrian, that she had been admonished by God that, when she had not brought forth in the Latin tongue the things shown from above in a manner fitted to men, he who has the file should not neglect to complete them for the fitting sound of men. She used a helper, therefore, in writing, God himself so bidding, because she did not know how to unfold her thoughts in the Latin tongue. So she herself says in the words cited at num. 14: Whatever I do not see, that I do not know, because I am as it were unlettered. And of those things which I write from that light I set down no other words than those which I hear, and Latin words unpolished. The expression is incomplete. But I think the Saint means this: I write the Latin words heard, and I do not add other Latin words to complete the expression, or additions to be expounded.

[20] [and, so far as it appears, put into Latin what she herself did not know how to say in Latin.] Wherefore, so far as I can conceive, St. Hildegard had these parts in her writings. She set forth her visions in the vernacular tongue, but the Latin words which she heard in them she wrote with her own hand as she had heard them. Then, under her direction, Godfrey made everything Latin and fittingly joined all together. Hence the praised Trithemius says: Her heavenly visions she brought forth partly in Latin (namely the words heard), partly in German speech — that is, the persons and other things seen. In this manner she began to write on the mount of St. Disibod, where she had begun the monastic life, as Theodoric testifies in the Life, num. 14. But her first Work, as the same man testifies, she finished long afterwards in the new monastery, of whose foundation we must now treat.

§ III. The number of nuns being increased, St. Hildegard founds a monastery on the Mount of St. Rupert: she did not see St. Bernard there, nor did she embrace the Cistercian rule: the Saint's Writings approved by Eugenius III: the Work Scivias finished.

[ ] The number of nuns being increased, the Saint founds a new monastery When St. Hildegard had begun to consign her revelations to writing, the small company of virgins over which she had presided since Bl. Jutta's death began to grow much. Since therefore the place in which they dwelt was becoming too narrow, thought was taken of building a new monastery, as the Life has at num. 6, where it is added that the place was revealed to the Saint. Yet even so a sickness had to intervene before Cono or Cuno, abbot of St. Disibod, would consent to the Virgin's departure. But I add no more of those things which are sufficiently set forth in the Life. Trithemius writes the following concerning that new foundation in the Chronicle of Sponheim at the year 1148: In the year 1148, … the holy virgin Hildegard, who (as we have said) after the death of Bl. Jutta had been appointed mistress of the brides of Christ on the Mount of St. Disibod, being divinely admonished, crossed over to Bingen with eighteen holy virgins, and built a monastery on the mount across the river Nahe, beside the tomb of St. Rupert, duke and confessor; and bringing that place itself, with all its goods and possessions, into her own right of property — partly by purchase from the hand of the count of Hildenheim, dwelling in the diocese of Trier, partly by exchange, and partly by the donation of the count of Sponheim and of other faithful — she committed it to the protection of the church of Mainz for perpetual times, an Apostolic privilege intervening. Then, after some things about the Saint's birth and writings, he writes this again about the cause of the new foundation: But since many nobles round about were handing over their daughters to her teaching, and the place for their dwelling was becoming narrow for them, by the leave both of the supreme Pontiff and of her abbot, she crossed over (as we have said) to the Mount of St. Rupert with eighteen consecrated nuns; among whom one was Hiltrudis, daughter of count Meginhard, a virgin of most holy manner of life and very intimate with Bl. Hildegard, out of regard for whom her father the count bestowed many benefits on that same place. Thus far Trithemius, who fixes the foundation in the year 1148.

[22] In the Gallia Christiana of the latest edition, vol. 5, col. 653, the monastery is called [on the Mount of St. Rupert: the foundation begun, at the least, in the year 1147.] St. Rupert of Bingen, or Mount St. Rupert or Robert near Bingen. In the same place it is observed that there is another convent of nuns of the Cistercian Order which is also called Mount St. Robert, in the diocese of Liège. But concerning the time and place of the foundation the praised Gallia Christiana has thus: This convent of maidens of the Order of St. Benedict is founded in the year 1147 by St. Hildegard, its first abbess, near the town of Bingen on the other side of the river Nahe, where it flows into the Rhine, four miles — German miles, that is — from Mainz. These things I believe sufficiently accurate. And Bingen is a town in the territory of the elector of Mainz, and lies on the bank of the Rhine, in Latin formerly more often called Pinguia, now commonly Bingium. Further, the reader sees that the foundation is here fixed one year earlier than in Trithemius, and rightly, since it is certain that it was at least begun in the year 1147. For when Pope Eugenius III wrote to St. Hildegard in the year 1148, as we shall see, he inscribed the Letter, To his beloved daughter in the Lord Hildegard, prioress on the Mount of blessed Robert. The foundation, therefore, had already been made then, and had been begun in the preceding year, especially since the Letter was given not at the end of the year but about the beginning, in the month of January or February. Yet the end of that same Letter suggests that the foundation was recent. For thus Eugenius writes to her: But as to what you have intimated to us about that place which you foresaw for yourself in the spirit, let this be done with our permission and blessing and that of your bishop, so that there you may live regularly with your sisters according to the Rule of St. Benedict, under the enclosure of that same place. To this the Saint replied: But I, O Father, in the place shown me from heaven, according to the words of your blessing, remain with my sisters according to the Rule of St. Benedict, under the enclosure of that same place, and I desire that this be always observed, both while I live and when I am dead.

[23] Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau at the year 1147 relates Trithemius's report of St. Bernard's coming to St. Hildegard, that St. Bernard came to the Mount of St. Rupert, or to the town of Bingen, and there dealt with St. Hildegard, when he was preaching in Germany about the parts of the Rhine and was exhorting the faithful to take the cross for the expedition into the Holy Land. The matter would have to be fixed in the year 1146, if it seemed sufficiently certain. But Manrique in the Cistercian Annals, and after him our Pinius at the 20th of August in St. Bernard, page 193, have with good reason doubted. Mabillon is added, in the Benedictine Annals, vol. 6, page 410; or perhaps Martène, who completed that volume when Mabillon had long been dead, and published it in the year 1739. For he declares candidly: What Trithemius relates of Bernard's conversation with her (St. Hildegard) is highly suspect. He adds also reasons, which I shall set forth a little more fully. But let us first hear Trithemius, whose report will at least teach how various were men's judgments about the Saint's writings, and what St. Bernard thought of them. Thence (from Frankfurt, where St. Bernard had preached) going down by boat he came to Bingen, where the nun Hildegard, a most devout virgin of Christ, … had built a monastery on the Mount of saint Rupert; with whom he is reported to have exchanged sweet discourses about the felicity to come. For the holy Handmaid of Christ was known to the divine Bernard both by her writings and, by the report of many, approved in the Lord. When he had come to her, after the customary prayers and the duties of greeting, he directed that the volumes be shown him which she had written under divine inspiration.

[24] although he correctly sets forth St. Bernard's judgment When he had diligently reviewed part of them, wondering beyond what can be told, he is reported to have said to his companions: “These writings are not devised by human means, nor can a mortal man grasp them unless he has been inwardly and in his soul reformed to the likeness of God by love.” To this the provost of the virgins, a devout and holy monk by name Heribert, replied to the man of the Lord: “Reverend Father, true indeed are the things you have said; but many men, learned and unlearned, Religious and worldly, torment the soul of Christ's Handmaid with daily gainsayings, while they prattle that they are phantasms of the brain, or things deceitfully sent in by demons upon an unlearned Woman.” To whom the man of God said: “We do not wonder, dearest brother, if those who sleep in sins reckon divine revelations to be dreams, since we know that the holy Apostle spoke truly: The natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined. For to all who lie, as it were sleeping, in the sins of pride, luxury, avarice or other vices, divine admonitions are wont to seem dreams, since, if they were awake in the fear of the Lord, they would recognize true signs of the divine working. But those who think that these things are sent in by demons show that they have no knowledge at all of divine contemplation, and are to be judged like those who said that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub.” To holy Hildegard also, through an interpreter, he said: “And do you, Daughter, not fear the speeches of men, since you have God as protector, for their words shall perish like stubble, but the word of the Lord abides for ever.” After this the man of God went down by boat to Boppard, etc. Thus far Trithemius, on whose report we shall briefly observe some things.

[25] about the Saint's visions, it seems altogether improbable. First, the words attributed to St. Bernard are altogether conformable both to his admirable holiness and wisdom and to his judgment about the writings and merits of St. Hildegard, expressed in the Letter to be given below. Wherefore I would readily believe that Bernard said things like these about the Saint's writings when he saw them brought to Trier and was able to examine them. Secondly, that visit of St. Bernard and his survey of St. Hildegard's writings in the monastery itself appear utterly fictitious, or at least to have arisen merely from error. For of St. Bernard's coming to St. Hildegard all the ancient writers are silent, both those who wrote of St. Bernard and those who wrote of St. Hildegard, although our biographer commemorates St. Bernard as most devoted to the Saint and to her writings. Moreover St. Bernard wrote to St. Hildegard probably in the year 1148; and she replied, as we shall see. And the Letters are so written that they seem never to have seen one another. Finally, neither does St. Bernard seem to have gone down the Rhine by boat on the journey of which Trithemius treats, since in the book of his Miracles, vol. IV of August, page 338

a land journey is described, so that he not only did not come to Bingen, but did not even sail past it or approach near it. Hildegard herself too was probably not yet at Bingen when St. Bernard is said to have come to her there. That visit of St. Bernard, therefore, is utterly improbable: nor ought it to delay us that Baillet admitted it, who elsewhere is not seldom more severe than is just in exercising criticism. For we too often find by experience that that writer did not inquire with so great diligence into deeds of the Saints handed down by more recent writers only, as he ought to have used, in order to write Lives of the Saints purged of common errors.

[26] Indeed the same Baillet with like readiness adopted another equally improbable opinion of certain Cistercian writers. The Saint never embraced the institute of the Cistercians. Chrysostom Henriquez, whom he praises, in the Cistercian Menology, page 316, ascribes Hildegard to the Cistercian Order, whom nevertheless he acknowledges to have been at first a Benedictine. But he says that her habit was changed at the exhortation of St. Bernard. He praises in favor of his opinion Barnabas de Montalbo, who asserts that the change was made by St. Hildegard out of the devotion with which she was borne toward the lord Bernard. Then he adduces the Annals of the Order, in which the same things are asserted. I pass over other writers asserting the same from error. This error our Papebroch has already observed at the 18th of June in St. Elizabeth of Schönau, whom some, as well as Hildegard, ascribed to the Cistercians, although both are Benedictines. This seems to have happened from the confusion of several monasteries of the same name: for at num. 22 I noted that in the diocese of Liège there is a convent of Cistercian nuns which is called Mount St. Robert, just as is that which St. Hildegard inhabited near Bingen. But that this latter is of the Benedictine institute is certain. The praised Papebroch, page 606, num. 11, offers himself as an eyewitness in these words: Of Hildegard we had long been assured, we who had been at Bingen in the year 1660, and had there seen both her sacred bones and her writings, and also a cowl not of white color, as is that of the Cistercians, but of a blackish red, as was that of the Benedictine nuns. I add no more, because the matter is by no means doubtful.

[27] In the year 1148 there happened the things which the biographer relates at num. 5 concerning the Saint's writings examined at Trier by order of Pope Eugenius III, [When at the beginning of the year 1148, before the council of Reims, he was at Trier] and in the presence of St. Bernard. The biographer says that these things were done at Trier after the council of Reims. But Pagi, at the year 1148, in which the council of Reims is commonly believed to have been held — which was begun in the month of March — shows at some length that Eugenius was at Trier and there celebrated a council before that of Reims. Certainly from the Acts of the Finding of St. Matthias the apostle, given by us in vol. III of February, chapter 4, page 453, we have that Eugenius III was at Trier on the 13th of January of the year 1148, since on that day he dedicated the church of St. Matthias. And since he is said to have stayed there three months, it is necessary that we say that he was already at Trier in the month of December of the year 1147. And so Brouwer in the Annals of Trier, at the year 1147, writes things conformable to these, when he says that Eugenius III entered Trier on the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent. The Pontiff therefore spent almost the whole months of December, January and February at Trier, so that the things which the writer of the Life relates concerning the Saint's writings examined there in council are to be fixed in the month of January or February. But he, as is clear from what has been said, erred in that slight circumstance of time, in that he places the examination of the writings after the council of Reims: nor is it incredible that a contemporary writer could fall into that error, since this event was more than thirty years past when it was written by him. Yet St. Hildegard herself did not fall into the same error: for asserting in the Life at num. 17 that her writings were examined by Eugenius, she assigns no other time than that in which the Pontiff was at Trier.

[28] Eugenius III sent examiners to St. Hildegard, Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau at the year 1150 recounts the things done at Trier a little more fully than they are read in the Life, writing this: In the aforenoted year (rather, in the year 1147) Pope Eugenius III came to Trier with eighteen Cardinals, and with many bishops and abbots also, invited by Adalbero, archbishop of Trier, for whom, staying there for three months, he provided most abundantly in food and drink. And Pope Eugenius, having called together bishops, abbots and many clerics from all Germany and part of Gaul, celebrated a synod, and appointed many things for the honor and at the same time the profit of God's Church… In the said council celebrated at Trier, the miracles, visions and writings which almighty God was working through his handmaid Hildegard at Bingen came to the ears of the supreme Pontiff Eugenius by the report of very many. Having heard these things, the Pontiff, wishing to investigate the new and arduous matter more diligently, sent to Christ's Virgin Adelbert (or rather Albero), bishop of Verdun, with certain other learned and God-fearing men, giving them in charge that they should inquire into the truth of all that was said. And when they had come to God's Handmaid, and were reverently carrying out what they had in charge from the supreme Pontiff, they inquired of her most diligently not only the sequence and report of the revelations, but also the manner and the causes. To all which she answered simply, and with the utmost humility disclosed what the Godhead had wrought in her. Sufficient information being received, the Apostolic envoys, taking with them the books of the Virgin's visions, at her own request, returned to the Pope at Trier: and reported that they had found true and solid all that was said of Christ's Handmaid. Then they reverently handed to Pope Eugenius the volumes which she, divinely enlightened, had written, together with the Letter which she had given.

[29] and he himself examines her writings in council: Here the reader must be warned that there is some exaggeration in what is said about the Saint's volumes. For the Saint had not written many volumes at that time, but had only begun the first Work of her revelations, so that by volumes we must understand leaves. What is added about a Letter is at the least uncertain and little likely. Yet she asked of Eugenius, probably through the said envoys, that it might be lawful for her to dwell on the Mount of St. Rupert. But let us go on with Trithemius: The Pontiff caused the Virgin's writings to be publicly recited before many, and sometimes discharging himself the office of reader, recited a not small part in reading. All who heard the word of the reading, being led into admiration, praised together the mercy of the Almighty, who wrought such things in a frail sex. There were present at these things the lord abbot Bernard, and Ludwig, abbot of St. Matthias of Trier, a friend of the holy Virgin: by whose mediation the clouds of all doubts were driven from the thoughts of the hearers. Therefore, when all who were present asked and at the same time exhorted the Roman Pontiff not to suffer so notable a Lamp, kindled by divine illumination, to be extinguished by the contrivance of depraved men, he willingly consented and sent to the virgin Hildegard a letter of the following tenor.

[30] The letter of Eugenius I here transfer from the collection in vol. 23 of the Bibliotheca Patrum of the Lyons edition, page 537: then he writes her an honorable letter, to which she replies. Eugenius, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved daughter in the Lord Hildegard, prioress on the Mount of blessed Robert, greeting and Apostolic blessing. We marvel, O daughter, and beyond what can be believed we marvel, that God now in our times shows new marvels; since he has so suffused you with his spirit that you are said to see, understand and utter many secret things. This we have learned to be so from truthful persons, who declare that they have both seen and heard you. But what can we say to these things, who, having the key of knowledge, so that we can shut and open, neglect through folly to do this prudently? We congratulate, therefore, the grace of God; we congratulate also your love, admonishing you of this, that you know that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And this grace which is in you, preserve and guard, so that you may prudently bring forth those things which in the spirit you perceive are to be brought forth, that you may hear that word: Open your mouth, and I will fill it, etc. The conclusion of the Letter has been given at num. 22. The Saint replied to Eugenius by a Letter very lengthy and composed from a vision, with the freedom customary to her — at which we ought not to marvel, since she did not follow her own wit but brought forth what she had received in a vision, her monk director helping and putting all together. The beginning of the Letter is this: O gentle Father, I, a poor little woman, have written you these things (this Letter) in a true vision, in a mystic breathing, as God willed to teach me. O Father shining in your name, you came into our land, as God foreordained, and saw of the writings of true visions, as the living light taught me, and heard it with the embraces of your heart. Now this part of the writing is finished. Yet that same light has not left me, but burns in my soul, as I have had it from my infancy. Whence I now send you this letter in a true admonition of God, etc. Then she gives Eugenius many admonitions in a prophetic style, which may be seen. At the end she says that she remains in the place shown her from heaven, so that it is certain that she was already dwelling on the mount of St. Rupert when she wrote back to Eugenius.

[31] She seems to have been already dwelling in the same place when Eugenius wrote to her, She began to dwell in the new monastery about the beginning of the year 1148, whose Letter was given in the year 1148, and probably in the month of January or February, since toward the end of February or the beginning of March the Pontiff departed from Trier, to begin the council of Reims in the month of March. Certainly the Letter's inscription, to the prioress on the Mount of Bl. Robert, suggests that Hildegard then dwelt there. Yet it does not appear equally certain that Hildegard was in the same place when she was examined by the Apostolic envoys. For the Life at num. 5 has that they were sent to the monastery under which that same Virgin lived enclosed for so many years — that is, to the monastery on the Mount of St. Disibod — no mention being made of Hildegard's dwelling on the Mount of St. Rupert, whose foundation the author relates after all that we have said about the examination of the writings. We might indeed conjecture that the author wished first to relate everything bearing on the writings, and then the new foundation. But the envoys' coming to the Mount of St. Disibod will always continue to raise the suspicion that Hildegard then dwelt there, unless she was summoned thither from her new dwelling, so that the examination might be made in the presence of the abbot of St. Disibod. But this summoning is uncertain and asserted by no one. And so perhaps St. Hildegard was still dwelling on the Mount of St. Disibod when she was examined, and, the examination being finished, obtained leave from the abbot and the envoys to depart to the new monastery. But whatever

may be the case with those uncertain conjectures, it is certainly established that the new monastery began to be inhabited by the Saint about the time in which her writings were examined at Trier, that is, at the beginning of the year 1148, or in the preceding year.

[32] at that time she finished part of her first Work, but the whole about 1151: Further, when St. Hildegard wrote back to Pope Eugenius, a part of the writing about her revelations was finished. And the Saint speaks of her first Work, which she divided into three books and named Scivias, from two words joined, Sci vias, that is, Know the ways of the Lord. Of this Work probably the first book was complete when she wrote to Eugenius that a part was finished. All three books were completed about the year 1151: for she herself attributes ten years to the composition of the aforesaid Work, which we saw at num. 17 was begun in the year 1141. From these things we clearly understand that only a part of the Work was seen in the council of Trier, not the whole Work, much less all St. Hildegard's Works, which were composed gradually long afterwards. And the approbation of the Saint's writings in the council of Trier is this. Pope Eugenius judged, with the Fathers of the council, that the Saint drew what she wrote not from the illusion of a demon, not from phantasms of the brain, as some calumniated, but from divine revelations; and therefore he permitted the Saint to go on prudently writing her visions. Yet he carefully admonishes her to keep herself in humility; and St. Bernard admonished the same in the Letter to be given below. And they did so rightly and prudently, since Christian humility is the safest guardian and preserver of God's gifts and of the virtues. But St. Hildegard herself was not ignorant of this very thing, being taught by God and most amply enriched with heavenly gifts, among which humility holds no small place, as is understood from her own writings.

[33] this Work, called Scivias, and printed at various times. For the rest, the Work Scivias was printed at Paris in the year 1513 by the press of Henri Estienne, together with the visions of five others. Then it was reprinted at Cologne in the year 1628 together with the Revelations of St. Elizabeth of Schönau. These editions I have before me; several others I leave to be investigated by others. The first book embraces six visions set forth at length; the second, much longer, seven others; the third, longest of all, thirteen visions. I have taken pains to read the whole Work attentively, and have found in it many excellent lessons: but not a few things are too obscure to be easily understood by anyone. The Saint rarely speaks of herself. But where she does so, she speaks with notable humility. Receive, reader, a few examples. She begins the second book thus: And I, a human being, not skilled in letters after the manner of strong lions, nor taught by any infusion from them, but remaining in the softness of a frail rib *, imbued with a mystic breathing, saw, etc. Of the third book this is the beginning: And I, a human being taken from other human beings, who am not worthy to be named a human being because of my transgression of God's law — since I ought to be just, and am unjust, save that I am God's creature by his own grace, which will also save me — saw, etc. In that vision she has this a little after: And again I heard him saying to me: O how beautiful are your eyes in the divine narration, while there the dawn rises by divine counsel. And again I answered from the inward knowledge of that vision: I appear to myself in the bosom of my soul as ash of ashy rottenness, and as dust of instability: whence I sit trembling in the shadow like a feather. But do not blot me out from the land of the living as a stranger, for I labor in great sweat in this vision; and because also, from the worthlessness of my foolish understanding which is mine in the flesh, I frequently reckon myself in the least and lowest place, so that I am not worthy to be called a human being, since I greatly fear, not daring to tell your mysteries. O good and gentle Father, teach me what your will is, what I ought to bring forth: O you Father to be feared, and O you most sweet, and O you full of all grace, do not forsake me, but keep me in your mercy. And again I heard him saying to me: Now say how you have been taught. I will that you speak; although you are ash. More may be seen in the Work itself.

* that is, a woman

§ IV. The Saint's fame grows greatly: to her write St. Bernard, Conrad king of the Romans, and many bishops, to whom she replies most freely.

[ ] The Saint's fame Baronius in the Annals at the year 1148, having reported the examination of St. Hildegard's writings, subjoins this observation at num. 33: That visitation and examination made concerning Hildegard won her greater esteem, concerning which John of Salisbury has this in book 1 of the Letters of saint Thomas, Letter 171, at the end: The visions and oracles of that blessed and most celebrated Hildegard which are with you (namely, send them). Who is commended to me and venerable on this ground, that the lord Eugenius embraced her more familiarly with an affection of special charity. Inquire also and write back whether anything has been revealed to her about the end of this schism. For she foretold in the days of Pope Eugenius that he would not have peace and favor in the City except in his last days. Alberic the monk, a writer of the thirteenth century, in his Chronicle at the year 1141 relates many things about the revelations of St. Hildegard which I have already given from her own words, and altogether agrees with what has been said about the writing of the Work Scivias. Concerning the same Saint's authority he observes the following: What that Hildegard was, and of how great authority, the letters of the great ones of the earth sent to her suggest: of the Apostolic lords Eugenius, Anastasius and Hadrian; of the emperors Conrad and Frederick; of the patriarch of Jerusalem; and of archbishops, abbots and provosts; and one special Letter of Bl. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux. He adds there many things which I omit, because they have already been given from elsewhere.

[35] The same Alberic at the year 1153 writes this of St. Hildegard: grows greatly. In the same year a certain virgin of Christ, Hildegard of Germany, since she was of great name and inebriated with the Holy Spirit, being questioned and asked by the chapter and elders of the Cistercians, who had given her their letters, that she would write back to them according to what God should make manifest to her, whether there were anything in the Order that displeased God, wrote back this letter in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Cistercian general chapter in these words: I, the living fountain, say to those who, clothed in my tunic for my name's sake, are pilgrims in the hunt of the world, etc. And this Hildegard, though she had learned neither letters nor Latin, made an excellent book of Letters, in which many things about the last times are contained: and another book which is entitled Scivias, that is, Knowing; and a third, which is inscribed An exposition of the divine works. Thus far Alberic.

[36] St. Bernard's Letter to St. Hildegard: But that we may see more clearly how great was the fame of St. Hildegard among the men whom the Church then had as her chief ones, we shall go to the very Letters given to the Saint and written back by her. Among the former, certainly, if not the first of all, is the Letter of St. Bernard, which I conjecture was given in the year 1148 at the time of the council of Trier. This I subjoin entire from the Bibliotheca Patrum praised above, vol. 23, page 552. To his beloved daughter in Christ Hildegard, brother Bernard, called abbot of Clairvaux, whatever a sinner's prayer can avail. That certain men seem to think of our littleness far otherwise than our conscience stands, is to be imputed not to our merits but to the folly of men. But I have hastened to write to the sweetness of your pious charity, although the multitude of my business compels this to be far briefer than I would wish. We congratulate the grace of God which is in you, and we admonish you that you may hold it as grace, and may strive to answer it with all affection of humility and devotion; knowing that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, we exhort and beseech what lies in us. But for the rest, where there is inward learning and an anointing that teaches of all things, what can we either teach or admonish? For you are said to search out heavenly secrets and, by the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, to discern those things which are above men. Whence we rather ask and suppliantly beg that you have remembrance of us with God, and likewise of those who are joined to us in spiritual fellowship. For since your spirit is joined to God, we trust that you can greatly profit and succor us. For the assiduous prayer of a just person avails much. We also pray for you assiduously, that you may be strengthened for good, instructed for inward things, directed toward things that abide; so that those who have placed their hope in God may not halt for your sake by despairing, but that, being well strengthened in the advancement of the blessing which you are known to have received from God, they may profit more and more. Thus St. Bernard, expressing no less clearly than prudently his judgment about St. Hildegard, which is equivalent to the judgment of six hundred others.

[37] and Hildegard's If such a Letter of St. Bernard conduces to the glory of St. Hildegard — as indeed it very greatly does — no less honorable to St. Bernard is St. Hildegard's Letter, especially since she is commonly wont in all her Letters to exhort, to admonish, and from time to time even sharply to rebuke; but very rarely and very sparingly to praise, so that I find none among her Letters so full of praises and at the same time void of all rebuke and admonition. For this reason I here transfer it entire. In the spirit of mysteries I say to you, O venerable father, who wondrously, in the great honors of God's power, are greatly to be feared by the unlawful folly of this world, seizing men with the banner of the holy Cross with lofty zeal in the burning love of the Son of God, for the wars to be fought in the Christian warfare against the savagery of tyrants — that I am greatly constrained in a vision which appears to me in the spirit of mystery, which I do not see with the outward eyes of the flesh. I, wretched and more than wretched under a woman's name, have from my infancy seen great marvels which my tongue cannot bring forth, save as the Spirit of God teaches me how I may say them. Most certain and most gentle father, hear me in your goodness, your unworthy handmaid, who from my infancy have never lived secure; and of your piety and wisdom understand in your soul, according as you shall have been taught in the Holy Spirit, that those things which have been said to you of me are after this manner. For I know in the text the inward understanding of the exposition of the Psalter, of the Gospel, and of the other volumes, which are shown to me in this vision, which touches my breast and burns my soul like a flame *, teaching me

these deep things of the exposition; yet it does not teach me letters in the German tongue, which I do not know. But I only know how to read in simplicity, not with a dividing of the text, because I am a person unlearned in any teaching having to do with outward matter: but within, in my soul, I am taught: whence I speak to you, not doubting of you, but I shall be consoled by your wisdom and piety on this account, that there are many schisms among men, as I hear men say. For to a certain monk, whom I searched out as being in a manner of life more approved, I first said these things: and to him I showed all my secrets, and he consoled me thus, that these things are great and to be feared.

[38] I wish, father, that for the love of God you would remember me in your prayers. to Bernard. Two years ago I saw you in this vision as a man gazing into the sun and not fearing, but very bold: and I wept, because I am so bashful and unbold. Good and most gentle father, I place myself in your soul: pray for me, for I have great labors in this vision, that I may say what I see and hear. And at times, from this vision, I am cast down upon my bed in great infirmities, because I keep silent, so that I cannot raise myself up. Therefore with sorrow I lament before you, because I am unstable with the motion of the pressing-tree in my nature, sprung from the root rising in Adam, who was made an exile into a pilgrim world by the suggestion of the devil. But now, rising, I run to you. I say to you: you * are movable, yet always raising up the tree: and you are a victor in your soul, raising up not only yourself alone, but other men also unto salvation. And you are an eagle gazing into the sun. I beg you by the serenity of the Father, and by his admirable Word, and by the sweet moisture of compunction, namely the Spirit of truth; and by the holy sound by which every creature sounds; and by that Word from which the world arose; and by the height of the Father, who sent his Word with sweet greenness into the Virgin's womb, whence it drew flesh as honey is built round in a comb — that you may not idly grow sluggish at my words. But set them in your heart, so that you may not cease, and may pass through the opening of your soul to God, looking through me, since he himself wills you. Farewell, farewell in your soul, and be strong in the contest in God. Amen. So Hildegard, whose Letter I have placed after, as it was published. Yet I judge that she wrote this first, and that Bernard replied. And in any case I suspect that Hildegard wrote before she and her writings were examined by order of Eugenius III; and that the said examination was set on foot on the occasion of this letter.

[39] Among the first princes who wrote to St. Hildegard Henry of Mainz writes to the Saint, was Henry, archbishop and elector of Mainz, deposed from his dignity in the year 1153 and dead after a year and a half, as Pagi has at the year 1153, num. 1. He, writing to Hildegard, begins his Letter on page 541 with these words: Since we hear many good and admirable marvels of you, it is to be reckoned to our sloth that we do not visit you so often as we could. But hindered by very many affairs, we are scarcely able at any time, and but slowly, to lift our soul to those things which are eternal. Then he asks — nay, commands — that she permit a certain nun, an abbess-elect, to depart with those who were coming to lead her away to the aforesaid dignity. The Letter is courteous, except for a command strong enough about handing over the nun. Perhaps the reader will wonder at St. Hildegard's answer; but so much the more will he see that she did not compose her Letters by her own wit, but wrote what was revealed by God. For if she owed reverence and love to anyone, she owed reverence to the archbishop and her protector, who, so far as we certainly know, had always shown himself kindly to her. Yet she answers thus in prophetic fashion: The clear fountain, which is not deceitful but just, says: These matters which have been brought forward concerning this girl's authority are useless with God, because I, high and deep and encompassing, who am the light that falls, neither appointed nor chose them, but they were made in the concurring * boldness of ignorant hearts. Let all the faithful hear these things with the capable ears of the heart, and not with the ears that hear outwardly, like a beast which catches the sound and not the word. The Spirit of God says in zeal: O shepherds, wail and mourn in this time, for you know not what you do, when you scatter the offices established in God into the resources of money and into the folly of depraved men who have not the fear of God; where your malicious curses and threatening words are not to be heeded. Your rods, thus proudly lifted up, are not stretched out in God, but in the punishments of the presumption of your shameful will.

[40] But he also who is, O man, says to you: to whom, writing back, she foretells his deposition and death. Hear how * in many services you neglect me. Heaven is opened for the Lord's vengeance, and now the ropes have been loosed for the enemy. But do you rise, for your days are short: and remember that Nebuchadnezzar fell, and that his crown perished. And many others fell who rashly exalted themselves to heaven. Ah! you ash, why do you not blush to scatter yourself on high, when you ought to be in rottenness? Now therefore let the raging blush. But do you rise, and leave the curse behind by fleeing from it. Thus far St. Hildegard, who by the example of Nebuchadnezzar not obscurely foretells that Henry would be deprived of his dignity and would not live very long, as indeed came to pass. Yet many have held that Henry was not so blameworthy, and that he afterwards died piously. And that nun who had been elected abbess, and whose election the Saint so gravely disapproved, I judge to have been the sister of Hartwig, archbishop of Bremen, of whose death we shall treat at num. 46, and of whom the Saint probably speaks in the Acts at num. 23. For the rest, I do not doubt that in this Letter too St. Hildegard could truly say what she wrote to Arnold, Henry's successor: Mystic words I do not bring forth of myself, but I see according to them in the living light, so that often things which my mind does not desire, and which my will does not seek, are shown to me; but I see them many times under compulsion. But of the writings to Arnold I shall give more below.

[41] The Letter of Conrad, king of the Romans, Among the first who gave letters to St. Hildegard is also to be reckoned Conrad III, king of Germany, commonly called emperor, although he was not crowned: for he died in the year 1152, so that his Letter, printed on page 551, is to be fixed between the year 1148 and 1152. A part I here transfer: Because, hindered by the royal summit, he says, and shaken by divers whirlwinds and storms, we cannot visit you according to our wish, yet we do not omit to approach you by our letters. For, as we have heard, there truly abounds in you the confession of the highest praise, through the holiness of an innocent life and through the magnificence of the Spirit wondrously coming upon you from above. Whence, although we lead a secular life, we hasten to you, we flee to you, and we humbly seek the supports of your prayers and exhortations, since we live far otherwise than we ought. He then adds his favors, and commends his son to the Saint's prayers.

[42] To this letter the Saint replied, partly by gently admonishing Conrad, and the Saint's reply, admonishing him and foretelling various things; partly by foretelling worse times, such as were under Frederick I, Conrad's successor. The first part of the Letter is this: He who gives life to all says: Blessed are they who worthily lie beneath the lampstand of the supreme King, and whom God has provided for in his great foresight, so that he does not cut them off from his bosom. In him, O king, remain, and cast squalor from your mind, for God preserves everyone who devoutly and purely seeks him. But hold your kingdom too in such a way, and provide each justice for your people, that you may not become a stranger to the kingdom above. Hear: in a certain part you are turning yourself away from God: and the times in which you are, as in a womanly person, are light, and are also inclining toward the contrary injustice, which tries to destroy justice in the Lord's vineyard. But afterwards worse times will come, in which the true Israelites will be scourged, and in which the Catholic throne will be shaken in error: and therefore their last things, like a corpse in death, will be blasphemies. Whence also this grief smokes in the Lord's vineyard. Not obscurely does the Saint here foretell the schisms and the other evils of the Church which arose under Frederick I, to whom afterwards she also wrote a Letter far stronger than this, from which I shall give some things in its place. She adds many things in the same prophetic spirit about the various times and vicissitudes of the Church, and these could be explained without difficulty if one cared to survey more closely the times that were then to come. But, omitting these, I subjoin the Saint's closing words to Conrad: And again he who knows all things says to you, O king: Hearing these things, O man, restrain yourself from your own will and correct yourself, so that you may come purified to those times in which you may no longer blush for your deeds.

[43] Arnold, archbishop of Cologne, about the same times wrote a most courteous Letter to Hildegard, Of Arnold, archbishop of Cologne, by which he asked for her book, and in which he addresses her thus on page 543: For because, as we have long resolved, we are by no means able to come to you, so far as we can at present we commit ourselves to you, we place our hands in yours, we join faith to faith, we commend our whole selves to you. Moreover the book which you yourself, inspired by the divine Spirit, have written — putting aside every excuse, since we neither wish nor are able to be without it, whether it be prepared or not — do not hesitate to send it to us by the bearer of these presents; wherein we do not wish to tempt God, but wherein we desire to see his marvels. The things which St. Hildegard answers to Arnold are for the most part mystical and in some measure obscure. Concerning her book she subjoins clearer things in these words: But now, O shepherd of your people, I, a poor little woman, have sent you the writings of these true visions, as you asked, containing nothing of human wit and of my own will; but such things as the unfailing light willed to make manifest by its own composition and in those same words, as it pleased itself; since neither is that which I now write to you from my own wit, nor by any human judgment, but by a showing from above

has it been composed.

[44] To nearly the same times belongs the Letter of Hillin, archbishop of Trier, which on page 544 has thus: Of Hillin of Trier, Since the wisdom of God, which chooses the weak things of the world to confound the strong, was pleased to choose for itself * a pleasant dwelling in your virginity, it poured out the grace of its light more abundantly in you in the Spirit of counsel and of ampler knowledge: by the pouring out of which light, as I judge, it willed that the minds of others too should be stirred and enlightened to better pursuits and nearer to salvation, through your mediation, venerable Mother, and one to be embraced with most sincere charity. It remains therefore, most beloved Virgin of Christ, to stretch out more widely into this stormy sea the shoots of the true Vine, under whose shadow you rest, whose fruit is sweet and welcome to your palate — of the true Vine, I say; to spread abroad more readily on every side, for the gaining of souls, the sweetest savor of the heavenly cup with which you are made drunk; freely to give what you have freely received, lest perhaps you be charged with having wished to hide under a bushel a lamp kindled for the profit of your neighbors. I ask therefore, holy Mother, with the others who flee to the haven of your consolation, … that from that wine-cellar of the king, with the abundance of whose delight you are wondrously made drunk even in this life, you deign to let fall in writing some drops to me a sinner by the bearer of these presents; both for the sake of him who granted you to be able to do this, and for this reason, that the experience of truth may prove what report doubtfully brings to certain ears about the grace infused into you from heaven, etc. The Letter which St. Hildegard wrote back is partly mystical and enigmatic, partly also prophetic and hortatory in its conclusion, which is this: The likeness of the dove teaches you, and the word of God is not without knowledge in you. Now therefore watch, and bind fast with a rod of iron: teach, and anoint the wounds of those committed to you, and you shall live for ever.

[45] Of Günther, bishop of Speyer, likewise of the bishop of Constance, There wrote also about these times to St. Hildegard Günther, bishop of Speyer, who among other things addresses her thus on page 546: That you are a good odor both to those far off and to those near, and a comfort from the Holy Spirit to all who seek you, we render thanks to the divine goodness… And we inwardly ask your holiness that for love of us you would entreat God for us, and by your prayers make him favorable to us… We desire also your writings in reply to us. And the Saint, replying, exhorts Günther with many words to amendment of life. And she begins thus: The light of the highest inspiration says to you, O man: Do not cut off from yourself the admonition of the Holy Spirit who rises in you, through the evil habit of your works, because God requires in you what he once looked to when he brought back the lost sheep, when he wiped away the crimes of men. And a little after: Whence do you, O man, who are wrapped in much blackness, rise more quickly from ruin, and build in the heavenly places, that the black and filthy may blush at your exaltation, when you rise from your blackness; for your soul scarcely lives because of your works, etc. The whole Letter is that of one exhorting to penance. Nearly such is St. Hildegard's reply to the bishop of Constance, whose name is not expressed, and whose Letter for this reason is of more uncertain date. He on page 547 asks the Saint's prayers and letters in these words: The fame of your wisdom, spread far and wide and reported to me by several truthful persons, has stirred me to this desire, that from remote parts I should seek your comfort and support, and commend myself to your prayers… Wherefore I beg your love with sincere devotion that you succor me with your prayers before the Lord, and fortify me with your written reply: because both my own will and earthly care draw me away from God's service in almost every way. The Saint wrote back with no flattery at all, but rebuking especially vainglory in him. And she concludes the Letter in this manner: Rise therefore more quickly, and walk in straight paths, before the sun sets for you, and before your days fail.

[46] Of uncertain date also is the Letter of Hartwig, archbishop of Bremen, Of Hartwig, archbishop of Bremen, who is here called Hertuvigus, since he was bishop more than twenty years and is said to have died about the year 1168. He writes at length on page 543 of the death of his sister Richardis the abbess, who had been a nun under St. Hildegard's discipline and was drawn away by her brother to the said dignity, so that she may be the one whom Henry, archbishop of Mainz, was asking for, as was said at num. 40. Further, Hartwig testifies that she died very piously, and had with her whole heart tearfully desired that she had remained in St. Hildegard's cloister, from which she had been torn away against her will. Hence, asking pardon for that departure, he addresses the Saint thus: And if she seems to have transgressed in anything, since it was not from her but from me, at least consider her tears, which she shed for her departure from that cloister, of which many are witnesses: and had not death hindered, she would scarcely have come to you when leave was obtained: and because she is held back by death, know that I shall come for her, if it please God. But may God, who is the rewarder of all good things, reward you here and hereafter according to all your will, for the good things which you alone among all, and above all both kinsfolk and friends, showed to her, for which she gave thanks to God and to me, etc. The Saint wrote back a Letter long enough and full of excellent admonitions. She praises also Hartwig and Richardis his sister, of whom she says: Full charity was in my soul toward her, since the living light in a most powerful vision taught me to love her. After many praises of her, she commends her soul to her brother, and thus concludes the Letter: Whence I too cast out from my heart that grief which you caused me in this my daughter. May God grant you, through the intercessions of the Saints, the dew of his grace, and a blessed reward in the age to come.

[47] The abbot of Eberbach, of the Cistercian Order, in the diocese of Mainz, and of the abbot of Eberbach, with the Saint's reply. and nearly between Mainz and Bingen, but beyond the Rhine and nearer to Mainz, seems to have been among the first abbots who wrote to St. Hildegard. His name is expressed on page 554 by the letter E, but faultily, I think, since he can scarcely be other than Ruthard, the first abbot of that monastery, and the letter E does not agree with what follows either. The praised abbot addresses the Saint thus: We magnify and glorify for you Christ our Savior, who looks upon those who tremble before him; who, being mighty, exalts the humble; who has also done great things for you, because he is mighty. He has chosen, as we ourselves have heard and seen, the sanctuary of your breast for a dwelling for himself, and has made manifest to you divine knowledge, the uncertain and hidden things of his wisdom… In all these things your name is oil poured out, and therefore the maidens have loved you, and we run in the fragrance of your ointments. He adds other like things, begs the Saint's prayers, and offers her his services. To this letter St. Hildegard set down excellent admonitions, and at the end foretold the best things to the abbot, writing thus: But for you, O man, there shall be refreshment in the girding of your loins, where you have true desire in your hands, when you do not neglect the treasure of true wealth. The earth sleeps for you, since the shipwreck of the world does not harm you. At the end of your time God will raise you up: he himself will set you in great honor. O good servant, you shall praise him, and he will save you for ever.

perhaps a flame not burning*

perhaps non* is to be added

perhaps conniventi*

perhaps qui or quia*

sibi*

§ V. To the Saint write Anastasius IV and Hadrian IV, Roman Pontiffs, the emperor Frederick, bishops, abbots, and many others, to whom she replies.

[ ] Anastasius IV writes lovingly to the Saint, Although it is difficult to reduce St. Hildegard's Letters to an order, since they are not marked with chronological notes, yet I wished to introduce at least some sort of order from the time in which the persons flourished; and so hitherto I have given almost only Letters written between the year 1148 and 1153. Now, going on, I begin with the Letter of Anastasius IV, which was given in the year 1153 or 1154, since he was made Pope in the former year and died in the following. The Letter of Anastasius on page 539 has this: Anastasius the Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Hildegard his beloved daughter in Christ, greeting and Apostolic blessing. We exult in the Lord and rejoice that the name of Christ is glorified in you from day to day, so that we say in wonder: Who is like you among the strong, O Lord? Who is like you, magnificent in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, and doing marvels? For we have heard and seen many things of you. We know also that our predecessor of pious memory, whom by divine grace we have succeeded in nourishing the Bride of Christ, loved you with much affection, embraced and heard you. Following his footsteps, we too have been zealous to write to you, and desire to see your written reply, seeking those things which God works in you, although we halt in good things… We admonish therefore, we ask, and we earnestly enjoin upon you that with your sisters you pour out prayers to the Lord, that by his power we may be able to raise ourselves to justice, etc.

[49] to whom the Saint replies, foretelling the evils hanging over the City, St. Hildegard's reply is much fuller. She exhorts Anastasius in God's name to root out evils bravely. Then she foretells various things prophetically, and subjoins something about her visions. Finally she again exhorts Anastasius to correct his subjects. From each part I here transfer a few things. She begins thus: O person who are a surpassing armor, and the mount of the government of a greatly adorned city *, which has been set in the betrothal of Christ; hear him who did not begin to live, nor grows weary in failing. O man, who in the eye of your knowledge are weary of restraining the loud boastings of pride in the men set in your bosom, why do you not call back the shipwrecked, who cannot rise from their great falls except by help? And why do you not cut off the root of the evil, which chokes the good and useful herbs that have a sweet taste and a pleasant fragrance? You neglect the daughter of the King, namely justice, who is in the embraces above, and who had been committed to you, etc… This admonition, after many words, she concludes, and proceeds to prediction in this manner: Whence you, O man, who sit in the Lord's principal chair, despise him when you embrace evil, so that you do not cast it away but kiss it, since you bear with it in silence among depraved men. And therefore the whole earth is troubled by the great changing of errors; because what God has destroyed, man loves. And you, O Rome, lying as it were at your last, shall be troubled, so that

the strength of your feet, upon which you have hitherto stood, shall languish; since you love the daughter of the King, namely justice, not with an ardent love but as in the torpor of sleep, so that you drive her from you: whence she too wishes to flee from you, if you do not call her back. But yet great mountains will still offer you the jawbone of help, raising you up and propping you with the great timbers of great trees, etc. Rome certainly was much troubled by the schism which arose five or six years after this prediction: and even before, the Church had begun to be troubled under Hadrian IV through the emperor Frederick.

[50] Then the Saint subjoins about herself words partly praised in the Life at num. 14, and exhorting to pastoral care. where nevertheless they are said to have been written to Hadrian IV, so that either an error crept into the Life or into the collection of Letters, but the former is the more likely. Whichever it be, to one or other of the Pontiffs St. Hildegard wrote these things, whose words I subjoin: But he who without failing is great has now touched a small dwelling, that it might see that marvel, and might form unknown letters, and utter an unknown tongue, and might sound a melody manifold yet concordant with itself. And it was said to him: “What you shall have brought forth in the tongue shown you from above not according to the form of human custom — since this custom has not been given you — let him who has the file not neglect to polish it to the fitting sound of men.” She closes the Letter at length with such an admonition: But you, O man, appearing appointed as shepherd, rise and run more swiftly to justice, that you may not be accused before the great Physician of not having wiped his sheepfold from filth nor anointed it with oil. But where the will does not know crimes, and where a man has not snatched at desire *, there a man does not fall at all into deep judgment. But the fault of this ignorance is wiped away by scourges. Therefore do you, O man, stand in the right path, and God will save you, so that he will bring you back into the stall of blessing and election, and you shall live for ever.

[51] Hadrian IV, who succeeded Anastasius toward the end of the year 1154, To Hadrian IV, writing to her, writes the following to St. Hildegard on page 540: We rejoice, daughter, and exult in the Lord that the report of your honorableness is so widely and far spread abroad that you become to many an odor of life unto life, and that by the throng of faithful peoples it is cried out in your praise: “Who is she that ascends through the desert like a slender column of smoke?” Whence, since we judge your soul to be kindled with the fire of divine love to such a degree that you have no need of any exhortation to do well, we have thought it superfluous to multiply hortatory words to you, and to prop with any laying-on of words a mind sufficiently supported by divine strength. Yet he adds a fair exhortation to perseverance, and subjoins at the end: But for the rest we desire to hear admonitory words from you, because you are said to be imbued with the spirit of God's marvels, etc. St. Hildegard replied briefly, and foretelling to Hadrian many things and grave contests, exhorts him to fortitude, not without praise of him, so that she seems also to foretell to him clearly enough his eternal salvation.

[52] Let us hear the beginning, and certain other things. He who gives life to the living Hildegard foretells many contests. says: O man, you shall endure by suffering the dire hardness of lionesses and the strength of leopards, and shall feel shipwreck in the seizing of spoils, since you have been given to all these to be wearied by those who run to you. For you have an intelligible understanding against the most savage manners of men, in whom, burning, you shall rein in the manes of running horses, which do not cease to run to the paths of plunder. And after many like things: But this heavy weight of governance which you bear is not in God's indignation, where also the manners of bears and of panthers, and sometimes the venom of asps, shall meet you and those who follow. But the sword of God shall slay them, and thus while among them a good leader shall arise. But now I admonish you to put a bridle upon your subjects, and not to let them speak evil against you. Whence also the true Light says to you: Why do you not strike the most wicked servants who secretly lie in wait for you, like spiders which sting? Watch therefore vigorously, as the case in the manners of the people in this time demands. O most gentle father, remember that you are a man upon earth, and do not fear that God will forsake you, since you shall see his light.

[53] [The emperor Frederick, writing to her, says that what she had foretold has been fulfilled:] Not many years, probably, after Hadrian, the emperor Frederick I, surnamed Ahenobarbus or Barbarossa, wrote to St. Hildegard, who was crowned emperor in the year 1155. The Letter therefore is to be fixed between the year 1155 and 1159, in which Hadrian IV died, and in which the schism against Alexander III arose, Frederick favoring the antipope. For the Letter was given by Frederick when he was already emperor, and before the schism, so far as it appears, but perhaps not before the dissensions had arisen between Frederick and Hadrian. And Frederick writes thus to the Saint on page 551: We make known to your holiness that those things which you foretold to us, when, staying at Ingelheim, we asked you to come into our presence, we now hold in our hands. But we nevertheless shall not cease to labor with every effort for the honor of the kingdom. Wherefore we most inwardly admonish your love that with the sisters committed to you you pour out prayers to almighty God for us, that as we labor in earthly affairs he may so turn himself that we may be able to obtain his grace. And you ought to hold it certain that in every business of yours directed to us through you, we shall regard neither the friendship nor the hatred of any person, but purpose to judge with equity out of regard for justice alone. From these words we have, first, that St. Hildegard had a conversation with Frederick at Ingelheim, which is between Mainz and Bingen; secondly, that some things were then foretold by the Saint to Frederick which have been fulfilled. That conversation was probably held while Frederick was king and not yet crowned emperor, that is, between the years 1152 and 1155; yet of the year nothing certain is established, nor of the things foretold — unless perhaps the Saint foretold to Frederick the dissensions which he was to have with Hadrian IV. We have, thirdly, that St. Hildegard had some controversy which was to be judged in Frederick's court; but what that was is equally unknown.

[54] whom she, writing back, strongly admonishes, But from St. Hildegard's reply it is abundantly gathered that Frederick's various schemes were by no means approved by her, or rather were openly disapproved by the Holy Spirit, who spoke through the Saint, otherwise unlearned. For she begins to address the emperor thus: From the supreme Judge these words are directed to you: It is very wonderful that man has this person as necessary — namely that you are king. Then she gives a less clear parable, by which his rule seems to be disapproved, and presently subjoins a clearer admonition, writing thus: Now, O king, carefully provide, for all regions are overshadowed with the deceitful throng of those who in the blackness of sins blot out justice. Plunderers and wanderers destroy the way of the Lord. O king, with the scepter of mercy rule the sluggish and the wandering and the most savage manners. For you have a glorious name, in that you are king in Israel. Very glorious is your name. See therefore, when the supreme King considers you, that you be not accused of not having rightly judged your office, and that you may not then blush: which God forbid. It is manifest that it is just that a ruler should imitate his predecessors in what is good, since most black are the manners of those prelates who run in wantonness and in rottenness.

[55] Flee this, O king. But be an armed soldier, strongly fighting back against the devil, foretelling him a rule long enough, but turbulent. lest God scatter you, and lest the earthly kingdom blush for this. May God deliver you from eternal perdition, and may your times not be dry, and may God protect you, that you may live for ever. Cast away avarice, choose abstinence, which the supreme King greatly loves. For it is very necessary that you be provident in your affairs. For I see you in a mystic vision living amid very many whirlwinds and oppositions before living eyes. But yet you have a time * of reigning in earthly matters. Beware therefore lest the supreme King lay you low because of the blindness of your eyes, which do not rightly see how you may have the rod of right ruling in your hand. See also that you be such that God's grace fail not in you. Thus far St. Hildegard, whose words, if anyone consider them attentively, he will see that a long enough rule is foretold to Frederick, but a turbulent one, such as it truly was, chiefly on account of his discords with the Roman Pontiffs, to which nevertheless he put an end before his death.

[56] The Letter of Arnold, archbishop of Mainz, was not given after the year 1160, She foretells to Arnold of Mainz that death will come quickly: and probably not before the schism that arose in the year 1159 (to which Arnold adhered along with the emperor Frederick), or at least not long before. And Arnold writes this to the Saint on page 541: We know that the Spirit breathes where he wills and how he wills, dividing to each his gifts as he wills. And this we say, hesitating nothing about you. For what wonder is it if he teaches you by his inspiration, who once appointed as prophets tillers of the field and dressers of sycamores, and made an ass utter human words. God's gifts, therefore, we ought not and are not able to refuse. Then he begs the Saint's prayers. St. Hildegard replied, sharply rebuking Arnold and foretelling his destruction, as many have already observed. Some things I here transfer: O father, the living Light gave me these words for you: Why do you hide your face from God, as in the disturbance of your angry mind?… The living Light says to you: Why are you not brave in your fear? You have as it were a zeal, as though you would sift wheat, so that by overcoming you might cast down what is opposed to you. But this I do not will. But wipe away the restless mind from the eye of your heart, and cut off injustice from yourself and from your people, because the time of wars in the manners of men now presses, so that they are neither in discipline nor in the strictness of the fear of the Lord. But do you not be afraid to constrain them to good, since, if for this you shall endure tribulation and distress, do not be dismayed, for the Son of God suffered the same. Rise therefore to the Lord, for your time will come quickly. Thus St. Hildegard to Arnold, whose slaying, carried out by the people of Mainz in the year 1160 on the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Baronius relates from Conrad at the year 1160, num.

32, observing that in the same year he was the first to subscribe, in the conventicle of Pavia, to the sentence passed against Alexander III, the lawful Pontiff.

[57] At the same time there flourished St. Eberhard, archbishop of Juvavum or Salzburg, who defended the party of Pope Alexander, and being much anxious from fear of the emperor Frederick, wrote thus to St. Hildegard about the year 1160, page 544: St. Eberhard of Salzburg, fearing Frederick, writes to the Saint, I, a sinner set in the vale of tears, worn by many whirlwinds and storms of the world, suffering fears within and fightings without, earnestly ask your love that you would deign to pour out prayers for me, that the divine mercy may open the bowels of its compassion upon me and mercifully rescue me from all tribulations, since the emperor also is attempting to do violence to us on account of the schism which is now in the Church. Your charity ought also to remember, Virgin worthy of God, that when I was at Mainz in that same emperor's carriage, I commended myself the more earnestly to your holy prayers. Then he asks for the Saint's letters, but sealed with a seal.

[58] to whom she writes a reply full of praise and solid consolation. To this holy bishop the Saint uses a wholly different style from that which she had used in the former Letter; for she praises Eberhard throughout. From the somewhat long Letter I here transfer the beginning and a few other things: O you person, she says, who are in the place of the Son of the living God, I now see your state as two walls joined as it were by a corner-stone, of which the one appears like a white cloud, the other somewhat shadowed; yet in such wise that neither does that whiteness mingle itself with this shadow, nor that same shadow with this whiteness. Those walls are your labors, joined to your mind, where on the one side your intention and your sighs pant toward God in whiteness along a narrow way, and on the other the round of your labor pertains somewhat in shadow to the people subject to you; yet in such wise that you have the whiteness of your intention as a thing of your own household, and look upon the shadow of secular labors as something foreign to you, nor do you permit these to be mingled together for you; and therefore you frequently have weariness in your mind. Then she beautifully teaches that outward labors, undertaken from charity and obedience, in no way hinder a man who loves God, and concludes in this manner: Now, O father, I, a poor little form, see that your will longs for the door of the virtues, which will come to you, so that in those virtues you shall complete the mill of your body's end. He who is, and who searches out all things, holds your soul and body in his salvation. The Life of this St. Eberhard, whose name is not expressed in the Letter but is known from his see and time, has been given by us at the 22nd of June. He died in the year 1164.

[59] The Letter of Conrad, bishop of Worms, To nearly the same times perhaps belongs the Letter of Conrad I, bishop of Worms, who in vol. 5 of the Gallia Christiana, col. 674, is said to have died in the year 1163. Yet I rather believe that it was written before the Church's schism. Whatever it be, Conrad, after the manner of others, has recourse to St. Hildegard as to an oracle, and writes this to her on page 547: We give thanks to God, who set you as a most bright lamp upon a golden lampstand, and made the brightness of his light shine far and wide through you in his house. Wherefore, most beloved sister and daughter, we earnestly entreat that by the rays with which we undoubtedly believe the Sun of justice enlightens you, the clouds of our mind which oppress us, from an unfitting whirlwind of tribulations and a flood of divers thoughts, may be driven away. He adds that the messenger will say more about his affairs, and begs a reply. The Saint replied partly by exhorting, partly by praising, beginning thus: You are a person sitting upon the chair of Christ, and you have a rod of iron in your hand to rule your sheep. Look to the Sun of justice, and to the very many stars, which are the kinds of the virtues, that you may not fail in the food of life: for he is a good shepherd who always flourishes in good works, and who feeds his sheep in right greenness… But he who cuts off from himself the ownership of his own will adorns the heavenly building with pearls and precious stones and the finest gold. Do you therefore make yourself such that you may become a precious stone, and may be set as an ornament in the Jerusalem above. The rest is conformable to these things.

[60] Adelbert, bishop of Verdun, who in the year 1148 had been sent by Eugenius III as legate to examine St. Hildegard Of Adelbert of Verdun, when he was precentor, and was raised to the bishopric in the year 1156, as some have it — which he afterwards exchanged for the monastic life — wrote to St. Hildegard about the same times, probably before the schism, beginning thus: Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his holy place, who from your tender years made you over to himself as a handmaid. Then he exhorts to humility, and begs prayers and letters. But the Saint, replying, exhorts to pastoral care, beginning thus: The living Light, which shows marvels, says: You who are a father in your person, and a shepherd in the setting forth of souls, stretch out your arm, lest the enemy sow tares over your field, etc.

[61] More uncertain is the date of the Letter of the patriarch of Jerusalem, of the patriarch of Jerusalem, who wrote to St. Hildegard from the East a Letter, to commend himself to her prayers and those of her sisters. The patriarch's name is only indicated by the letter I, and that faultily, as I judge, because Amalric was Latin patriarch during all that time in which the fame of St. Hildegard had so greatly grown famous. And so it does not seem to be doubted that the Letter is Amalric's, who addresses Hildegard thus on page 549: From many who come to our parts over long tracts of lands, and bend their knees at the Lord's sepulcher, we have many times learned that the divine power works in you and through you: whence we humbly offer him untiring thanks, so far as we can. Presently he says that he had long desired an opportunity of writing, which at last being offered he uses; and running out into the Saint's praises, he asks her prayers in these words: But now, O Daughter, referring to you, we humbly seek your consolation shown you from heaven, and commend ourselves to your prayers and those of all your sisters, that for us, tossed in the storms of worldly cares, you may piously intercede with him whose bridal chamber, after the end of this life, you desire to enter, etc. St. Hildegard replied by a Letter full at the beginning of allegories obscure enough. But then she consoles the patriarch with these words: And I see you anxious in your soul on the way that tends toward God. But when your mind shall have gone into a whirlwind because of the change of your labors and of others', a dove shall suffuse you, and shall make you a simple tower before God's sight. And the battle which you suffer within and without, namely in each man, God will in your times so lighten about you that you may be able to endure it: whence place your trust in him, and do not despair of his mercy. And doing this, in God's grace you shall live unto life.

[62] After this follows the Letter of Henry, bishop of Bevez, of another bishop, with St. Hildegard's reply. of which name I find no city, so that I suspect the name is corrupt. Whatever it be, he too has recourse to St. Hildegard from distant parts, writing thus: Blessed be God, who has blessed you with every spiritual blessing, so that in the fragrance of the ointment with which God anointed you with the anointing of his mercy, the devotion of many even in distant parts of the world is drawn through you. For God's manifest condescension toward you is a great consolation to me, a sinner and burdened with the whirlwinds of the world, though very far removed from you in body but not in mind… We therefore, from distrust of our own conscience having no confidence of gaining salvation in our acts, beseech you by the charity of the Holy Spirit in remote regions that by your prayers you implore of the Lord pardon for our sins. Moreover, let it not weary your love to write back to us whatever small consolation or admonition is needful for our salvation, etc. St. Hildegard in reply uses a beautiful parable, by which she exhorts him to true wisdom and charity. The beginning, to which the rest is conformable, I here transfer: The living Light showed me these things, and said: Say to that man: I saw as it were a fair form of virtue, which was pure knowledge. Her face was very bright, her eyes like jacinth, and her garments as a silken mantle. She had also upon her shoulders an episcopal pallium like sardius. And she called the King's most beautiful friend, namely charity, saying: Come with me. And coming, they both knocked at the door of your heart, saying: We wish to dwell with you. Beware therefore lest you resist us, etc.

* i. e. of the Church.

* that is, did not consent

perhaps adhuc*

§ VI. The Saint consulted by many persons about hidden and secret things, which she could not know without divine revelation.

[ ] The Saint consulted about the deeds of St. Disibod, So great is the multitude of letters which St. Hildegard received and to which she replied that in no way can they severally be brought back to their own years, for want of chronological notes, especially since not a few are of persons who are either less known, or who were long engaged in the same office. For this reason I shall bring the Saint's Letters into a certain order of subjects, and shall now review those in which she was consulted about hidden and secret things. Of these the number is so great that it is manifestly clear that it was an almost universal persuasion of men that many hidden and secret things had been revealed to St. Hildegard. I begin with Cuno or Cono, abbot of St. Disibod, under whose government the Saint had been before she founded the monastery on the Mount of St. Rupert. He therefore knew her very well, and writes this to her on page 559: Since your Holiness sees very many secrets in the spirit in him who neither deceives nor is deceived, I ask that, if God has revealed anything to you about our patron Bl. Disibod, you would disclose it to me, so that with my brothers I may not delay to render him most devout praises for it. He earnestly commends himself to her prayers.

[64] about these she writes back a few things in general, more about other matters. The Saint replied to the questions asked about St. Disibod, of whom she there writes some things in general, as may be seen in the Letter itself: of the Life of the same Saint that was written we shall treat below. But the Saint did not only this; she also freely rebuked Cuno for excessive severity toward his subjects, and foretells to him his imminent death. A few things I here transfer: O how great folly is in that man who does not correct himself, but seeks what is in another's bosom; and does not hide those faults which he finds in him… And presently in God's name: And why do you not fear to break a man whom you did not create?

For you do not anoint him, so that you neither rule nor cherish him: but you correct him in excess. Now the time of your failing is at hand. But God, who created you, does not wish to destroy you. Understand these things therefore. Again in the conclusion: But you, O father, who have asked these things of me, a poor little form, make yourself such in God's sight that, when your time in this world shall have failed you, your time may be happily prolonged in eternity, so that you may appear in the salvation of the just.

[65] Adam, abbot of Ebrach, of the Cistercian Order, Adam, abbot of Ebrach, consults St. Hildegard, in the diocese of Würzburg, a man indeed much praised in Manrique's Cistercian Annals, writes the following to St. Hildegard on page 553: When first I received knowledge of your name, I rejoiced with great joy. God increased my joy when by a kindly and wondrous nod he directed us that your face might be seen and your voice heard in our land, and granted me a mutual conversation, which I could scarcely have hoped for. But concerning those matters about which I told you I was anxious, I trust that you are not unmindful; and because different persons think different things, others hold this: if it is good, and there is salvation with the Lord, blessed be God; if there is danger, pray God that he grant me good and salvation of soul, and shut out every danger. But now I send letters and our messenger to the lord emperor on your business, and I hope by God's grace that we shall be heard; and wherever you shall need our service, we shall be ready to serve you. Presently he asks prayers and the Saint's written reply to his doubt, which seems to have been about keeping or laying down the office of abbot, as is gathered from St. Hildegard's reply. Meanwhile I observe that the Saint at some time made a journey toward the parts of Würzburg, just as we shall see that she was in other provinces also. But as to the business of the Saint commended to the emperor by abbot Adam, what it was we do not know. But we scarcely doubt that it is the same of which the emperor Frederick speaks in the Letter to St. Hildegard mentioned at num. 53. Now a few things about the Saint's reply. The Letter is quite long, woven almost entirely of parables not too obscure, sprinkled with praises of abbot Adam and with excellent admonitions. To admonish him not to lay down his office she introduces various virtues, and by name charity and humility. I shall give only the conclusion: And do you, father, hear: as the morning star runs before the dawn in its light, so afford help to all from the kiss of the love which God has given you: and he will give you the life which he beheld on the first day.

[66] Of the Cistercian Order likewise was the abbot of St. Anastasius in the City, as also the abbot of St. Anastasius in the City, whom, besides common report, not only the authority of St. Bernard could have moved to write to St. Hildegard, but also that of Eugenius III, who from being abbot of that same monastery had been elected Pontiff. What he asks of the Saint, whom he first praises wonderfully, he expresses in these words on page 555: And since you are the familiar instrument of Christ and the receptacle of his Spirit, we ask you with humble prayer that in spirit and in truth you would pray for me and for those who are committed to our care… For the rest I ask that the Spirit, who reveals the secret and hidden things of his wisdom, may show you what is expedient for me in bearing the burden of Christ's obedience — namely, to persevere or to rest, that I may give myself to his contemplation. Whatever shall be revealed to you upon this, do not hide from me; for my heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready, that I may do your will. We have need of the book which you have written, that it may be written out for us, and of your counsel and help… For we desire above all to see it, and to look upon God's marvels in it, etc. To the doubt proposed St. Hildegard replies thus: Complete therefore the sustaining of your sheepfold, and give it precepts, namely by offering the rod of a master and afterwards showing the ointment of a physician; for it is more useful for you to be watchful in this labor, while others by your teaching serve in subjection, than that you should exercise yourself in your own will. For if you were to set yourself under, weariness would beset you, so that your mind would grow dry. Therefore watch over your flock, giving it the good examples which your soul desires, etc.

[67] another abbot, Conrad, abbot of Kaisheim (in the title it is written of Ketsheim, and perhaps one should read of Reisheim, as Trithemius has it), proposes a like doubt to St. Hildegard on page 555, writing thus after various praises of the Saint: I beseech you therefore with all devotion that you intercede for me with that Bridegroom who rests in the chamber of your heart, who willingly inclines the ear of his clemency to your petitions, and that you ask of him that it may be made manifest to you whether it be more useful for me to lay down the burden of pastoral care or to bear it longer, since I am greatly oppressed by it and give myself over to forgetfulness. The Saint replied by not dissembling the crimes of his subjects, but hinting at them in grave words; nor does she seem to excuse Conrad himself, but exhorts him to penance. Then she addresses him thus: Now do you, O soldier, be strong and armed along level ways; and care for the girding of the loins of those who are with you, and restrain yourself in good works, that your heart may be enlightened in the sun, and that you may not grow weary in the right path, warring against yourself. Therefore do not abandon your pastoral care… Go about therefore carefully in good foresight, lest you unhappily hide your talent, etc. Yet she adds a restriction in obscure words, which suggest that the office is to be left by him when he could do no good among his own.

[68] Manegold, abbot of Hirsau Manegold, abbot of the once most celebrated monastery of Hirsau in the Black Forest and in the diocese of Speyer, had asked something similar, as is gathered from St. Hildegard's reply, although he does not declare it in his Letter, but only suggests a vast esteem for St. Hildegard along with this petition on page 556: I ask you, my Mother and Lady, remember me in your most holy prayers; love most humbly him who loves you: acknowledge in Christ him who reveres you, and write letters back to me, being asked in God. The Saint replies thus, foretelling various things: O most sweet father and brother in the love of Christ, I see a pot surrounded with such great brightness that I can scarcely see whether it is a pot. But there too I see somewhat of a bitter taste, yet crushed with great striving, and afterwards a whirlwind, which nevertheless is foreordained to God's reward. Watch therefore vigorously, for the case of the people in their manners at this time demands such things: O most gentle father, I, a poor little form, do not see in the true light that you should be moved at all from your office… For you are in God's presence as the smoke of myrrh and frankincense: whence mount Zion seeks that you may be food in the house of Jacob… Wherefore look out through the seven windows, considering whence the hawk may come; and beware lest he deceive you. Feed therefore your sheep in the gentleness of correction, for the day of salvation has not fled, and you will not yet be ash. Thus far St. Hildegard, whose words about the whirlwind I judge altogether to be referred to a future time; although Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau at the year 1161, reciting this letter, believed that it was written when a dissension had arisen between the monks — who for that cause wrote to St. Hildegard — and this abbot Manegold. Trithemius indeed acknowledges that the troubles of the monastery of Hirsau were foretold by the Saint, but in words spoken in person, not in written letters. I shall treat of the whole matter in the following §, and there give the Letter of the monks with the Saint's reply.

[69] The abbot of St. Mary — in Trithemius, of St. Mary ad Martyres at Trier — the abbot of St. Mary, proposed a like question to St. Hildegard on page 557; whose conversation, though very brief, he says he had once obtained; and after other things uttered in the Saint's praise he writes thus: But by him for whom you devoutly live, from whom you have received the pledge of the Spirit, we ask of you this singular and secret gift: that you would be zealous to obtain of the Lord the familiarity of obtaining, so that among the other graces of revelations he may deign to disclose to you the condition of our lowliness — namely, whether he has provided that in this office of honor and burden, of prelacy and of peril, I may merit the salvation of my soul, or whether he has seen that it will be useful to me to be released from it: and if you receive any revelation upon this matter, let it not weary your charity to console our sadness by a writing containing it, through the same bearer of these presents. St. Hildegard did not reply to all the questions: yet she suggested that the abbot was too anxious, and that he ought rather to think about correcting himself and his subjects than about laying down his office, concluding thus: But I saw that this matter which you seek is useless to you. Whence restrain yourself along with your office, the plough being taken in hand. And may God succor you in all your necessities, and not suffer you to labor uselessly.

[70] The abbot of Kempten in Swabia likewise has recourse to St. Hildegard, the abbot of Kempten, desiring to understand secret things. I shall give the beginning and the end of the Letter. Blessed be God, he says on page 558, whose Spirit breathes where he wills, and is wont so to fill and enrich the inner chambers of your heart with the sweetness of heavenly harmony that he has made you exceedingly wonderful and venerable to men and women alike. And in conclusion: Above all, take care to make supplication for our sins also, and we most humbly beg that you disclose to us anything divinely revealed to you about our state and that of our church. To these things St. Hildegard gave a reply long enough, exhorting to cut out diligently the evils that always sprout up, and thus beginning: O man, turn aside from evil and do good: because a man has in himself that which always errs in the mind, and sets up a thousandfold number there which he by no means completes. At the end she adds an excellent consolation, where she had observed that sins are blotted out by penance and confession, writing this: So do you, dear son of God; for you shall live for ever, and because you shall be a stone in the heavenly Jerusalem, therefore also you ought to gain keenly.

[71] With great solicitude the abbot of St. Martin's of Cologne has recourse to St. Hildegard as to an interpreter of God, the abbot of St. Martin's of Cologne, whose name, expressed as A, is Alard, as I judge, because he was a contemporary of the Saint and died before the year 1160. He begins his Letter thus on page 559: Lady, lady, as is truly believed beloved of God and blessed, all things which the divine power works through you I know to be assuredly true and holy. Nor am I deceived that whatever you shall ask of God you can obtain, as faithful men affirm who have proved this in truth. Whence

I too, being certain, so far as I dare, ask your holiness to implore God's clemency for me a sinner, that he may deign to bestow some solace of consolation upon me, exceedingly tossed about and laboring in miseries. For indeed my spirit has been unexpectedly distressed within me, and my heart is troubled within me for those things which — alas, my sins requiring it — I have suffered for many years, and now most of all; and no one but God can know them, to whose eyes all things are naked and open. And because they are known only in God's knowledge, … therefore by the grace of the Holy Spirit our fellow-worker and protector I beseech that whatever, by his revealing, shall be made known to you, or whatever hope concerning me he shall have deigned to show, be reported back through this most reverend lord abbot, set down in writing, exactly as the matter stands, as he himself has promised. He adds that he had desired to come to her, if it could have been done, that he might explain everything in words.

[72] whom in his affliction the Saint instructs and consoles. St. Hildegard's reply contains both a fair instruction and a great consolation with perpetual exhortation. The beginning and the end I here transfer. From the living Light, she says, I heard these words: You are like that smith who casts many vessels and does not * make them shining by fire. Learn hence that your works should not lack the brightness of charity. But dig about them with discretion, so that each work of yours may be reasonable. And let these things also be done in abstinence and prayer, and in the good custom of the Saints, who flowed forth from a living fountain like streamlets, and who gave men food which they could swallow with joy. For if thistles are given for bread, they cannot be eaten: so also, if grating words are spoken by masters to disciples, they do not build them up, but lead them into error. For a master ought to sift the words of his teaching in motherly sweetness, so that the disciples may open their mouth rejoicing and swallow them. Many other things follow, truly beautiful and varied: but I proceed to the conclusion. But do you, O son of God, know that God, who created you, wills you by the victory of his warfare, that you may appear in the eye of his knowledge; for he will not forsake you. Look therefore upon the sun by faith, that you may be a faithful servant, and by night attend to the moon, when vices wish to oppress you; so that the fear of the Lord may pass through all things in you; and you shall not be harmed, but shall live for ever.

[73] She likewise instructs the abbess of St. Glodesindis. Anxious also and doubtful was the abbess of St. Glodesindis of Metz, who writes this to St. Hildegard on page 560: Because we greatly presume upon your grace and benevolence, we do not wish it to be hidden from you that we are set in great peril, since we are compelled to rule the souls of many, we who are not sufficient for ourselves. Hence it is that we ask your Holiness the more attentively, and beseech you in the Lord Jesus, that you take care by your letters to strengthen and exhort our ignorance as to what we ought to do — whether to stand in the obedience laid upon us, or to yield, that another may succeed and do better; if the Lord Jesus deign to reveal anything of this to you. The Saint set down a Letter long enough, in which she gives various admonitions for ruling rightly, and suggests clearly enough that the office should not be laid down, writing among other things — which for brevity's sake I omit — this: Whence let every master, as long as he can bring forth words of teaching, not cast away the rod of correction which he received from God's hand, because often mud is cast off by mud, as a master is washed by his disciples and the disciples by their master… In these things learn not to flee because of the cloud of your disciples' changeableness; nor yet because of weariness of labor. For many flee more because of weariness of labor than because of that necessity, that they cannot overcome their disciples, etc.

[74] Thus far I have unfolded the Letters bearing on this matter that were first published at Cologne and reprinted in the Bibliotheca Patrum. Abbot Albert of Ellwangen seeks secret things from Hildegard, To these Martène has added very many in vol. 2 of the Amplissima Collectio, from which I shall likewise gather some things to our purpose. But since many names of places seem dislocated there, I shall try to restore some from Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau at the year 1150, where he enumerates those who wrote to St. Hildegard. Albert, abbot of Ellwangen in Swabia (now there is there a provostship of Canons), Col. [ ] writes thus to St. Hildegard: Gladly do we offer the office of greeting to your blessedness, though so great a space of lands lies between, embracing in you the great works of God, who has both made you strong in the holiness of a purer life, and by the spirit of prophecy, beyond human opinion, has granted you to touch things present, to unroll things past, to foresee things to come; so that, doubly honored by the newness of the divine gift, you may be truly astonishing and venerable to the men of this age… By whose intervention we rejoice both to obtain pardon of sins, and a remedy for our labors, and consolation for our griefs, and to know the secret of the divine disposition. Our conscience accuses us, our fault terrifies us, our sins convict us. We are troubled within, we are endangered without; nowhere is there security for us; on every side the enemy sounds about us… Concerning these things and others, upon which our messengers shall have consulted your maturity, consult the divine oracle, and write back, most holy Mother, whatever we are to expect of God's mercy. The Saint, replying to these things, partly exhorts to greater constancy, partly consoles the afflicted man, and foretells that the time of divine vengeance had not yet come. I recite here only the beginning: He who sees, and is not changed by any vicissitude, says: You, O man, have not yet the wings for flying which endure tempests and which pertain to the right governance of the air… For you are gentle, and not sharp in the eye of correction for reproving the depraved and black manners of men; but yet God's grace looks upon you, who have not the barrier of a hard heart, etc.

[75] Berthold, abbot of Zwinield (in Trithemius, of Zwiefalten in Swabia) Col. [ ] complains of the wrongs and tribulations the abbot of Zwiefalten, which cruel persecutors were inflicting upon him, and asks that, seeking out God's will, she would send back some solace by letter, and that with a clearness suited to his own understanding. For although, he says, I have often been made more glad by the consolations of your words, yet by their obscurities, in that they were not fully open to my understanding, I have been made more sad. The Saint writes back briefly thus: The living Light says: I saw a certain man whom I let go as it were weak and lame in the excellence of governance. How? Those who in the weakness of his flesh were rebellious, like naked shipwrecked men, he himself fled from fear of the battle. But now I see him as a humble, weeping pilgrim. Whence I look upon him as a son of the inheritance, beaten with a rod because of the restlessness of the manners of his mind, etc.

[76] The abbot of Rettinhasil, when he had also been elected abbot of Salem in Swabia, and others of the Cistercian Order, doubting what he ought to do, Col. [ ] communicated the matter with St. Hildegard, as with a bride and handmaid of Christ and one privy to God's secrets, and asked that she would simply disclose the will of the Holy Spirit … about this matter. The Saint replied in this manner: Whoever has undertaken a field or a sheepfold for the sake of faithful care ought not to abandon them, but shall rule them as a father of a household. For he who leaves his own sheepfold and takes another is named a transgressor of God's precepts. She adds pious admonitions for ruling. The abbot of Zwettl, of the Cistercian Order in Austria, being much burdened with the care of his flock, Col. [ ] consults the Saint whether he ought to lay down the dignity of abbot, and asks that she write back whatever shall please the Holy Spirit. But the Saint partly exhorts him to continue his pastoral care vigorously and gently, giving salutary admonitions to that end. And that counsel of the abbot she disapproves from the outset, beginning thus: In your mind you exaggerate by thinking that you wish to rest or desist from every labor, and so you do not lift your hand to work your Master's work; but with gnashing teeth you say within yourself: I cannot endure all the things which oppose me by contradiction, etc.

[77] abbots, Richard, abbot of Sprinchersbat (in Trithemius, in German Sprengerbach, formerly in a more Dutch idiom Springersbach, as I find the name expressed in some charter in Hontheim's Historia diplomatica of the archbishopric of Trier, but there too the name varies. It is of Canons Regular in the diocese of Trier), since he believed himself destitute of strength both of mind and of body, had long desired to visit St. Hildegard, when by letter he Col. [ ] came to her, in which he says: Now therefore, most holy and blessed among women, I desire through you to seek the Lord concerning my case, after the custom to consult the Lord, whether I ought now rather to cease and desist from this very occupation and stewardship. If it were lawful, I would above all wish to know and search it out through you, etc. The Saint wrote back, exhorting him to bear the burden, and consoling him as a man dear to God. The prelate in Hegennehe (in Trithemius, the provost of Canons Regular in Heyna) Col. [ ] complains of many infirmities and defects of body and mind, as also of the yoke of his enemies: and desires to be freed from all these evils by St. Hildegard's prayers. He adds this also: I ask also … that you teach me about the future state of my life. And this presumption made me seek all these things of you: because widespread report has published abroad that all these things are possible to you through him who dwells in you, Christ. St. Hildegard replied briefly that he should flee the prelacy, if they do not hear you, she says. Yet she rather urges him to retain it and to be watchful.

[78] and provosts This question the abbot of Vescera, of the Premonstratensian Order, in the county of Henneberg, Col. [ ] proposes to St. Hildegard with the utmost solicitude, seeking at once solace and counsel, because he believed himself useless. Lest therefore, he says, the Lord's flock come to be endangered through my negligence, I have thought of abandoning the care I have undertaken and of transferring myself to another place. Wherefore I suppliantly beg that you strengthen my doubtful mind with your counsel, and send back to me in your writings what is the Lord's will in this matter… Behold, we await your judgment on this case, since whatever, by the Lord's inspiration, you shall suggest to me, that I have resolved to undergo, etc. To him the Saint seems altogether to urge that he lay down his pastoral care for want of fortitude. For after some things suggesting that lack, she subjoins this: Whence let the same man make himself like a sheep, and not like a shepherd. You are a man like one tossing in the waters, who is scarcely delivered from being drowned: so that you look upon prudence everywhere, but yet fail in strength, though not in will. Whence also God's grace shines back upon you.

[79] of monasteries The provost of Val-Dieu, of the diocese of Mainz in the Rheingau, where there are now nuns of the Augustinian Order, Col. [ ] asks St. Hildegard that she be willing to discharge what she had promised. But from her reply it is clear that he had asked counsel about laying down his provostship. For this the Saint strongly dissuades, beginning thus: Now I say to you, O man, who the vineyard

or a stony field, and says within himself: It is laborious to labor here, and so leaves them — such a one is a weary laborer… The vineyard is the priestly office. But he who holds the rod of correction over a burdensome people possesses a stony field. He whom these things weary says within himself: That life is another's life, and this life is better for me. And so what he devises at one time, at that same time he abandons, like a flower that withers… But let the priest raise himself up, and hasten to help others. Now provide for these things, … because if you were to act according to the thoughts that fly within you, you would fail on both sides, and in penitence you would call to mind what you had done amiss. But do you remain with this people, and do not leave it, that you may live for ever.

[80] The abbot in Rappenberg (in Trithemius, the provost in Coppenberg, of divers men and perhaps one should read in Cappenberg, of the Premonstratensian Order in Westphalia) Col. [ ] proposes a far different question to St. Hildegard. He himself wished to come to the Saint; but, he says, being hindered in so great a whirlwind of tempests and storms, by which the whole Church is now shaken and troubled, fearing for my goods and my body, I was held back and could not come. These words seem to suggest the schism of the Church which the emperor Frederick fostered against Alexander III, so that the prelate, cast out of his own church, probably consulted the Saint about it through a brother whom he sent in his stead, and about whom he writes: For I have directed him to you to consult the Spirit of God who dwells in you concerning the present state of our church. To these things St. Hildegard beautifully consoles the prelate, teaching that God sends adversities upon a man in order to correct him. At the end she exhorts thus: Therefore do not fear your torments, for I do not see your place in dispersion, but God wills thus the binding of your burden (that is, your prelacy): and gather the sheep that are willing to run to you. But those who do not want you, bear with in compassion, until they call you, and live for ever.

[81] How great was the esteem of many for St. Hildegard's knowledge of any secrets whatever, of the Orders. the following Letters of three provosts also show. The first Col. [ ] is that of the provost of St. Victor of Mainz, who confesses himself defiled with many sins, which, he says, you, Lady, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit know better:… For the Spirit teaches you all things. Therefore, prostrate at the feet of your holiness, since I am dust and ashes, with the humblest devotion I ask that you invoke over me the Consoler and Deliverer of our souls, and make me to know whether there is hope of salvation for me, whether I am predestined to life or foreknown to death, etc. But St. Hildegard did not reply to the last question, as commonly elsewhere, although sometimes she seems clearly to foretell eternal life to holy men. She exhorts him therefore to turn aside from evil and to do good; and holds out hope in these words: Whence choose for yourself right ways, and you shall live for ever. She also strikes in fear, concluding thus: Therefore, O son of God, rise quickly, before the sun sets for you. The provost of Koblenz Col. [ ] addresses the Saint thus: Since in all my tribulations you have always won me over * by your consolations, and all things which you foretold to me are now fulfilled: I ask that now also you beg the Lord of mercy to console me in all things that press me without and within: and if you see anything about me, and most of all if I may dare to hope for any hope in the life to come from the kindly Jesus, O most beloved and most loving one, write it out. The Saint, writing back, exhorts him to correct the changeableness of his manners, and admonishes that God's judgments are hidden, adding this: But God does not command that I expound his judgments upon you, but that I pray for you. The provost of St. Andrew's of Cologne, col. 1048, complains that he is assailed by many temptations, and consults the Saint, ready, he says, to do whatever you shall command me, whether by divine revelation or by the wisdom of your counsel. Do not be afraid, and do not conceal it, etc. To these things St. Hildegard so replied that at the same time she taught the provost what he was in his manners, and instructed and admonished him to become better.

[82] Asked about the schism, the Saint declines to answer. A certain abbot, Col. [ ] much troubled about the schism which was against Alexander III under the patronage of the emperor Frederick, and on account of which many prelates were suffering persecution, sought St. Hildegard's counsel, writing thus: Since therefore the Church halts in the Apostolic dignity and name, and truly does not know to what Head it should look, … having taken good counsel, I flee to you, and at the same time earnestly beg that whatever, being taught by the Holy Spirit, you think about this matter or about myself, you would be willing to write back to me: for I am ready to obey your counsels in all things. St. Hildegard did not reply absolutely to this question, because, as she hints, a reply would not have profited. For she begins thus: In the vision in which from my infancy I have seen with waking eye in my spirit, by another way than that in which I was born in this world, I looked on high, and I saw and heard these words to be said to you: Your mind is like a plough, which turns up and divides hard, rough and soft things. For you attend to knowing, turning up and dividing those things which are in such hardness that you cannot break them through; and which are in such roughness that they would wound you if you touched them; and which are in such softness that you would crush them if you wished to touch them harshly and roughly. For a hardness which has halted away from the Sun of justice has now surrounded the Church, which you have not strength to pierce. Whence say in your heart to God: Lord, who knowest all things, I wish to obey thee in my masters, so long as they do not compel me to resist the Catholic faith. These things are somehow explained thus. The hardness was in the schism itself, the roughness in the secular princes, the softness in the bishops; as if it were said: the schism is too hard for you to take it away: and the princes of the world are in such roughness that they would not hear you if you told them what in your knowledge you hold to be just, as follows: but the bishops now follow so great a softness that you would not know what to do with them. Yet the Saint admonishes the abbot that after Christ's example he should hold his disciples and leave the rest to God. Whence hold with the utmost zeal those who kiss you through obedience and embrace you through charity, and do not leave them; but the others leave to God. And presently: Do you therefore reach out with your hope to the one God, since he will not forsake his Church.

[83] Likewise various abbesses As many abbots, so not a few abbesses consulted St. Hildegard. The abbess in Altuvich (in Trithemius, in Altwick, of the diocese of Utrecht) Col. [ ] writes this to the Saint: Our Lord … has inspired my heart, as I think, that I should abandon the burden of governance which I heavily bear, and shut myself up in the solitude of some cell… Since therefore I know that you are of such merit with God that by the revelation of the Holy Spirit you are able to know what it is expedient for a person to do, therefore with humble prayers I beseech your goodness that you would consult the Lord for me, … and reveal whatever of God's grace through his Holy Spirit shall please him concerning these things. After a few words St. Hildegard replies thus: O daughter, it is not profitable with God that you should cast away your burden and leave God's sheepfold, since you have that light by which you may give them light, etc. The abbess in Kizingun (perhaps Kitzingen in Franconia on the Main, where there are now Ursulines) Col. [ ] after many eulogies addresses the Saint in these words: Let your voice sound in my ears, and tell me, at my asking, from God, what is more wholesome — whether I should abandon the burden which I bear, or bear it longer. St. Hildegard replies, praising the abbess and stirring her to confidence in God: It is good for you to bear the burden of your labor, which you have undertaken in God, thus: if the sheep are willing to hear God's admonition through your teaching. And if any spark gleams in them, not to leave them, lest the ravager seize them. The abbess in Widergoldesdorf Col. [ ] asks the same again in this manner: Wherefore, most sweet one, I earnestly beseech that you deign to inquire of God for yourself whether it be his will that I bear this burden or cast it off; because hitherto I have persevered more by the constraint of obedience than by love of God. Therefore, if I dared, I would gladly depart from the place of governance: because it seems to me very hard that I should serve all the manners of others, and remain in their will, etc. St. Hildegard exhorts her to go on steadfastly bearing the martyrdom by which she confesses she is afflicted in her office, consoling her thus: But yet in this respect very many Saints come to God as martyrs. And therefore do you too trust in God, for he will not forsake you, and the Holy Spirit will lessen your grief.

[84] The abbess of Crouchdal — in the Life, Crutendal — who had seen St. Hildegard with her, seek St. Hildegard's counsel col. 1071, thus begins to write to her: After I deserved, by your long-desired presence and affability, with God's help to be relieved from pusillanimity of spirit and from my former storm, I rested for a while; and because I do not doubt that your words proceed not from human wit but from the true Light, … by your counsel I have hitherto put off carrying out what I had purposed to do. From the reply it is clear that she too had been turning over plans about laying down her office. At the end she prays that whatever the living Light through his Spirit shall have made manifest to you about me as worthy of rebuke or correction, she says, you would not delay to write to me. St. Hildegard replies briefly: Where you see mud, wash it away; and what is dry, make green: and also make the spices which you have to have savor. Then she admonishes her not rashly to judge of others. Of the solitary life she instructs her thus: Since in the solitary life which the sound of your words seeks, you would not be able to rest because of the changeableness of divers manners: because then your last things would become much worse than the first, and even as grievous as the casting of a stone.

[85] The abbess of the Upper monastery of Regensburg, about secret things. writing Col. [ ] to St. Hildegard, asks an answer about two inquiries: namely, she says, whether concerning the matter for which my heart is now most of all afflicted any danger is to be feared, or whether God's mercy is to be presumed upon. This had been set forth in another Letter. The other is about laying down the office of abbess. To this St. Hildegard replies thus: But now, most sweet daughter, provide for the care entrusted to you in such truth that you do not lay it down because of weariness or labor. Presently she exhorts to zeal for good works. But the first question, which perhaps was about predestination, she rebukes in grave words, writing thus: O daughter of Adam, … attend to the Scriptures… Scripture

For Scripture is a mirror in which by faith we behold God: since our adversary watches and does not sleep. Therefore with it we ought to fight against him, and we ought not to tempt God, but devoutly to adore him… For often a man, as it were in a rush, wishes to know from God what it is not lawful to know, and thereby abandons God's service: whence the devil greatly rejoices, and sees him failing on both sides. And such inquiry is foolish, like that which is sought of a false prophet. In all these things God ought not to be tempted, but adored, etc.

[86] Other persons also A certain priest, wishing to embrace the monastic life and grieving that his purpose was being put off, has recourse to the Saint, asking this: Wherefore, Virgin devoted to God, we all, sighing after God to you, ask, seek and knock in the highest degree, that you by no means desist from your accustomed prayers, until the merciful God deign to disclose to you for us a certain place of dwelling, or, if that seem to you a tempting of God, at least now a distinct Order of religion… For the rest I desire your letters both about these things and about others. Moreover I greatly desire to have your book transcribed. St. Hildegard, writing back, exhorts him to constancy in his purpose: yet she does not declare the place or the Order to which he should attach himself. The reason for her silence was no other, I think, than that God revealed nothing to her about them. Thus I frequently observe that the Saint does not reply to the questions asked, or replies only in part, because more was sought than God willed to make manifest through her.

[87] consult the Saint No less secret was what Col. [ ] a certain master of Utrecht was asking, and of such a kind that very rarely did the Saint reply on that matter when she was questioned, although she disclosed that very thing to certain pious persons unasked. He complains that for his sins he is afflicted in many ways. Whence, he says, not indeed from empty rashness, nor from superfluous curiosity, but as one baked in the furnace of tribulation, with burning desire I await as a suppliant, panting, to be refreshed by your longed-for written reply; desiring by them both to learn, by observing, the predetermined sentence of the heavenly Steward concerning the state or the outcome of my distresses, and to receive from you, by his inspiration, counsel of health. But before all things and through all things I ardently thirst to be assured by you whether at length the Godhead has foreordained me to be reckoned in the company of those to be saved. The Saint writes back an instruction, and then adds: But now, O servant of God, on the better way small windows appear in you in a shining light, so that by longing you desire what is good. But on the other way you are taken up in a black whirlwind. But do you, O soldier, rise with bright warfare and conquer this whirlwind, since God's grace touches and admonishes you, as also you can understand in the knowledge of your secret. So turn aside from evil and do good, and God will seek you, and will rest in you.

[88] about God's hidden secrets. A certain anonymous man of Weisio Col. [ ] earnestly adjures the Saint, not only to pour out prayers for him, but also to search out from God the secrets set forth in these words: What it is that he disdains so often to snatch me, crying to him from the depths of wickedness and from the mire of the dregs — whether he will grant that I may hope any longer for pardon, whether he will bestow on me a troubled and contrite spirit — search out, Lady, with earnest prayer, etc. But St. Hildegard, as an answer to a question of this kind, which she disapproves clearly enough, writes back a useful admonition, that he should be steadfast in good. Now restore your mind, she says, to good things, and look into the fountain of leaping water, and do not seek divers matters in another's house… Let your mind be pure in God and in hunger for God's justice, and on the right path, and God will receive you. Whence let the labors which for God's sake you have begun, and which you do, suffice you. But direct your mind and your thoughts, as much as you can, toward God. A certain canon of Utrecht, col. 1109, writes thus to St. Hildegard: In humility therefore I beseech, … that you set forth to me the secrets of divine revelation about my state, especially according to the inward man, in the ministry of your manifestation, for the teaching and safeguarding of my spirit. Which indeed you owe by promise; because when I was going on my journey toward Rome, I obtained this from your Charity. But St. Hildegard, replying, admonishes him to rise more swiftly and to flee from the devil.

it seems that one should read facit*

perhaps recreasti*

§ VII. The Saint consulted by many communities about the things which could be amended, or also about other secrets, and invited to write down admonitions.

[ ] To the clergy of Cologne, begging instruction, Hitherto I have shown that St. Hildegard was consulted by many abbots and abbesses, and by other persons also, about hidden matters which she could not know without divine revelation. Now I shall bring forward whole communities of clergy or of monks which for a like cause and with equal confidence wrote to the Saint. Let the clergy of the metropolitan church of Cologne lead the column, who had seen St. Hildegard in their city and had heard her, full of wonder, giving salutary admonitions. Whence Philip the dean with all the clergy writes this to her on page 572: Because we love your motherly goodness, we make known to you that after you departed from us — when by divine command you had come to us, where you opened to us the words of life, as God inspired you — we were led into the greatest admiration for this, that God works such great marvels of his secrets in so frail a vessel, in so frail a sex of humankind. But the Spirit breathes where he wills: for from many tokens of things it becomes manifest that he has chosen a seat pleasing to himself in your heart. Deservedly do we too in our wonderings come to you, as to a living temple of God, to offer our prayers, and beg from your heart, as truly from an oracle of God, the answers of truth. For we most inwardly entreat your blessedness that you commend our desires the more earnestly to God, since they have to do with the care of souls: and if your mind, cleaving to God, shall have seen anything about us in a true vision (as is your wont), that you take care to disclose it to us by letter. We ask also that what you formerly told us with living voice, you would also commit to letters and send to us; for while we are given over to carnal concupiscences, we easily through negligence give over to forgetfulness spiritual things, which we neither see nor hear. Thus far the clergy of Cologne.

[90] The Saint sent back a very long writing, in which with the gravest words and in God's name she rebukes the negligence of the clergy in the care of souls she writes salutary admonitions, and their other vices, and gives very many admonitions, and mingles also many predictions. I shall excerpt a few out of many, especially the admonitions and the predictions. The beginning is this: He who was, and who is, and who is to come, says to the shepherds of the Church. And after many words: I appointed you as the sun and the other lights, that you might give light to men by the fire of teaching, flashing in good repute and preparing burning hearts. Then again: Blessed and sealed among heavenly persons, you ought to have been a dwelling, fragrant with myrrh and frankincense, in which God also might dwell. Lower down: By the teaching also of the Scriptures … you ought to be the corners of the Church's strength, sustaining her as the corners which uphold the ends of the earth. About the middle of the Letter she begins to foretell many evils with which God was about to chastise the Church, because ecclesiastics were neither in their manners nor in their doctrine such as they ought to have been. And she foretells heretics to come so clearly that no doubt seems to be left about the matter. Yet she mingles in some good things, and sufficiently declares that the heretics would not altogether prevail.

[91] and many things about heretics to come, who nevertheless I excerpt only a few things: In that time, when this shall come about, through a certain erring people, worse than the erring people that now is, ruin shall fall upon you transgressors who transgress; which people shall persecute you everywhere, and shall not hide your works. And after many things about them: And when these have in this manner confirmed the course of their error, the teachers and the wise who then faithfully persist in the Catholic faith they shall persecute and drive out on every side: but yet not all, since some of them are most valiant soldiers in God's justice. But also certain communities of Saints, whose manner of life is holy, they shall not be able to move. Wherefore they give counsel to princes and to the rich that they should restrain those same masters of the church, and the other spiritual men, namely their subjects, with cudgels and clubs, so that they may become just. And in some this shall be fulfilled: whence others, being terrified, shall tremble. But yet, according to what was said to Elijah, many of the just shall be preserved, who shall not be confounded in those errors. Then she observes that those heretics of whom she speaks are not the companions of Antichrist, but forerunners, writing thus: But these are not those deceivers who are to come before the last day, but they are a forerunning seed of them. Likewise she warns that neither will the heretics' impiety go unpunished, nor will that persecution be unprofitable to the Catholics who shall remain faithful. But yet, she says, after they shall thus have been found in the perversities of Baal and in other depraved works, princes and others in authority shall rush upon them, and shall kill them like rabid wolves wherever they find them. Then the dawn of justice shall come, and your last things shall be better than the first, and you shall be fearful of all things past, and shall shine like purest gold, and so shall remain through long times.

[92] were not to remain at Cologne, St. Hildegard foretells. In the conclusion she turns to the people of Cologne thus: Now, O sons of God, hear and understand what the Spirit of God says to you, lest you perish from the better part. And the Spirit of God says to you: Look upon your city and region, and cast from you the wicked men who are worse than the Jews and like the Sadducees. For as long as they shall remain with you, you will not be able to be safe. For the Church weeps and wails over their iniquity, since her sons are defiled by their iniquity. Wherefore cast them from you, lest your community and city perish, since at Cologne the banquet of the royal nuptials was long ago prepared, whence her streets still flash with lightning. But I, timid and poor, have for two years been greatly wearied, that before masters and doctors and the other wise men in certain greater places where their dwelling is, I might bring forth these things with living voice. But because the Church was divided, I withheld this voice for a time. Thus far St. Hildegard, who seems to have foretold the times of Luther; but he will see this more clearly who is willing carefully to weigh all the things foretold not only to the people of Cologne but also to those of Trier and to Werner of Kirchheim. The peril

was no small one at that time for Cologne, which saw its archbishop corrupted by heretics; but it happily raised its head and drove out the heretics, as here the Saint seems to admonish them.

[93] St. Hildegard had likewise been at Trier, probably on the same journey To the people of Trier, likewise asking, on which she visited the people of Cologne. Hence the provost of St. Peter's with the whole clergy of Trier writes this to her on page 576: Since by divine permission the thoughts of many hearts are revealed to you by the divine will, we love you with the whole effort of the body and the whole devotion of the mind. For we know that the Holy Spirit dwells in you, and that very many things unknown to other men are made manifest to you through him. For since you departed from us — when in the days of Pentecost you lately came to us by disposition from above, where you foretold that God's threatening hung over us — we have seen and experienced many losses of the churches and many perils of men about us and among us, because, according to the good counsel which you gave us, we neglected to appease God's wrath; and had not his vengeance been withdrawn by God's mercy, perhaps, as those same perils hung over us, we should have sunk down in despair. And because God is in you, and his words sound from your mouth, we most inwardly entreat your motherly love that what you disclosed to us with living voice you would send to us in writing by the present bearer, so that the posterity that follows may see both God's vengeance and his mercy directed upon us, and may know you to be truly and dearly privy to his secrets, etc.

[94] To these things St. Hildegard replied at length, admonishing, rebuking and foretelling many things, she foretells evils about to arise for cities and cloisters from heresy, thus beginning: I, a poor little form, who have in myself neither health nor strength nor fortitude nor learning, but who am subject to masters, from the mystic light of a true vision heard these words to the prelates and clergy of Trier: The teachers and masters will not sound the trumpet of justice: therefore the dawn of good works in them is extinguished, etc. After she has rebuked at length the negligence of pastors and prelates, she goes on thus to predictions of good and evil things to come: Whence I heard this voice from heaven saying: O daughter of Zion, the crown shall be bowed down from your head, and the mantle of the widening of your riches shall be diminished for you and shall be drawn together into a small number, and you shall be driven out from region to region. For by powerful men very many cities and cloisters are to be scattered. And the princes shall say: Let us take away from them the iniquity which in them overturns the whole world. And I saw and heard that these perils and crushings shall befall regions and cloisters because of the transgression of obedience and of the other precepts of lawful ordinances; and I saw that then, amid transgressions of this kind, some shall cleave to God and shall pant after him, even as was done in the time of Elijah.

[95] And these shall stand fast with great honor, and shall be held as a holocaust to God, because they have withdrawn from evils, like Noah and Lot. And this same purging shall begin in a small way in this womanly time, and shall afterwards become greater. And then a manly time shall come, as also good things from constancy in faith, zeal, and the teaching of others, in which there shall be wars and battles from God's just judgment. But this womanly time shall not last so long as it has hitherto endured. Then God's justice and judgments shall arise, and discipline and the fear of God shall be among the people, and just and good men shall arise among the spiritual people, who nevertheless shall remain in small number because of humility, and shall return to the first dawn like hermits… And then strong men shall arise and shall prophesy, and shall gather all the old and new things of the Scriptures, and all the discourses poured out by the Holy Spirit, and shall adorn the understanding of them like a necklace with precious stones. Through these and through other wise men very many worldly people shall become good and shall live holily. And this zeal for holiness shall not quickly dry up, but shall last long, because all these things shall come to pass on account of an erring time, in which there shall be many martyrs in the faith. For the warrior Man shall do this, who looks upon the beginning and end of his works in these things, so as thereby to withstand the erring people… After these things all spiritual matters shall be strengthened without weariness and failing… And then strength and fortitude and health shall come among the people, because the warrior Man shall fill the air with health, and shall also bring forth the greenness of the virtues, lest the faithful fail in body and soul in the erring time. She adds: But this time shall hold error in this manner until God shall shake it off in his grace and mercy and in his zeal.

[96] and that Trier would afterwards flourish the more in the faith. Toward the end she says: And I saw Trier at first greatly adorned among the faithful by the new fire which appeared to the disciples in fiery tongues, so that all its streets were then spread abroad in golden faith with miracles. I add no more. But I do not hesitate to observe that I find nothing in all these things which has not been fulfilled. He will easily see this who has any knowledge of ecclesiastical history, if only he will attend to how much loss the Church suffered in the sixteenth century, and how much also at that same time Catholics began to excel in doctrine and in manners their forebears who lived many centuries before St. Hildegard and some also after her. Trier suffered much from heretics, as the Saint had foretold; but it prevailed and amended its former manners, as she clearly announces would come to pass.

[97] An instruction written to the Cistercians, and asked for by those of Eberbach. We have already seen at num. 47 the Letter of the abbot of Eberbach to the Saint. To her also, with the whole community, wrote Meffridus, Prior of that Cistercian monastery, begging her prayers and the Saint's Letter, which, they say on page 578, we have heard that you wrote by the Holy Spirit concerning worldly and unlettered persons converted to a spiritual manner of life, whom we call conversi. The Saint doubtless sent the Letter, inscribed to the Grey monks, that is, the Cistercians, which is quite long, and which she begins in this manner: I, a poor woman, lying on a bed of sickness for more than two years, saw these things, and heard a voice from heaven saying thus to me: To the spiritual people whom God in his foreknowledge foreknew with the marvels of prophecy, according as it pleased him, write what you see and hear, etc. The Letter contains indeed much praise of that Order; but she reproves those whom they themselves call conversi, very many of whom do not turn themselves to God in their manners, says the Saint. Hence lower down she admonishes thus: Now do you, masters, rebuke and correct the aforesaid men, namely the conversi, in your order, since the greater part of them work neither by day nor by night, since they serve perfectly neither God nor the world. Other lessons too the prudent reader will find in that same Letter, which the Saint concludes in this manner: But I, a poor woman, weak and infirm from my infancy, was compelled to this writing in a mystic and true vision, and I wrote it lying on my bed in grave sickness, at God's bidding and with his help, that I might set it before the prelates and masters who are marked out for God's service, that in it, as in a mirror, they might consider who and of what sort they are; and that they might show and open it to those who by obedience are subject to them. And I heard a voice from heaven saying: Let no one despise these words, lest, if he despise them, God's vengeance fall upon him.

[98] Werner of Kirchheim (it is a town of Swabia in the duchy of Württemberg, To the Brothers in Kirchheim the Saint where the Saint also had been), with the other brothers of his society, not only earnestly asked St. Hildegard's prayers, adorning her with a notable eulogy, but also, like the people of Cologne and Trier, wished to have her words committed to writing, asking that favor in these words on page 581: We presume yet to ask one petition of you, namely that the words which, the Holy Spirit teaching you, you disclosed to us and to very many others present at Kirchheim concerning the negligence of priests which they have in the divine Sacrifice, you would with motherly goodness not neglect to write and send to us, lest they slip from our memory, but that we may have them more attentively before our eyes, etc.

[99] The Saint thus begins her reply: Lying long on a bed of sickness, sets forth her vision about the Church, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation eleven hundred and seventy, I saw, waking in body and mind, a most beautiful image having a womanly form, which, most choice in sweetness and most dear in delights, was of such beauty that the human mind could by no means comprehend it, and whose stature reached from earth to heaven. Her face too shone with the greatest brightness, and her eye looked into heaven. She was clothed also in a most white garment of white silk, and was wrapped about in a mantle adorned with most precious stones, namely emerald, sapphire, and also with beads and pearls: having about her feet shoes of onyx. But her face was sprinkled with dust, and her garment had been torn on the right side, and her mantle had lost its elegant beauty, and her shoes were blackened. There follow the most grievous complaints of that image, which, as is set forth below, represented the Church, against the vices and no light sins of the priests.

[100] Then follow predictions which in the sixteenth century were altogether fulfilled, whose future evils, to be inflicted by heretics, in this manner: For princes and a rash people shall rush upon you, O priests, who have hitherto neglected me, and shall cast you out and put you to flight, and shall take away your riches from you, because you did not attend to the time of your priestly office. And of you they shall say: Let us cast out of the Church these adulterers and plunderers, full of every evil. And in this deed they wish to have shown obedience to God, since they say that the Church has been polluted by you. Whence Scripture says: Why have the nations raged, and the peoples devised vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes came together in one? For by God's permission very many nations shall begin to rage against you in his judgments, and many peoples shall devise vain things about you, when they shall reckon your priestly office and your consecration as nothing. To these the kings of the earth shall lend aid in your overthrow, and shall gape after earthly goods, and the princes who shall rule over you shall come together in this one counsel, that they may drive you out of their borders, etc.

[101] He assuredly does not know what was done in the sixteenth century in a great part of Germany, she foretells. and in other kingdoms too,

nay, in Swabia itself, where these things were said, who does not perceive that all has been fulfilled. But for the greater clarity of the prediction I observe that there is not added here that consolation which is added in the writings to the people of Cologne and of Trier, that those cities would thereafter flourish the more in the faith, just as in fact it did not come to pass at Kirchheim. On the contrary another prediction is added, expressed in these words: And again I, a poor womanly form, saw a drawn sword hanging in the air, one of whose edges was turned toward heaven, the other toward the earth. And that sword was stretched out over the spiritual people… And I saw that that sword cut off certain places of spiritual men, just as Jerusalem was cut off after the Lord's passion. This again was most clearly done in Luther's times. At length there is added this consolation, such as it is: But yet I saw that God will preserve for himself very many God-fearing, pure and simple priests in that adversity, etc.

[102] She tries to make peace among the Brothers in Hagenhe. To St. Hildegard for another cause wrote the Community of Brothers in Hagenhe, torn by discords, which had become known to the Saint, and which evil she had already begun to remedy. For after an honorable greeting with a eulogy, they address her thus on page 582: And we say this for the reason that you may not omit, the Holy Spirit teaching you, to settle and root out the dissension which you know has arisen in our place, in the manner you have begun: and that through this also you may send us admonitory letters, since unless it be quickly extinguished we shall easily incur great peril both of souls and of bodies. St. Hildegard replied by a long Letter which contains instruction about many vices and virtues, and an admonition and exhortation to zeal for the virtues. But I here transfer only a few things. The beginning is this: I, a poor little form, long burdened with much sickness, was compelled by true Wisdom to bring forth these words of his to the people of this place, etc. The conclusion is of this kind: Now therefore I, a poor and weak form, say to you the aforesaid brothers of this place: May the unquenchable fire of life burn in you, and so suffuse you with its light that you may be able to abide in it, as you formerly began, etc.

[103] Other communities, The priests in Rutdelingun (perhaps Reutlingen, commonly Reutlingen in Swabia) in Martène Col. [ ] write thus to St. Hildegard: We have exulted and been delighted in the things which have been told us, namely that a consoling message would be at hand for us. And waiting we have waited, and you have not yet given heed. A little after they hint that they had undertaken something new, and urgently ask the Saint's prayers. I suspect that it was a community of priests who had embraced the Religious life, and who wished to follow St. Hildegard's counsels. Certainly the Saint replies as though she were writing to priests who had sent word of renunciation to worldly things, saying: O what manner of men are those who seek life in pilgrimage, and who in exile are strangers to that part which they have left for God's sake. For the rest she praises their purpose and exhorts them to fortitude in God's service, concluding thus: Enter therefore the battle as strong home-born servants; for those who are in exile cannot have a sure victory while remaining in the body, but must flee the pestilence of the shipwrecked world, and make firm the pillar of their mind with the corner Stone. Therefore, O most valiant soldiers, do not grow weary through the changeableness of the instrument, since God will seek his lambs among the wolves.

[104] The head of a certain hospital house, called master of the poor in Lutherum, with his people, col. 1112, consults St. Hildegard in these words: of various Orders, We therefore long to hear from you the salutary lessons of your holiness, and to learn diligently from you the state of our life: and whatever God shall reveal to you upon this, deign to write back to us, knowing this, that we have resolved to obey your counsels and admonitions so far as we are able. For it has been enjoined upon us that we serve the poor, which we cannot fulfil without the heaviness of a tumultuous mind. Wherefore we desire to know from you whether it be more useful for us to shut ourselves up in a cloister, or to persevere in this tumult. St. Hildegard, writing back, elegantly expounds the parable of the man who had fallen among robbers, relieved and healed by the Samaritan; and admonishes that, as Christ healed Adam's wounds through himself and his own, so they should imitate that true Samaritan, namely by caring for the body and soul of the poor. So, she says, do you also in the ministry to which you have been appointed by your Master; since it pleases God that mercy be shown to the needy, and that sinners be led to penance.

[105] The Benedictine monks of Siegburg, in the diocese of Cologne beyond the Rhine, seek St. Hildegard's counsels. write Col. [ ] these things to St. Hildegard: With what a special affection of charity we have chosen you as our spiritual mother, and have received you into the fellowship of our prayers, the Knower of all secrets knows, and your Love too could have observed from the frequent messengers whom we send to you. But you on the contrary have never shown a mother's affection toward us; the admonitory letters which you ought to have sent even to us unwilling, as a mother to her sons, you have never offered to us even when we desired them… For we ask that you disclose to us some things about the state of our place, being taught in a true vision, and that you send us threatening words and words containing rebuke, etc. St. Hildegard at length wrote back an admonition with praise of the monastery of Siegburg, in which nevertheless she hints that not all were equally fervent, in these words: For I see that community as a cloud which appears like that light when the day departs and night draws near. Among you also I see some shining like stars in good intention, but some growing faint in the darkness of weariness. Whence rise up and lay hold of discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry and you perish from the just way, etc.

[106] The monks of Hirsau, whose abbot we saw writing to St. Hildegard at num. 68, The monks of Hirsau, dissenting from their abbot, have recourse to her for another cause. Col. [ ] In that monastery, otherwise most flourishing, a discord had arisen between the abbot and the prior, to whom the greater part of the monks adhered. These for that cause seek out the Saint's judgment in this manner: God being witness, we detract in nothing from the lord abbot, whom nevertheless we lament as in many respects forgetful of fatherly gentleness toward us, and as too loosely indulgent to certain of his familiars, and as using his free power in all things too immoderately. Indeed we perceive that our reputation is torn by the greatest calumnies and infamies upon these matters, and chiefly for the lamentable discord that arose among us some time ago, and nonetheless was lately stirred up between our abbot himself and the prior… Wherefore, uncertain what we should do, we most humbly implore that by your prayers the divine will may in some measure shine out for us upon these matters, etc. The Saint wrote back a letter having much consolation, which brought peace back. I shall excerpt some things uttered in God's name: Valleys sometimes grow green and flower from the dew of heaven and the heat of the sun, and sometimes grow dry and fail in the changing of the seasons. But yet those valleys, which because of the diversity of the seasons sometimes lose their beauty, I do not hold in such forgetfulness as though they would not hereafter rise again in their beauty. So also I shall not forget this place in which you stand, since wisdom will not lack in it the matter of holiness, as it first went forward in uprightness. But do you be a bright sheepfold in victory, treading down the vices which in a restless time shake you: and do not blush to accuse yourself for your evil works, since God anoints and wipes away all wounds in penance. All these things are uttered in God's name to the monastery itself.

[107] the Saint brings back to concord. Then it is subjoined that the contumacy of inferiors against superiors had arisen from the latter's lack of mercy, and all are invited to show mercy to one another. Trithemius, who relates that discord in the Chronicle of Hirsau at the year 1161, after reciting St. Hildegard's letter subjoins: But after the brothers had received this letter from Bl. Hildegard, they rejoiced not a little in the Lord, and being pricked in their minds, began with one accord to treat of peace among themselves. Abbot Manegold also (of whose Letter to the Saint and her reply we treated at num. 68), following the Virgin's admonitions, drove all bitterness from his heart, and promised that thenceforth he would show himself in all things, so far as he could, a most loving father to his sons according to the Rule. Whence the brothers, pricked by the sweetness of his words, promise to show themselves in all things subject to their father as humble and obedient. And so by the mercy of almighty God and the prayers of St. Hildegard peace was restored between those at variance, and the desired end was put to the disturbance. Further, the praised Trithemius writes at the year 1160 that St. Hildegard was then at Hirsau, and foretold that discord to the monks unless they amended themselves. But in the letter cited no mention at all is made of that journey to the people of Hirsau, nor of St. Hildegard's prediction. Wherefore, even if the Saint was indeed at some time among the people of Hirsau, as we shall see in §12, I am altogether persuaded that that journey of the Saint must be fixed later. But as to the prediction of the discord reported, I would think it was no other than that which is read in the Letter to abbot Manegold at num. 68.

The monks of Eberbach, whose abbot wrote earlier to St. Hildegard, as we saw at num. 47, and their prior at num. 97, with unanimous consent brought these entreaties to the Saint. Col. [ ] Beloved Lady, we ought to obey your motherly admonition, because the truth of the Lord speaks through you. For we gladly receive your admonitions, and pray with humble petition that you do not hide from us what in us is to be corrected, but that, as it shall please the Lord, who opens many secrets to you, you would be zealous to disclose it to us. The Saint did what was asked, and admonished them to beware of discord and contention. A few things I here transfer. Beware therefore, she says, lest you cast backward that happiness which in God's foreordaining seems to be in you, through the excess of the wars of rashness, etc.

[109] about their own reform The prior and monks of Zwiefalten Col. [ ] have recourse to the Saint for their own reform, writing this: For the rest, because an abyss of despair has hemmed us in for the restoring of the religious life of our monastery, and the sea of its unreasonableness has covered our heads, we, humbly and suppliantly prostrate before your face, ask with all devotion the solace of your counsel. For we hope that by your prayers you can obtain of the Lord that by the revelation of the Holy Spirit you may announce to us some things that will profit us, etc. The Saint replied by a long and strong admonition, in which she sharply rebukes the negligence and the various vices of those monks, and exhorts them to penance and amendment. The nuns of Zwiefalten in like manner write to St. Hildegard at col. 1120. We ask also your Goodness, they say, that when you give yourself to divine vision, you would direct admonitory words to us, and how from the way of negligence to the way of correction

we ought to return, you would not neglect to show us. To these the Saint sent back a very strong admonition, reproving and rebuking, and exhorting to a more regular life. For the rest, that the monks and nuns of Zwiefalten in Swabia are here treated of, I shall show at num. 179.

[110] being anxious, they seek St. Hildegard's counsel on this matter The prior and monks of the Mount of St. Disibod, to whom St. Hildegard could not but be most fully known, Col. [ ] demand her admonitions partly by entreaties, partly by complaints, beginning thus: Since you send the words of your admonitions into foreign nations, and make very many desire the way of uprightness, we, who have known you almost from the cradle and among whom you lived for very many years, wonder why you withhold the words of your heavenly visions from us who thirst for them. For we know how you were brought up among us, how taught, how you lived; because you gave yourself to no other than womanly work, you were steeped in no other books than a simple Psalter, and without reproach you loved a good and holy manner of life. But the divine goodness steeped you with heavenly dew as it willed, and opened to you the greatness of its secrets. And whereas we ought to have rejoiced with you in these things, God snatched you from us against our will and transferred you to other men: why he did this we can neither search out nor know, but only, unwilling and willing, we endure this in much disturbance. For we hoped that the welfare of our place was placed in you; but God disposed otherwise than we would have wished. But now, since we cannot resist God's will, we yield to him and rejoice with you, since very many things hitherto unseen, hitherto unheard, you have made manifest by divine revelation, and have unlocked things hitherto closed. For, full of God's Spirit, you write many things which you did not learn from man, at which holy and learned men marvel. Therefore, although we are far from the Saints, since we are sinners, we ask as suppliants that both for the Lord's glory and for our old and just familiarity you be mindful of us, and offer us words of consolation, etc. To these things St. Hildegard wrote back a lengthy exhortation, into which she seems to mingle predictions of things to come, and in which she admonishes those monks to return to their first fervor.

[111] they seek it. The monks of St. Eucharius of Trier Col. [ ] write to St. Hildegard as to a mother, praising God, who, they say, has hitherto hidden from the wise and prudent these things which he has wondrously revealed in our days to your Humility. Accordingly, since we cannot run the way of God's commandments with an enlarged heart, we vehemently desire to be stirred by the goads of your admonition, as God shall grant you. For the rest, know without doubt that in your writings, namely in the book Scivias, we have been delighted as in all riches. The Saint wrote back at length, praising some things in those monks and rebuking others, and teaching obedience, humility, charity and the other virtues. There follows Col. [ ] the letter of the Prior and monks of Cîteaux to the Saint, whom they say they venerate as their superior and as a most dear mother. If we consult the reply to this Letter, we shall see that the beginning of this reply is the same as the opening of St. Hildegard's Letter reported in Alberic's Chronicle at the year 1153, where that Letter of the Saint is said to have been written in the year 1153 to the Cistercian general chapter. Rightly, I think, does Alberic have this, because the monastery of Cîteaux is sometimes also called Cistellense, as Valesius has it in the Notitia Galliarum, page 146; and indeed the name Cistellæ agrees better with the French Cisteaux than the common name Cistercium. And these of Cîteaux address St. Hildegard among other things thus: For we have heard many things of you, whereat we greatly rejoice, that you are able to search out God's secrets and to make manifest no small part of his hidden things. Accordingly we ask your clemency that whatever in us and in our Order, namely the monastic, displeases you — nay, displeases the divine eyes — you would not hesitate to write back to us, according as God shall have shown you. St. Hildegard did what was asked; she wrote back a Letter quite long, in which she vehemently complains that most sweet charity had been rent by them. Only the earlier part of the Letter Martène gave, because three leaves had been cut from the codex. [The abbot of St. Disibod testifies to the fruit which the Saint's presence had borne there,]

[112] The last Letter at length of those which Martène published to St. Hildegard is that of Henry (rather, Helenger), abbot, and of the community of the Mount of St. Disibod; nor did Martène publish the Saint's reply to it. And now, on the occasion of the changing of the name Helenger into Henry, which is as certain as it is a notable dislocation, I think the reader must be warned that many proper names of men or of places are beyond doubt dislocated in Martène, and that I have tried to restore not a few from Trithemius or elsewhere, yet have not been able to emend all with certainty: for although I sometimes see clearly that German names have been distorted by the French editor from their natural sound, it is not equally easy to substitute the true ones. I preferred therefore to leave unemended those which could not be restored by a conjecture that was as it were certain. But let us hear Helenger with his brethren: Because, beloved Mother, we have lately learned that your Holiness came to us by the prompting of almighty God, of the holy Paraclete Spirit, and also by the command of him who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, we render unceasing thanks to that same Paraclete, so far as we can, although we are not able worthily. Because, to confess truly, we felt most fully among us and in us the ardor and the touch of his enlightening; when we all with unanimous consent cast away every fuel of hatred and enmity, now grown old through many years, and came together fully into the unity of true charity, as with one body and soul. Therefore with earnest prayers we knock at the Love of your Holiness, that by the sight of the aforesaid splendor bestowed on you by divine grace, through which things closed to your Charity and hidden from other mortals are unlocked to the eyes of your heart, … you would make manifest whether we have truly come together in true charity, which is the beginning of all good things, or whether any root of some dissension still lies hidden among us: but also concerning any other greater matters (to say nothing of lesser faults committed) which you shall know to be contrary to the eyes of the divine Majesty, that you would be willing to make them manifest to us in writing. These things show the fruit which the Saint had borne while present on the Mount of St. Disibod. And that the monks panted to gather even greater fruit from her admonitions, the request itself shows.

[113] Another petition of theirs is subjoined in this manner: Besides these things, with unanimous consent we knock, in season and out of season, at the door of your Charity for a description of the deeds and virtues, and asks her to write the Life of St. Disibod: which she afterwards did. and also of the Life, of our patron and of yours, the most blessed Disibod, in whose house you were nurtured from the very cradle; and we inwardly admonish the ears of your Goodness, and untiringly seek with earnest prayers poured forth, that the memory of your Blessedness may also thereby be had in the praises of that same father of ours, that whatever God shall reveal to you about him you may disclose to us, etc. This petition the Saint satisfied so far as she was able. For we have the Life of St. Disibod, published by us at the 8th of July. The same exists in our codex which is marked O Ms. 12, from which I here transfer the beginning: In a mystic vision, as God willed, on account of the mention and the command of my superiors, namely of abbot Helenger and of all the brothers serving God on the Mount of St. Disibod, I looked upon the life and merits of that same blessed father; and after the visions of the book of the Life of merits had been brought forth, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation eleven hundred and seventy, in the reign of Frederick emperor of the Romans, under the pressure of the Apostolic See, lying for nearly three years on a bed of sickness, out of the goodness of Wisdom I heard, waking in body and soul, a voice from heaven speaking thus, etc. Then is subjoined the Life of St. Disibod, of which I shall say more below, where all the Saint's Works will be treated of. But what St. Hildegard replied to the former request, and whether she replied to it at all, I plainly do not know. Martène indeed says: The reply to this Letter (of Helenger) is extant among the published Letters of St. Hildegard; but he is mistaken: for there is extant only the reply to another Letter of Helenger, to be mentioned at num. 123.

§ VIII. The Saint also consulted about theological and scriptural questions, and others bearing on faith or on morals.

[ ] Questions also proposed to St. Hildegard Although we cannot but marvel that the Saint was consulted about hidden and secret things by so many men renowned in dignity and knowledge, yet I am compelled to be the more astonished when I perceive that to an unlearned Woman, and one lacking all pursuit of acquired knowledge, there were brought the most subtle questions from theology, the most difficult from the sacred Letters, and that she did not hesitate to give theological and scriptural answers, although sometimes she did not give a full reply to questions more curious than useful. Eberhard, bishop of Bamberg, who had earlier visited the Saint, proposed to her a question very subtle indeed, writing thus on page 545: Having caught the fragrance of this good repute, we run with our whole heart to the Lord, who in you is venerated and consulted. For what you have granted to many, you will not deny to me alone. For when we passed by you from the emperor's court, since you are steeped in the Holy Spirit, we committed this to your charity to be expounded: “In the Father abides eternity, in the Son equality, in the Holy Spirit the bond of eternity and equality.” Which now also, according as God has revealed to you, we desire to see expounded. The Saint begins with a brief exhortation by which she stirs Eberhard to feed his flock diligently. Then she thus proceeds to the question: Now, O father, I, a poor woman, have looked toward the true Light, and according to what I there saw and heard in a true vision, what you asked to have expounded to you I send thus expounded, not in my own words but in those of the true Light, which never has any failing, in this manner. Then she expounds the Father's eternity, the Son's equality, and the bond of the Holy Spirit, in a discourse long enough and subtle enough that a most learned theologian would sweat much — and perhaps in vain — to give such an exposition. She concludes the Letter at length in this manner: Now, O shepherd and father of peoples, may God grant you to come to the light where you may receive the knowledge of true blessedness.

[115] theological and bearing on the faith, A certain priest, whose name is designated only by C, on page 561 commends himself much to St. Hildegard's prayers, that, he says, being led to the Lord by your prayers, I may deserve to be enlightened and healed of blindness of heart. And presently: Teach me also of the Body and Blood of Christ, in which is all the hope of the faithful, and take care to make manifest to me in the Lord how in the spirit you see a priest, both uncorrected and corrected, approaching that same Sacrament. The Saint thus begins her reply: In a true vision with waking eyes I heard and saw these words concerning the Sacrament of the Lord's Body: God remained what he was;

and took upon himself what he was not. She subjoins the Incarnation of the Son of God, and having recounted it, thus goes on: And so that same power of the Most High, which wrought flesh in the Virgin's womb, upon the altar, at the priest's words, turns the offering of bread and wine into the Sacrament of the Flesh and Blood, cherishing it by its own power. She adds many other things which for brevity's sake I omit, to be seen in the same place.

[116] scriptural ones too, more curious than necessary: Wibert or Guibert, a monk of Gembloux, of the Order of St. Benedict in Brabant, sent to St. Hildegard thirty-eight most difficult questions, gathered from the Old and New Testament and from ecclesiastical history, which the monks of Villers, likewise a most celebrated abbey in Brabant, had committed to him as he was setting out to the Saint; and by letter he asked her to undertake their solution. Why he did not himself bring them he sets forth in his letter on page 583 in this manner: The joy which I had believed was granted me by God from seeing and conversing with you, when in Lent I was setting out to you with our abbot, was for a time taken away from me (as I think) by the devil's envy. For when we had gone as far as Cologne, Satan hindering our journey, … we gave up going further… Meanwhile, however, I vehemently desire to know what has been done about those questions which the brothers of Villers were sending through me to you to be solved, and which I, being recalled from my journey, committed to my beloved Baldo to be carried to you — namely, whether they have reached you or not. And if they have reached you, we all your friends of our party beseech you, prostrate in spirit at your feet, that entering confidently the sea of their solution, you would not fear to commit your sails to the breeze of the Holy Spirit, and, relying on such a guide, would soon glide without difficulty into a calm harbor, etc. The Saint undertook the arduous work that was set before her, and replied to all the questions, as may be seen on page 584 and following. Yet that reply is such that not all the doubts are resolved. To the reply she added an elegant letter, in which she exhorts Wibert to the virtues fitting and necessary to the monastic institute, chiefly to charity and humility. I excerpt only a few things. Now, O son of God, she says, set in the valley of true humility, walk in quiet without elation; which, being likened to a steep mountain, offers to those who lean upon it a difficult and as it were impossible ascent or descent, and on whose summit no building stands. For a man who tries to climb higher than he can reach possesses the name of holiness without security, since he glories in the name alone, without the building of good works, and in a certain unfitting gladness of mind, etc.

[117] The community of the monastery of Hunnia sought from St. Hildegard a teaching more useful for the right ordering of life, To the community of Hunnia the Saint expounds the Rule of St. Benedict: namely an exposition of the Rule of St. Benedict, saying that in a moment of need they fled to her as to the most secure asylum of an impregnable stronghold; and after magnificent eulogies subjoining this: And so it has been reported to us concerning your Works that you have briefly and clearly bestowed on the sons of the Church desirable riches as it were; and because you do not lack this gift either, prostrate at the feet of your holiness, we all in common ask the kindness of your Goodness that you would leave us some memorial of yours upon the Rule of blessed Benedict our father, exceedingly needful for us… And so you will show forth a work more precious than the wealth of Croesus, nay, dearer than all the treasures of the world, if you shall have busied yourself with our petition in this matter, which is exceedingly needful to all cloisters. For if you were to expound the whole of sacred Scripture, you could show forth nothing so useful, so dear to us. The Saint did what was asked, and wrote Commentaries on the Rule of St. Benedict, printed after her Letters on page 590 and following. Her little preface I here recite: And I, a poor womanly form, and untaught by human teaching, looked toward the true Light and to the memory of blessed Benedict, according to your petition, that those things which in the teaching of his Rule are more difficult and obscure to the understanding of men might be made manifest to me by the grace of God, etc. And she concludes the little Work with these words: Therefore I, a poor womanly form, heard these words from Wisdom, which taught me the obscure words of the Rule of the aforesaid father, blessed Benedict, that I might bring them forth openly. Whence let the gentle, the meek and the God-fearing hear these things, and understand them with a pious heart, and receive them with humble devotion.

[118] A certain priest of Trier, who had the care of souls, she teaches a confessor how he ought to deal with those who confess, in Martène, vol. 2 of the Amplissima Collectio, Col. [ ] at the same time begs for himself St. Hildegard's prayers and words of consolation, and then adds: And how I may preside over those whom I ought to rule under the governance of the priesthood, kindly disclose to me. Briefly indeed, but beautifully, the Saint writes back some lessons. First she admonishes that the physician should frequently anoint the sinner with mercy, and not allow the stinking bruise to remain in him, since leprosy is wiped away by the supreme Physician when a man shows himself to the priest. Secondly she observes that some come without due preparation and without a purpose of amendment, who are unwilling to leave their evil ways. Certainly these, she says, ought to be bound, … since they will not forsake their iniquities. She adds thirdly: But a man who always with grief forsakes his iniquities, so that he does not wish to be plunged the oftener into filthy sins, is not to be bound in the aforesaid manner, but to be anointed in his griefs, in whatever place he may be. For the great Physician rouses the watchful, rebukes the sleeping, and slays those who persevere in their evils.

[119] A certain master of theology of Paris, col. 1097, shows that the fame of St. Hildegard was great at Paris also. For after various eulogies he proposes to her a difficult and subtle question, [she replies to a doctor of theology that the Divinity is not distinguished from God:] writing thus: But we, although we are placed far from you, having confidence in you, ask certain things of you: namely, since very many contend that Paternity and Divinity are not God, do not delay to set forth and send to us what you think about this in heavenly things. That error was Gilbert de la Porrée's, bishop of Poitiers, who retracted it in the year 1148 in the council of Reims, chiefly through St. Bernard's action. To the question proposed St. Hildegard begins to reply with notable humility, comparing herself to a little feather which God raises from the earth and bids fly, and thus continuing: But the feather does not fly of itself, but the air bears it. So I am not steeped in human learning, nor have I mighty strength, nor am I even in the glow of bodily health, but I stand in God's help. And I tell you, as I was taught in a true vision, what Paternity and Divinity are, since I have perceived from you that this is needful for very many, that they may truly be strengthened in the faith. For I looked toward the true Light, and learned, seeing watchfully and openly, … that Paternity and Divinity are God, because man has not this power, that he should speak of God as of the humanity of man… The living Light therefore says in the secret word of wisdom: God is full and entire, and without beginning of times, and therefore cannot be divided by speech as a man can be divided; since God is the whole and not another, and therefore nothing is to be taken from him or added to him. For also both Paternity and Divinity is he WHO IS, as it was said, I AM WHO AM; and HE WHO IS has fullness… And whoever denies that Paternity and Divinity are God, denies God, because he wishes that there be some emptiness in God, which there is not; but God is full; and what is in God, is God, etc. At the end she briefly exhorts the doctor to keep God's precepts.

[120] she instructs a monk about the various ways in which men are tempted by demons. A certain brother Col. [ ] complains much of the schism by which the Church was then divided; but on that matter St. Hildegard then made no reply. But he at the end proposes another question in these words: For by evil spirits I am many times assailed both secretly and openly, who greatly weary me and wish to seduce me: and what you think about these things I ask that you report back to me in your writings. To this question the Saint replied at length enough, dividing the airy spirits into four parts, and asserting that men are tempted by them in various ways. To the first part she attributes temptations through luxury … in every kind of vice. The second part she says has dominion in all inconstancy, and, she says, casts a man into insane wrath. Of the third she says that it produces errors as it were in a showing of angels and of prophecy, and greatly harms in vainglory through boasting and through obstinacy. The fourth part, finally, she says deals more familiarly with men in manifold diversity, yet shrinks from the Cross and the passion of the Lord; and permits certain good things in men, but withdraws from them moderation in those same good things, so that by its suggestion it permits them to climb in their minds to a greater height than they can accomplish, and so does not allow them to rest. For it does not dread holiness, and especially vanity; but it holds fortitude and steadfastness in great hatred, etc. More about these things may be seen in the same place.

§ IX. Many write to the Saint to obtain prayers, consolation, admonitions and other like things: to whom she writes back.

[ ] St. Elizabeth of Schönau writes to Hildegard, We have seen that St. Hildegard was consulted by many about secret matters or about difficult questions. Now we shall see the same woman assailed by the letters of very many for various causes, as though she had been the common refuge of almost all. First here I set St. Elizabeth of Schönau, who flourished at the same time in the diocese of Trier, and had grown famous by many revelations. Yet St. Elizabeth died sooner, namely in the year 1165, as has been shown by us in her Acts, given at the 18th of June, where there is also recited a Letter long enough which she wrote to St. Hildegard to obtain consolation. A few things I choose from it, bearing chiefly on this Saint: May the grace and consolation of the Most High fill you with joy, says Elizabeth, because you have kindly had compassion on my disturbance, as I understood from the words of my Consoler, whom you diligently admonished about consoling me. For, as you said had been revealed to you about me, I confess truly that I lately conceived in my mind a certain cloud of disturbance because of the foolish talk of people saying many things about me which are not true. But I would easily bear the talk of the crowd, if those also who walk in the habit of religion did not more bitterly sadden my spirit. For these too, driven by I know not what goads, mock God's grace in me: and do not fear rashly to judge of things which they do not know. I hear also that certain letters written from their own spirit are being circulated under my name

etc. At the end she begs prayers and words of consolation.

[122] St. Hildegard replied on page 562, premising after her custom whom she consoles and instructs. that she does not speak from her own wit but from the serene Light. Then she discourses of man, and of God's inspiration, by which he deigns to enlighten some men beyond the rest. At length she thus turns to St. Elizabeth: Hear, O anxious daughter, that those men whom God's inspiration has thus steeped, the ambitious suggestion of the ancient serpent somewhat wearies… Now hear again: let those who desire to accomplish God's works ever consider that they are earthen vessels, since they exist as men: and let them ever look at what they are and what they shall be: and let them leave heavenly things to him who is heavenly, since they are exiles, not knowing heavenly things, but only singing the mystic things of God, like a trumpet which merely gives sounds and does not work, but into which another breathes that it may render a sound. But let them also put on the breastplate of faith, being meek, gentle, poor and wretched, as also that Lamb was, whose trumpet-sound they are, having also the manners of a simple child; because God always scourges those who sing in his trumpet, foreseeing lest their earthen vessel perish, but that it may please him. O daughter, may God make you a mirror of life. But I too, who lie in the pusillanimity of fear, sometimes sounding a little, like a small sound of a trumpet from the living Light: whence may God help me to remain in his service. From the chronicle of Alberic the monk at the year 1155 it is gathered that St. Hildegard was also at some time visited by St. Elizabeth.

[123] Helenger, abbot of St. Disibod and successor of Cuno in the year 1155, Helenger, abbot of St. Disibod, who had long known St. Hildegard, writes thus to her on page 558: Since the whole world cries out with truthful proclamation that you have been enriched with the jubilation of the Holy Spirit, I, who ought to have been the first, and to invite others to your Blessedness, have hitherto lain hidden in idle sloth: but now at last, seized by fear and shame, I have thought it necessary to greet you in these words. Presently he begins to accuse himself, and to complain of the regular discipline ill observed in his monastery. But at the end he says: Direct therefore the writings of your consolation to my lowliness, etc. The Saint wrote back with much exhortation to amendment of life. At length toward the end she adds this: But I, a poor woman, see in you a most black fire kindled against us: but in good knowledge forget it, lest its grace and blessing depart from you in the time of your office. St. Hildegard did in fact have difficulties with the abbot of St. Disibod concerning the free election of her own directors, as we shall afterwards see.

[122] the abbot of St. Emmeram of Regensburg, The abbot of St. Emmeram of Regensburg (who in the inscription calls himself provisor, but both Letters sufficiently hint that he was the head or abbot of the monastery) implores St. Hildegard's help for another, writing thus on page 556: For through you all the just gloriously boast, and those hitherto despairing are blessedly gladdened, because they hope that through you they can be reconciled to Christ. Whence also the bearer of these present letters, despairing, as he asserts, of his own salvation, lately complained to me of his miseries, beseeching that I would send him to the presence of your Blessedness with commendatory letters. Therefore, O Handmaid of Christ, I commend him to your goodness and compassion, suppliantly asking that for the love of almighty God you would labor with all your strength for his salvation, together with all who obey you, etc. Whether he who was sent to the Saint was a monk or someone else is not manifestly clear; nor do I find with what success St. Hildegard labored for him. Yet from her reply I suspect that he was a monk driven by grave goads of conscience and perhaps by scruples. Whoever he was, the Saint in grave words exhorts the abbot to the care of his flock, beginning thus: He who is says: O man, you ought to look about everywhere, that you may drive off those who lie in wait for your sheep. See also that you look upon the scars of their wounds, for many clouds go about among the spiritual people, etc.

[125] and other superiors of monasteries The abbot of Neuenburg also writes with great affection to St. Hildegard on page 556, and says that he was hindered by the fear of war from coming to her. Then he zealously begs her prayers, and subjoins: Send by the bearer of these presents some pledge of salvation, by which I may be able to prosper and may have remembrance of you. St. Hildegard wrote back, and exhorted him to fortitude in pastoral care, rightly observing that in a time of war a soldier must not throw away his arms because of difficulties that have arisen. Like things the abbess in Elostat asks by letter on page 561, weaving a notable eulogy of the Saint, and then addressing her thus: Therefore, blessed Mother, grant pardon, and bear with no small measure of my folly — nay, with my great folly: allow me to open a little before you the grief of my heart: and when you have heard, console, I beseech, your handmaid. For I bear an unbearable weight, since I am bidden to correct the crookedness of my sisters, etc. Briefly, but very kindly, St. Hildegard writes back, encouraging her to continue her labor for her own. Yet that prudence is needful in God's service she rightly observes in these words: Whoever tears the field of his own body through discretion — a sudden anticipating of the end will not harm him, because the symphony of the Holy Spirit and a joyful life will receive him. But care must be taken that a man do not kill his body by excess of labors, but that in reasonableness he restrain sins. Daughter, remember that you have not the power to create a man (the power of creating a man). Whence pray God gently that he give you a better life: and this is more acceptable to God than that you should entreat him in excess of sadness. May God make you a temple of life. Likewise a friendly Letter is written on page 563 by G, provost of Frankfurt, to whom she replied by a serious exhortation to correct his manners.

[126] The Letters formerly published which bear on this matter I have hitherto reviewed. superiors There are added many others lately published in Martène, vol. 2 of the Amplissima Collectio. Here Col. [ ] writes the abbot of Maulbronn (otherwise Mulbrunn in the diocese of Speyer and in the duchy of Württemberg), asking for a letter by which his body and soul may be instructed, strengthened and consoled. The abbot of St. Michael's of Bamberg, col. 1016, believing himself near to death, vehemently asks St. Hildegard's prayers and writings of consolation. To both the Saint wrote back in such a way as to exhort to virtue and to supply useful instruction. For the consolation of the first she adds at the end these words: The Lord will not forsake you, but will give you the refreshment of salvation. The other reply she concludes with these words: Watch vigorously and rise in the light, that you may honorably bear his rod in the day: for if the outward man is sometimes wearied under God's scourge, the inward rises up so much the stronger from that most mighty power which wills to sustain you in the encircling wheel of his grace. The abbot of St. Eucharius of Trier Col. [ ] writes to the Saint, begging prayers and admonitory words. The same man again, at col. 1021, in another letter demands the promised letter, and adds at the end: But also write back what shall seem good to you concerning the business committed to you. In these he speaks thus of St. Hildegard: Whom God, along with the wondrous prerogative of chastity, has made wonderful by so high and so notable an excellence of understanding that you surpass the keenness not only of philosophers and dialecticians, but even of the ancient prophets. To the former Letter St. Hildegard wrote back admonitions apt for the feeding of his flock, as also to the second. In the first reply she premises this about that abbot's character: He who is says: O man, you are clothed in the breastplate of faith and girt about with the girdle of holiness, as a man sees his face in a mirror, not having full joy in this, because at times he doubts whether his face is fair or not. For your mind is like a building which is looked at from afar, and which a cloud sometimes covers. But you are also headlong like a pack which a porter carries to be sold, etc. So she premises in the reply to the second the good qualities and the defects of his governance.

[127] The abbot of Bouzonville in Lorraine, since on account of the troubles that had arisen in his monastery he was laboring under infamy along with his monks, write to St. Hildegard, writing Col. [ ] to St. Hildegard, begs upon this some word of consolation, and prayers by which they may be reconciled to God and to men. St. Hildegard, writing back, sets forth the state of that monastery and exhorts to amendment. Nicholas, abbot of Heilsbronn (in Trithemius, in Heilsbronn), suggesting that he was accustomed from time to time to visit St. Hildegard, Col. [ ] asks a letter by which he may be forewarned, and prayers by which he may be snatched from evil. The Saint writes back, praising his intention and exhorting him to labor. She adds certain other more obscure things. This is followed by Col. [ ] the letter of five abbots together of the Cistercian Order and of the diocese of Besançon, namely of Bellevaux, Cherlieu, Clairefontaine, La Charité and Bithaine. These ask two different things, first adorning the Saint with a magnificent eulogy. The first they express thus: We most humbly beg that you take care to have some things about our state divinely revealed to you and disclosed to us. The other in this manner: But this woman, the bearer of these presents, is a noble woman and the wife of a certain most loving husband. She comes to you with much devotion, humble and on foot, though she could come on horseback and with a great retinue. And this is the cause of her coming. She has now for a long time remained barren, though at first she bore children; but these having died, and bearing no others, she and her husband are afflicted with vehement grief. Hence it is that she flees to you, the Handmaid and intimate of Christ, having confidence that by your merits and prayers you may obtain of God that she may yet be made fruitful, and may show forth to Christ a blessed fruit of the womb in the begetting of offspring, etc. To the first St. Hildegard set down, with praise of those abbots, excellent admonitions and lessons. To the second she thus replied: But as to your asking that the matron be made fruitful by God's help, this is in God's will and power; for he knows where he grants offspring, where he takes offspring away… For I, since you have asked, shall pray God for her; but let him do what he has disposed to be done therein piously and mercifully.

[128] they write, The abbot of Eberburd, situated outside Germany — perhaps of Averbode in Brabant, since the Dutch and French name of this abbey somehow agrees with Eberburd — Col. [ ] in a letter long enough and full of eulogies, asks St. Hildegard's prayers. She on the contrary exhorts him to feed his flock diligently, and to turn his eyes upon himself also. Another abbot, who had frequently dealt in person with St. Hildegard, whom he compares with the ancient prophets, Col. [ ] asks words of consolation with which she may raise him up as he is tossed in storms. But she through various figures exhorts him to watch vigorously, before, she says, the shadow of your death draws near. The provost of Flanheim, then of the Regulars, says Trithemius, of the diocese of Mainz, col.

1033, thus sets his entreaties before St. Hildegard. Meanwhile therefore let my devotion be acceptable to you, I ask: and, as I lately asked by word of mouth, pray to the Lord for me, that he may reveal to you the things that concern me, so that I may deserve to give thanks for the good, and for the evil to make satisfaction to God by worthy fruits of penance, before I die. The Saint admonishes him to be vigorously watchful and to correct his sheepfold, adding this at the end: O good soldier, now rise, since God's grace runs to you, and you shall live for ever, so that you may be a living stone in the heavenly Jerusalem. The prelate of the monks in Elvestat Col. [ ] complains of having received no reply to his letter, and asks St. Hildegard's prayers. But she, writing back, seems to disapprove something of scruple in him, and to exhort him to offer sacrifice, saying: You have confidence in thinking upon the Son of God: but yet you hesitate to break that food which you yourself wish to eat in your dictating mind, etc.

[129] prayers, The prelate in Selboth, formerly in the diocese of Mainz, Col. [ ] celebrating St. Hildegard with great eulogies, not only earnestly begs her prayers, but adds also this: For I do not doubt that you can obtain all that you shall wish from the Holy Spirit, the Dweller in your holy breast. But neither do I hesitate about this, that you know, by his revealing, my whole state and all things that are done about me, past, present and future, through these present letters. Whence, if in any way the worthlessness of my littleness presumes to ask it, prostrate with all my mind and body at the feet of your Holiness, I beseech that you would not disdain, concerning that same state of mine — whether by admonishing about things past and present, or by forewarning and making me wary about things to come and about the end of my life, if this be not contrary to you — to gladden my soul by your writings. St. Hildegard replied to what was asked, yet not to everything. But she suggests that humility is most needful for him, and adds this reason: Because God does not dwell in that dwelling which wishes to stand in itself: but he loves that house which does not know itself, and gives it the finest ointment. The provost in Herde Col. [ ] writes this to the Saint: What thanks, most holy Lady and Mother, shall we be able worthily to render to your goodness, who for the visitation of our monastery would neither regard the excessive weakness of your body, nor shrink from the difficulty of the journey, for the exceeding sweetness of your heart: and again by a repeated visit were zealous to gladden us. Then he begs prayers and a written reply. St. Hildegard, writing back, exhorts him to stand in his own place, as though he had asked counsel about changing his place, which perhaps he had done when she was present.

[130] The provost of the Augustinians of Hameln in the duchy of Brunswick, consolation, admonitions, who had once visited St. Hildegard, being wearied by long infirmity of body, asks the Saint's prayers and writings. And he adds this: I implore, most Holy one, that you send word, if it be lawful, of the end of my labors. The Saint set down an instruction and an exhortation to bear the infirmities of the body more bravely and steadfastly; but she does not mention the end of his labors. The abbot in Wadego (in Trithemius, in Wadegos: Wadegotiensis or Vadegotiensis is designated, of the Premonstratensian Order in the diocese of Trier), Col. [ ] vehemently desiring to see the Saint, begs her visitation, at least in writing and by prayers, if she cannot come in bodily presence. She sent a written Letter, in which she exhorts him to wariness and penance. So the provost in Underestlorf (in Trithemius, in Elversdorff), Col. [ ] in a brief Letter asking of St. Hildegard the help of consolation, is admonished by her reply to fear God, to use fortitude in feeding his sheep, and candor in his words. The provost of Erfurt in Thuringia Col. [ ] commends a familiar of his who was setting out for the love of God to St. Hildegard, whose prayers also he begs. St. Hildegard wrote back salutary admonitions, saying among other things: Cease from your sins, since God has not sold you into perdition, but seeks you in the lost sheep which was called back to life. Hartmann, provost of the metropolitan church of Mainz, Col. [ ] asks to be taught what in him displeases God, and how he may amend it, addressing the Saint in these words: For to you it has been granted with heaped-up happiness both to perceive wisely and to bring forth profitably. The authority of the dropping Scriptures has found a seat in you, abides with you, and makes of you an armory, etc. The Saint set down an admonition that he should flee duplicity and certain other vices, thus ending: But now pray and trust that God will not forsake you, and the dawn will come to you quickly in deliverance.

[131] Helderic, provost of St. Simeon of Trier, Col. [ ] begs St. Hildegard's prayers, and asking other like things. and celebrates her with a notable eulogy, part of which I subjoin: Drawing in the most sweet fragrance of your blessedness by the report of many and by the hearing of my own body, I have rejoiced and marveled at those things which have been told me… For who has ever read or heard that an unlearned or wholly unlettered woman breathed forth such utterances from the deepest abyss of divine secrets, and gave to the thirsty so great an abundance to drink from the rivers of living water? Truly wonderful is God, truly blessed is the Lord God, who alone does great marvels, etc. The Saint set down a serious exhortation to wipe away the rust of sins before the shadow of death comes upon him. The provost in Knechtsteden, of the Premonstratensian Order in the diocese of Cologne, Col. [ ] trusting much in the Saint, seeks a remedy of consolation, and desires to be taught in what order he may the more appease the offense against the divine Majesty. The Saint, writing back, exhorts to great confidence in God's help. Do you also, she says, trust in him, so that you may not blush to set all your works before him, and say, as a son says to his father when, having transgressed, he is rebuked, that he would not forget his own offspring in him. The provost of Bonn Col. [ ] declares a wonderful love toward the Saint, because, as he says, he himself had proved all that he had previously heard of her by report. St. Hildegard, replying, sends an excellent instruction, exhorting chiefly to contempt of the world, and thus beginning at once: O man, who love the world and who hold it in your will, in the grasp of your manners you are like a storm which is rarely clear, etc.

[132] Abbesses Several abbesses also had recourse to St. Hildegard, that they might obtain from her prayers, consolation, salutary admonitions and other like things. Among these first occurs Adelheid, abbess of Gandersheim in the duchy of Brunswick, formerly the Saint's disciple, who declares her affection, asks prayers for herself and for her flock, and promises that she will come to the Saint when time allows, that, she says, we may speak mouth to mouth, and hand to hand may work what is good; and so the ancient fellowship shall be made firm, which God who is charity confirm in us. St. Hildegard, writing back, exhorts her to serve the one God steadfastly. Another abbess of a place not named Col. [ ] likewise asks prayers and a letter of consolation. Her the Saint in reply exhorts to constancy and to confidence in God. The abbess in Wethderswinkele (in Trithemius, in Wekerswinkel; one should read in Wechterswinkel, and it was of the Cistercian Order in the diocese of Würzburg), col. 1058, desires to be taken into the number of St. Hildegard's daughters, and asks her prayers and admonitory letters, which, she says, for the love of God I shall always observe with a willing mind. To her the Saint replies thus: The living Light says: Dry sand is useless, and land which is broken up too much by the plough will not give right fruit… And dry land which is stony puts forth thorns and other useless herbs. So an unfitting abstinence, which has not a just measure and a right state, lays low the flesh of a man, because there is not given it the greenness of just refreshment: whence also the man grows dry. Where this is, surely there the winged virtues shall perish, namely humility and charity, of the fairest flowers; since excessive abstinence lacks the greenness of the virtues: but there grows a windy repute of uselessness, and there many terrors arise, as though they were holy, and they are not holy. The whole Letter goes on beautifully to treat the same subject. The abbess of Altena, col. 1060, complains of not having received a letter for a long time, and asks for one. The Saint replies by various parables, in which she exhorts to serve God bravely.

[133] several The abbess of St. Mary's of Regensburg Col. [ ] greatly congratulates herself upon her acquaintance with St. Hildegard, which she declares was for her salvation — nay, she hints that by her merits she was preserved when rushing into the moment of death. But the Saint exhorts her to patience, and admonishes her to beware of anger; and among other things writes the following: For in the time just past he (God) admonished you by chastising, and for a certain cause which I see in you he will yet admonish you concerning an evil habit which it is good for you to shun. The abbess in Koufungim (in Trithemius, in Kegsungen) Col. [ ] writes this to St. Hildegard: It has become famous in the mouth of all that that flying volume which was given to the prophet for food rests also in your mouth… But run about, hasten, rouse the Church — nay, the princes of the Church… For that you have seen a rod from the North watching over iniquity, we both rejoice and tremble: whence also we desire to receive your consoling letter, etc. To these things St. Hildegard makes no reply, but seriously admonishes the abbess about amending her life before death, which she foretells is not far off. In the spirit, she says, I truly tell you: guard your soul… Do this before the day of your death… For the hawk your enemy goes about, trying how he may wound your soul. Guard yourself from him by zeal for good works and by abstinence from sins, since your days have not long times, etc. The abbess in Gerbestethde (in Trithemius, in Gerbstedt) Col. [ ] begs St. Hildegard's prayers. Moreover I ask, she says, that you send me something from your books, always to be served with all devotion. The Saint wrote back, discoursing of Adam's fall and of the Incarnation of Christ, who repaired fallen man.

[134] The abbess of the Mount of St. Cyriacus near Erfurt Col. [ ] earnestly begs St. Hildegard's prayers for herself and her people. various But she praises not a little the said abbess's charity, yet seeks in her a more quiet mind. All things, she says, which you ask for your soul I will fulfill. Now cease from a restless mind, and take quiet to yourself. She admonishes her also not to break her body by excessive abstinence, adding this reason: I often see, when a man afflicts his body by excess of abstinence, that weariness arises in him, and with weariness vices entangle themselves, more than if he fed it justly. At length at the end she gives this consolation: I see your soul shining very brightly in a pure person. The abbess in Lubboldesberge (in Trithemius, in Lubbelsberg), Col. [ ] in affliction seeks consolation; and this she obtained abundantly. For St. Hildegard, praising her because she abstained from sins, subjoins this: Whence I see you as the glowing brightness of the sun through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and by no means an exile of perdition; but

looking upon the sun like an eagle through penance, which is a most sweet mother: and therefore God greatly loves you. Another abbess of a place not expressed Col. [ ] complains that she is much afflicted and endangered by the temptations of evil spirits. The Saint set down an excellent admonition, whose beginning I subjoin: O daughter of Adam, in a true vision I have been thus taught. Whoever does this, that he leaves the wills of his own body, he is likened to Abraham, who left his fatherland, and to the wise man who builds his house upon rock. For a man who in this earthly life cultivates another life is proved to have an angelic life, because the storm of this world does not move him, nor is he laid low by the terrors of diabolical deception. But as Abraham left his fatherland and obeyed God's precepts, so this man forsakes his carnal desires and obeys God's precepts through almsgiving and prayers and other good works, etc.

[135] The abbess of Bamberg Col. [ ] desires to be received by St. Hildegard into the fellowship of brotherhood, and to be strengthened by admonitory letters. from St. Hildegard The Saint, writing back, exhorts her to labor among her people and to keep her daughters under discipline. The abbess of the Old monastery of Mainz Col. [ ] addresses St. Hildegard thus: If you have recovered a little, my Lady, from your infirmity, I rejoice: but if not, I grieve with you from my heart. She asks besides prayers and a letter. The Saint replies: God's will had laid me low as it were in the sign of death, so that my soul sighed to depart from this world: but God's grace has now somewhat raised me up in a new gift. She adds that an affection of compassion is pleasing to God, and exhorts her to constancy in God's service. The abbess of Nussim (in Trithemius, in Nusia), Col. [ ] being much anxious, writes that she commits the cause of her soul to St. Hildegard, and asks a written reply. Her the Saint exhorts to penance and to doing good works before she dies. The abbess of Cologne Col. [ ] writes to St. Hildegard, whom she desired to have as a mother, after the manner of a daughter, that she might obtain consolation from her. The Saint set down a brief instruction, that she should be steadfast in good, thus beginning: Bear your burden firmly on the right path, and restrain your sheep as much as you can: and this is better for you than the various wandering of the mind. The abbess of Didenkirkim (in Trithemius, in Didenkirchen) near Bonn, Col. [ ] whom the Saint had earlier visited, earnestly asks for admonitory words. St. Hildegard wrote back an instruction long enough for ruling rightly and for correcting her own manners. I excerpt only a few things: For when a man feeds his flesh moderately, he has glad and gentle manners. But when he lives in excess of food and of banquets, he causes every harmful vice to sprout in himself. But he who wastes his body by immoderate abstinence always goes about angry, etc.

[136] ask. The abbess of Auturnac (in Trithemius, near Andernach) Col. [ ] inquires about various matters concerning the customs of St. Hildegard's monastery, premising these words: For by the testimony of many we have learned that very many things of the heavenly secrets, difficult and rare to the understanding of mortals, are divinely revealed to you to be written, and that whatever you are to do is ordered not by human deliberation but by God's teaching. Then she goes on thus: Another thing also concerning your custom has reached us: namely that your virgins on feast days use certain white veils for adornment; that crowns too, becomingly woven, are set upon their heads from above, and that in these, on either side and behind, angelic images are inserted, and on the front the figure of a lamb becomingly impressed: moreover that their fingers too are adorned with certain rings. All which things, as we believe, you direct to the love of the heavenly Bridegroom… Moreover — and what in all these things seems to us no less to be wondered at — that you bring into your fellowship only those notable and freeborn in family: at which we also greatly marvel, etc. Of all these things, because they seemed new, the abbess reverently asks the reason, objecting also some texts of Scripture. St. Hildegard wrote back a lengthy Letter, in which she gives reasons for the adornment of her nuns and for her practice of receiving only noblewomen, as may there be seen. The abbess of Crouchdal * (probably another than the one whose Letter I mentioned at num. 84, since in the one the name is indicated by H, in the other by A), col. 1082, with great zeal begs that St. Hildegard would show her in what manner she may appease God for her excesses. The Saint wrote back a long instruction, in which she commends many virtues, chiefly charity, obedience and humility.

[137] A certain nun, indicating her name by the letter G, Other persons once St. Hildegard's disciple but long and far removed from her — probably because she had been promoted to some dignity — declares her love toward the Saint in these words: Col. [ ] What I should write or what I should say to a Mother so singular and so most beloved in Christ, I utterly do not know; because the very force of love has taken from me all knowledge of speech — nay, even the wine of sorrow, with which your divine absence has made me drunk, has so afflicted me that it has bred in me a weariness not only of composing but even of living. For I would believe it better for me never to have seen you, never to have felt you so kindly toward me and bearing such motherly bowels, than that, separated widely by such great spaces of places, I should without ceasing mourn you as though lost. She subjoins her hope of yet seeing her, and earnestly begs her prayers. To these things St. Hildegard replies with great praise and consolation of that virgin, toward the end addressing her thus: But now I rejoice over you, because those things have been fulfilled in you which I heard and desired concerning you; and do you rejoice with me… And concluding: Rejoice therefore and be glad in your God, since you shall live for ever. A certain anonymous man, col. 1088, much excuses himself and asks pardon that he had not for a long time visited the Saint, not even by letter: and at the same time expresses her wonderful affability, saying: Indeed me, whom before you had known neither by voice, nor by dress, nor by face, nor even yet by report — as soon as I came, … you most kindly received for your own sake, and at once deigned to refresh me by the sharing of your conversation, which I count a great thing. The Saint sent back a brief instruction, in which she exhorts to contempt of the world. A certain Benedictine monk Col. [ ] begs prayers and a letter of rebuke, adding this reason: For I believe that by the Spirit through whom you see all things past, present and future, the secrets of my heart also lie open to you. Truly I have never seen a day sweeter to me than that I should come into your presence. For I would rather go on bare feet for the mere hearing of your words, etc. St. Hildegard, writing back, praises his good desires and instructs him that they may be purer, and that he himself may be strong.

[138] Another anonymous man Col. [ ] begs St. Hildegard's prayers in these words: religious I know that I have sinned; pray for me. I do not seek earthly gain, nor a transitory thing, but the grace of my God and the salvation of my soul. Succor me, etc. The Saint replied by exhorting to penance, of which she assigns five degrees. A certain brother Col. [ ] complains that he is burdened with sins and hemmed in by a spirit of blasphemy. To him St. Hildegard sends back an instruction, in which she says: Whence also a man who by the knowledge of good and evil remembers that he has sinned much, when he sighs toward God, is born again in God through penance. The dean of St. Martin's of Mainz, desiring to see St. Hildegard again, with great affection Col. [ ] asks her letter, by which he may obtain consolation. But she, being wont to write back things useful rather than pleasing, seriously exhorts to penance, and begins in this manner: From excessive food and from immoderate drinking of wine immoderate vices grow, and a man's flesh too often languishes, so that he can scarcely live. Another man set over a certain community Col. [ ] commends himself and his community much to St. Hildegard's prayers. But she, writing back, teaches by various similitudes what he ought to beware of in the governance of his own. A certain monk of Maulbronn * Col. [ ] asks of St. Hildegard that she send him something of heavenly admonition. And the Saint did indeed send him an elegant instruction, in which she excellently teaches that those who repent of past sins and who are zealous to amend themselves are kindly received by the heavenly Father of the household, but not the weary, who wish rather to murmur against their superiors than to amend themselves.

[139] ask and obtain various instructions. A monk of Ebra, of the Cistercian Order, Col. [ ] asking in a most humble letter prayers and words of consolation from St. Hildegard, received a reply of which this is the beginning: I see that God does not hide his face from you, but binds you with his scourges, as it pleases him. Likewise I see that a great light of God's consolation is to come into your soul and into the joy of your body, when he himself shall will it. She adds other like things; but admonishes him to flee certain useless things. A certain monk and priest Col. [ ] congratulates himself much that he had been kindly received by St. Hildegard, and asks the following: Concerning the other things, he says, which I discussed with you more privately, when it shall be opportune you will take care to assure me by writing. The Saint writes back a beautiful parable of three women, which she thus explains: Now, my son, attend to the first woman and her maidens… For the first woman is charity with her maidens, namely benevolence and largeness… But flee the wrinkled woman with all zeal… The wrinkled woman … is worldly love… But gather to yourself the merchant woman… And the merchant woman is philosophy, which established every art, and which found the crystal, that is faith, by which one comes to God.

* Crutendal

elsewhere Mulbrunnensis*

§ X. Certain Letters of St. Hildegard to Philip, abbot of Park, and his to her, from a manuscript: her dealings with St. Gerlach: other Letters given to the Saint later, with her replies.

[ ] Certain letters of St. Hildegard from a manuscript sent hither. Jean Masius, abbot of Park, of the Premonstratensian Order, near Louvain, in the year 1641 sent to Bolland three Letters of St. Hildegard to Philip, abbot of Park, and one of Philip to Hildegard, whom he had once visited. But since two abbots of Park were contemporaries of St. Hildegard, both of whom had the name Philip, I should with good reason doubt whether it was the first or the second Philip who had that exchange of letters with the Saint, had not this note been added to the Letters: This Philip was the second abbot of Park from the year of Christ 1142 until the year 1165, a man not only very pious but also learned. Whence he caused very many books to be transcribed on parchment in his own time, which are still extant now. Among these are numbered the Visions of St. Hildegard. That Philip was the first of the name, but the second among the abbots; whom, after the brief rule of another, Philip II succeeded, so that he as well as the first could have received letters from St. Hildegard. Further, concerning the Letters sent hither, Masius himself gave this testimony: Copies of the Letters set out above

of the Reverend Lord Philip, abbot of Park, to St. Hildegard, and of St. Hildegard to the same Reverend Lord Philip, have been extracted and copied out from a most ancient codex of our library of Park, and agree word for word with the originals. This I attest on this 10th of October 1641. Joannes Masius, abbot of Park. I shall give these Letters entire, because I know that they have not yet been published, and because they admirably display the Saint's prophetic spirit, by which she knew things absent and hidden. It is not altogether certain in what order they were written. I shall therefore recite them one by one in that order in which the context itself, such as it is, suggests that they were drawn up.

[141] It seems that Hildegard wrote first to Philip, sending to him a certain penitent woman, The Saint writes to Philip, abbot of Park, who had not confessed rightly, and to whom she had pointed out a sin that must be laid open, as will be plain from Philip's reply. Receive then, reader, this Letter: To Philip the abbot, Hildegard. O Father, who in all your negligence fear God, and who so love Him that you sigh to Him for whatever things are unprofitable, run to the Fountain of living water, washing not yourself only but also the other sick, whom you see wounded; and pour into them the wine of penitence, and cease not to anoint them with the oil of mercy. For in this you imitate Him who is the living fountain and the perfect wheel, who lays hold of sinners fleeing for refuge to the help of His mercy, and judges with a bitter judgment the wicked who contradict Him. But the circle of this wheel no mountain can touch, since its shadow is above all lofty things; nor can it itself be clouded over by any things lowest, since it surpasses all. For God lives through none but through Himself; whence He has neither beginning nor end. Therefore whoever shall flee for refuge to the help of His grace shall never fall away from the blessedness of eternal life; but anew, through the living God, the spark of salvation is stirred up, because He wills not the death of the sinner, but that through Him he should begin to live. Now then, O gentle father, who are in the stead of Christ, receive this woman, namely Ida, who has not yet perfectly disclosed her hidden wounds, and heal her thoroughly, and the rest who flee to you, with the medicine of penitence most diligently, so that you may live for ever in the wheel of the true Trinity. — This Ida, of whom mention is made, had either been with St. Hildegard, and was sent with this letter to abbot Philip, or had received a letter from Hildegard. Certainly the Saint admonished her concerning some sin that was to be laid open in confession, as is clear from the Letter of abbot Philip, which I subjoin.

[142] Philip, by the grace of God called abbot of the church of blessed Mary which is in Park of Louvain, who writes back to her concerning the woman to whom she had uncovered the sin: to H. of Bingen, venerable mistress of the handmaids of God, the good of eternal salvation. Believe, venerable Mother, believe, Beloved of God, that from the time when, by the report that heralds them, I had knowledge of your virtues, by which the divine Kindness made His handmaid wonderful, I have loved you; talk of you with praises was often on my lips, without pride[], and you were very often the meditation of my heart. Witness of this is the labour of the journey which I undertook, that I might see your venerable countenance — the mirror, that is, of your enlightened mind — and might speak with you mouth to mouth. Thanks be to God: I earned the sweetness of your presence, which I sought, which I had long greatly desired, and you did not deny to me, unworthy as I am, the fellowship of conversation with you. But I grieve that I yielded to my brethren who had come with me, and who suffered me to make no stay with you, as I wished. But I hope that I shall yet enjoy you in the Lord, whether in this present life or after it, being brought by your prayers into the pleasant places of paradise. Pray therefore, venerable Mother, pray for me who love and venerate the grace of God in you, and for the congregation of brethren and sisters which I have to govern, that the Lord may grant us peace and concord, may forgive our sins, and may make us persevering in His service. But concerning the penitent woman, Ida namely, I have obeyed your will, which I believe to be God's, imposing[] a penance for the sin which, at the Lord's revealing, you uncovered to her utterly. But since she is worn out with age, and has now for a long time been broken by the laws of penitence, I ask that, in such manner as you know and as you shall foresee to be useful to her soul, you would bestow on her that whereby she may be relieved.

[143] another Letter of Hildegard To this, I think, St. Hildegard replied by the Letter presently to be given, even though in it she says nothing about lessening or prolonging Ida's penance, because she probably wished to leave all that to the abbot's prudence. I subjoin the Letter, which contains excellent counsels. To Philip the abbot, Hildegard. The faith which a man has toward the Lord with a burning heart, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is exceedingly glorious, since in the embrace of love it embraces things invisible as though they were things which delight the sight. So also it is praiseworthy in you that, for the love of God, you have deigned to see and to hear me, a weak and unlearned form of woman. For a wind blew from a lofty mountain, moving by its blast a little feather in the presence of adorned citizens and of towers — a feather that had of itself no possibility[*] of flying save through the wind. Which indeed Almighty God took care to do for this reason, that He might show what He could work through a thing that would presume nothing at all of itself. But you who stand manfully in the office of the prophets, to which is joined the care of the apostolic order, extend to me the support of your prayers — to me whom you saw lying still upon the bed of my infirmity and set before you — that I may be able to remain in the grace of God, since, retaining no security in myself, I have placed all my hope and confidence in the mercy of God alone.

[144] a Letter to Philip: Now then, O father, who are in the stead of Christ, keep watch over the sheep of your congregation with the rod of God's commandments, whereby you may correct and rule them, lest they be lifted up into pride: which vice is like a city that is in no wise founded upon rock, and therefore is destroyed by falling, since it had no firm foundation. Sinners also, wounded by whatever crime, anoint frequently with the oil of mercy; and let them not stink in the evil habit of sins, like Lazarus four days dead; and raise up in all who are yours the horn of salvation, that is, of true humility (which virtue is compared to a cloud of sapphire colour, through which the sun shines mightily), herein imitating the true Sun, namely the Son of the Virgin, who in the highest humility came down to the earth, in which humility also He ascended to the right hand of His Father. Cut away from them likewise the evil habit of sins, and strive in this way to adorn them like a necklace with precious stones, that you with them, and they with you, may come together to eternal joy. And now may the grace of the Holy Spirit make you a lamp of true charity to Almighty God; who also, for the help which you now show to soul and to body, may deign to give you an eternal reward.

[145] a third Letter to the same. The remaining Letter of St. Hildegard to Philip was written back in answer to a question of his, who was in fear on account of a sign that had befallen him in the celebration of the divine offices, and about which he seems to have been much troubled. But this Letter would easily have taken away his fear. To Philip the abbot, Hildegard. O good and faithful servant of God, who in dread search out the cause or meaning of the sign of God lately shown, a thing which lies in the knowledge of the Spirit of God alone, who has no beginning and to whom no creature can be likened — hear what I answer to your question. That which befell you I see as a branch divided into many little branches. Wherefore it was not done for your sake only, but also for the sake of your subjects and for the sake of many others, that the hearts of those who shall hear it may be afraid, and may correct their negligences, and may celebrate the divine offices only with fear and reverence, lest they lie under[*] the judgment of God, or under the mockery of demons by the permission of God Himself. For I have seen that this too was done by a certain mockery of the spirits of the air, God nevertheless permitting it for the causes said above. Wherefore, sweet and gentle father, be not troubled; but give thanks to God, if on your account some who hear of it are corrected. And do not on this account put off any longer the exercise of the priestly office; but, cleansed by confession and penitence, be zealous to serve God in the celebration of Masses. Now therefore, servant of God, rejoice without trembling, and exult in the Lord, because God Himself loves you and will receive your soul. — Thus far St. Hildegard to Philip, abbot of Park.

[146] But since we are engaged with Belgium, it is agreeable to relate in this place The Saint has a vision of the future glory what intercourse St. Hildegard had with St. Gerlac the hermit, who in her time led a very austere life in the duchy of Limburg, about two Belgian miles from the city of Maastricht, and in the present diocese of Roermond, where there is now a convent of virgins of the Premonstratensian Order called Sanctus Gerlacus. The author of the Life of St. Gerlac, given at the 5th of January, writes at chapter 8 the following, to our purpose: There was at that time in the parts of Mainz a certain most holy virgin, Hildegard by name, that most famous prophetess of the New Testament, with whom God spoke familiarly, and to whom He showed heavenly secrets. She, consecrated to the Lord with the sacred veil by the hand of the lord Henry, archbishop of Mainz, of holy memory, though she had been taught no letters save only the Psalms of David, being instructed by the Holy Spirit, brought forth great volumes concerning the divine oracles and mysteries revealed to her… She through many courses of years illuminated the holy Church with the lamp of saving doctrine, strengthened it by Letters sent to divers persons, and made it illustrious by shining miracles.

[147] This Bride of Christ, therefore, while in true vision she saw after her wonted manner the King and Lord of lords seated on His throne, of St. Gerlac, to whom she sends her crown. and while surveying she went round the distinct ranks and choirs of the Saints who stood by Him, beheld among the most splendid choir of confessors a most shining seat, encompassed with inestimable beauty and wondrously adorned. And seeing it, and greatly marvelling at this, she learned, being taught by a divine oracle, that this glory and honour had been prepared for holy Gerlac, who visited St. Servatius at Maastricht in a daily pilgrimage. Being by this revelation assured of the merits of Bl. Gerlac, the Virgin of the Lord blazed, all kindled into a sacred love of him; and as a token of the perpetual fellowship and happiness which she was one day to receive together with him, she sent him the crown with which she had been crowned by the bishop on the day of her consecration: which crown, as witness of this matter, is devoutly preserved even now in our church. — Thus an author indeed anonymous, but nearly contemporary with St. Gerlac and still more with Hildegard, since in chapter 16 he relates that he dealt with a certain old man who had known St. Gerlac while he lived.

[148] There remain some Letters of illustrious men,

not yet mentioned, which I have deferred to this place because they were given in the later years of St. Hildegard, Rudolph, bishop of Liège, writes to the Saint, so that from them the studious reader may perceive that the remarkable fame of holiness and of heavenly wisdom, by which the Saint began to grow illustrious about the year 1148, was continued down to her death. Rudolph, otherwise Rodulf, bishop of Liège from the year 1168 to 1191, writes to St. Hildegard in the praised Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. 23, p. 547, being set in the greatest tossing of mind and body, because, as he confesses and as other writers agree, he had offended God by countless evils. He asks for the Saint's prayers and a written answer, to rouse him from the drowsiness in which he was, and that he might obtain at least the last dwelling of eternal rest. St. Hildegard wrote back, exhorting him to a good life and to the care of souls, and ends the Letter with these words: May God protect you, and free your soul from eternal punishment.

[149] Godfrey of Utrecht, Godfrey, bishop of Utrecht, at p. 548 declares his affection toward St. Hildegard in these words: Dearest sister, from the time when I first began to love you in the charity of Christ, never could the memory of you, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, fall away from my mind. For the power of God, which dwells in you, which works through you, which renders you more familiar than others to that Spouse who eternally saves all who hope in Him, compels me to love you. And since charity is poured out in your heart, I ask you, by that charity in which you abound toward all, that with all diligence and all effort you would be zealous to entreat God for me, etc. St. Hildegard set down in reply an earnest and sufficiently plain exhortation, from which I transfer some things hither: Do you also afford help to the people in the stead of Christ, lest you be like a trumpet which sounds and does not work. But be a good odour of virtues, that you may live for ever. And say: I will exalt Thee, my God, my King, and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever. For when you understand that you sit in an episcopal chair, praise God in all your ways, exalt Him in good works, and ruminate on His precepts by repeating them without weariness; kiss Him by faith, and embrace Him in good works; show forth your God Himself in a good manner of life, and magnify Him in His judgments as a just King, so that you may rule your people rightly and anoint them with mercy, and may not drag a hurtful crime after you — namely, that you should take a bribe in place of justice; and so call upon His name that in all these things you may have fear toward Him, since He is King, and do this all the days of your life, etc.

[150] the bishop of Prague, The bishop of Prague, whose name is indicated by the letter H, also wrote to the Saint. It was perhaps Henry, who certainly did not obtain the bishopric of Prague except toward the end of St. Hildegard's life; for no other bishop of Prague with that initial of the name was her contemporary. Whoever he was, he writes these things to the Saint: We glorify by magnifying our Lord God, by whose Spirit you are enlightened, and come to the aid of the tribulations of very many by consoling and relieving them; and you multiply the fruit of good work in the minds of many, the same Spirit working with you, as we have heard reported of you through very many tracts of land. Wherefore let your Holiness know that there is in us a great desire to see you and to enjoy converse with you in Christ; but the great difficulty of the distances hinders this from coming about. He then asks that she assist him with her prayers, and offer good counsels. St. Hildegard sent back an earnest admonition, in which she exhorts him to a greater constancy in virtue, both in prosperity and in adversity, and which she concludes in this manner: Now do you, O man, who go about in your ways through the streets of your changes, and do not ardently gaze upon your own medicine and another's; rise up, looking upon the Sun in right moderation, and flee not the light, casting it away through the harshness of iniquity, so that you may not blush when the supreme King examines your works in your bag; and you shall live for ever.

[151] Arnold I, from about the year 1170 archbishop of Trier, Arnold, archbishop of Trier, graciously declares his affection toward St. Hildegard by letters at p. 550, and testifies that he was promoted to the bishopric against his own will. Concerning this matter, therefore, he consults the Saint, writing thus: But because we know not by whose calling we are add: promoted to such a ministry, this above all inflicts anxiety upon us. If we knew it to be of God, we should believe that He who had begun a good work in us would also perfect it. And so he asks both an answer concerning these things and frequent instructions from St. Hildegard. He asks also concerning the possessed woman delivered on Mount St. Rupert, of whom I shall treat afterwards. But now let us hear what the Saint answered to the rest. She begins in this manner: You are a tree appointed by God, even as Paul says: All power is from God; because, according to the supreme Master, every power is named by the invocation of His name. Then she begins to give wholesome instructions, and earnestly admonishes him to beware of pride, of the greed of riches, of injustice, of vanity, and to embrace the virtues suited to his state. Then she adds these words: But I, as you bade, looked upon the true Light, and could scarcely behold the beginning of good works. Do you indeed work good works more zealously, that afterwards, by the grace of God, I may write more.

[152] Philip, archbishop of Cologne, at p. 550 addresses St. Hildegard thus: Philip of Cologne, Although diversity of places takes away the mutual sight and the desirable grace of conversation, yet a nearness of souls will always hold those whom the charity of Christ has joined. Whence it is most greatly desired by me that in this year, while the passage of my journey lasts, the long-desired grace of seeing you may fall out. But the sickness and frailty of your body has troubled and struck my heart and the hearts of many in our land who embrace you in Christ, always longing for the well-being of your life and for the eternity of true salvation. Then he praises the Saint as one poured over with the gift of the divine charism and as dwelling in heaven; and he asks that she search out of the hidden things of God, and send him words of admonition, according as God … shall have granted. St. Hildegard obeyed, and sent a sufficiently plain exhortation, from which it is agreeable to recite some things. But you, who by the episcopal office are called a shining star, and who shine with the name of the supreme priest, hide not your light, which is the words of justice, from those subject to you; since in your heart you often say: If I were to terrify those subject to me with words, they would find me burdensome, because I am not able to overcome them. Would that I could keep their friendship by keeping silence! And so it is not expedient for you so to speak and to do. But what then? Do not, on account of the episcopal name and the nobility of your body, terrify them with terrible words like a ravening hawk; nor strike them with dangerous words as with a club: but mingle words of justice with mercy for them, and anoint them with the fear of God, setting before them how perilous injustice is to their souls and to their happiness. Most certainly, most certainly, most certainly, in this way they will hear you. But do not mingle yourself with them through squalid and unstable manners, nor look to what may please or displease each one: since, if you do this, you will appear less than the rest before God and men; for such things do not befit your person. Having pursued these and other things more at large, she thus concludes: Now, O you father, who bear a pastoral name, do not disdain the poverty of the person who writes these things, since I have not dictated nor uttered them according to myself, nor according to any lofty[*] man: but I have written them in this manner just as I myself, waking in mind and body, saw and heard them in true vision; because you bade me write something to you.

[153] and Philip, count of Flanders. Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders, at p. 552 writes these things to St. Hildegard: Let your Holiness know that I am ready to do whatever I should know to please you, because your holy manner of life and most upright life has very often sounded in my ears, sweeter than all fame… Whence it is that I send to the grace of your Piety the bearer of these presents, my most faithful servant, that he may speak with you on behalf of me, a wretched sinner, although I myself would far more gladly have come to you and have spoken with you … but … I could not be free for this. For the time now presses in which I must set out upon the journey to Jerusalem, … concerning which may you deign to make known your counsel to me by your letters. He asks besides for the prayers of St. Hildegard, and her counsel, whether he ought rather to remain in the Holy Land, or after the expedition undertaken to return to his own people. The Saint wrote back to the count an instruction in which she exhorts him above all to justice. I transfer the last part hither: Do you also, for all your negligences and sins, and for all your unjust judgments, flee with the seal of the Cross to the living God, who is the way and the truth, and who also says: I will not the death of the sinner, but rather that he be converted and live. And if the time shall come in which the unbelievers labour to destroy the fountain of faith, then resist them (so far as you shall be able through the help of God's grace). For I see in my soul that the anxiety which you have concerning the straits of your soul is like the dawn that rises in the morning. Wherefore may the Holy Spirit make you a sun burning in pure and true penitence, that you may seek Him and serve Him alone, so that you may live for ever in the highest blessedness.

perhaps fastidio* (disdain)

perhaps injungens* (imposing)

i. e. potentiam* (power)

perhaps vel* (or)

perhaps alium* (another)

§ XI. The Saint frees her monastery from every burden: a possessed woman delivered there: on account of the burial of a certain man formerly excommunicated, the Saint's church is laid under an interdict.

[ ] The Saint acquires possession of her monastery, The Acts at nn. 9 and 10 testify that St. Hildegard, at God's bidding, brought it about that her monastery on Mount St. Rupert should be free of every burden, and that the abbey of St. Disibod should have no right over it in any temporal matter; but that as regards direction according to the Rule of St. Benedict it should be subject to the said abbey no otherwise than that the religious virgins should take their directors and provosts from that abbey by free election. Concerning these things St. Hildegard speaks thus in the little work addressed to the congregation of her sisters, printed after the Letters, p. 594: O daughters, who have followed the footsteps of Christ in the love of chastity, and who in the humility of subjection have chosen me, a poor little woman, for your mother because of the exaltation on high, not of myself, but from a divine showing, I say to you with a mother's heart:

That place, namely the place of the repose of the relics of blessed Rupert the confessor, to whose patronage you have fled, I found by evident miracles through the will of God for a sacrifice of praise, and by the permission of my superiors I came to it, and with divine help I freely drew it to myself and to all who follow after me. These things were done at the beginning of the foundation, with Henry, archbishop of Mainz, approving and confirming. For the Life at n. 10 testifies that the foundation was confirmed by him.

[155] But as to what the biographer adds there, that all things were confirmed also by archbishop Arnold, and vindicates its free revenues to it, who in the year 1153 succeeded Henry, I judge that this was done after the abbot of St. Disibod had wished to claim some right for himself over the goods of the monastery of St. Rupert. For then St. Hildegard, God bidding her and constraining her by sickness, did the things which she goes on to relate in this manner: But afterwards, at God's admonition, I made my way to the Mount of Bl. Disibod, from which I had withdrawn by leave; and I accomplished this petition in the presence of all who dwelt there, namely, that our place and the estates of the alms of our place should not be bound by them, but free — seeking nevertheless, in the fitting occasion of profit, the salvation of our souls and the care of regular strictness. And according to what I had perceived in true vision, I said to the father, that is, to the abbot of that place: The serene Light says: Be thou the father of the provost and of the salvation of the souls of the mystical planting of my daughters. Their alms belong not to thy brethren; but let your place be their refuge. But if you shall wish to persevere in your contrary speeches, gnashing your teeth against us, you shall be like the Amalekites and like Antiochus, of whom it is written that he despoiled the temple of the Lord. And if any among you shall say in his unworthiness[*]: We wish to diminish their freeholds — then I, who Am, say that you are the worst of robbers. And if you shall attempt to take away from them the shepherd of spiritual medicine, then again I say that you are like the sons of Belial, and that herein you regard not the justice of God; whence also the justice of God shall destroy you.

[156] And when I, a poor little form, sought with these words from the aforesaid abbot and from his brethren the aforesaid liberty of the place and of the freeholds of my daughters, and admonishes her daughters to remain peacefully in it after her death. they all established it for me with the permission of a written document. And all, both greater and lesser, seeing, hearing, and perceiving these things, had the greatest good will toward them, so that at God's nod they were even confirmed in writing. Whence let the faithful learn these things, affirm them, fulfil them, and defend them, that they may receive that blessing which God gave to Jacob and to Israel. — These things were done, as I have already said, in the time of Arnold, archbishop of Mainz, who presided from the year 1153 to 1160. Moreover St. Hildegard seems, when she wrote these things, to have foreseen in spirit that dissensions would arise in her monastery. For she sufficiently intimates that after her death it would not flourish in the same manner, and anxiously admonishes her daughters to beware of discords. I subjoin the Saint's words: But oh how great a lamentation these my daughters will have after the death of their Mother, since they will no longer draw the words of that same Mother of theirs; and so in groaning and mourning through very many seasons they will say with tears: Alas, alas! gladly would we draw our Mother's breasts, if only we had her present with us. Wherefore, O daughters of God, I admonish you to have charity among yourselves, as I your Mother have admonished you from my childhood… May the Holy Spirit give you His gifts, since after my end you will not hear my voice any more. But let my voice never be brought into forgetfulness among you, which has often sounded among you in charity… Whence, if anyone in this company of my daughters shall wish to make discord and departure from this dwelling and from spiritual discipline, may the gift of the Holy Spirit turn this away from her heart. But if, despising God, she shall nevertheless do it, may the hand of the Lord strike her down in the presence of all the people, since she is worthy to be confounded. Wherefore, O daughters, dwell with all devotion and stability in that place which you have chosen for warring for God, that in it you may obtain the rewards on high, etc.

[157] The free election of a provost or director, by a letter written I do not find that any further difficulty was afterwards created for St. Hildegard concerning the free possession of temporal goods. But the abbot of St. Disibod — whether it was that Helinger, or Helinger's successor, which I am unable to declare — raised a difficulty against the free election of the provost or director. St. Hildegard wrote on that matter to Pope Alexander III, the schism still lasting, so that that controversy must certainly be fixed between the year 1159, in which Alexander III was elected and the schism began, and the year 1177, in which the emperor Frederick submitted himself with his party to Alexander and ended the schism. I judge, however, that the affair happened either after the year 1170, or not long before that year, both because St. Hildegard says in her Letter that the Church had long laboured under the schism, and because in the writing just mentioned, which she composed when she was seventy years old, that is, about the year 1168, she makes no mention of that controversy. Having briefly observed these things concerning the date, let us hear the controversy itself from the Letter of St. Hildegard to Alexander III, whom at p. 540 she addresses in this manner: Now, O most gentle Father, I and my sisters bend our knees before your Fatherly kindness, praying that you would deign to look upon the poverty of a poor little Form: we who are now in great sadness, because the abbot of the Mount of St. Disibod and his brethren contradict our privileges and our election, which we have always had, and concerning which we must always provide with great caution, lest it be in any degree taken from us; because if they should not grant us God-fearing and religious men, such as we seek, spiritual religion would be utterly destroyed among us.

[158] to Alexander III, St. Hildegard obtains, Whence, my Lord, for the Lord's sake help us, either that we may obtain our election, or that we may freely seek and receive others, wherever we can, who may care for us according to God and our profit. Now again we ask you, most holy Father, that you despise not our petition, and also these messengers, who, admonished by our faithful friend, turned aside to us as they were seeking you; and that you would do that which they seek to obtain with you, so that after the end of this life, which now declines toward evening, you may come to the light that fails not, etc. — The Saint obtained what she desired. Alexander, however, did not write back to her; but he sent a Letter to Wezelin, provost of St. Andrew's of Cologne, in which he has the following: Know that it has come to our hearing on the part of our beloved daughter in Christ Hildegard, prioress of the Mount of St. Rupert at Bingen, and of the sisters of the same place, that, when they had elected for themselves a master and provost from the monastery of St. Disibod, as they had been accustomed, the abbot of that place would not grant [ ][*] which had been made concerning a person of his monastery, but has hitherto refused to assign that same person to them. Whence, since it is fitting that the aforesaid sisters be diligently provided for in those things which pertain to the salvation of souls, we command your discretion by Apostolic writings that, when you shall be applied to concerning this, you summon both parties into your presence, and, the reasons on either side concerning the election of a provost being more diligently understood, decide the case itself, justice mediating. And if the aforesaid sisters shall not be able to have a provost from that monastery, see to it that at least they have a suitable one from another. — The Saint seems to have received what she asked; and it is likely that the abbot of St. Disibod preferred to consent to the election already made, rather than to allow a provost to be chosen from another monastery.

[159] Moreover, on occasion of St. Hildegard's Letter to Alexander, I observe she who in the schism acknowledged Alexander as the true Pontiff. that the Saint in the schism adhered to Alexander the lawful Pontiff, even though the archbishopric of Mainz was then held by Christian, who adhered to the antipope and to the emperor Frederick, but afterwards submitted himself to Alexander. And concerning Alexander's lawful pontificate the Saint declares her mind thus at the very beginning of the Letter: O highest and most glorious person, who wast first established through the Word of God, through whom every creature rational and irrational was made in its kind: to thee especially that same Word, through the garment of His humanity, granted the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that is, the power of binding and loosing. Then she exhorts him to show himself ready in granting pardon to the schismatics, if they repent, writing thus: So do you also, O gentle Father, imitate the kindly Father, who received with joy his penitent son returning to him, killing the fatted calf on his account… And be the morning star that runs before the sun of day in the church, which, long confounded by the darkness of schism, lacks the light of God's justice. Do you therefore both rebuke according to the zeal of God, and anoint the penitent with the oil of mercy, since God wills mercy rather than holocaust. — This Letter, I think, gave occasion for the error of Trithemius, who in the Chronicon Hirsaugiense at the year 1150 places Alexander III among those who wrote to St. Hildegard; unless Alexander really did write to her, and the Letter has not been published.

[160] The Life, book 3, chapter 2, relates a long history of a certain noblewoman, When a noblewoman possessed by a demon in the monastery who for many years had been possessed by a demon, and had been led to various places of the Saints famed for their patronage, and yet was not freed from that evil before she came to the monastery of St. Hildegard, where the demon at last left the woman. This deliverance happened about the year 1170, as I gather from the Letter of Arnold, archbishop of Trier, mentioned at n. 151. For Arnold wrote to the Saint when he had not long been elected archbishop (some fix Arnold's election in the year 1169, others in 1170, which it is not necessary to investigate more exactly); and he asks the Saint about the deliverance of that possessed woman as of a recent matter, in these words: And we know that God, having wrought salvation in His holy place among you by mercifully freeing the possessed woman, has visited His people. Whence we ask most earnestly that you would write back to us the manner of the possessed woman's deliverance. To this St. Hildegard answered thus: But in her who was possessed we saw many marvels, which we cannot now set forth in writing; yet we knew that the diabolical blast failed from day to day until its departure, and that same woman was freed from the harassing of the devil; and she was then also seized by an infirmity which before she had not known in herself. But now she has received in full health the strength both of body and of soul.

[161] was freed by St. Hildegard from her malignant guest, being asked That woman seems to have been of Cologne, and to have been called Sigewize. Certainly the dean of the church of the Holy Apostles at Cologne knew her very well, and held her as a daughter, as we learn from his Letter to St. Hildegard, in which at p. 577 he writes these things: From the day on which it became known to us that you had gathered into the fellowship of your Beatitude our sister, nay rather our special daughter, the lady Sigewize, not only we, but the whole city of the men of Cologne, has been kindled at God's nod to the love of piety. Hence it is that now it is openly proclaimed by all through every border of our land: Behold the odour of the ladies of St. Rupert, as the odour of a full field which the Lord has blessed. Blessed therefore may you be of the Lord, you who upon your small and lowly hill have accomplished those works of piety which all the heights of the mountains and all the breadths of our valleys — we do not say could not — but neglected to accomplish. For we have very lately heard, as report gives out, that that ancient enemy has been cast out by your prayers. And if it is so, we beseech you to signify to us by writing back the manner and order of the casting out, so that we may rejoice with you and praise God together with you in perpetual devotion. The lady Sigewize herself also, as we know her more familiarly, so we greet more particularly, renewing the devout prayers in Christ that we promised, and looking for the same from her.

[162] The Saint attributes the deliverance to the good works of many. The Saint answered most humbly, attributing the casting out of the demon to the good works of many together, and beginning thus: God did His own work, but He did not appoint it in one manner only. Then she teaches that God directs the various good works of various persons to one end. Then she adds: So also was it wrought in this woman about whom you ask: for whom high and higher, small and lesser, said one thing with their labours and prayers, and cried out each in turn, according as the Holy Spirit taught them this office. For some laboured for her by sighs of mercy, and some by prayers and vigils; some also endured fasts and chastisement in their body; many too gave alms for her; and a very great crowd turned toward her with the help of whatever good each could do; and some accomplished this with great zeal and without weariness, and so all looked together to God for her, even as the day too completes its circuit. And now let us say together with praise: Glory be to Thee, O Lord. May the blessing of God in His grace be upon you, and upon all who were moved with mercy toward her, since the Lord Himself says: I will mercy, and not sacrifice. — These things were indeed glad; but now I shall relate others which could not but create the gravest grief for the Saint.

[163] [When a young man once excommunicated had been buried in St. Hildegard's cemetery,] In the time of the schism there were two contending for the archbishopric of Mainz: the one, namely the lawful one and adhering to Pope Alexander III, was Conrad; the other was Christian, intruded by the emperor Frederick, who nevertheless afterwards retained the archbishopric, and in the year 1177, when peace was made between Alexander and Frederick, Conrad yielding, Christian was confirmed by Pope Alexander, so that from that time he was the lawful archbishop of Mainz, and most closely joined with Alexander III. But Christian remained in Italy for some years after peace was made, and was present at the Lateran council, which was begun in the year 1179, on the 2nd day of March. Before that council, probably in the year 1178, a certain young man, who had formerly been excommunicated but had long since been absolved, was buried in St. Hildegard's cemetery. For this cause the prelates of Mainz, who administered that church for the absent archbishop, sent a command to St. Hildegard that she should order that body to be dug up, or else abstain from the celebration of divine offices in her church. How the Saint received that command she sets forth in a writing published among the Letters at p. 563, which has this title: To the prelates of Mainz, on account of the divine offices interdicted by them. That writing begins thus: In the vision which was fixed in my soul by God the maker before I came forth born, I have been constrained to write these things concerning the binding by which we have been bound by our superiors on account of a certain dead man, buried among us without cavil under the conduct of his priest.

[164] Whom, a few days after his burial, when our superiors had bidden us to cast the same man out of our cemetery, [but afterwards absolved; and when she did not obey the command to cast out his body,] being seized on this account with no small terror, I looked, as I am wont, to the true Light, and with waking eyes I saw in my soul that, if according to their command the body of that dead man were carried out, that casting out would threaten our place with a huge peril in the manner of a great blackness, and would encompass us round in the likeness of a dark cloud, such as is wont to appear before storms and thunders. Whence the body of that dead man, as one who had confessed, been anointed, and communicated, and been buried without contradiction, we neither presumed to carry out, nor did we acquiesce in the counsel or the command of those advising or bidding this — not that we hold of no account at all the counsel of upright men, or of our prelates, but lest we should seem with womanly savagery to do injury to the Sacraments of Christ, with which he had been fortified while he still lived. — In the Examination concerning the miracles, to be given below, at n. 6, it is said that he had been unjustly excommunicated, so that a suspicion arises that he had been excommunicated in the time of the schism, and perhaps because he defended the party of Alexander III, the lawful Pontiff. It is added in the same place concerning St. Hildegard, when that buried man was to be cast out: She signed his tomb with her staff with the sign of the Cross, and so his sepulchre could not be found thereafter.

[165] I return to the writing of St. Hildegard, who continues in this manner: the church is laid under an interdict. But when she had kept this for some time, But lest we should show ourselves wholly disobedient, we have hitherto ceased from the canticles of the divine praises according to their interdict, and have abstained from the participation of the Lord's Body (since by custom we frequented it almost every month). And while both I and all my sisters were afflicted with great bitterness over this, and were held in vast sadness, being at last pressed down by a great weight, I heard these words in a vision: On account of human words it is not expedient for you to give up the Sacraments of the garment[*] of my Word, which is your salvation, and which was born in virginal nature of the Virgin Mary: but leave for it must be sought by you from your prelates, who have bound you. The reason of this command is added. Then indeed the Saint adds: In the same vision also I heard that in this I was blameworthy, that I had not come with all humility and devotion into the presence of my superiors, to seek from them leave to communicate — especially since we were not held guilty by the reception of that dead man, who, fortified with all Christian rectitude by his priest, had been buried with the whole procession of Bingen without the contradiction of anyone. And so these things were divinely laid upon me to be announced to you, lords and prelates. I looked also upon this, that in obeying you we have hitherto ceased from the singing of the divine office, and celebrate it slackly by merely reading it; and I heard a voice proceeding from the living Light concerning the divers kinds of praises, of which David says in the Psalms: Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet, etc. — Here she goes on to set forth many things about sacred song, which she affirms is hateful to the devil.

[166] she sets forth her innocence to the prelates in writing, Then indeed she directs this admonition to the prelates of Mainz: Wherefore you and all prelates must busy yourselves with the utmost watchfulness, and, before you close by a sentence the mouth of any church singing praises to God, or suspend it from handling or receiving the Sacraments, you must first most diligently discuss and sift the causes for which this is to be done. And you must take care that you be drawn to this same by zeal for God's justice, not by indignation or an unjust motion of mind or a desire of vengeance; and you must always beware lest in your judgments you be circumvented by Satan, who drew man away from the heavenly harmony and from the delights of paradise. Consider therefore that, as the Body of Jesus Christ was born of the Holy Spirit from the integrity of the Virgin Mary, so also the canticle of praises according to the heavenly harmony was rooted in the Church through the Holy Spirit. But the body is the garment of the soul, which has a living voice; and therefore it is fitting that the body with the soul should sing praises to God with the voice… Those therefore who impose silence upon the Church in the canticles of God's praises without the weight of a sure reason shall lack the fellowship of the angelic praises in heaven — they who[*] unjustly despoiled God on earth of the beauty of His praise — unless they make amends by true penitence and humble satisfaction. Let those therefore who hold the keys of heaven strictly beware lest they open to them what should be closed, and close what should be opened; because a most severe judgment shall be made upon those who preside, unless, as the Apostle says, they preside with anxious care, etc. — I add no more from that writing, which is drawn out at very great length, because it has almost nothing further that pertains to this controversy; nay, since all that follows is moral, I suspect that it is not one work of the Saint, but that many things written on various occasions to the men of Mainz were added to this at the end.

[167] and urgently demands that the interdict be lifted, This writing of St. Hildegard is such that the administrators of the church of Mainz do not seem to have been able to refuse what she sought without remarkable hardness. For she not only came to Mainz to present the praised writing, but also wished to prove that the man buried in her cemetery had been absolved long before his death. Yet even so she could obtain what she desired only for a time, and only by the interposed authority of the archbishop of Cologne, and afterwards she was brought back into the same straits. All these things we have from a letter of St. Hildegard given to Christian the archbishop while he was staying in Italy in the year 1179, in which at p. 542 the Saint sets forth the affair in these words: O gentle father, when our prelates of Mainz had bidden us either to cast out of our cemetery a dead young man — one absolved long before his death for a year past, and fortified with all the Sacraments of the Christian faith, and buried among us, as I also before intimated to you in a letter — or else to cease from the divine offices, I looked, as I am wont, to the true Light; and in it God commanded me that he should never be cast out by my voluntary consent, whom He Himself had received from the bosom of the Church to be appointed to the glory of salvation; since a blackness of great peril would come upon us from it, in that it would be against the will of that Truth. For if this fear of almighty God had not stood in my way, I should have obeyed them humbly, and should have granted with a willing mind that the right of the Church be observed by whomsoever in your name — you who are our lord and advocate — they should have bidden to carry out that same dead man, if he had not been excommunicated.

[168] But when for some time we had ceased not without great grief and sadness, which at last she obtains, the archbishop of Cologne acting as patron. being constrained in the true vision of my soul by the supreme Judge (whose command I dared not resist), under the weight of a most grievous infirmity, I came to our prelates at Mainz, and set before them in writing the words which I had seen in the true Light, as He Himself commanded me, so that in them they might know what was the will of God in this cause. Seeking pardon also with bitter tears before those who were then present, I sought mercy tearfully and suppliantly. But when their eyes had been so darkened that they could not look upon me with any regard of mercy, I departed from them full of tears. But since very many persons were moved with mercy over us, although they could not help us according to their will, my faithful friend, namely the archbishop of Cologne, came to them at Mainz; and with a certain soldier, a free man, standing by, who was willing to prove by sufficient witnesses that he and the aforesaid dead man, while still living in the body, having both been together in the same excess, had likewise both been loosed a year ago, in the same place, at the same hour, by the same priest — the same priest also who absolved them being present, and the truth of this matter being made known by them — that same bishop, presuming upon you, obtained leave to celebrate the divine offices in security and peace until your return. — Thus far St. Hildegard to Christian the archbishop, from whom before that controversy she had received a most kindly letter, concluded by Christian at p. 542 in this manner: But know for certain that we are at your side in all your necessities, and are of use to you in all things, according as God shall grant. In the same letter he earlier addresses the Saint thus: And because we know you to be inspired by the divine Spirit, we desire your words of exhortation, etc. To this also St. Hildegard had replied by an excellent exhortation to the pastoral care, teaching that it belongs to a bishop to feed his flock.

[169] Nevertheless, whether the administrators of Mainz had been too much exasperated against St. Hildegard because she had in the time of the schism declared herself openly enough for Alexander III, or whether they took it too ill that she had not at once obeyed the command about exhuming the excommunicated man, Christian the archbishop renewed the interdict, at the instigation without doubt of the vicars of Mainz. [Then the interdict is renewed by the order of the absent archbishop, to whom the Saint writes as a suppliant.] For St. Hildegard, in the Letter praised before, after the words already recited, continues thus: But whereas, sweetest lord, we had the greatest confidence in your mercy, we received through those same prelates of ours, after their return from the synod at Rome, your letters interdicting the divine offices: which, as I trust in your fatherly kindness, you would never have sent, had you known the truth of this matter. And so, most gentle father, we have been set by your own bidding, in the former binding, with far greater grief and sadness. Whence in the vision of my soul, in which you have never troubled me by any word, I have been bidden to say with heart and mouth: It is better for me to fall into the hands of men than to forsake the commandment of my God. Therefore, most gentle father, I beseech you in the love of the Holy Spirit, that for the sake of the kindness of the eternal Father, who for the salvation of man sent His Word in sweet greenness into the womb of the Virgin, you would not despise the tears of your mourning and grieving daughters, who for the fear of God endure the tribulations and straits of this unjust binding. May the Holy Spirit pour it into you that you be so moved with mercy over us, that you also after the end of your life may obtain mercy for this. In this same Letter St. Hildegard begins with thanksgiving for the gracious letter which she had before received from Christian; and thence she says that confidence arose in her for laying the cause before him, subjoining these things: Whence, good lord, we your handmaids, who sit in the sadness of tribulation and straitness, cast down in the spirit of humility at your feet, open to you tearfully in pure truth the cause of our intolerable grief, with this confidence, that the fiery charity which is God may inspire you, so that with fatherly kindness you may mercifully deign to hear[*] the lamentable voice with which we, afflicted in our tribulation, cry to you. — Thus far St. Hildegard, whose Letter, if anyone rightly considers it, he will find no less strong than humble and suppliant. Truly I cannot but marvel that the Saint was dealt with so harshly; especially after the absolution of the excommunicated man seems to have been abundantly proved, through the care of the archbishop of Cologne. But that the studious reader may marvel still more, I subjoin the whole reply of Christian the archbishop.

[170] But he, replying, uses smooth words, Christian, by the grace of God archbishop of the see of Mainz, to the reverend and beloved in Christ lady Hildegard, and to all the brides of Christ serving God with her: to ascend from virtue to virtue, and to see the God of gods in Sion. Although in admiring and praising the power of God and the clemency of our Saviour we are by no means sufficient, nay altogether unworthy, yet, dearest Lady in Christ, diligently trusting in your support that we may be made worthy, we follow with thanksgiving Him from whom, as from the Father of lights, comes down every best gift and every perfect gift; who was worthily well pleased in your soul, and illumined it with His true and inestimable light, by whose grace going before and following after it was granted to your holy devotion to sit with Mary at the feet of the Lord, and to be free for visions of the Jerusalem on high. These manifest tokens of your holy manner of life and astonishing testimonies of the truth so hold our soul, dearest Lady in Christ, bound to your commands, not to say your prayers, that whatever we shall ever know to accord with your holy desires, to that we ought deservedly to incline the intention of our heart; hoping, and having the highest confidence after God in your Holiness, that we shall receive by the most holy fragrance of your prayers the grace of God going before and following after, and that this sinful soul of ours shall, by the intervention of your Holiness, find the clemency of its Creator at last pleasing to it. Hence it is that over the tribulation and affliction which the holy convent together with you endures from the suspension of the divine offices, we grieve with you the more closely, the more evidently we are able to weigh your innocence in this matter.

[171] [and orders the interdict to be lifted, the absolution of the buried man being proved.] But because it is established for the Church that the dead man buried at your church incurred in his life the sentence of excommunication, so long as it remained uncertain to that same Church concerning his absolution, it was too perilous for you meanwhile, on account of the statutes of the holy fathers (which are not to be evaded), to turn aside the outcry of the clergy and to overlook the scandal of the Church, until it be proved by the fit testimony of good men before the face of the Church that he had been absolved. Accordingly, suffering with your affliction from our inmost heart (as is fitting), we have written back to the church of Mainz in this manner, that, if by the truthful assertion of good men it be shown to it concerning the absolution of the aforesaid dead man, we command that the divine offices be celebrated for you; asking and earnestly beseeching your Holiness that, if by our fault or ignorance we have troubled you in this matter, you would not withdraw mercy from one who asks pardon; and that you would deign to entreat the Father of mercies, that He may restore us sound and unharmed to your holy sight and to the church of Mainz, to the honour of God and of your church, and to the salvation of our soul. May the Lord preserve to you health and holiness. — Thus far Christian the archbishop, a man adorned with many gifts of nature, but a soldier rather than a bishop. He had invaded the archbishopric of Mainz in the time of the schism, Conrad the lawful archbishop having been expelled, in the year 1165. From that time he was always occupied either with warlike or with political affairs, exercising from time to time the office not only of a commander but even of a common soldier. When peace was made in the year 1177 between Pope Alexander and the emperor Frederick, though St. Hildegard exhorted him in vain to come to his church, Christian nevertheless remained in Italy, occupied for the most part with warlike affairs; and in that very year in which he wrote the Letter here given to Hildegard, he was taken captive with the slaughter of his men, and was held two years in prison, and at last died in camp in the year 1183. These things may be seen more fully related in the Moguntiaca of Serarius, enlarged and printed at Frankfurt in the year 1722, vol. 1, p. 569. If that soldier-bishop made so much of the statutes of the holy fathers not to be evaded, he might have chanted them to himself the more rightly, the more evidently, as he confessed, he was able to weigh the Saint's innocence.

indignatione* (indignation)

add electionem* (the election)

* i. e. of the Body

perhaps quia* (because)

exaudire*

§ XII. The various journeys of St. Hildegard, and the places where she was, set forth. She founds the convent of Eibingen.

[ ] The Saint taught and admonished many also by the living voice: Not only by written letters did St. Hildegard endeavour to instruct Christ's faithful, and most of all religious and clerics, in piety, but she also taught by the living voice those who came to her. And that these were a vast multitude the Life testifies at n. 19, where the author says that from all threefold Gaul and from Germany swarms of people of both sexes flowed together to her from every side. Various examples of men of no common mark, who set out to the Saint from far-off parts of Germany, Gaul, and Belgium, have offered themselves to us in the reviewing of the Letters. We have seen besides that St. Hildegard was in various places, and everywhere gave wholesome counsels. Concerning these the Life at n. 44 has thus: Among these things this too is notable of her, that coming to Cologne, Trier, Metz, Würzburg, Bamberg, not merely driven but constrained by the divine Spirit, she announced to clergy and people what God willed; and at the Mount of Saint Disibod, Siegburg, Eberbach, Hirsau, Zwiefalten, Maulbronn, Rüdesheim, Kitzingen, Krauftal, Herde, Werden, Andernach, at the Mount of St. Mary, at Elsen and Winkel, she made manifest, according to what God had revealed to her, the things that pertained to the profit of souls. The places here named, and others to be added from elsewhere, show that the Saint undertook journeys long enough to various parts of Germany, so that without doubt much time was spent on those journeys.

[173] she makes an excursion into Franconia to various places, But it may be doubted whether St. Hildegard visited so many cities and other places one after another at the same time, or at different times, now setting out toward one region, now toward another. The second seems to me the more likely; nay, it is even certain enough that some excursions of St. Hildegard cannot be joined with the journey to Cologne and Trier. For from the Letter of the emperor Frederick, mentioned at n. 53, we have it that the Saint was certainly at Ingelheim with Frederick before the year 1159, and probably before the year 1155, and that she foretold to him there some things which had been fulfilled before 1159. Perhaps at the same time at which she had been at Ingelheim, the Saint set out into Franconia. For she had been there before the abbot of Ebrach wrote to her, of whose Letter I treated at n. 65. Manrique

however, in the Cistercian Annals at the year 1155, n. 4, judges that the Letter of Adam, abbot of Ebrach, was written about the said year, and this is quite likely; and it cannot be far from the truth, since the death of abbot Adam is fixed in the year 1161. Wherefore the Saint seems to have been in Franconia between the year 1150 and 1160, and consequently it is credible that at that time she was at Würzburg, and reached as far as Bamberg, which by its ancient name is called Babenberg in the Life. In the same journey also she will have visited the convent of Benedictine nuns of Kitzingen, which was situated a few miles above Würzburg on the Main, but was afterwards destroyed by the heretics, as Ignatius Gropp teaches in the Collection of Würzburg Matters, dissertation 6, n. 8, where he adds that that monastery is now inhabited by Ursulines. Of the Letter of the abbess of Kitzingen to the Saint I treated at n. 83.

[174] she comes to Cologne, and visits various convents, By another journey, probably, St. Hildegard made an excursion to the parts of Lower Germany, and came as far as Cologne. But she was at Cologne when Philip, who in the year 1167 or 1168 was made archbishop, was dean of that church. The journey therefore seems to be fixed between the year 1160 and 1167; for she also intimates at n. 92 that the Church had already been divided for some time — by the schism, I think, which arose in the year 1159 — before she foretold to the men of Cologne those things which may be seen at n. 90 and following. In the same journey she will without doubt have visited the convent of Siegburg of the Benedictine institute, which is in the diocese of Cologne beyond the Rhine, situated on the river Sieg, not far from the town of Bonn. In the Life indeed it is written Siberg; but that very slight change of the name ought to raise no scruple, especially since elsewhere it is frequently called Sigberg and even Siberg. The men of Siegburg followed St. Hildegard with a special affection, as a mother, as is plain from their Letter, of which I treated at n. 105. In the diocese of Cologne also is Werden, an abbey of the Benedictine Order, in Latin Werthina, Werdena, or Werda, which St. Hildegard is read to have visited. She went therefore much farther; for Werthina is on the borders of the county of Mark, and situated on the river Ruhr. And yet there was also another convent in the diocese of Cologne called Werda, situated on the Rhine two or three miles below Düsseldorf, where there is now a town commonly named Kaiserswerth, or Cæsar's Werda. One or the other the Saint will certainly have visited. On the plainly opposite side of the diocese of Cologne, and almost on the boundary of that of Trier, on the Rhine, is Andernach, otherwise called Antunnacum, where too St. Hildegard was on that journey. Near Andernach was a convent of women, whose abbess wrote to the Saint, as we saw at n. 136. Such a convent was also at Dietkirchen next to Bonn: for the abbess at Dietkirchen wrote to St. Hildegard, as was said at n. 135. And how much the Saint's presence there had pleased them is clear from the praised Letter. For the abbess, in Martène col. 1078, begging for counsels, uses this argument: For you set forth at a fitting time that I was strengthened by these things while you were present. Then she adds: Besides, if I dare not ask more, yet I will use the prayers of the Canaanite woman, who answered the Lord in the Gospel, saying: That even the whelps eat of the crumbs which fall from the table of their masters. With the same devotion of faith I ask you a second time that from your table, that is, from that vision in which you frequently see many marvels, you would set before me, who greatly desire it, a summary of the things said above, etc. Moreover from this Letter, as also from certain others, we have it for certain that more monasteries were visited by the Saint than those which are expressed in the Life. Whether also more of those mentioned in the Life belong to the diocese of Cologne, or to this excursion of St. Hildegard, I am unable to declare, since I do not find the situation of some of them with sufficient certainty.

[175] That St. Hildegard was at Trier in the days of Pentecost she goes on to Trier and Metz, we know from the Letter of the clergy of Trier to the Saint, praised at n. 93. But concerning the year in which she was there I find nothing certain. Brower indeed in the Annals of Trier, and others following him, judge that St. Hildegard came to Trier in the year 1160; but he assigns no reason or conjecture for that date. Wherefore to me the year is uncertain, and equally uncertain whether the Saint came to Trier before or after the journey to Cologne. Nevertheless, since at the end of the Letter to the men of Cologne the Saint says, For two years I was greatly wearied, that I might set forth these things by the living voice before masters and doctors and other wise men in certain greater places where their dwelling is — since, I say, by these words she intimates journeys of nearly two years, I suspect that within a two-year period the Saint came both to Cologne and to Trier, and to other places, so that in the space of two years she was frequently on the road, though from time to time she may have been able to return to her monastery. But, whatever be the case as to the time, this is certain, that St. Hildegard foretold to the men of Trier, as well as to those of Cologne, many things both evil and good. But what Brower believes, that those things were fulfilled in the schism by which in the year 1183 the church of Trier was divided for seven years, seems by no means to be admitted, except as regards the evils soon to come, which she had said would be only moderate. For she plainly enough intimates that the chief evils and goods which she foretold would come upon them long afterwards. Further, from Trier St. Hildegard could have set out for Metz. Certainly the Life testifies that she was at Metz; but I do not find what she did there by name.

[176] Among the greater cities to which St. Hildegard set out, she surveys some monasteries of the diocese of Mainz, Trithemius in the Chronicon Hirsaugiense at the year 1160 places also Mainz, of which the Life is silent. I do not doubt that she was at Mainz at some time, since she could pass through it on her journey; but whether she also made manifest there the things she did in other cities is less certain, owing to the biographer's silence. It is more certain that she was in various monasteries of the diocese of Mainz, and made manifest there the various things revealed to her by God. For this cause she was at the Mount of St. Disibod, where she had been brought up. But how much fruit of amendment she produced there by her counsels has already been said from the abbot's Letter at n. 112. In the same diocese is Everbach, as it is written in the Life, otherwise Eberbach, a Cistercian abbey, already often mentioned, and situated in the Rheingau. This the Saint could both easily approach, as being not far distant, and could utter her sayings there with fruit, since the monks of Eberbach made the most of her counsels, as is clear from their Letter mentioned at n. 108. The third convent of the diocese of Mainz, which St. Hildegard is said to have visited, is in the Life Rudenkyrchen, otherwise Rodenkirchen, as it were Red Church. It was an abbey of the Premonstratensian Order, and of the diocese of Mainz, as becomes clear from some Papal letters in Martène, vol. 4 of the Ampla Collectio, col. 468 and following: for these are addressed to the bishops of Worms and Speyer, and to the beloved son the abbot of the monastery at Rodenkirchen, of the Premonstratensian Order, of the diocese of Mainz. This had already been observed in the Gallia Christiana, vol. 5, col. 600, but the further situation of that monastery is not added there. St. Hildegard is said also to have been at Winkel, by which name I judge a monastery of the diocese of Mainz to be designated. Certainly on the bank of the Rhine in the Rheingau, between Bingen and Mainz, is the village of Winkel, which is sometimes called Vinicella in Latin. There was near there an abbey called the Mount of St. John, concerning which the Gallia Christiana, vol. 5, col. 582, may be seen. Whether there was also another monastery at Winkel is unknown to me.

[177] and there she founds the monastery of Eibingen. On the same side of the Rhine, only one mile from her own convent, St. Hildegard founded another monastery, and it is not to be doubted that she visited it very often. In the Acts of the inquisition concerning the miracles, at n. 8, this second foundation is briefly expressed thus: Besides, across the river Rhine, at one league's distance, she founded another monastery, where she established thirty prebends; that is, a revenue sufficient for thirty nuns. The name of the place, Hibingen, is expressed there at n. 3, and St. Hildegard is said to have gone to the village of Hibingen, where she had also founded a monastery, and in crossing the Rhine to have given sight to a girl who had been born blind, washing her eyes with the water of the Rhine. The date of that foundation I find nowhere expressed. In the Gallia Christiana, vol. 5, col. 654, mention is made of the monastery of Eibingen in the catalogue of the abbesses of the Mount of St. Rupert, who withdrew with their nuns to Eibingen when in the seventeenth century the convent of St. Rupert was reduced to ashes by the Swedes. This is asserted to have happened in the year 1632, and from that time the abbesses took the title of both monasteries, namely of the Mount of St. Rupert and of Eibingen, as is added. But the situation and foundation are there expressed thus: Further, this monastery of Eibingen, sacred to the memory of St. Giselbert, is situated in the Rheingau, next to Rüdesheim, toward the hills, raised up by Bl. Hildegard herself, and was always subject and united under the title of a priory to the convent of St. Rupert. Our elders, Henschen and Papebroch, were at Eibingen in the year 1660, and were most kindly received by the abbess who was then living there with her nuns, as Papebroch himself noted in his manuscript Roman Journey.

[178] she sets out into Swabia, and some St. Hildegard also made an excursion into Swabia. For among the monasteries which she visited two are certainly found in Swabia, namely Maulbronn, situated in the duchy of Württemberg and in the diocese of Speyer, commonly called Maulbron; and Hirsau, included in the same diocese, but situated a little farther in the Black Forest. Of St. Hildegard's coming to the convent of Hirsau Trithemius treats at the year 1160, and says that before her departure these words were uttered by her to the men of Hirsau: The divine Light greatly hates and detests the negligences of its sons, because no one rightly serves God who does not utterly drive from his heart the spirit of torpor and negligence. And therefore that Light, which can do all things, says to you: Consider your paths, and turn not aside from the right way, since Satan has demanded to tempt you; and unless you walk warily in the fear of the Lord, He will quickly and swiftly stir up for you a grievous disturbance in your midst. I would not deny that counsels of this kind were given by the Saint to the men of Hirsau; but I do not judge that the discord of which I treated at nn. 106 and 107 was foretold to them, because I am persuaded that this excursion of the Saint was undertaken later. I rather believe that what Trithemius subjoins concerning St. Hildegard's further journey is true, in these words: Departing from Hirsau, Hildegard, the most religious bride of Christ, sets out to the convent of Zwiefalten of our Order, and faithfully announced both to the monks and to the virgins of Christ then dwelling there the word committed to her by the Lord.

[179] These things, I say, I judge to be true, although that journey, long enough as it is, was probably not

completed she visits the places of that province, at a single stretch, and that perhaps she approached certain intermediate places. In the Life indeed that monastery is called Swifelden, not Swifaltem, as it is now everywhere called; but, after a diligent inquiry has been made, I think that by either name the same place is designated. And the convent of Zwiefalten, commonly Swifaltem, is situated in the diocese of Constance, and in the mountains of Swabia, on a twin stream running together and, a little lower down, some miles above Ulm, mingling itself with the Danube. Of the Letter of the abbot of Zwiefalten, who is written Zwinieldensis in Martène, I treated at n. 75. Of the Letter of the Prior and the monks, who are there written "of Zwiefalta," and of the letter of the nuns of Zwiefalten, I discoursed at n. 109. From those three Letters, and most of all from those by which St. Hildegard answered each of them, it is openly gathered that discipline in that double convent of men and of women had been much relaxed at that time, and that the monks and nuns themselves had sought a way by which they might be reformed. And so it can scarcely be doubted that St. Hildegard undertook so great a journey in order to restore the fallen discipline in that monastery. And that the men of Swinield, Swifeld, or Swifild are none other than those of Zwiefalten, of whom we are treating, I judge for these reasons. First, Trithemius, who saw all St. Hildegard's Letters, reckons among the abbots who wrote to her the abbot of Zwiefalten, and no other of a like name. Secondly, the same author teaches that the Saint was there, although the Life has it that she was at Swifelden. Thirdly, the convent of Zwiefalten was a double one, of men and of women. Such also was the one called Swifeldense, since both monks and nuns wrote to the Saint. Fourthly, I have searched much whether any abbey of Swifeld is to be found in Germany besides that of Zwiefalten; and I could find no other. Fifthly and finally, in the Spicilegium ecclesiasticum Germaniæ, part 3, p. 864 and following, some decrees are published which belong to the convent of Zwiefalten, in which I see the name of that abbey written variously in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: for at various times it is called Swifulda, otherwise Swiveltum, but more often Swifalten.

[180] On the same journey St. Hildegard seems to have come to the town of Kirchheim, and gives wholesome counsels to many: which is in Swabia in the duchy of Württemberg, now commonly called Kirchen. For that the Saint was there too, and foretold at Kirchheim many and grave things concerning times to come, is clear from what has been related at n. 98 and following. Further, from the beginning of the vision which the Saint fixes in the year of the Lord's Incarnation eleven hundred and seventy, it seems sufficiently proved that that whole journey of St. Hildegard into Swabia happened either in that very year 1170, in which she had had the vision there uttered in words and afterwards written down, or at any rate not long after. For the rest, if the inhabitants of the duchy of Württemberg are willing to consider attentively what St. Hildegard foretold at Kirchheim concerning the casting out of priests, and the cutting off of sacred places, and the taking away of the riches of the churches, they will see that the things fulfilled are those which she had said in the twelfth century would come to pass. Whether on that journey the Saint visited more monasteries is not established for me. There certainly remain others which she is asserted in the Life to have visited. But hitherto I have not been able to find in what part of the world these were situated, except the last one just mentioned in the diocese of Mainz.

[181] certain other monasteries surveyed by St. Hildegard: The first of them is called in the Life Crutendal, in the Letters Crouchdal. It was an abbey of women, and that in Germany, as the German name intimates. The Letter of the abbess at Crouchdal, in which she says that she saw St. Hildegard present, I reviewed at n. 84, and also a second, of another abbess perhaps [ ] of those monasteries is Herde. Bucelinus in the Germania sacra, part 2, p. 44, says that Herde is a provostship of the Premonstratensian Order. The same is written by Hugo in the Premonstratensian Annals, vol. 1, col. 816, praising Trithemius in the Chronicon Hirsaugiense at the year 1150, where he has "of the Premonstratensians" in the Frankfurt edition. But in the later edition of the year 1690, which was made more accurately with the types of St. Gall, it is called a provostship "of Regulars," and the place is written Herad, so that the matter is very uncertain. Nevertheless it is certain that St. Hildegard was twice at Herde, and that by a repeated visitation of that monastery she brought joy to the religious, as is understood from the Letter of the Provost to her, of which I treated at n. 129. The three later convents, concerning which I find nothing in the Letters, are thus expressed in the Life: At the Mount of St. Mary, at Elsen and Winkel. Of Winkel I treated at n. 176; of the others I have nothing to say.

[182] The Saint sets out for Paris and Tours. For the rest, to St. Hildegard's journeys, just now mentioned from the Acts and the Letters, there is added another, distant enough, into Gaul. This is altogether passed over in the Life. But the Acts of the inquisition into the virtues and miracles of St. Hildegard, at nn. 9 and 10, testify that she made a pilgrimage to the sepulchre of St. Martin, that is, to the city of Tours, and that on that journey she came to Paris of the Parisians, where she gave her writings to be examined, and, when she had returned from Tours to Paris, received them examined, as will be said below. That journey was undertaken in winter time, or at least in autumn, since she was at Paris on the Octave of St. Martin, that is, about the middle of November, whither she returned in the month of January. Of the year of that pilgrimage nothing is established; yet it is certain that it was undertaken by the Saint toward the end of her life, since in the year 1233 two witnesses were still living who were studying sacred theology at Paris when the Saint was there. And so, since between the year 1173 and 1233 there are sixty years, it is more likely that the Saint was there after the year 1173 than before, lest it be necessary to say that those witnesses were more than eighty years old.

§ XIII. The writings of St. Hildegard celebrated by the praises of many: an enumeration of the writings: some falsely ascribed to her.

[ ] How great was the fame of the divine wisdom of St. Hildegard while she lived, [Concerning the Saint's prophetic gift, or knowledge of hidden things, the persuasion was general in the twelfth century,] and how great the esteem of her prophetic knowledge, or of her knowledge of any hidden things whatsoever, we have abundantly seen from the Letters written to her. For I have reviewed more than a hundred and thirty Letters given to the Saint, and most of them from persons by no means common. And I have found all of them so remarkable for praises of her, that there is scarcely any which does not bear witness, or at least intimate a persuasion, that St. Hildegard knew those hidden things to which the knowledge of men does not commonly reach. The writers of the Life also give the clearest testimonies concerning the Saint's visions and her knowledge of hidden matters. There are added the Acts composed in the year 1233 for inquiring into the virtues and miracles of St. Hildegard: for in these again very many witnesses confirm that common opinion by their testimonies. At about the same time lived the writer of the Life of St. Gerlac, whose praise of St. Hildegard I gave at n. 146. She is called by him the most famous Prophetess of the New Testament, with whom God spoke familiarly. She is asserted, being taught by the Holy Spirit, to have published great volumes concerning the divine oracles and mysteries revealed to her, and to have illumined the holy Church with the lamp of saving doctrine, etc. From the Chronicle of Alberic the monk, who also flourished in the thirteenth century, I have already recited before some things concerning the holiness and the prophetic writings of St. Hildegard.

[184] In the same century also flourished Vincent of Beauvais, who in the Speculum historiale, book 27, chapter 83, writes the following concerning St. Hildegard: continued in the thirteenth century. About the same time there was in the parts of Germany a certain admirable Virgin of advanced age, on whom the divine power had conferred so great a grace that, although she was a laywoman and unlettered, yet being wondrously and rather frequently caught up in sleep she learned not only what she might pour forth in words, but also what she might dictate for writing in Latin, so that by dictating she composed books of Catholic doctrine. — Thus he, from another whom he does not name; and it must be corrected in this, that she is said to have learned her things in sleep, since she everywhere testifies that she was awake and with open eyes when she had her visions. Then Vincent subjoins: This was, as I judge, St. Hildegard, who is reported to have foretold many things about the future; to whom blessed Bernard of Clairvaux also is said to have written. — Richer, monk of Senones, a writer of the same thirteenth century, in the Chronicon Senoniense, book 4, chapter 15, celebrates St. Hildegard with this praise: About thirty years before these years (nay, about eighty) there was in the lower parts of Germany a certain enclosed Nun of most holy conversation and life, Hildegard by name, on whom God among other things had conferred the grace of prophecy. And, what is marvellous to say, she spoke and wrote in the Latin tongue, which she had never before learned. She prophesied indeed concerning the state of kingdoms and the outcomes of things to come; and thence she wrote out books with her own hand. She wrote also a book of medicine for divers infirmities, which I saw at Strasbourg.

[185] Yet not all Richer's sayings are to be admitted. For she wrote concerning the future Order of the Preachers and of the Friars Minor, who first began to be in our times. She said indeed openly that certain Friars would come, tonsured high, in a religious but unaccustomed habit, who in their beginning would be received by the people almost as God; and she foretold that they would have nothing of their own, but would live only on the alms of the faithful, and would not keep any of these alms for the morrow; and that so, content with such poverty, they would go about cities and castles and regions preaching; and that so in their beginning they would be held dear to God and to men, but that, falling away from their purpose, they would be held more contemptible. These things Hildegard is reported to have foretold concerning the Preachers and the Friars Minor, which afterwards their own deeds proved to be true. — Thus far Richer. But he deserves little credit in what he says of the Orders of Preachers and of Minors, both because everywhere in his Chronicle he shows himself angry with and hostile to the Preachers, and because in relating the institution of either Order he commits various errors, so that it is likely that he knew little of either Order beyond the malicious rumours of the crowd, which he seems to have eagerly snatched up. Certainly he declaims against the Preachers in various places in so improbable a manner that he has hurt himself more among the prudent than the praised Order. But whether St. Hildegard foretold anything concerning the origin of the Orders of Preachers and of Minors is wholly unascertained by me; nay, it is rather less probable, because I have not found it sufficiently proved in any other author. Yet I scarcely doubt that Richer saw that fictitious prophecy, of which we shall say more below.

[186] Her writings also by others I pass over the praises of writers who in the following centuries celebrated the prophetic writings of St. Hildegard, because no one can with reason doubt of the Saint's fame. Yet out of all I select two, because they testify that they themselves read the books of St. Hildegard. The first is Vincent, Prior of the Carthusians of Aggsbach in Austria, who, sending back the transcribed books of St. Hildegard, writes thus concerning them in the Thesaurus Anecdotorum of Bernard Pez, vol. 6, p. 356:

My most beloved father, some days ago I finished the sayings of St. Hildegard, which I could have finished sooner, had not the fathers of Tegernsee (it is an abbey in Bavaria) urged me not to burden myself with writing. To these sayings of Hildegard, from haste in writing, I paid little heed while I was writing. Therefore it will behove me to read them through anew. Nevertheless in writing some things clung to my memory, namely concerning the threefold time, that is, the womanish, the sharp, and the falling: the first of which, whose end I hope is at hand, has weakened the Church much, and more than can be believed. The second, namely the sharp or keen (elsewhere called by St. Hildegard the manly), will wondrously strengthen her, purging her from sinful humours through many labours and sweats. Of one thing I marvel and grieve, namely that from the hearing of the prophecies of this same Hildegard, or from the reading of them, I find no one who beats his breast, or who rends his garments, as king Josiah is read to have done on account of the finding of the book of the Law. But almost all neither approve her nor disapprove her… Written by brother Vincent at Aggsbach on the eve of St. Martin's, in the year 1460.

[187] then commended as prophetic. Trithemius, who writes of St. Hildegard in various places and in his different little works, says in the Chronicon Hirsaugiense: But we have not only read all her writings in the virginal books which are laid up in her monastery at Bingen, but have also had them copied out for ourselves, while we were still presiding over the monastery of St. Martin at Sponheim. In the same place, a little before, he speaks thus of the Saint's writings: And truly, so far as we can judge, her writings were not published by human sense or understanding, but rather wondrously poured in by the divine Spirit; and therefore they are not commonly understood by all, but can somehow be understood only by those whose pure mind has deserved to be united to God by love. The same writer praises St. Hildegard as illustrious for prophecies, for the little works she wrote, and for miracles, in the Chronicon Spanheimense at the year 1180, and in the Catalogue of the Illustrious Men of Germany, p. 138, and lastly in the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, book 2, chapter 119, and book 3, chapter 334. From this last place I transfer certain things hither: But holy Hildegard, the handmaid of Christ, boiled down for many years in the furnace of poverty and infirmity, the more she was afflicted in body, so much the more did she advance in mind. For by frequent angelic revelations she consoled the sickness of the flesh. Under her mastership the greatest discipline of the regular life flourished in the aforesaid convent, etc. He adds more, already sufficiently said before, and some things also less accurate, both in this place and in others; but those can be corrected from what has been discussed earlier.

[188] Trithemius also enumerates in various places the little works of St. Hildegard, The Saint's various little works, according as he had seen them in manuscript and had had them copied for himself. In the Chronicon Hirsaugiense at the year 1147 he begins to enumerate them in this manner: Of whose marvellous little works we have seen and read the following: On the Rule of our holy father Benedict, a brief Explanation, 1 book. This Explanation was printed with the Letters of St. Hildegard in the Cologne edition of the year 1566, p. 231, with this title: The Rule of St. Benedict explained according to St. Hildegard. Then it was reprinted in the Bibliotheca Patrum of Lyons. To Wibert, monk of Gembloux, an Answer upon thirty questions, 1 book. This book likewise was printed in the same places together with the Letters. The Life of St. Rupert, duke of the men of Bingen, 1 book. On the Life of St. Disibod, bishop of Ireland, 1 book. Both these Lives we have in a manuscript codex together with the explanation of the Rule of St. Benedict. Both also have been printed in Surius and in our own Work, the former namely at the 15th day of May, the latter at the 8th of July. Fifty-eight Homilies upon the Sunday Gospels through the circuit of the year, 1 book. This little work I have not seen, nor do I know it to have been published. Yet Trithemius reviews the same little work of Homilies in other places also, and in the praised Catalogue of Illustrious Men, p. 138, says of the praised Homilies: Upon the Sunday Gospels she composed 58 Homilies, very obscure, and intelligible (not) except to the devout and the learned. Perhaps by reason of their obscurity they have not been published. I return to Trithemius's enumeration. On the Sacrament of the Altar against certain heretics, 1 book. In the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, book 2, chapter 119, he says that this book was written against the Cathars, as the heretics of that time were named in Germany, called in Gaul Albigenses, who had not a few things in common with the Calvinists born afterwards. This book too has not been published, unless it be that very long Letter which we have among the Letters, addressed to the men of Mainz.

[189] Also a great volume, which she entitled Scivias, in part published, in which she disputes very subtly concerning the way of the Lord and of His Saints. This Work was published from the year 1513, and afterwards reprinted at various times. Trithemius makes no mention of the division of the Work into three books, but calls it a great volume. Yet it is divided into three books, and each book into various visions. Trithemius subjoins: Another volume also, which she entitled Of the Life of Merits, and divided into three books. This I think is unpublished hitherto. A volume of simple medicine, a natural and very marvellous work, 1 book. Another, of compound medicine, one book. Of these two books Trithemius adds in the Catalogue of Illustrious Men, p. 138: In these two she refers the marvels and secrets of nature by a subtle exposition to a mystical sense, so that such a woman could by no means have known such things except from the Holy Spirit. John Albert Fabricius in the Bibliotheca mediæ et infimæ Latinitatis, book 8, p. 779, writes thus of these: A book of simple and another of compound medicine are attributed to the same Hildegard by Trithemius; and there exist printed under her name four books of physic, of which the first treats of medicines from waters, earths, salts, and metals; the second and third from plants; the fourth from animals. They appeared at Strasbourg from John Schott, MDLXXXLI, etc. That those printed books are St. Hildegard's I should not dare to affirm for certain; but, since I have seen neither the printed nor the written books under her name, I had rather leave judgment on that matter to those who have been able to compare the two. Matthew of Westminster at the year 1292 also reviews some writings of St. Hildegard, and speaks of them thus: And a book of simple medicine according to creation, containing eight books, and a book of compound medicine on the causes, signs, and cures of sicknesses, all of which were received and canonized by Pope Eugenius in the council of Trier, etc. This last, which is drowsily asserted by various writers of all St. Hildegard's writings, is plainly false, because those books had not yet been begun when in the year 1148 Pope Eugenius approved the Saint's first writings, that is, part of the book called Scivias.

[190] in part unpublished, are enumerated. After the words given, Trithemius subjoins: A great volume, whose title is Of the Divine Works. This I think is unpublished; but it is inserted by Trithemius in four different places in the catalogue of St. Hildegard's Works, as also is the book Of the Life of Merits. Both are reviewed also by Matthew of Westminster in the place just alleged. Nevertheless Fabricius, praised just now, judges that those two little works are not distinguished from the three books of St. Hildegard's visions which have been printed under the title Scivias. Fabricius's reason is this, that Trithemius, reviewing the openings of the various Works in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, p. 281, attributes almost the same opening to the book Scivias and to the book Of the Divine Works. But neither is the opening which Trithemius recites altogether the same, and we shall presently see that those Works are most certainly distinct, and were composed at times far apart. Meanwhile let us go on with Trithemius, who adds: She composed a great volume of Letters to divers persons. In the Catalogue of Illustrious Men, p. 138, he adds certain other things, writing thus: To the clergy of the city of Trier (she wrote) one book on the coming calamities of the Church; to the men of Cologne also one book on the same matter. She foretells marvellous things in these, yet without determination of time. These have been printed among the Letters, and I treated of them in §7. She wrote also, at the petition of certain priests, one book of Exhortation to seculars; to her Sisters one book of Exhortation. This latter has been published with the Letters in the last place, and contains an exposition of the Creed commonly called St. Athanasius's. But the Exhortation to seculars does not seem to have been published. To the grey Monks, one book. This book has been published among the Letters, as also other things mentioned by Trithemius, except the songs. Of these indeed he adds: Divers songs, composed with a sweet melody. And in book 2 of the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, chapter 119: She composed many songs and canticles with a sweet and marvellous melody, concerning the vices and virtues, by way of dialogue. Of these, hitherto unpublished, we shall presently see more.

[191] Further, the more certain writings of St. Hildegard are reviewed also in the Acts of the inquisition concerning the miracles, The Saint's more certain writings enumerated there composed in the year 1233 and to be published below; and there it is added in what order and in how long a time each was written. In the same place at n. 9 we read of the first Work: Her book Scivias she completed in ten years — namely, she began it in the year 1141 and finished it about the year 1151, or in that very year, as I have already observed at n. 32, where more concerning that Work. There follow other Works composed in the eight following years, in this manner: She wrote the book of simple medicine, the book of the exposition of the Gospels, the Song of the heavenly harmony, the unknown tongue with its own letters: all of which she completed in eight years; which is more fully gathered in the approach (or preface) to the book Of the Life of Merits. Three little works are here reviewed as composed within eight years, that is, from about the year 1151 to 1159, of which mention is also made in the Life at n. 14. But I suspect that at that time also the book of Compound medicine was composed, and that perhaps by the carelessness of copyists the memory of it fell out in this place. Certainly in the same Acts, lower down at n. XI, it is reviewed along with the Saint's other little works, so that there is no doubt that she wrote out that little work also, as well as the book of Simple medicine. Of the exposition of the Gospels, never published, we have already treated sufficiently above. Of the Song of the heavenly harmony I observe this, that the words added to the song were unknown words, or of an unknown tongue, as the Life also has at n. 14. Whether the Songs which Trithemius above says were composed on the vices and virtues by way of dialogue are other than this Song, and whether these are with sufficient certainty St. Hildegard's, I leave to be judged by those who shall be able to consult the manuscript codices themselves. But I by no means believe that those Songs are St. Hildegard's which, concerning the sect of the Flagellant heretics,

have been published in Ignatius Gropp, in the Collection of Würzburg Writers, p. 122, in the Chronicle of Michael de Leone.

[192] The praised Acts, after the words already given, continue thus: Afterwards, in the five following years (that is, in the order in which they were composed. from about the year 1159 to 1164) she wrote the book Of the Life of Merits. But last of all she wrote the book Of the Divine Works in seven years, which is more fully plain from the approach to that book. And so this book seems to have been begun about the year 1164 and finished about 1171. But the enumeration of years given does not produce so certain a date that the last Work could not have been finished two or three years later. For she could, when one Work was completed, wait from time to time for many months before beginning another, especially since she wrote in the same periods many and sometimes lengthy Letters, and certain small little works afterwards inserted into the codex of Letters and therefore reckoned among the Letters. And these writings just now enumerated from the Acts, together with the codex of Letters, of which mention is made at n. XI, the convent confessed to be St. Hildegard's in that examination whose Acts we are praising, as we read at n. XI. Besides, when in the later years of her life St. Hildegard passed through Paris of the Parisians, in order to visit the sepulchre of St. Martin in the city of Tours, she gave her three chief little works to the doctors of Paris to be examined, namely the book Scivias, the book Of the Life of Merits, the book Of the Divine Works, as is said at n. 9. And they are said to have been in the hands of the doctors of Paris from the Octave of Martin to the Octave of the Epiphany, that is, for nearly two months. Then the examined books are said to have been given back through master William of Auxerre, who said to St. Hildegard: That it was the sentence of the masters that in them were not human words, but divine. Concerning this examination of the books, besides the part of the nuns, four sworn witnesses are praised, of whom two had studied at Paris at the same time.

[193] [Various little works once inserted into the codex of Letters, and published with them:] To these most certain little works of St. Hildegard there is added the volume of Letters, in which are contained also at least the following little works, enumerated above from Trithemius, namely: the Exposition of the Rule of St. Benedict; the Answer to Wibert of Gembloux concerning thirty, or rather thirty-eight, questions; To the Clergy of Trier concerning the coming calamities of the Church; To the men of Cologne on the same matter; the Exhortation to her Sisters; To the grey monks. The little work On the Sacrament of the Altar also seems to have been published among the Letters under another title at p. 117, where it is entitled To the prelates of Mainz, on account of the divine offices interdicted by them. For this begins, In the vision which was to my soul; which is the opening that Trithemius assigns to the little work On the Sacrament of the Altar in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers. Certainly in that little work to the men of Mainz the Saint discourses in various places on the Sacrament of the Altar. Besides the Letter to St. Bernard, which he places among the books, Trithemius just praised reviews a codex of a hundred and thirty-five Letters to divers persons, as also in the Catalogue of Illustrious Men. But in the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, book 2, chapter 119, he reviews among St. Hildegard's writings many Letters to divers persons, to the number of a hundred and thirty-six; namely, then reckoning with the rest the Letter to St. Bernard. And from this enumeration I gather that all St. Hildegard's Letters which that codex contained have now been published, except perhaps the last to the abbot of St. Disibod. For in the Cologne edition, besides the little works added, I find fifty-three Letters printed, reprinted in the Bibliotheca Patrum. Martène however published another eighty-three Letters of Hildegard, and omitted the last to the abbot of St. Disibod, if it was ever written. There have therefore been published from that codex a hundred and thirty-six Letters. But if any has been omitted there, that one which exists as the longest to the men of Mainz may be numbered among the little works.

[194] some Letters neither inserted into the codex nor published. For the rest, it is not to be doubted that the Saint wrote more Letters than those 136 inserted into the codex: for another has been inserted into the Life, and I have given three others addressed to the abbot of Park alone. Besides, Mabillon in vol. 2 of the Vetera Analecta, p. 548, where he enumerates the manuscript little works of Guibert or Wibert of Gembloux, to whom St. Hildegard wrote the Answer concerning thirty-eight questions, mentioned at n. 116 and again from Trithemius at n. 188, says that he saw several Letters of Guibert to St. Hildegard, and of this Saint to Guibert, which certainly have not been published, apart from one joined to the said questions. Mabillon also asserts in the same place that he saw a Letter of Guibert to Philip, archbishop of Cologne, by whose command he says he is obeying in writing the Life of St. Hildegard. Hence a suspicion may arise that the praised Guibert of Gembloux also wrote a Life of St. Hildegard. Nevertheless I do not judge that it was really carried through by him, both because Mabillon does not say that he saw such a little work of his, which he would have found as well as Guibert's Letters, and because no one has ever made mention of a Life of St. Hildegard written by Guibert. And so he may have meditated such a little work, but probably passed it over, because he understood that the Saint's Life had already been written by Godfrey and Theodoric, and perhaps for another cause also. But whatever the cause may be, from the unpublished Letters of Guibert and Hildegard it is abundantly clear that not all St. Hildegard's Letters were inserted into the codex and afterwards published. The same again can be shown from the enumeration of Trithemius, concerning which I shall observe something in the Notes to the Miracles at letter z. Probably some were not preserved because it did not seem worth the pains, others perhaps neglected for other causes.

[195] I find certain other things praised under St. Hildegard's name The Mirror of Times to Come, praised under the name of St. Hildegard, which are not hers. Thus Matthew of Westminster at the year 1292 praises among St. Hildegard's Works a certain Mirror of times to come, or Pentacronum (to be read Pentachronon), … in the title concerning new religious orders, and from it produces a good long passage, which he ineptly twists against the Friars Minor. But that Work is not properly St. Hildegard's, but was collected out of her Works by Gebeno, Prior of Eberbach, who flourished at the beginning of the thirteenth century and was nearly contemporary with St. Hildegard. Bernard Pez in the Thesaurus Anecdotorum, vol. 3, part 3, gives Monuments illustrating the history of the monastery of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria, and, reviewing the manuscript codices, at p. 629 has thus at n. XIV: The Mirror of Times to Come of Gebeno, Prior in Eberbach, or the Pentachronon of the holy virgin Hildegard. The codex is written in a hand of the fourteenth century. The Work begins: "To the honourable men, ever to be loved in Christ, Master Raymund the Scholastic and Master Reinher, canons of St. Stephen at Mainz, brother Selenus[], called Prior in Elerbach[], whatever a sinner's prayer can avail. The holy virgin Hildegard, foundress and mistress of the monastery of St. Rupert, etc." Fabricius in the Work already praised, p. 79, treats of Gebeno, and says that he flourished about the year 1220, and attributes to him the Mirror of times to come praised from Pez. Wherefore, if he had attended a little, he would not afterwards have attributed the same Work to St. Hildegard.

[196] Hermann Corner, a writer of the Order of Preachers, was composed out of the Works of St. Hildegard who flourished at the beginning of the fifteenth century, knew the praised Work of Gebeno very well, and admirably confirms what we have said. For in his Chronicle, published in George Eccard, vol. 2 of the Corpus Historicum medii ævi, at the year 1140 he writes these things of St. Hildegard, after an account of her birth not well set forth: She foretold many and marvellous things. But how great was the holiness of this holy Woman is shown in the Letter of Gebeno in the Pentachronon of St. Hildegard, where it is said: "The holy virgin Hildegard[*] and mistress of the monastery of St. Rupert, which is situated near Bingen — how great was her holiness and how great her merit with God and with men, I do not believe to be hidden from your charity. But if perchance you do not know, read the little book of her Life, read the divers Letters of the great ones of the earth sent to her, and especially of three Apostolic men, namely Eugenius, Anastasius, and Adrian, of king Conrad also and the emperor Frederick, of the patriarch of Jerusalem, of archbishops, bishops, abbots, and provosts; and then you can say in truth: God magnified her in the sight of kings, and the face of princes admired her. This holy Virgin wrote, God bidding, nay compelling, certain books, in which she prophesied some things very useful and necessary for our times, concerning the present state of the Church, and concerning things to come down to Antichrist, and concerning Antichrist himself.

[197] "But because few can have all her books, or read the things which she prophesied concerning times to come and concerning Antichrist in her three books, by Gebeno, Prior of Eberbach; namely Scivias, which she so named because it teaches one to know the ways, and the book Of the Divine Works, and the book of her Letters, I have collected them for the most part into this one little book, and, as best I could, have arranged them into five times. And whoever shall be willing to read those five times diligently and to distinguish them studiously, will see through, as it were in a mirror, both the present state of the Church, and all times to come, and the perils and the coming of Antichrist. Whence, if it please you, let this book be called The Mirror of Times to Come, or the Pentachronon of Saint Hildegard, that is, concerning the five times about which she prophesies in it. For penta is five, and chronos is called time in Greek," etc. — Thus far Corner from Gebeno's Letter; and he adds much concerning St. Hildegard, but less necessary for our purpose. But these things abundantly teach whose is the Work which Matthew of Westminster praises. Nevertheless the things which Matthew of Westminster brought forward are for the most part sayings and prophecies of St. Hildegard, but from time to time faulty, as the studious reader will be able to see, if he shall be willing to compare St. Hildegard's Letter to the men of Cologne, praised by us at n. 90 and following; into which some things also have been inserted from the Letter to the men of Trier.

[198] That Mirror was wrongly praised against the Franciscans. In the Letter to the men of Cologne I find nothing at all which can pertain to the Order of St. Francis, apart from these words: But certain congregations of Saints also, whose manner of life is holy, they — that is, the deceiving heretics who are foretold — will not be able to move. Now as the Order of St. Francis may deservedly be held to be one of those holy congregations against which the heretics should not prevail, according to St. Hildegard's foretelling, so also it seems to have produced some of those strong men whom St. Hildegard foretold would come in those same times, in her Letter to the men of Trier, in these words: And then strong men shall rise up, and shall prophesy, and shall gather together all the old and new things of the Scriptures, and all the discourses poured out through the Holy Spirit, and shall adorn the understanding of them like a necklace with precious stones. Through these and through others

wise men very many seculars shall become good and shall live holily. And this zeal for holiness shall not soon wither, but shall long endure, etc. These things, I say, fit the noble Order of Minors more rightly than what Matthew of Westminster brought forward without judgment or discrimination. But neither will the Franciscans be so fond of their own Order, I think, as not to confess that the same things fit certain other religious Orders as well.

[199] Oudin calls St. Hildegard's revelations illusions of the brain: Catholic authors who have published Libraries of writers have everywhere celebrated St. Hildegard with deserved praises. Even William Cave himself, though heterodox, in his Historia litteraria at the year 1170 praises the Saint in these words: Endowed with rare gifts of mind, and remarkable for excellent piety toward God and for zeal toward religion, she began to grow illustrious by visions divinely granted and by prophecies. He adds more, but without any disparagement. Nevertheless Casimir Oudin in his Commentary on Ecclesiastical Writers, vol. 2, Col. [ ] after the words of Cave just recited, goes on in this manner: She was famous therefore for many revelations, as they will have it, which among lovers of mystical visions and the devout simple are highly esteemed, but among grave men and men estranged from womanly simplicity are of very slight weight, of no merit, the purest nocturnal illusions of an empty brain: who think altogether the same, and deservedly, concerning all other visions of women of that kind, affecting especially the female sex, as the weaker. You see, reader, that Oudin makes nothing of the visions and prophecies of St. Hildegard, although by them she drew into admiration and love of her the Roman Pontiffs, emperors, other princes secular and ecclesiastical, very many bishops and abbots, doctors outstanding in learning, very many congregations of clerics and monks, and lastly almost the whole of Germany, and a great part of Gaul and Italy.

[200] But let us hear again the man who in his own judgment is wiser than all these. yet he praises a fictitious prophecy against the Mendicant Orders. After enumerating some of the Saint's little works, he speaks thus: Among the prophecies of Hildegard the most excellent is that which I have seen not yet printed, namely "The Revelation of Hildegard concerning the friars of the four Mendicant Orders". And presently: Which (prophecy), granted to me at one time by a certain Cistercian, transcribed from a manuscript codex, I admired for so clearly depicting the four mendicant Orders together with the Jesuits, who succeeded them even a long time afterwards. But he could not have written such things unless he had been blinded by his own malice and by hatred of religious men, whom he so stupidly assails. For either he wished to write only those things which he believed to be true, or else Oudin was zealous to calumniate without care for the truth. If the first, how could he judge that out of the purest illusions of an empty brain, such as he calls St. Hildegard's visions, the four mendicant Orders together with the Jesuits, who succeeded them even a long time afterwards, could be so clearly depicted? How, I say, could he believe that out of illusions of the brain men who were to be long afterwards were foreseen and their manners clearly described, unless he himself suffered foolish illusions of the brain? But if Oudin was zealous only to calumniate, how did he at least take no care to proceed warily, and not to join in a brief eulogy things that fight against each other? But in vain do I look for these things in Oudin: for he both wished to take away authority from St. Hildegard's revelations, and again wished to use her authority, even against her will, for defaming the Religious Orders; and he could not do both without fighting against himself.

[201] Now let us briefly examine each assertion of Oudin separately. But the visions of St. Hildegard are not to be held for illusions: As regards the first, that little faith is to be given to any revelations and visions whatsoever, especially those of women, he would find me less opposed in this matter, had he not exceeded measure, had he not wished to withdraw all faith from them too far, had he distinguished between visions and predictions approved by no one's judgment, and the visions of the most celebrated St. Hildegard and of some other holy women. For we know well enough that any visions whatsoever of women, being sometimes rather fantastic imaginations, are not to be admitted as true and divine revelations. But it is no less established that the spirit of prophecy is not extinguished in the Church, and that revelations truly divine are sometimes given, both of men and of women. And so he leans too far to the extreme, not only who gives faith indifferently to all visions, but he also who holds them all for illusions of an empty brain. Now if not all visions are to be admitted indifferently, nor all to be rejected, it must necessarily be said that a distinction is to be made among the persons who keep saying that they have visions. But if there is any person of the middle age concerning whom it is established, by the judgment of many and by other tokens, that she enjoyed divine revelations, that person is St. Hildegard. For that she was adorned by God with the grace of prophecy was judged by St. Bernard, was judged by Pope Eugenius III with the council of Trier, by Anastasius IV and Adrian IV, supreme Pontiffs; and these indeed passed such a judgment after a mature examination of her person and of her writings down to that time. To these there assented, through the thirty years by which the Saint afterwards survived, countless persons, and among them many doctors, bishops, princes; many likewise who had known the Saint from childhood; many who had often dealt familiarly with her. Since Oudin is willing to prefer his own judgment to the judgment of all these, he deserves indeed that we should laugh at the man's arrogance and pride rather than attend to his sayings, especially since he must be reckoned to have uttered them with the same levity with which he, an apostate, deserted his Religion and his faith.

[202] [and the fictitious prophecy against the Mendicant Orders shows too openly the calumny.] The Revelation of Hildegard, as Oudin calls it, concerning the friars of the four mendicant Orders, which he pretends to admire so greatly, and liberally adapts to the Jesuits also, as though there were no difference between the institute or the manners of the Jesuits and of the mendicant Orders, and as though the four mendicant Orders differed in nothing from one another, is an inept declamation, whose style so ill agrees with St. Hildegard that scarcely any other writing could be produced more foreign to her style. And the facts declared in that writing, or the manners of men there set forth, by no means agree with the manners of the mendicant Orders or of the Jesuits. I truly know not only no Order of those named, but not even a single man in any of the praised Orders, whose manners are such as are depicted in the said writing. Nay, so open is the calumny of Oudin, who lived long among Catholics, that I should be of more than womanly simplicity if I could believe that he judged the mendicant Orders and the Jesuits to be such as that insipid rag of a writing describes. Let Oudin have been perverse, let him have been of the worst sort, and for that cause have easily formed evil judgments of others; yet I shall not let myself be easily persuaded that he was so senseless that he could have written without lying that the manners of the mendicant Orders and of the Jesuits are rightly expressed in that writing, or that those Orders were foretold by the said writing. For the rest, that that prophecy was probably forged about the middle of the thirteenth century, and indeed against the Dominicans and Franciscans, when William of Saint-Amour with others began to assail the mendicant Orders; but that it was afterwards somewhat altered; and that it was not found in the monastery of Bingen, where the other writings of St. Hildegard are preserved — this our Elders have already observed in vol. 1 of March, p. 667, in the Notes to the Life of St. Thomas Aquinas.

to be read Gebeno*

Eberbach*

add fundatrix* (foundress)

§ XIV. The Saint's death to be fixed in the year 1179: her burial: her relics, after the destruction of the convent of St. Rupert, translated to that of Eibingen: miracles: a canonization attempted, but not completed: her name inscribed in the Martyrologies, and her cult.

[ ] The Saint's death is not to be fixed in the year 1180, Concerning the year in which St. Hildegard was translated to a better life, writers do not agree. Trithemius in the Chronicon Hirsaugiense at the year 1180 writes the following: In the fourth year of abbot Conrad, in the thirteenth Roman Indiction, on the day of St. Lambert, that is, on the 15th of the Kalends of October, dies the most holy handmaid of Christ Hildegard, provost and mistress of the nuns on the Mount of holy Rupert near the town of Bingen, which lies four miles down the river Rhine from Mainz, in the eighty-second year of her age. Whose body was buried with great reverence of the people in that same church which she herself had long before built from the foundations, before the high altar. Things agreeing with these concerning the age, the year of death, and the burial of St. Hildegard, Trithemius has in other places also, namely in the book On Ecclesiastical Writers and in the Chronicon Spanheimense. Trithemius's date, which certain other things intimate is not far from the true one, various writers have followed without further examination. But Pagi saw that Trithemius's date does not rightly agree with the Life of St. Hildegard, and therefore wished to correct it to the year 1178, writing thus at n. 8: In this year St. Hildegard, abbess (elsewhere named provost or mistress of the nuns) on the Mount of St. Rupert near Bingen in the diocese of Cologne (nay rather, of Mainz), passed to God. For Theodoric the abbot (rather, the monk), who flourished in the year 1200 (he would have said rightly, who was St. Hildegard's contemporary), says in her Life, last chapter, that in the eighty-second year of her age, on the 15th of the Kalends of October, she passed to the heavenly Spouse. He adds that this happened at the first twilight of the night of the Lord's day. Wherefore, since the 15th of the Kalends of October, or the 17th day of the month of September, falls in this year on the Lord's day, it is evident that Trithemius in the Chronicon Hirsaugiense, whom others everywhere follow, wrongly put off this death to the year 1180. — Thus far Pagi.

[204] But he shows rightly indeed that the Saint did not live to the year 1180, nor in 1178; but she died in the year 1179. because then the 17th day of September fell on a Wednesday, that is, on the fourth feria; but he does not equally prove that she did not die in the year 1179, in which the 17th day of September coincided with a Monday. For she is said to have died at the first twilight of the night of the Lord's day, that is, at the first daybreak toward the end of that night which follows the Lord's day, that is, on the day of the Moon, at the rising of the dawn, as I shall prove more fully in the Notes to the Life. This exposition is not violent, but is altogether necessary on account of other arguments. For from what has been said in § XI it is established that the Saint survived for some time after the Lateran council held in the year 1179, in the month of March. Besides, it is necessary also on another ground, because by another argument it can be proved that St. Hildegard certainly did not die before the year 1179. I show the matter in few words. From the preface to the book Scivias, St. Hildegard began to write in the year 1141, when she was forty-two years and seven months old. But if in the year 1141, even on the first day of the year, she had only forty-two years and seven months, she could not in the year 1178 be passing the eighty-second year of her age, in which she died, because thus she completed her eighty-first year on the 1st day of June of the year 1179 or later. It is established therefore that the Saint down to

the year 1179 survived; and further it is clear from what has been said that the eighty-second year of her age was only begun, or at least that she did not live beyond eighty-one years, and at most three months or nearly four.

[205] The body of St. Hildegard, according to Trithemius, was buried in the choir before the high altar. The Saint's body, buried in the choir, visited in the year 1489, And that there was a great concourse of the people to her sepulchre on the Saint's anniversary day the Acts of the inquisition testify at n. 5; nor is this to be wondered at, since both before and after her burial various miracles were done, asserted in the same Acts, or in the Life at n. 57. Further, I find no solemn elevation of the body. That was probably never done, because the canonization, though attempted often enough, was hitherto, as we shall see, not carried to its end. Concerning a less solemn visitation of the relics, Serarius in the Moguntiaca, book 2, chapter 38, writes these things: When I was staying there (on the Mount of St. Rupert), and was running through the volume (in which the Saint's writings are collected) of which I spoke a little before, I found these things noted: "In the year 1489, on the 17th day of November, by the commission of the most reverend and most gracious lord, the lord Berthold (archbishop of Mainz), there were sent the reverend and noble lord Wolfgang of Bicken, canon of the church of Mainz and vicar in spirituals, and the honourable lord John Bertram of Naumburg, doctor of arts and of sacred Scripture, who opened the relics of St. Hildegard: but without any written testimony concerning her canonization. Done in the presence of the noble and Devout lady Alheidis of Reiffenberg, abbess, and of the nuns and virgins, and of the noble and venerable lord Peter Nothaft, canon of Mainz," etc. The praised Serarius, whose Work was printed in the year 1604, had said a little before: In her convent of St. Rupert her relics are still preserved, and a great volume of her writings on parchment, as also of her Letters in the Rheingau monastery of Eberbach.

[206] [and, the monastery of St. Rupert being destroyed, carried to that of Eibingen with other relics.] But after the convent of St. Rupert was burnt by the Swedes in the year 1632, as was said at n. 177, the relics of St. Hildegard, and of St. Rupert and of others, were carried elsewhere, namely to the monastery of Eibingen, of whose foundation by St. Hildegard and of whose situation in the Rheingau I treated at n. 177. For our Papebroch in his manuscript Roman Journey, p. 23, relates that in the year 1660 he made an excursion with Henschen from Mainz to Eibingen. Then he adds concerning the relics seen there: And there, the abbess showing them, we saw most noble relics, the body of St. Rupert, … the whole body of St. Hildegard, who had founded for noble virgins the monastery on the Mount of St. Rupert at Bingen; which, having been destroyed by the Swedish wars, the virgins with their abbess had left, transferring themselves to this house of Eibingen subject to them, the whole treasure of relics having been wonderfully uncovered and preserved by the Swedes themselves, who were moved by nocturnal lights seen about the place to permit the Catholics to seek out and carry away the relics. There too was her garment, and her head covered with locks of hair growing grey from red; also a knife, as it were half a one, fitted with a hyacinth handle, given (as it is reported) to the holy woman by St. Bernard, together with a case made of buffalo hide. Among the books was a huge manuscript volume of parchment, in two columns, containing all the Works of St. Hildegard; but nowhere that fabulous revelation about the men who are to precede Antichrist, which, first cobbled together against the Dominicans and Franciscans, is in these times expounded of the men of the Society, and wanders through the hands of our calumniators with the applause of the ignorant crowd. — Thus far Papebroch. For the rest, I do not find that the bones of St. Hildegard were divided or given to others. But concerning hairs of the Saint held in veneration among the men of Trier, the Acts of the Miracles testify at n. 5. Gelenius also in his Colonia, reviewing the sacred treasure of the church of SS. John and Cordula, reckons among it at p. 445 something of the hairs of St. Hildegard.

[207] The Saint famous for many miracles, which cease at the archbishop's bidding: That the Saint was famous for many miracles both in her life and after her death, the Life and the Acts of the Miracles have; yet in these it is added at n. 10 that the miracles afterwards ceased, the archbishop of Mainz commanding that she should cease from signs, lest, namely, by the excessive tumult of the people flowing together to the Saint's sepulchre, the divine Office and the religious life of the nuns should suffer harm. Serarius, praised above, writes things conformable to these. For the rest, he says, the German little book of her life relates that so many miracles were wont to be done by divine power at those relics of hers that, on account of the vast concourses of men, the quiet of the virgins, and piety and religion in the church, were greatly hindered; that therefore the archbishop of Mainz came and commanded the Blessed woman herself to make an end of that kind of marvellous works; and that she, so that even in death she might teach that superiors are to be obeyed, obeyed; that yet of those miracles there were not a few either eyewitnesses or diligent and sure examiners, who in the year of the Lord 1233, on the 16th day of December, sent them to Rome fortified with their own seals, and sought from the Apostolic See that this Blessed woman be entered in the catalogue of the male and female Saints. The Acts drawn up to this end concerning the Saint's virtues and miracles, which we have already frequently praised and shall publish after the Life, abundantly confirm all the aforesaid.

[208] Further, that that examination was instituted and those Acts drawn up by order of Gregory IX, supreme Pontiff, Acts composed for the canonization concerning the miracles, we learn from the Ecclesiastical Annals of Odorico Rinaldi at the year 1237, n. 59. For there Gregory IX in another letter of his speaks thus of them: When our beloved daughters in Christ, the abbess and sisters of the monastery of St. Rupert of Bingen, of the diocese of Mainz, formerly besought us that we would take care to enrol in the catalogue of the Saints Hildegard, abbess of the same monastery, of blessed memory, who is said both in life and after death to have shone with many miracles, and had her books brought to us, which she is believed to have composed by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, since she had learned no letters besides the Psalter, we gave in our letters a mandate to the provost of the greater church, W… the dean, and A. the Scholastic of St. Peter's of Mainz, that they should more diligently inquire the truth concerning her life, manner of life, reputation, merits, and miracles, and generally concerning all the circumstances, through witnesses worthy of faith, faithfully sending back to us what they should find, together with the aforesaid books, under their seals. — Thus the Pontiff concerning his mandate, by force of which the praised Acts were composed.

[209] But since this had not been carried into execution with such accuracy as Gregory required in a matter of so great moment, but not accurately enough: hence Gregory IX orders another examination, by the letter just now begun to be recited he orders another examination to be instituted. For in that letter, given in the year 1237, he continues thus: The inquiry of these having been sent back to us, we found certain defects in it; for, whereas it is contained in the depositions of the witnesses sent to our presence that she had healed many possessed and sick persons, neither persons, nor places, nor times are designated; nor is it found in them what, or what things, the mistress said, although it is said in the same place that the greater part of the convent said the same as the mistress. Besides, whereas the mistress herself, being first questioned, deposed that she had done many signs, in the said depositions it is found that she[*] said the same as the other witnesses and the convent. Wherefore we command that, proceeding in the aforesaid inquiry diligently and providently according to the form delivered to them, you faithfully preserve, until our good pleasure, the things you shall find, distinctly and prudently set forth under your seals. Given at Viterbo on the 2nd of the Nones of May, in the eleventh year of our Pontificate. — Whether this mandate of Gregory IX was more exactly carried through, I find nowhere. Perhaps those former inquirers into the miracles had partly died, or had been promoted to other dignities. Of the witnesses also not a few could be lacking, since meanwhile four years had run out since the first examination, and very many of the witnesses were of advanced age. Whatever the cause may have been, of that repeated examination I find nothing.

[210] Innocent IV also orders another to be instituted: Innocent IV, Gregory's successor, in the year 1243 gave another letter to the dean, the scholastic, and another canon of Mainz, repeating the defects of the former inquiry, according to Rinaldi in the same place, n. 39, and adding the following: We command that, if you have proceeded in an inquiry of this kind, receiving one by one upon the aforesaid matters witnesses worthy of faith, and having their sayings written down just as each deposed by himself simply and in order, you be zealous to transmit that process to us under your seals. Otherwise, inquiring carefully into the truth through men worthy of faith concerning all the aforesaid, and concerning new miracles, if she is said to have done any, and also concerning her life, you are to have the sayings of those witnesses — whom you are to take care to examine one by one — written down with attention, just as each of them shall depose by himself before you purely, simply, distinctly, and in order what he shall know upon all the aforesaid, faithfully sending them back to us under the same seals. Given at the Lateran on the 8th of the Kalends of December. — What effect this mandate had I do not know; but certainly the cause of St. Hildegard was not carried to its end under Innocent IV, or under his successors through the whole thirteenth century; and thus the matter became always more difficult.

[211] the canonization attempted again in the 14th century, but never completed. Nevertheless in the fourteenth century the canonization of St. Hildegard was attempted again, as Trithemius relates in the Chronicon Hirsaugiense at the year 1317, writing thus: Pope John the twenty-second, at the instance of Peter, archbishop of Mainz, gave a mandate by Apostolic writings to Willichinus, abbot of Sponheim, and to certain canons of the church of Mainz, that, going to the Mount of St. Rupert near the town of Bingen, where the Nahe flows into the Rhine, they should make a diligent inquiry concerning the life, manners, signs, and miracles of the holy Hildegard, first foundress and abbess of the said monastery, … and should transmit by a faithful narration to the examination of the Apostolic See whatever they should find proved by the truth. The scrutiny of the inquiry being performed, the said commissaries found the life of the aforesaid Nun religious and most holy, and sufficiently proved by many miracles, both after her death and before; and, judging her worthy of canonization, they sent to the said Roman Pontiff the things necessary for the effect of the business. But the Pontiff, having diligently read over the testimonies sent to him, was not difficult about canonizing the Virgin, as I have been made more certain by an Apostolic writing, although he did not bring to effect a business desired by many. His predecessor also, Pope Clement the fifth, had before given commissaries in the same matter. — Thus Trithemius concerning the canonization attempted in the fourteenth century. But it became always more difficult, because at the mandate of the archbishop of Mainz the miracles had ceased, nor could witnesses survive to prove the miracles wrought in the earlier years after her death. And so the solemn canonization, which could easily have been made if the first delegates had proceeded more accurately in examining the cause, was never performed.

[212] The Saint's memory inserted into the Martyrologies from the 15th century, Nevertheless the martyrologists from at least the fifteenth century began to celebrate St. Hildegard, so that

it is likely that her cult was permitted, even though the canonization was not solemnly celebrated. The Hagenau codex, exhibiting the Martyrology of Usuard somewhat enlarged, and written out in the year 1412, has thus on this day in our Sollier's Additions to Usuard: In the monastery of St. Rupert at Bingen, of the diocese of Mainz, of holy Hildegard, nun and prophetess. In the same place the register of the Carthusian house of Utrecht makes mention of Hildegard the virgin. A longer eulogy was woven by Greven in this manner: At Bingen in the diocese of Mainz, the deposition of Hildegard the virgin, of holy memory, who in the time of St. Bernard the abbot spread the odour of her holiness far and wide, so much so that very many Roman Pontiffs, writing to her, commended themselves and the Roman Church to her prayers; and, though she was ignorant of the Latin tongue, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit she dictated in Latin to her secretaries all that she wrote. Molanus celebrates her with these words: At Bingen, of holy Hildegard the virgin, who in the time of St. Bernard the abbot spread the odour of her holiness far and wide. There is added Baronius in the Roman Martyrology, writing thus: At Bingen in the diocese of Mainz, of holy Hildegard the virgin. All who set forth the Roman Martyrology in various tongues have followed Baronius.

[213] In the manuscript Florarium Sanctorum, which was composed in the fifteenth century, and her cult probably begun about the same time. the following are had concerning St. Hildegard at the 17th of September: At Bruges (read Bingen) the deposition of holy Hildegard the virgin, in the 82nd year of her age, in the year of salvation 1181 — nay rather, 1179. Peter de Natalibus, bishop of Equilio, who flourished in the fourteenth century, gives a far longer eulogy of St. Hildegard the virgin, in which I find nothing to be corrected except the day of her death, wrongly fixed at the 10th of the Kalends of July. I omit that eulogy, however, because all that is said there has already been abundantly set forth. Menard in the Benedictine Martyrology has thus at this day: At Bingen, in the diocese of Mainz, of holy Hildegard the virgin and abbess. Wion at the same day: At Bingen the deposition of St. Hildegard the virgin and abbess, who in the time of St. Bernard the abbot spread the odour of her holiness far and wide. These, with very many others, give St. Hildegard the title of abbess, because she presided over the convent founded by her. Nevertheless she herself seems never to have used the title of abbess, nor have I found her called abbess by others while she lived; but frequently mistress of the nuns, elsewhere provost, elsewhere prioress. But those who after the Saint presided over her convent of St. Rupert were called abbesses. Bucelinus in the Benedictine Menology brings forward a compendium of most of her deeds, which can be corrected in a few points from what has been discussed in this Commentary. Concerning the cult of St. Hildegard, Trithemius in On Illustrious Men, book 3, chapter 334, writes these things briefly: Whose feast is kept on the 4th of the Kalends of October; but probably it should be read the 15th of the Kalends of October, that is, the 17th day of September. This cult I suspect was begun in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, because the name of Hildegard was then inserted into the Martyrologies.

perhaps tantum* (only)

LIFE

By Godfrey and Theodoric, monks.

From the Cologne edition and from Surius, collated with the Bödeken manuscript.

BHL Number: 3927

By Godfrey.

PREFACE.

To the venerable lords Louis ^a and Godfrey, abbots, Theodoric, humble servant of the servants of God, greeting with devout prayers.

[ ] I have received the command of your authority, that after Godfrey, Theodoric's Preface to the whole Life. a man of illustrious talent, I should reduce to order the Life of the holy and God-beloved virgin Hildegard (which he began in a worthy style, but did not complete), and, weaving as it were garlands of sweet-smelling flowers, should reduce her visions, inserted into her deeds, under a division of books, into the form of one body. This work seemed to me too arduous for my strength, nay even a thing to blush at, that I should sit as it were as a kind of judge and pass sentence upon another's work. When behold, it flowed into my doubting and anxious mind that charity supplies the strength which inexperience denies; and that it is better to bear ridicule with shame before men than to undergo the peril of disobedience. And so I obeyed in this manner, that the book of the aforesaid man, holding the place of first position, should suffer no loss of its own arrangement; then that the second book should contain the most beautiful and admirable text of the visions; and the third, the writing, arranged, divided, and ordered by us, of the miracles which the marvellous God deigned to work through her. Thus the glory of the preceding writer will not be lessened, and the memory of the readers will be stirred up to true wisdom, and to heavenly vision, and to divine virtue. For what good man will not rather be stirred with great affections to pant after everlasting life, by living holily and piously and justly, when he shall have seen a most noble Gem shine so remarkably with so many ornaments of virtues, namely of virginity, of patience, and likewise of doctrine? Therefore we have taken pains that the kindled Lamp of Christ should not be placed in a hidden place or under a bushel, as though it were to be concealed, but, being set upon a candlestick, should shine for all who are in the house of God, to be imitated by the shining examples of her life, words, and manners. But if in this matter the rashness of an unlearned man in obeying has sinned in anything, let the kindly charity of the lords who bade it be indulgent; and let it ascribe the whole fault to its own zeal, which willed to burden us weak men with the business of so grave a work. ^b

NOTES.

BOOK I.

Of the deeds of the Saint.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's birth, her childhood made illustrious by visions: the monastic life under Jutta her mistress.

[ ] While Henry ^a was reigning in the Roman commonwealth, there was in the parts of hither Gaul a virgin illustrious for the nobility both of her birth and of her holiness, Hildegard by name, born of her father Hidebert ^b and her mother Mechtild. And they, though entangled in worldly cares and conspicuous for wealth, yet, not ungrateful for the Creator's gifts, made over the aforenamed Daughter to the divine service, because already the premature sincerity of her early years seemed to dissent much from every disposition of carnal things. For as soon as she could attempt her first speech, she signified both by words and by nods to those who were about her the appearances of hidden visions ^c, which, beyond the sight common to others, she beheld by a wholly unwonted contemplation. When[] she was already almost eight years old, she is enclosed, to be buried together with Christ that she might rise with Him to the glory of immortality, on the Mount of St. Disibod, with a pious woman devoted to God, Jutta[], who diligently instructed her under the garment of humility and innocence, and, teaching her only the songs of David, showed her beforehand how to make jubilee on the ten-stringed psaltery. For the rest, beyond a simple knowledge of the psalms, she received from man no teaching of the art of letters or of music, although there exist not a few writings of hers, and certain volumes of no small size. But this it is readier to declare from her own words. For she says thus in her book which is entitled Scivias: When I was forty-two years and seven months old, a fiery light of the greatest brightness, coming from an opened heaven, poured through my whole brain, and so inflamed my whole heart and my whole breast, like a flame not burning but warming, as the sun warms a thing on which it lays its rays. And suddenly I had understanding of the exposition of the books, namely of the Psalter, of the Gospel, and of the other Catholic volumes both of the old and of the new Testament; but I had not the interpretation of the words ^d of their text, nor the division of syllables, nor the knowledge of cases or of tenses.

[3] But that I may return to my purpose, the Virgin of Christ, advanced[] by the vow of monastic profession and by the blessing of the sacred veil, grew, her outstanding virtues: her frequent sicknesses. and went from virtue to virtue, the venerable mother named above[] striving for and rejoicing in her advances, who saw with wonder that already from a disciple she was becoming a mistress and a forerunner along excellent paths. For there burned in her breast a kindliness of charity which excluded no one from its breadth. The wall of humility also guarded the tower of virginity: on this side a sparingness of food and drink was cherished by meanness of clothing; on that, a modest tranquillity of heart was shown by silence[*] and by fewness of words: all which necklaces of holy virtues, fashioned by the hand of the supreme Craftsman, patience the keeper preserved for the adorning of the Bride of Christ. But since the furnace tries the potter's vessels, and strength is made perfect in weakness, there were not lacking to her from almost her very infancy frequent and nearly continual pains of sickness, so that she very rarely made use of walking on her feet; and, while the whole substance of her flesh was flowing away, her life was a kind of image of a precious death. But as much as was lacking to the strength of the outer man, so much came to the inner through the spirit of knowledge and fortitude; and, while the body wasted, the fervour of the spirit glowed in a marvellous manner.

[4] And when, growing up for many years in her holy purpose, At God's bidding she begins to write her visions: she busied herself to please God alone, and the time was now at hand in which her life and doctrine should be laid open for the advancement of many, she is admonished from heaven, a voice being made to her, that henceforth she should not delay to write what she saw and heard. But while she trembled through womanly modesty, and through the vain talk of the crowd, and through the rash judgments of men, since she was constrained by a sharper goad not to hesitate to reveal the secrets shown from heaven, and at last, when she had lain down wasted by a long sickness, she opened with fear and humility the cause of this scourge first to a certain monk whom she had set over herself as master, and through him to her abbot. He, turning over in his mind the unwonted newness of the matter, although he knew that nothing is impossible to God, having called in the more prudent of the community, judged that what he heard must be put to the test; and, having inquired certain things concerning her writings and visions, admonished her to declare what God should give. As soon as she attempted the work of writing, which she had not learned, the accustomed possibility[] of her strength returning to her, she is raised from her bed of sickness. Then the abbot, having received assurance of the unwonted miracle, not content with his own judgment, saw[] that the matter must be brought to public knowledge; and, coming to the mother see of Mainz[*], he set forth before the venerable archbishop Henry and the chief men of the church what he had learned. He showed also the writings which the blessed Virgin had lately published.

[5] her writings examined at Trier and praised by Eugenius III. At the same time the Prelate of the holy Roman See, Eugenius of happy memory, having celebrated a universal council at Reims ^e, being called down[] by Adalbero, archbishop of Trier, was staying at Trier. It seemed good to the bishop of the city of Mainz and to the elders of the clergy that recourse should be[] had to the Apostolic one's cognizance, so that by his authority it might be known what of the things discovered was to be received or refused. But the Pope, of the highest discretion, astonished at the hearing of so great a novelty, since he knew that all things are possible to God, to investigate the matter more diligently

being eager, he directs to the convent, under which that same Virgin had lived[] enclosed for so many years, the venerable bishop of Verdun ^f, and with him Adalbert ^g the primicerius, and other fit persons, that without noise or the sharpness of curiosity they might inquire of her what the matter[] was. And when they inquired humbly, and she had simply opened what concerned herself, they returned to the Apostolic one, and, amid his great expectation and the great expectation of all who stood by, reported what they had heard. These things being recognized, the Pope orders the writings of blessed Hildegard to be produced, which he had received brought to him from the aforesaid convent; and holding them in his own hands, and himself performing the office of reader, he read them publicly to the archbishop and the Cardinals and all who were present of the clergy, and, pronouncing the answers of the men whom he had sent to search out these things, he stirred up the minds and voices of all to the praise of the Creator and to congratulation. There was present there also Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, of holy remembrance, by whose mediation, and by the striving of the rest, the supreme Pontiff was admonished not to suffer so remarkable a Lamp to be covered with silence, but by his authority to confirm so great a grace as the Lord willed to manifest in his time. To these things the reverend Father of fathers, as kindly as sagaciously giving his assent, visited the blessed Virgin with a letter of greeting, in which, leave being granted under the name of Christ and of blessed Peter to set forth whatever she should have known through the Holy Spirit, he encouraged her to write. And he honoured also the place in which she was cherished, sending in his own name a congratulatory letter to the Abbot ^h and the brethren of the convent.

NOTES.

in the Ms. cumque*

in the same, Juttha*

in the Ms. perfecta*

Ms. nominata*

Ms. pudibundi silentii*

Ms. potestate*

Ms. judicavit*

in the same, Moguntiam*

Ms. vocatus*

Ms. de his esse*

Ms. tegebatur*

Ms. quod verum*

CHAPTER II.

She founds a convent on the Mount of St. Rupert near Bingen, and dwells in it with her Sisters: she continues to be made illustrious by unceasing visions.

[ ] When room was lacking as the number of nuns increased, Therefore blessed Hildegard with most humble confidence opened the words which she had received neither from man nor through man, and poured out far and wide the fragrant good odour of so holy a repute. Then there flowed together[] to her not a few daughters of the nobility, to be trained under the habit of religion in the paths of the Rule. And when one single dwelling of the enclosure could scarcely hold them all, and counsel was already being turned over concerning transferring and enlarging their lodgings, there is shown to her through the Spirit[] a place where the river Nahe ^a flows together with the Rhine, namely a hill entitled from ancient days by the name of holy Rupert ^b the confessor, which he once had possessed by right of patrimony, and where with his blessed mother, Bertha by name, and with holy Wibert the confessor, he happily consummated his life in the work and service of God; and from his burial and his relics the name had clung to the place. And so, while the Virgin of God pointed out to her abbot and the brethren the place of her removal, which she had known not with bodily eyes but by an inward vision, and while they hesitated, because they took her departure ill, lest she be hindered from carrying through God's command she fell, as before[*], into a bed of long sickness, from which she did not rise before the abbot and the rest perceived themselves urged by the divine nod to consent, and no longer opposed, but strove for it as they could. Of whom Arnold, a monk from a layman, who by resisting with strong obstinacy seemed to encourage the rest to withstand, while he was on the church's estate, the farm of Weiler, was suddenly struck with so great a vexation of body that he despaired even of life, and could not keep in his mouth his tongue, which swelled beyond measure.

[7] He asked therefore by such signs as he could that he be carried to the church of holy Rupert; The Saint, on the Mount of St. Rupert, and presently, when he vowed there that he would no longer oppose but would strive for it as he could, his soundness being immediately recovered, he began to be a helper of those preparing the dwellings, and with his own hands to clear away the vineyards where houses fit for the lodging of nuns might be built. But she herself, for whose removal these dwellings were being prepared, while on account of the delays in carrying out the divine vision she lay utterly deprived of the use of her steps, and, like a rock of stone, could in no way be moved from the bed into which she had fallen, the abbot, not sufficiently believing those who reported it, came in to see. And when with all his strength he tried by himself either to lift her by the head or to turn her from side to side, and by trying accomplished nothing at all, being amazed at so unwonted a miracle, he knew that what was happening was not of human suffering but of divine chastisement, and that the heavenly decree must no longer[*] be opposed, lest he too should suffer something worse. But since the aforenamed place belonged partly to the canons of the Church of Mainz, and the ground with the oratory of holy Rupert was the possession of count Bernard of Hildesheim, an embassy being made through the intervention of the faithful, the foreseeing Virgin of God obtained leave for herself and her sisters to dwell there.

[8] builds a convent, being constrained by a marvellous sickness, Therefore, after a long failure of walking, when it had now been resolved on both sides that she should be sent away with her fellow sisters[] to the place which she had foreseen in spirit, the abbot, coming in to her as she lay afflicted, told her to rise in the name of the Lord, and to go to the dwelling divinely predestined for her. Then, as she rose more quickly than the word, as though she had felt nothing of weakness in so long a time, amazement and wonder seized all who were present. And not without reason, since the things also which had been seen to happen[] about her as she lay were no less astonishing; because, from the time she received from heaven the command to change her place, as often as the matter seemed to be tending to effect, so often did she feel a relief of suffering in her body; and, the case being reversed, as often as the business was seen to be made void by the contradiction of those who opposed, so often did she, though absent, labour under a heavier burden. Sometimes rising suddenly from her couch, and walking through all the corners and dwellings of the enclosure, she could not speak at all; and again returning to her bed, her step failing, she spoke as before. With which kind of sickness she laboured not only then; but as often as she had by womanly trembling delayed or doubted to carry through the business of the will on high, she received this argument of certitude in herself.

[9] and dwells in it with her nuns, At length therefore the Handmaid of God, departing with eighteen maidens holy to God[] from the place of her former dwelling, as much of grief and mourning as she left behind to those whom she was forsaking, so much of joy and exultation did she bring to the region to which she was coming. For there were there from the town of Bingen[] and the neighbouring farms many of the honourable, and no small multitude of the common people, who received her with great dancing and divine praises. But she, entering with her own (nay rather, with Christ's) little flock the place prepared for her, magnified with devout alacrity of heart the divine wisdom which orders all things, and cherished with motherly affection the holy virgins committed to her keeping, and did not cease prudently to steep them in the institutes of the Rule. And lest she should seem to have invaded or to occupy a possession under another's right, out of the gifts of the faithful, which they brought led by the fame of her name, she obtained the place of her dwelling from the aforesaid proprietors, partly by a price given, partly by an exchange made. And because she received it free, she appointed that it should remain free for ever; so that, being subject only to the patronage of the church of Mainz, it should have no other defender than the archbishop of that see, lest, if it took a lay advocate, it should seem to bring a wolf into the sheepfold — by which almost universal disease very many churches throughout the world are harassed and laid waste. Toward the prelates of the convent from which she had removed she retained for herself and her daughters only this much of subjection, that what things had to be sought concerning spiritual matters, that is, concerning the tenor of the order and the profession of monastic life, they should receive from them rather than from elsewhere; and that, as the matter and the time should require, they should receive priests from that convent, whom they should have sought by name by their own and free election ^c; who should support them both in the care of souls and in the carrying out of the divine offices, and in the procuring of temporal things.

[10] All which things were decreed and confirmed not only by the permission but also by the counsel of the venerable Henry and Arnold ^d, archbishops of the metropolis of Mainz, and places it under the protection of the archbishop alone. and also by their writings with the consent of the abbots; and lest the church of St. Disibod should usurp to itself any power over the estates of St. Rupert, it was forbidden by the authority of privileges, nay, to speak more closely, by the interdict of the supreme Godhead: since indeed this same Virgin, while she knew by an inward revelation that she must go for such a business to that same convent, and was held back by a certain trembling after the manner of the prophet Jonah, being touched by the scourge of divine chastisement, was sick almost unto death. Admonished by this stroke, she had herself carried into the oratory, and there vowed that she would go where God bade, if the chastisement should cease. Then she asked to be set upon a horse and led along, supported by hands; and as soon as she had been led a very little way on the road, her strength being recovered, she went forward rejoicing. And coming to the Mount of the aforenamed confessor, she set forth why[] she had been compelled to come, and released the place of her dwelling, with the freeholds belonging to her, from those[] brethren of the convent, leaving to them a very great portion of the possessions which had been handed over to her with the sisters received, and moreover no small quantity of money, that no ground anywhere might be left for a just complaint.

[11] But, that I may take up again the things which the order of the narrative requires, She was so given to contemplation, blessed Hildegard, although she bore in herself the frequent pains of Leah ^e in travail, nonetheless fed the clear eyes of lovely Rachel with the light of inward contemplation; and whatever

she had looked upon inwardly, she laid open in words and writings, as she knew to be expedient. Of which kind of contemplation or manner of seeing (which is known to be very rare, and to have been unknown in this shadow of mortality even to many of the most excellent Saints) the matter demands that some things be said[], so that it may be known chiefly from her own words, so far as she herself was able to lay it open. For she says thus in the letter by which she wrote back to Wibert, monk of Gembloux ^f, who was inquiring concerning those things which he had heard of her by the report of fame: God (she says) works where He wills, to the glory of His own name, and not of earthly man. I indeed[] have a trembling fear, since I know in myself no security of any possibility. But I stretch out my hands to God, that I may be upheld by Him like a feather which lacks all weight of strength and which flies by the wind; nor can I perfectly know the things which I see, so long as I am in bodily office and invisible[*] in soul, since in these two there is a defect in man. But from my infancy, when my bones and sinews and veins were not yet strengthened, I always see this vision in my soul down to the present time, though I am now more than seventy years old; and my soul, as God wills, ascends in this vision upward into the height of the firmament, and into the changing of the divers air, and spreads itself out among divers peoples, although they be in far-off regions and places remote from me. And because I see these things in such a manner in my soul, therefore I behold them also according to the changing of the clouds and of other creatures. But these things I neither see with outward eyes, nor hear with outward ears, nor perceive by the thoughts of my heart, nor by any bringing together of my five senses; but only in my soul, with my outward eyes open, so that I have never suffered in them the defect of ecstasy, but I see them waking, by day and by night.

[12] [so that with it, and with unceasing visions, she nevertheless joined the active life.] And so, as we gather from the preceding words, a truly marvellous and very rare[*] manner of contemplation was present to this holy Virgin. For after the likeness of the holy living creatures which Ezekiel saw ^g, she went as a certain winged creature, and did not return; and again went, and returned: because from the active life which she had laid hold of she did not return to any lowest things; and from the contemplative, which, hedged about with flesh, she could not hold continuously, she returned into the active life. For, as though God said to her concerning the manner of the active life, I will not desert thee nor forsake thee, He did not permit her to turn back from her good purpose; and again, as though He said to her concerning the manner of the contemplative life, Turn away thine eyes, for they have made me fly away, He permitted her to return from the contemplation of His incomprehensible Majesty to the labour of the practical life. Turn away, He says, thine eyes from my contemplation, for they make me fly away, since in this life they do not suffice to comprehend me perfectly. Whence the Psalmist also says: Man shall come to a deep heart, and God shall be exalted: because the more loftily He is sought with a pure heart, the more sublimely is He comprehended as being incomprehensible. In this manner the blessed Virgin, while still set in the flesh, both laboured through the active life, and through the contemplative gaped with all her desires after the very light of the Godhead. But here, setting an end to the first book, let us bless the Lord, who looked upon His Handmaid chosen from the very beginning of her birth, and advanced her, beloved, even to the brightness of His vision.

NOTES.

Ms. circumfluebant*

Ms. Spiritum sanctum*

Ms. prius*

Ms. nec sibi ulterius*

Ms. adds suis*

Ms. geri*

Ms. sacratis*

Ms. Binguensi*

Ms. quomodo*

Ms. illius*

Ms. aliquid dicatur*

Ms. adds semper*

Ms. invisibili*

Ms. perdius*

BOOK II.

Of the visions of the Saint.

By Theodoric.

PROLOGUE.

[ ] The author says that he will write of the visions. Small talents indeed do not bear a great matter: but charity and obedience, to which I profess that I always owe myself wholly to you, Louis and Godfrey, most excellent abbots, carry my mind even out of impossible things to a possible ability. Whence, although supported by no talent, yet I have obeyed your commands in the charity of Christ, and have taken care, with God's favour, to arrange and complete the second little book of the Life of the blessed virgin Hildegard, sprinkled with secret and hidden visions as with certain pleasant flowers, from that place at which Godfrey ^a of good memory ended the preceding book. In which, from the words of that same God-beloved Virgin, so great a clearness of prophecy shines forth that she seems to have received nothing less of grace than the ancient fathers. For, as it is read of Moses that he was unceasingly in the tabernacle, so she too abode in the shelter of heavenly visions: namely so that, as he, so she, might either learn something from God or teach something to her hearers. Or did she not abide in the heavenly tabernacle, and had she not transcended the cloud of all carnality, when the Spirit of truth taught her the dictation and the words of the Gospel of John, In the beginning was the Word, and the rest? For the same Holy Spirit who flowed into the heart of John, when he drew that most profound revelation from the breast of Jesus, by the dividing grace of His condescension willed this woman to learn what he was worthy to say. But let us defer speaking of these things again, and, that same Spirit breathing upon us, let us discourse on the things set before us. Nor let it move the reader that certain things which were written before in the preceding book of her Life are nonetheless written down also in the following Work of her visions: because we judged it fitting both that the quality of order should be preserved in the recital of her history, and that the authority or integrity of the words which were uttered through the Holy Spirit should in no way be mutilated in the description of her visions. ^b

NOTES.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint, ignorant of the Latin tongue, nevertheless writes books in Latin: she enjoys visions from childhood: she is compelled to write them: she helps many with counsel and admonitions, and rightly directs her own.

[ ] The Saint's prophetic writings. Therefore the blessed Virgin, in the place to which she had removed by a divine showing, completed ^a the book of her visions which she had begun at the Mount of St. Disibod, and made manifest by a prophetic spirit certain things concerning the nature of man and of the elements and of divers creatures, and how man is to be helped from these, and many other secrets. It is plain also how elegantly she answered the letters directed to her from divers provinces, if anyone shall be willing to consider more deeply the tenor of her words, uttered from divine revelation ^b. Yet both her own and those which had been sent to her have been compiled into one volume. And who would not marvel that she uttered a song of most sweet melody with a marvellous harmony, and brought forth letters not seen before, together with a tongue unheard of before ^c? Besides these, she expounded certain Gospels, and composed other figurative expositions; all which, because the key of David opened them to her, it was rightly permitted to her soul to rejoice and to sing that the King had brought her into His storerooms, that she might be made drunk with the plenty of His house, and be given to drink of the torrent of His pleasure; whence she also, as it is written, conceiving from the fear of the Lord, might bring forth the spirit, and work salvations ^d upon the earth. That too is a great thing and worthy of admiration, that the things which she heard or saw in the spirit she wrote with her own hand and uttered with her mouth ^e in the same sense and in the same words, with a circumspect and pure mind, content with one faithful man only as her fellow-initiate, who for the sake of the plainness of the grammatical art, which she did not know, presumed indeed to arrange the cases, tenses, and genders, but to add or take away nothing at all as to the sense or the meaning of them. Concerning this indeed she wrote also to Pope Adrian ^f, that she heard it said to her thus in a heavenly vision: Since thou shalt not have set forth in the Latin tongue, after the form of human usage, the things shown thee from above, because this usage has not been given thee, let him who has the file[*] not neglect to bring them to a sound fitted for men.

[15] Her singular vision: And it seems fitting that in this place we insert some of the writings of her visions; and let us see from these how aptly that sentence of the Canticles, My beloved put his hand through the opening, and my belly trembled at his touch, can be applied to her. These writings stand thus. In a mystical vision (she says) and in the light of charity[*], concerning the wisdom which shall never fail, I thus heard and saw these words: Five tones of justice, sent from God to the human race, sound forth, in which stands the salvation and redemption of believers. And these five tones are more excellent than all the works of men, because all the works of men are nourished by them; which are they that go not in sounds, but with which all the works of man are perfected in the five senses of his body. And of these such is the account: The first tone was fulfilled in work by the faithful sacrifice of Abel, which he offered to God. The second, when Noah at God's command built the ark. But the third

through Moses, when the law was given to him, which was the point[] of Abraham's circumcision. But in the fourth tone the Word of the supreme Father came down into the womb of the Virgin and put on flesh: because that same Word had curdled the clay with water and had so formed man; whence also every creature cried out through man to Him who had made it, and thus for man's sake God bore all things in Himself. For at one time He created man, and at another bore him, that He might draw to Himself all whom the serpent's counsel had destroyed. But the fifth tone shall be perfected when all error and mockery shall be ended; and then men shall see and know that no one can do anything apart from the Lord[]. And in this way[*], in the five tones sent from God, the old and the new Testament shall be perfected, and the wondrous number of men shall be completed. And after these five tones a certain bright time shall be given to the Son of God, so that He shall be openly known by all flesh. Afterwards the Godhead shall work in itself, as long as it wills.

[16] Wisdom also in the light of charity teaches and bids me tell how she had visions from infancy, how I have been set in this vision. And I say these words not of myself, but that true Wisdom says them of me, and thus speaks to me: Hear, O man, these words, and speak them, not according to thyself, but according to me; and, taught by me, speak thus of thyself: In my first forming, when God raised me up in my mother's womb by the breath of life, He fixed this vision in my soul. For after the Incarnation of Christ, in the year 1100, the teaching of the Apostles and the burning justice which He had established in Christians and in spiritual men began to slacken and was turned into hesitation. In those times I was born, and my parents with a sigh[] vowed me to God; and in the third year of my age I saw so great a light that my soul trembled: but for infancy I could utter nothing of these things. But in the eighth year of my age I was offered to God for a spiritual manner of life, and until my fifteenth year I saw many things, and spoke plainly of more, so that those who heard these things wondered whence they came and from whom they were. Then I too wondered in myself that, while I saw within[] in my soul, I had also outward sight; and that I heard this of no man, and I hid, so far as I could, the vision which I saw in my soul; and I was ignorant of many outward things because of the frequent sickness which I have suffered from my mother's milk until now, which wasted my flesh and from which my strength failed. Being greatly wearied by these things, I asked a certain nurse of mine whether she saw anything besides outward things; and she answered me nothing on that head, since she saw nothing[*]. Then, seized with great fear, I did not dare to make these things known to anyone; but nevertheless, speaking and dictating much, I was accustomed to tell of things to come. And when I was fully poured over with this vision, I spoke many things which were strange to those who heard. But when the force of the vision somewhat gave way, in which I showed myself more after the manners of a child than after the years of my age, I blushed greatly and often wept, and many times I would gladly have kept silence, had it been permitted me. But for the fear which I had toward men, I dared tell no one how I saw. But a certain noble woman, to whom I was subject in discipline, noticed these things and opened them to a certain nun ^g known to her.

[17] and how she began to write them, and how her writings were examined. Into that same woman God through His grace poured, as it were, a little stream out of many waters, so that she gave no rest to good works ^h, until she ended the present life with a good end, whose merits also God showed by certain beautiful signs. After her end I remained thus seeing until the fortieth year of my age. Then in that same vision I was constrained by a great pressure to make openly manifest the things which I had seen and heard. But I greatly feared and blushed to utter what I had so long kept silent. But the veins of my marrow[] were then full of strength, in which from my infancy and youth I had had a defect. These things I made known to a certain monk, my master, who was of good conversation and diligent intention, and, as it were, a stranger to inquiries into the manners of many men. Whence also he gladly heard these same marvels; and, marvelling, he enjoined me to write them in secret[], until he should see what[*] they were and whence. But understanding that they were from God, he made them known to his abbot, and thenceforth laboured with me in these things with great desire. In that same vision I understood, without any human teaching, the writings of the Prophets, of the Gospels, and of certain other holy philosophers, and I expounded some of them, though I scarcely had knowledge of letters, as an unlearned woman had taught me. But I also uttered and sang a song with melody in praise of God and of the Saints, without the teaching of any man, though I had never learned either a neume ⁱ or any song. When these things had been brought to the hearing of the church of Mainz and had been discussed, all said that they were from God, and from that prophecy by which the prophets prophesied of old. Then my writings were brought to Pope Eugenius ^k, when he was at Trier, who gladly had them read before very many, and read them by himself, and, trusting much in the grace of God and sending me his blessing with a letter, commanded that I should more attentively commit to writing the things which I should see or hear in vision.

[18] The Saint visited by God in a marvellous manner, And so[], from the most beautiful vision of the blessed Virgin, and from her account of the fear which she felt at the approach of the Holy Spirit, and from the Apostolic one's blessing also, and from the permission to write received from him, we plainly gather that her beloved heavenly Spouse Jesus Christ truly put His hand, that is, the working and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, through the opening, that is, through His hidden grace; and her belly, that is, her mind, trembled at His touch, that is, at the pouring in of His grace, on account of the unwonted vigour of spirit and the weight which she felt within. What more apt? What more fitting? Surely, as by that thin whisper of the breeze[] in Elijah ^l a more frequent visitation is signified, so her mind tasted the savour of the divine Spirit as often as it was suspended in the height of contemplation. And what did she do? I rose up, she says, to open to my Beloved. O truly blessed Virgin! who, as it is written, because she loved cleanness of heart, has for the grace of her lips the King as friend, that is, Christ, from whom she received such a gift. For according to the measure which the Holy Spirit willed to give her (for as He breathes where He wills, so also He divides to each as He wills), she could not refuse to rise and open to her Beloved; and, now by voice, now by writing, opening the bolt of her door to her Beloved, she carried out abroad what she had heard within. What did she hear within? Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and divide thy waters in the streets.

[19] Therefore, while in this manner she was watered by the flowing streams of good works as by the rivers of paradise, she helps many by counsel, teaching, and exhortation, not only the whole neighbourhood, but from all threefold Gaul and from Germany, swarms of people of both sexes flowed together to her from every side, on whom through the grace of God she abundantly bestowed exhortations suited to either life. For she set before them, and resolved, questions of the holy Scriptures ^m, for the salvation of their souls. Very many received counsel from her concerning the bodily necessities which they suffered; some also were relieved of their sicknesses by her blessings. And because by a prophetic spirit she knew the thoughts and intentions of men, she rebuked certain who came to her with a perverse and frivolous mind, as if to spy her out; who, when they could not resist the spirit that spoke, being reproved and amended, were compelled to desist from their depraved undertaking. But she also, when Jews came to her for the sake of questioning, having convinced them out of their own law, exhorted them to the faith of Christ with words of pious admonition. For being made all things to all, according to the Apostle, she spoke to the strangers who came, blameworthy though they were, gently and mildly, as she saw to be fitting for them.

[20] But the maidens dwelling with her she chastised with much affection of love and of motherly sweetness, and rules those subject to her diligently and gently. as often as either the rancour of any controversy, or the grief of worldly sadness, or sloth, or negligence arose in them. In short, she saw through their wills, intentions, and thoughts so far that even in the divine offices she answered them[*] with blessings proper to the quality of each one's heart. For she foresaw in spirit the life and conversation of men, and also the consummation of the present life of certain persons, and, according to the quality of their manners and merits, the glory and the punishments of their souls: which mysteries, great as they were, she nevertheless revealed to none save to that one man alone to whom (as we said before) she made manifest all her secrets. And, as she knew the time of keeping silence, so she knew what, and where, and to whom, and why, and how, and when was the time of speaking. But in all these things she preserved humility, the sum of all virtues. And knowing that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, she always praised the almighty kindness of the divine grace.

NOTES.

Ms. venerant*

Ms. scientiam haberet*

Ms. claritatis*

perhaps pactum* (covenant)

Ms. contra Deum*

in the same, modo*

Ms. suspiriis*

perhaps intra* (within)

Ms. nihil horum*

Ms. & medullæ*

Ms. absconse*

Ms. quæ essent* &c.

Ms. Igitur ex* &c.

Ms. tenuis*

Ms. benedictis sine eis*

CHAPTER II.

The Saint learns in a vision the place for founding a monastery, and on that occasion suffers many things: yet she has God in all things as her helper and consoler.

[ ] The Saint, hiding the vision about changing her place, falls gravely ill, Although the heavenly Spouse visited with frequent visitations His beloved Spouse, adorned with so many and such dowries of graces, yet, as it is written, so that the greater she was, the more she should humble herself in all things, He permitted her often to be harassed by various sufferings of sicknesses. And that this may appear more evidently, let the text of her visions be brought forward into the midst, so that both strength made perfect in weakness may not lie hidden, and the reader's weariness may be relieved, since he delights to use things in turn. Do you wish to know what she endured because she did not make manifest the vision shown her from heaven concerning her removal from the place in which she then was to another? Hear her writing thus: At a certain time (she says), from a darkness of my eyes I saw no light, and I was pressed down by so great a weight of body that, unable to be lifted up, I lay taken up with the greatest pains: which I suffered for this reason, that I had not made manifest the vision which had been shown me, that from the place in which I had been offered to God I ought to be moved with my maidens into another. These things I endured so long until I named the place in which I now am; and immediately, my sight being recovered, I was indeed easier, yet I was not yet fully free of infirmity. But my abbot, and the brethren and the people of that same province, when they had learned of this change, held it a marvel what this was, that from the richness of fields and vineyards and from the pleasantness of that place we should wish to go to waterless spots where there were no conveniences; and they conspired together that this should not be done, but that they might resist us. They said also that I had been deceived by a certain vanity. And when I had heard these things, my heart was crushed, and my flesh and my veins withered; and lying in bed for very many days, I heard a great voice forbidding me to utter or write anything further in that place concerning this vision.

[22] Then a certain noble marchioness, known to us, went to the archbishop of Mainz and made manifest to him all these things but in changing her place she suffers very many reproaches, and to other wise men. And they said that no place is sanctified except by good works; whence it seemed[] fitting that this should be done. Then the ancient deceiver sifted me with many mockeries, so that many said: What is this, that so many mysteries are revealed to this foolish and unlearned woman, when there are many strong and wise men? It will therefore be turned to scattering. For many wondered concerning the revelation, whether it were from God, or from the waterlessness of the spirits of the air, who lead many astray. And so in this place ^a I remained with twenty noble maidens, born of rich parents, finding here no[] dwelling or dweller, except a certain old man and his wife and his sons. So great also an adversity of tribulations and pressure of labours fell upon me, as when a stormy cloud covers the sun, so that, sighing greatly and pouring out tears, I said: O, O, God confounds no one who trusts in Him. But again God applied His grace to me, as when the sun appears at the retiring of the clouds, and as when a mother offers milk to a weeping infant, whereby he rejoices after weeping. Then in a true vision I saw that those tribulations had come upon me after the example of Moses: for when he was leading the sons of Israel out of Egypt across the Red Sea into the desert, they, murmuring against God, greatly afflicted Moses also, although God had made them illustrious with marvellous signs. So God permitted me to be afflicted in some part by the common people, by my kinsfolk, and by some of those who remained with me, when necessaries were lacking to them, save so much as was given us by the grace of God in alms: because, as the sons of Israel afflicted Moses, so these too, wagging their heads over me, said: What profit is it that noble and rich maidens have come from a place in which nothing was lacking to them into so great want? But we looked for the grace of God to succour us, who had shown this place to us[*].

[23] After the pressure of this grief, God rained down His grace upon us. afterwards she had now prosperity, now adversity. For many who before, despising us, had named it a waterless uselessness, came to us from every side helping, and filling us with blessings. Many rich men also buried their dead with honour among us. Very many also, acknowledging this vision in faith, came to us with great desire, as was said by the Prophet: They shall come to thee who disparaged thee. Then my spirit revived, and, whereas before I had wept in grief, now I wept for joy, because God had not brought me into forgetfulness, when He confirmed this place by exalting it and by multiplying it with many useful[] things and buildings. But nevertheless God did not will that I should persevere constantly in full security, as from my infancy He had done in all my affairs, since He left me no security of the joy of this life whereby my mind might be lifted up. For when I was writing the book Scivias, I held in full charity a certain noble maiden, the daughter of the aforesaid marchioness, as Paul held Timothy, who had joined herself to me in all things in a diligent friendship, and suffered with me[] in my sufferings, until I completed that book. But after these things, because of the elegance of her family, she inclined herself to the dignity of a greater name[], that she might be called the mother of a certain lofty church: which yet she sought not according to God, but according to the honour of this world. She, in another region far from us, after she departed from me, quickly lost the present life together with the name of dignity ^b. Certain other noble maidens likewise did the same, separating themselves from me; of whom some afterwards lived so negligently that many said that their works showed that they had sinned against the Holy Spirit, and against the person who spoke from the Holy Spirit. But I and those who loved me wondered why so great a persecution came upon me, and why God applied no consolation to me, since I would not persevere in sins, but desired, with God's help, to accomplish good works. In the midst of these things I completed the book Scivias*, as God willed.

[24] An observation on the Saint's prophetic spirit, From the preceding description of the vision and from the blessed Virgin's affliction it is clear that the place which was shown her beforehand, and for which He chastised her with blindness when she delayed, the Lord Himself chose and fore-chose for Himself as an inheritance, that His holy name might be the more earnestly glorified there — both because of the merits of St. Rupert and of those resting there with him in Christ, and because of the advancement of the holy Virgin and of those who came thither with her. Amid these things a recollection of the old history comes to mind, and a beautiful comparison offers itself to us of Deborah[] the prophetess ^c, and of the place in which she sat, with our prophetess and our place. For Origen speaks thus: It affords no small consolation to the female sex, and calls upon them not to despair, because of the weakness of their sex, that they too can be made capable of the grace of prophecy; but let them understand and believe that purity of mind, not difference of sex, deserves this grace. Deborah indeed, which is interpreted "bees", is engaged in the form of prophecy. For it is certain that all prophecy composes the sweet honeycombs of heavenly doctrine and the sweet honey of the divine utterance, as David says: How sweet are Thy words to my jaws, above honey to my mouth! She is said to sit between Ramah and Bethel; and Ramah is interpreted "lofty things," Bethel "the house of God." For nothing humble, nothing cast down, is found about the seat of prophecy. As also in Solomon the seat of wisdom either stands in the gates of cities, or dwells on the ramparts of the walls, or acts freely in the towers. In this manner prophecy is said to have dwelt in blessed Hildegard between the house of God and lofty things — which can now even be seen readily in the matter of place; yet it can be taken spiritually also. For it teaches thee, O holy soul, whoever thou art who dwellest there, to spurn the things that are on earth, and to seek the things that are in the heights of the heavens, where Christ sits at God's right hand. Thither her prophecy exhorts thee to ascend, thither it strives to set her hearers. Blessed therefore be the grace of God[] concerning her place, of whose emancipation, which the blessed Virgin foresaw in spirit, she speaks thus in her writing.

[25] she who in adversities always had God as her helper, I saw in a vision, and I was both taught and constrained to reveal to my prelates, that our place with its appurtenances must be released from the place in which I had been offered to God, save that we should owe subjection and obedience to those serving God there, so long as we should find good faith toward us ^d. These things I made known to my abbot ^e, but, being seized with infirmity, he arranged nothing about it, since indeed[*] after a few days he ended his life. But when these things had come to the succeeding abbot and to the archbishop of Mainz and to the elders of the church, they received them in faith and charity, and confirmed with the seal of a writing that it should be so done. Amid these things I bore many molestations from certain persons, like Joshua, whom the enemy strove to lead into confusion before the rest: but as God helped him, so He delivered me and my daughters. But as Joseph's brothers envied him because he was loved by his father more than the rest, and, selling him, brought back his torn tunic to his father, saying that a wild beast had devoured him: so certain malevolent men wished to tear in us the tunic of the Lord's grace and praise; but God succoured us, as He restored Joseph to honour. But although much pressure

we had, yet by the grace of God we were increased, like the sons of Israel too, who, the more they were oppressed, so much the more they grew. And so in the joy of my heart I looked to God, and, because He had stood by me in tribulations, I wished to be secure.

[26] Here we can fittingly consider that the blessed Virgin, her consoler, and the same who chastised her though she was weighed down in body by the wearing of infirmity, and by the vexation of diabolical and human molestation as well, nevertheless always deserved to be strengthened and confirmed by divine consolation. Since indeed the Holy Spirit, willing to preserve His grace, which was to profit many, in His chosen Vessel, was zealous to file away in her with the file of correction the rust of every dross, so that, profiting from chastisement, she might diligently search out the will of the Lord; and, according to the Apostle, rendering a reasonable service to God, might order the whole course of her life to His judgment — and rightly. For, enlightening her by His free gift with the good of nature and of grace together, He was preparing for her grace in great abundance, and glory; He gave her grace on earth, glory in heaven; grace of lofty merits, glory of unspeakable rewards. Hence it is that she was chastised by earthly things, as it is written: God scourges every son whom He receives — so that in her merits might be increased upon merits, as is declared also in the following vision, which she describes thus:

[27] At a certain time God laid me on a bed of sickness, by a plainly marvellous disease. and poured into my whole body the punishments of the air, so that my veins with their blood, my flesh with its moisture, my marrow[*] with my bones withered in me, as though my soul were to be taken out of my body. In that turmoil I was thirty days, so that from the heat of the airy fire my belly burned. Whence some reckoned this sickness for a punishment. The strength of my spirit also, fixed in my flesh, failed; and I was neither carried out of this life nor fully in it. My body too, changed, was laid upon the ground on haircloth; nor yet did I see my end, though both my prelates and my daughters and my kinsfolk came with great lamentation and looked for my death. But I in true vision at intervals during those days saw a great array of angels, innumerable to human understanding, who were of that host which fought with Michael against the dragon; and these were waiting to see what God should command to be done concerning me. But one strong one among them cried out to me, saying: Hey, hey, eagle, why sleepest thou in knowledge? Rise from doubting. Thou shalt be known, O gem in splendour; all eagles shall see thee, but the world shall mourn, and eternal life shall rejoice; and therefore rise, dawn, to the Sun. Rise, rise, eat and drink. Presently the whole array cried out with a sounding voice: A voice of joy; the messengers have been silent; the time of passing over is not yet come: therefore, Maiden, rise. At once my body and my senses were changed back to the present life. And my daughters, who before had wept, seeing this, lifting me from the ground, laid me back on the bed, and so I received my former strength. But the punishing infirmity did not fully depart from me; only my spirit was strengthened in me from day to day more than before. For the worst spirits of the air, to whom the punishing torments of men are assigned, administered this punishment which was inflicted on me by them, as God permitted, just as those torturers did who applied coals to blessed Lawrence and to other martyrs; who also, hastening to me, cried out with a great voice: Let us seduce this woman, that she may doubt of God and blaspheme, asking why He entangles her in such punishments. For as it happened in Job by God's permission that Satan so struck his body that it swarmed with worms, so an airy fire, entering in, consumed my flesh; which happened also to Jeremiah, who tearfully bewailed his grief. But the devil could not persuade him to blaspheme God. But I, soft in flesh, timid in mind, was greatly terrified by those punishments. But God strengthened me, so that I bore them patiently, and I said in my spirit: O, O Lord God, I know that all things by which Thou touchest me are good, since all Thy works are good and holy, since I have deserved these things from my infancy. But nevertheless I trust that Thou wilt not permit my soul to be so tormented in the life to come.

NOTES.

Ms. videretur*

Ms. nullamque*

Ms. adds solum*

the word utilibus* is not in the Ms.

mihi* is not in the Ms.

Ms. majorem*

Debbora*

Ms. gloria Domini*

Ms. quia etiam*

Ms. medullæ*

CHAPTER III.

The Saint's marvellous sicknesses, the instruction of the nuns, the conversion of a philosopher who suspected ill: various visions.

[ ] The Saint, harassed by sickness and other evils, does not cease to labour, And while I still laboured under these pains, I was admonished in a true vision to go to the place in which I had been offered to God, and to set forth the words which God had shown me; which also I did; and in the same pain I returned to my daughters. To other places of congregations also I took my way, and expounded the words which God commanded. In all these things the vessel of my body was baked as in an oven, as God has also tried many whom He bade set forth His words: whence let praise be to Him. Who also afforded me great help in two of my daughters and in others, in that they suffered with my sufferings untiringly. Whence also, sighing, I gave thanks to God that men did not find me wearisome. For if I had had in my flesh so great a pressure of pains that were not from God, I could not have lived so long. And although I was tormented in these things, yet in a vision from on high I dictated, sang, and wrote what the Holy Spirit willed to utter through me ^a. But when three years of these sicknesses were finished, I saw that a Cherub, in a blazing fire in which is the mirror of God's mysteries, pursued as with a fiery sword the airy spirits who tormented me, so that they fled from me, crying out: Ah, Ah, Woe, Woe. Shall this woman, this woman, so depart, that we shall not seize her? Presently my spirit fully revived in me, and my body was refreshed in its veins and marrow, and thus I wholly recovered.

[29] Behold in what manner the holy Virgin, now tormented in a twofold way by the pains of sicknesses, and at length after much patience is delivered by God: now harassed by the terrors of demons ^b, was glorified under angelic protection. In short, on the one side, in that she laboured under infirmity, a woman of marvellous innocence, she fortified herself with the virtue of patience; and, as though the divine word soothed her troubles, saying, My grace is sufficient for thee, for strength shall be made perfect in weakness, she gladly gloried in infirmities, that the strength of Christ might dwell in her; and she presumed herself to be loved in the measure in which she deserved to be reproved. But on the other side, in that she was provoked by the art of demons, the excellent Warrior armed herself again with the guard of the Apostolic teaching. With what? Take, he says, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And again: Put on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the snares of the devil, because our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers of these darknesses. With this great art of warfare, therefore, and with these arms, the unconquered Champion contended; and, though still shut up in flesh and set on earth, she fought against the spiritual things of wickedness in the heavenly places. Wherefore even the princes of darkness shuddered, when they saw a Woman, instructed with so great an art and hedged about with all the armour of the strong, advance against them. They shuddered, I say, and, crying out their Woe, fled in confusion, since fear and trembling came upon them, when they saw the terrible cherub, like an ordered battle-line of camps, protecting the Handmaid of God and pursuing them with a flaming spear, lest they should harass her. And so they wondered, they were troubled, they were shaken, trembling seized them, so that they said: These are the camps of God; let us flee from Israel. And at once they fled. Thus between the spirits above and those below the Athlete of God wrestled, and, her adversaries being driven off, gloried always in a glad victory. Nor is this to be passed over in silence, that when on a certain occasion she laboured under fevers, she saw certain Saints who said: Avenge, O Lord, the blood of Thy Saints. And others said to her: The pain which thou sufferest thou oughtest to bear with a good will. And behold, other Saints conferred thus among themselves: Will she go with us, or not? And others answered: Things past, present, and to come do not yet permit her; but nevertheless, when she shall have finished her work, we shall take her with us. Then all together cried out: O happy and most certain soul, rise, rise like the eagle, for the sun has brought thee forth, and thou knewest it not. And immediately she recovered.

[30] And not only when she met with the trouble of sicknesses or the savagery of demons, [she converts a philosopher who suspected ill: she knows by God's gift the temptations of her nuns.] but also when she met with the persecutions of men, the Lord was at hand to her, and turned the hearts of her adversaries to better things — as she herself describes concerning the conversion of a philosopher, at first opposed to her, nay rather to God, in whom afterwards there was truly wrought a change of the right hand of the Most High; and when she removed by exhortations from the holy Scriptures the vanities which arose through Satan's deception in the hearts of her maidens, of which she speaks thus: A certain philosopher, honoured for his riches, when he had long doubted concerning the things which I had seen, at last came to us, and greatly adorned our place with buildings, freeholds, and other necessaries: whence my soul was gladdened, because God had not brought us into forgetfulness. For with keen but wise scrutiny he sought out what the writings of this vision were, or whence they were, until by divine inspiration he fully believed; and he who before had spurned us with malicious words, when God had choked the injustice in his heart, was turned to us with greater blessings — just as God also drowned in the Red Sea Pharaoh, who wished to take captive the sons of Israel. Many marvelled at his change,

and believed the more; and through that wise man God poured out His blessing upon us, like the ointment which runs down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron. Whence also we all named him father. He too, who was so great a prince in his own name, asked to be buried among us, and so it was done. Then my mind was made firm, and I took care of my daughters in the necessaries both of body and of soul, as had been appointed for me by my masters. I looked therefore to the true vision with great anxiety, to see how the airy spirits fought against us; and I saw that those same spirits had entangled certain of my noble daughters, as in a net, by divers vanities. But I, by God's showing, made this known[] to them, and hedged and fortified them about with the words of the holy Scriptures and with regular discipline and a good manner of life. But some of them, looking at me with grim eyes, secretly tore me with words, saying that they could not endure the unbearable clamour of regular discipline with which I wished to bind them. But God applied a solace in other good and wise sisters, who stood by me in all my sufferings, as was done in Susanna, whom God delivered from false testimonies. But although I was frequently wearied by tribulations of this kind, yet by the grace of God I brought to its end the book Of the Life of Merits* ^c, divinely revealed to me.

[31] The Saint's virtues: her discussion Thus did the Virgin devoted to God bear herself amid adversity and prosperity, that she was neither lifted up in prosperity nor cast down in adversity; but, keeping in both one and the same vigour, she was neither shaken by blame nor seduced by praise. For she had her mind bent, like a bow, to all discipline; and, since it did not slacken, she ruled herself and her own by an authority now gentle, now severe. There was indeed in her a gravity seasoned with courtesy, and from her tongue flowed a sweetness of speech sweeter than honey. And she had sound doctrine in all things, as she writes concerning the nature of man, concerning the conflict of flesh and spirit, concerning the examples of the holy fathers, which she received by divine revelation. In a true vision, she says, I saw the figure of man, who, although he is in two natures ^d, of soul and of body, is nevertheless one building — as when a man builds a house of stones, and covers it also with a material of ash, and makes it firm, lest it fall and be ruined. For man is the work of God, and is together with every creature, and every creature is with him. But man's work, which is without life, is not like God's work, which is life, as the potter's vessel is not like the buildings of the craftsman. But the nature of the soul looks to infinite life; the body, however, embraces a perishing life; nor are they of one mind, because, although they are together in man, yet they are divided into two. By this likeness, when God sends His Spirit[*] into a man through prophecy and wisdom, or through miracles, He often inflicts pains on his flesh, so that the Holy Spirit may be able to dwell there. But if He does not constrain it with pains, then it is easily mingled with worldly manners, as happened in Samson and Solomon and others, who failed in the sighings of the spirit, inclining themselves to the delight of the flesh; because prophecy, wisdom, and miracles are pleasant in joy. But when a man from time to time cherishes the delight of the flesh by the devil's suggestion, he often says: Ah, I stink with the unclean stench of dregs. What is it that the spirit afflicts the flesh? Because the spirit itself by its own nature holds in hatred the taste of sin. But when the flesh breaks the desires of the soul because of frequent delight, in which it wraps itself through the stench of sin, so that the spirit cannot sigh because of that same trouble, then the flesh afflicts the spirit, and this affliction is divided into two parts by the grace of God.

[32] But that conflict which has been spoken of, concerning the figure which is man, concerning the battle of flesh and spirit, and how the flesh began in Abel, whom his brother held in hatred; and in Noah, who bore injury from his sons[]; and in Abraham, who endured reproaches from his friends; and in Jacob, who was a fugitive because of his brother; and in Moses, who was afflicted by his friends, because they consented to his enemies. This affliction also was among the disciples of Christ, because through the hardness of unbelief the flesh of one[] choked the spirit. But the rest were with the spirit in affliction against the flesh. Zacchaeus too in the Gospel was with the spirit in affliction against the flesh. But the young man who spoke with Christ in the Gospel was not in affliction against the flesh with the spirit; whence also he fled from the Son of God. Saul too in his unbelief at first restrained the spirit; but God scattered this evil in him, as He cast Satan from heaven into the abyss, and made Paul out of Saul. But Abel, who sacrificed in the abundant desire of the soul, was sanctified; and Cain was rejected, because his flesh choked his spirit through hatred. Noah also was justified, because he sacrificed to God. But his son answered by mocking his father with the filthiness of the flesh; and therefore he lacked liberty, and, unworthy of the name of son, was called a servant. Abraham too was multiplied, since, obedient to God, he diligently afflicted his flesh against the laws of the flesh. He turned aside into a foreign nation. But from his sons and friends the liberty of those who resisted him vanished; for they were cast out by the sons of Israel, who stood forth free. Jacob also was beloved of God, because in the desire of his soul he ever drank justice, and persevered in the blessings of God. But Esau his brother was despoiled of the blessing, because of the hatred which he had toward him. Moses, the servant and friend of God, in the things which he had and kept in mysteries and miracles, crushed in himself the answer of the flesh. Whence those who held him in hatred perished, and did not come into the land of promise. The Apostles crushed their flesh. But Judas was wholly blind in the desire of his soul, who followed Christ rather that he might be honoured by the people than that he might believe in Him; as also those disciples who had not fully the desire of the soul heard indeed Christ's teaching gladly, but, because they were weary in spirit, when they could not endure the perfection of His justice, fled from Him.

[33] Zacchaeus in the pleasantness of the flesh had the affliction of the spirit against the flesh, so that his own works displeased him. Whence, when he had heard of the Son of God that He was just, he at once ran to Him and believed in Him, is to be afflicted, that the spirit may prevail. because he had first bewailed his sins through the spirit. But the young man set forth in the Gospel, laden with riches, gladly hearing the report of things, came to the Son of God, asking what he should do; but when he had received a perfect answer, he fell into sadness; and because the flesh choked the spirit, he departed from Christ. Saul too, importunate, with a hardened heart raised the horns of pride against the faith of Christ; but God laid him low, mortified in him the will of the flesh, and turned him to good. But I, a poor little form, chiefly loved and called upon those who afflicted their flesh in the spirit, and turned aside from those who hardened themselves against the spirit and choked it. Nor did I ever rest, but I was wearied in very many tribulations, until He rained down upon me the dew of His grace, as He said to His familiar friend: I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and I will afflict them that afflict thee, and my angel shall go before thee. And again: To my servant I have granted great honour, and I have humbled all his enemies. But also amid very many injuries God so constrained me that I dared not think how great the kindness of His grace toward me might be, although meanwhile I saw great contrarieties meet those who resisted the truth of God. And from the tribulations and punishments which I suffered from the airy heat, my body was trodden down like miry earth when it is glued together with water. — It would truly be of great profit to search out the obscurity of utterances of so great sublimity, if it were not laid upon us rather to set down in writing the text of the holy Virgin's visions, and to explain the history of her life in a few words. For it exercises[*] our understanding, that by weariness it might be enlarged; and that what it could not grasp at leisure it might grasp when exercised. But now, because we hasten to other things, let us write out her visions piecemeal with an eager pen; for she says:

[34] The Saint's vision concerning divers men: I beheld in a vision three towers, through which a certain hidden Wisdom made things manifest to me. The first had three dwellings. In the first were noble maidens with certain others, who in burning charity heard the words of God from my mouth, and had in this, as it were, a continual hunger. But in the second were certain others, steadfast and wise, who embraced in their hearts the truth of God, saying: O, how long will she persevere with us? And by this they were not wearied. But in the third dwelling were strong armed men of the common people, who, making their way vehemently to us, were led into admiration of the aforesaid marvels, and loved them with great desire, and did this often, as the common people seek in the strong and firm tower of some prince a defence, that they may be fortified against enemies. But in the second tower there were three dwellings, of which two were parched in dryness, and that same dryness appeared as a thick mist. And those who were in these two dwellings, agreeing together, said: What are these things, and whence, which this woman speaks as if from God? It is hard for us to live otherwise than those who went before us, or those who still live. Wherefore we shall turn to those who know us, since we cannot persevere in other things. And so they went to the aforesaid common people ^e, and were of no use either in that or in the aforesaid tower. And in a true vision I heard a voice saying to them: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be laid waste, and house shall fall upon house. But in the third dwelling of that same tower were the common people, who loved with manifold love the words of God which I set forth out of the true vision, and stood by me in tribulations, as the publicans clung to Christ. But the third tower also had three bulwarks, of which the first was of wood, the second adorned with shining stones, the third made of a hedge. But another building was hidden from me in the vision, so that I do not now speak words concerning it; but in the true light I heard that the writing to come, which shall be set down concerning it, will be stronger and more excellent than the preceding.

[35] At length in the time following I saw a mystical and marvellous vision, another, in which she is steeped in the understanding of the Gospel: so that all my inward parts

were shaken, and the sensuality of my body was extinguished, since my knowledge was turned into another mode, as though I did not know myself. And from God's inspiration there were sprinkled in the knowledge[] of my soul, as it were, drops of a gentle rain: because the Holy Spirit also steeped John the Evangelist, when he drew from the breast of Jesus that most profound revelation, where his understanding was so touched by the holy Godhead that he opened hidden mysteries and works, saying, In the beginning was the Word, etc. For the Word, which was before creatures without beginning, and which afterwards shall be without end, bade all creatures come forth, and brought forth His work in that likeness in which a craftsman makes his work flash out: because what was before the age in His predestination has now appeared visibly. Whence also man is the work of God together with every creature. But man is said also to be a workman of the Godhead, and an overshadowing of the mysteries of God, and to reveal the holy Trinity in all things — man, whom God made to His own image and likeness. For as Lucifer in his malignity could not scatter God, so neither shall he be able to destroy the state of man, although he attempted it in the first man. And so the aforesaid vision taught me all[] the dictation and the words of this Gospel, which is concerning the beginning of the work of God, and made me expound them. And I saw that that same exposition ought to be the beginning of another Writing (which had not yet been made manifest), in which many searchings of the creatures of the divine mystery were to be sought out ^f.

[36] Behold, as far as we have advanced in writing, so far has the heap of the holy Virgin's remarkable visions, deeds, and words increased for us. the author's observation in praise of the Saint. In which so great a doctrine and truth of the highest grace abounds, that not to embrace her with the utmost effort, not to venerate her with every endeavour, would be a huge rashness of an obstinate mind. For who but the divine Spirit, the best bestower of graces, gave her to drink from so flowing a fountain of saving wisdom, that an abundance of spiritual doctrine, like a river of living water, flowed forth so largely from her heart? For the feather of inward contemplation flew in her into the hidden things of the vision on high, where she learned the Gospel of John. And what wise man would doubt that this Holy woman was a seat of the eternal Wisdom, to whom God revealed so great a treasure of inward knowledge? Certainly the uprightness of moral discipline, which was familiar to her, so composed the natural motions of her mind that by a reasonable advance she was carried up, in love of divine contemplation, to the things on high, where with a glad jubilation of heart she might delight to cry out to Christ her spouse: Draw me after thee, we will run in the odour of thy ointments — where, among those who have the three harps, she might sing the canticle of Moses the servant of God, and the canticle of the Lamb, that is, of the Law and of the Gospel. And we therefore, the end of the second book being here fixed, let us also sing a canticle of praise to the Lord, since we are sailing out of so vast a sea of the holy Virgin's visions. But meanwhile let us take breath, and, the Holy Spirit favouring us, let us refit the sails of our ship for writing down the little book of her miracles.

NOTES.

Ms. hoc in eis notavi*

in the Ms. Filium*, erroneously

nay rather, a filio* (by a son)

Judæ* (of Judas)

Ms. exerceret*

Ms. scientiam*

Ms. omne quoque*

BOOK III.

Of the miracles and the blessed death.

PROLOGUE.

[ ] The author praises in general the abundance of the miracles. The two preceding books concerning the life and visions of the blessed virgin Hildegard having now been run through, to write further concerning her miracles and virtues is for me indeed not irksome, but for you necessary, O Louis and Godfrey, most illustrious abbots. And so I set about arranging this third book, undertaken not in the security of ability but in the presumption of obedience. But why necessary for you? Certainly because a strong cause is that holy love with which, as you loved her in life, so also you have purposed with pious affection not to be separated from her in death. To you therefore, moved by this holy love, it was necessary that through me your deputy her deeds should come to the knowledge of men to come, that for these they might glorify the Lord, who, marvellous in His Saints, wrought marvellously in her, so that in all good things she was unchangeable. For whatever can be said of her is wholly pleasant and lovable, wholly comely, useful, and honourable; because she was and is remarkable not only for all holiness of manners, or for the inward contemplation of the mysteries of God, but also for the working of notable miracles, of which so great an abundance is had, exceeding number, that even famous talents can scarcely extol her in words. But nevertheless, to tell a few out of many, if at your prayers the Lord shall deign to give us, when we have been led out into the deep, a favourable breeze of His Spirit, we hope with a prosperous course of the word to enter the harbour of salvation. Farewell.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint heals various sick persons by her patronage, even some absent: she expounds letters divinely produced: she visits many places for the salvation of the people.

[ ] Various sick persons, Therefore so mighty a grace of healings shone forth in the blessed Virgin that scarcely any sick person came to her but that he at once received health. Which will be sufficiently plain from the examples set down below. A certain noble maiden Hildegard had left her parents, her home, and the world, and had by vow attached herself to the direction of holy Hildegard, her pious mother. She, at a certain time, being harassed by tertian fevers and cured by no remedy, hit upon this one counsel, that she should implore the help of the holy Virgin. And she, according to the word of the Lord, They shall lay hands upon the sick, and they shall be well, laying her hand upon her with a blessing and prayers, healed her, the fevers being driven off.

In the time following a certain brother Roricus, who in a certain cell lived religiously under the monastic habit and purpose, was in like manner sharply tormented by tertian fevers. He, hearing of the miracle wrought in the aforesaid sister, devoutly and humbly sought and obtained the seal of her blessing; from which straightway the fever was put to flight and the sick man was cured.

In the same convent a certain maidservant Bertha served the sisters diligently, whom a swelling of the neck and breast vehemently distressed. Indeed the pain had gone so far that she could take neither food nor drink, nor swallow her spittle. She, being brought to the Handmaid of God, begged by signs rather than by words for remedies for a disease already close to death. And she, having compassion on her, also because of the constancy of her good service, having touched the painful places with the sign of the holy Cross, restored to her the health she desired.

[39] A certain Swabian from the village of Dalvingen swelled up in his whole body; and among them even absent ones, and, having heard her fame, coming to her after a long journey accomplished, he was not cheated of his hope. In short, she kept him with her charitably for some days, and, handling and blessing the sick man with her hands, restored him by the grace of God to his former soundness.

A certain infant from Rüdesheim ^a, Simon, seven weeks old, was shaken by a pitiable motion of all his limbs; who, being carried by his nurse, was healed by her prayers, God assenting.

And she came to the aid not only of those near, but also of those set far off. For a certain Arnold of Wackernheim, formerly known to her, having his throat so painful that he drew his breath with difficulty, devoutly sought the support of her prayers, because he could not come himself. And she, trusting in the mercy of God, blessed water and sent it to her friend; and as soon as he tasted it, the pain (by God's gift) left him.

The daughter of a certain woman Hazecha was sick at Bingen, and after three days spoke nothing. And when the mother, hastening on her daughter's behalf, sought the help of the holy Virgin, she received nothing from her but blessed water; and when the girl had tasted it, she at once received her voice and her strength.

In the same town a young man was held by so great a sickness that he was thought to be already at his last; to him the aforesaid woman, whose daughter had recovered, gave in drink the water which she still had left, and washed his face with it; and immediately, his strength being recovered, he grew well.

[40] obtain health by the Saint's aid. In the bishopric of Trier a certain noble maiden Lutgard, when she was pining away with a vehement love of a certain young man fair in flesh, and, because of the watch kept over her, could not have opportunity of fulfilling her desire, her parents, when the cause of this failing had been learned, faithfully sought the counsel and help of the holy Virgin by a messenger; and they deserved to be effectually heard according to the desire of their heart. For she, prayer to God being first made, blessed with abundant tears bread from her own table; and when they had given it, sent to the maiden, to be eaten, at once the burning of that passion cooled utterly in her.

The lady Sibyl also, of the city of Lausanne beyond the Alps ^b, who demanded her help by a messenger, she freed from an issue of blood by sending her the letter set down below. These words, she says, thou shalt place about thy breast and thy navel in the name of Him who rightly orders all things: In the blood of Adam death arose; in the blood of Christ death was extinguished. In that same blood of Christ I command thee, O blood, that thou restrain thy flowing. And so, as one said, the aforesaid lady was in this manner delivered.

[41] Nor is this to be passed over, that when little pieces of her hair or of her garments were applied to any sick persons whatever, they were restored to their former soundness. In short, the wife of the Schultheiss ^c of Bingen, when she had long laboured in childbirth and now despaired of life, there is a hurried running to the monastery of the Virgin of God; it is asked whether there be anything for the succour of one labouring so greatly; her maidens offered a cord of her hair, which they had once kept, and admonished that she be girded round with it next the skin. And when this was done, she, the birth being happily brought forth, was delivered from death.

In like manner two other ladies also were delivered by the same cord in a like labour of childbirth.

Nor did it profit less two women of Sudernesheim, whom, when their parents led them about to holy places on account of madness of mind, and profited nothing, at length, the maidens having sent it, they were girded about with the cord, and immediately received soundness of mind and of body.

[42] She warns an absent man of a danger; she heals another: What of this, that the same Virgin willed even by a vision to forewarn in their necessities those whom

she had commended in her prayers? A young man of Ederich, Rudolph, lodged one night in a little village; and when at the time of rest he went to bed, he prayed for the support of the holy Virgin. A marvellous thing! She appeared to him in a vision in that same shape and habit in which she was in the body, and disclosed what peril of life he would incur from enemies lying in wait for him, if he did not withdraw more quickly. And as soon as he departed from the place with some companions, a troop of enemies fell upon certain who lingered there about morning; and they knew that they had acted foolishly, because they had not withdrawn in good time at his vision.

Although this is miraculous, yet it is not incredible that it was possible for the holy Virgin, while still living in the flesh, to bestow benefits upon men in spirit, since to declare her merit Christ deigned to reveal to her by the spirit the desires both of the absent and of the present. For when the friends of a certain soldier lying at his last near Andernach ^d were visiting him and consulting about his affairs, the hour chanced to come when, the signal being heard, they hastened to church, leaving a single woman for his keeping. But he, having obtained silence, called upon God with his whole heart with deep sighs, and suppliantly asked that through the merits of this holy Virgin He would confer health upon him. And without delay, the prayer being finished, he deserved to be refreshed by such a vision. He seemed to see the venerable Virgin coming in to him, and kindly asking whether he wished to be made whole. And when he answered that he desired it exceedingly, she, laying her hand upon his head, added: In the name of Him who said, They shall lay hands upon the sick and they shall be well, let this infirmity depart from thee, and be thou whole. Which said, the vision disappeared; and the sick man, rising from his bed, recovered, to the wonder of all who knew of it.

[43] It seems not out of place to relate also what befell a certain priest, she expounds letters divinely written on a corporal: because there is in it a certain portion of the holy Virgin's powers, and a thing worthy of a miracle is rightly committed to memory as an example, whereby anyone living negligently may, God willing, be amended. The matter fell out thus in the Swabian village of Rüdesheim. That priest at a certain time, the day being now over and night at hand, entered the church to give light to the Saints, when behold, he saw two burning candles shining upon the altar. There had come with him a young scholar, diligent and familiar to him as a help in the divine service. And when he said to him, why had he neglected to put out the candles, and he answered that he had put them out, the priest approached to put them out, and found the pall of the altar unfolded, as it is unrolled for performing the divine Sacrament. And while he stood astounded, that young man, falling to the ground, cried out, being himself also fallen into an ecstasy: The sword of the Lord slays us. And when the priest thought him struck, he hastened to lift him from the ground. But he, having no hurt, uttered this speech: If we shall see the letters which are on the pall of the altar, we shall not die. But thinking that he cried this out unknowingly from fear, he approached the altar again; and in the place where the holy things are consecrated he found on the pall ^e five letters ^f written in the manner of a cross without human work, namely, in the horizontal, A. P. H.; in the upright, K. P. D. These being seen and diligently noted, the young man, his strength recovered, is raised up. The priest, the pall being folded and the candles put out, returns home stupefied. The letters lasted seven days; on the eighth day and thereafter they did not appear. Marvelling at this within himself, he made the fact known to religious and wise men. But what it portended he could learn from no man, until at length after sixteen years, when fame published to the whole world that blessed Hildegard was enlightened by the Holy Spirit, coming to her, he deserved to learn, as she herself had learned through the Holy Spirit, what so great an oracle signified. For as Daniel once expounded the letters seen on the wall, so she expounded those written on the pall, in this manner: K., Kyrium (the Lord); P., Presbyter (the priest); D., derisit (mocked); A., Ascendat (let him ascend); P., Pœnitens (penitent); H., Homo (man). Hearing which, he, seized with fear, accuses his sinful conscience; and, being corrected and made a monk, he sets about amending by penitence the negligences of his past life; and, as the holy Virgin had expounded the letters, ascending to a higher and stricter life, he showed himself a perfect servant of God in a holy manner of life.

[44] Among these things this too is notable of her, that coming to Cologne ^g, Trier, Metz, Würzburg, Bamberg, not merely driven but constrained by the divine Spirit, she visits various places at God's bidding: other miracles. she announced to clergy and people what God willed; and at the Mount of Saint Disibod, Siegburg, Eberbach, Hirsau, Zwiefalten, Maulbronn, Rüdesheim, Kitzingen, Krauftal, Herde, Werden, Andernach, at the Mount of Saint Mary, at Elsen and Winkel, she made manifest, according to what God had revealed to her, the things that pertained to the profit of souls.

Meanwhile, when near the village of Rüdesheim she was ploughing the streams of the Rhine in a boat, and was hastening to the neighbouring convent of nuns, a certain woman carrying a blind little boy in her arms approached the boat, and tearfully cried out that she would lay her holy hands upon him. And she, mindful with pious affection of Him who said, Go to the pool of Siloe and wash, drew water of the river with her left hand and blessed it with her right; and when she cast it upon the boy's eyes, by the favour of divine grace he received his sight.

At another time a certain man, who suffered severely from the falling sickness, anxiously entreated the venerable Virgin to come to his aid. And she signed him with so wholesome a blessing that from that day and thereafter that same disease no longer weighed him down. And when he had announced at home the miracle wrought in him, his household rejoiced and gave thanks to God.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

St. Hildegard's long sickness: a noblewoman who, possessed by a demon and led in vain to various places, is delivered in her monastery.

[ ] [The Saint's long sickness: she discourses on the manner in which a demon besets men,] But among the other marks of her virtues, there was given by the Lord to the holy Virgin the grace of casting out demons from possessed bodies, as the venerable Mother herself describes a deed concerning a certain noblewoman still of tender age; for she says: After the vision had taught me the dictation and the words of the Gospel of John, I fell into a bed of sickness, from whose weight I could in no way lift myself. This was breathed upon me from the blast of the south wind; whence my body was worn down with such pains that my soul scarcely bore them. After half a year that same blast so pierced my body that I was in such an agony as though my soul must pass out of this life. Then another windy blast of waters mingled itself with this heat; whence my flesh was cooled in some part, lest it should be wholly burnt up. Thus I was afflicted for a whole year; but nevertheless in a true vision I saw that my life was not yet to be ended in its temporal course, but was to be drawn out yet a little. Meanwhile it was reported to me that in the lower parts of the Rhine, far from us, a certain noblewoman was possessed by the devil. Messengers also came to me rather often concerning her. But I in a true vision saw that she was, by God's permission, possessed and overshadowed by a certain blackness and smoke of a diabolical massing, which crushed the whole sensibility of her rational soul, and did not permit her to sigh with a lifted understanding — just as the shadow of a man or of another thing, or smoke, when set opposite, covers and overspreads. Whence she lost right senses and acts, and often cried out and did unfitting things. But when this evil was thinned in her by God's command, then she was more lightly burdened. And when I was pondering and wishing to know how the diabolical form entered a man, I saw and heard the answer, that the devil does not enter a man in his own form as he is ^a, but overshadows and covers him with the shadow and smoke of his blackness. For if his form entered a man, his limbs would be loosed more quickly than stubble is scattered by the wind. Wherefore God does not permit that he enter a man in his own form. But overspreading him with the aforesaid things, he overturns him into madness and unfitting deeds, and through him cries out as through a window, and moves his limbs outwardly, though nevertheless he is not inwardly in them in his own form, the soul meanwhile being as it were lulled asleep and ignorant of what the flesh of the body does.

[46] Then I saw the host of malignant spirits of the aforesaid craft and perversity, and of the malice by which they harm men. The possessed woman, who pass through the whole world seeking where they may find those through whom they may make schisms and diversities of manners. These from the beginning, as they were created, despised God before the most just angels, saying: Who is this who has so great power over us? Saying this in envy, hatred, and mockery, they still persevere in these things, and do all things in them, because they first began the error of mockery. But since God wills to purge the people through them, by His permission and command they stir up a stupor in the air, and through the foam of the air vomit forth pestilence, and make floods and perils in the waters, stir up wars, and produce adversities and evils. These things God then permits to happen, when men through arrogance are entangled in crimes and murders. But when God has thus purged His people, He leads those same spirits into confusion, as happened in the aforesaid woman. For when the wicked spirit, God permitting, openly confounded many through her, on account of the depraved manners and sins which he had persuaded them to, and some were terrified and thereby brought to penitence, that same malignant spirit was confounded. For God permits His friends to be afflicted with adversities and infirmities, that they may be purged of evils, whence the enemies are confounded, since the elect through purgation are made brighter stones before God. And when that woman had been led through very many places to the Saints, the spirit which had oppressed her, overcome by the merits of the Saints and by the prayers of the peoples, cried out that in the upper parts of the Rhine there was a certain Old Woman,

by whose counsel he must be driven out. Which her friends perceiving, in the eighth year of her harassment they brought her to us, as the Lord willed.

[47] concerning whom the abbot of Brauweiler writes to the Saint, It is worth while in this place, before we pursue further the words of the Virgin of Christ, to insert the letters which the abbot of Brauweiler ^b willed to send to her, and she in turn to him, concerning this possessed woman, so that from them there may be more openly understood both the wickedness of the devil, and that God's judgments, though hidden, yet always just, may be the more readily praised. For when after seven years that same woman was brought to Brauweiler, that she might be delivered there by the merits of St. Nicholas, the wicked spirit, being adjured, said that he would not leave his little vessel except by the counsel and help of a certain old woman in the upper parts of the Rhine, as she herself had said above — twisting her name and mocking that she was called Scrumpilgardis. And so they took counsel and sent her a letter of entreaty in this manner: To Hildegard, lady and venerable mother, bride of Christ to be embraced with all our inward parts, and daughter of the most high King, G., such as he is, provisor of the convent of Brauweiler, with his brethren sitting in the vale of tears, devoted service in prayers of every kind of love, so far as they are able. Although, most loving Lady, you are unknown to us by face, yet by the fame of your virtues you are most celebrated among us; and although we are absent in body, yet in spirit we are constantly present with you; and what is the affection of our love toward you the Lord of sciences knows. It has been heard therefore in our land, and this word has been spread abroad in famous speech, which was done concerning you by the Lord, who[*] has done great things for you, who is mighty, and holy is His name. But by what and how great miracles the fountain of living light shines forth in you, both your name, and the clergy, and the people, and the outcome of events bear witness. For in you shines a work not human but divine, a grace going before, a gift surpassing, which human reason does not dictate, but which proceeds from a most shining fountain. But why do we delay? It pleases us rather to weep than to speak. Therefore let the sweetness of your holiness, O most kindly Lady, not reckon it to rashness that in simplicity of hearts, but compelled by exceeding necessity, we presume to open to you the cause of our need, since we do not doubt to receive good counsel from you. For a certain noblewoman, possessed for some years by a malignant spirit, has come, brought to us by the hands of her friends, that by the help of blessed Nicholas (under whose patronage we are) she might be delivered from the enemy pressing upon her. But the cunning and wickedness of that most crafty and most wicked enemy has led so many thousands of men into error and doubt, that we fear the greatest harm to holy Church. For all of us with a multitude of the people have now for three months laboured in many ways for the deliverance of this woman, and — what we cannot say without sorrow — our sins requiring it, we have profited nothing. And so all our hope, after God, is in you. For this demon, being adjured on a certain day, at last made manifest to us that this possessed woman must be delivered by the power of your contemplation, by the greatness of the divine revelation. Does not God then intend something great in her deliverance? Assuredly. And so the most bountiful kindness of our Redeemer will deign most fully to complete through you the labour of our business and sorrow, and also of our gladness and exultation, so that all error and unbelief of men may be brought to nothing, and the possessed handmaid of God be delivered, so that we may say with the Prophet: This was done by the Lord, and it is marvellous in our eyes; and: The snare is broken, and we are delivered. Whatever therefore God shall intimate to you of these things, or reveal by a vision, we earnestly and humbly entreat that your Holiness be zealous to set down for us in a letter. Farewell.

[48] And when blessed Hildegard had received that letter and had diligently examined it, and concerning whose deliverance St. Hildegard gives counsel, piously suffering with those who asked, she admonished all the sisters to be humbly instant with public and private prayers for the aforesaid need; and she herself, prayer being first made, lifted the eyes of her mind to the Lord; and this answer, according to what she saw and heard in a true vision, and dictated by none other than by inexhaustible wisdom, she thus writes back: To G., Abbot of the church of Brauweiler, H. Since I am bound by the scourges of God with a long and grievous sickness, I am scarcely able to answer your petition even a little. These things I say not of myself, but from Him who is. There are divers kinds of malignant spirits. But this demon of whom you inquire has these arts, which are likened to the manners of men in vices: whence also he gladly stays with men, and therefore also somewhat neglects and mocks the Cross of the Lord and the relics of the Saints, and the other things which pertain to the service of God, nor does he greatly dread them. He does not indeed love them, but he pretends to flee, as some foolish and negligent man makes little of the words and threats brought against him by the wise; wherefore also he is cast out with more difficulty than another demon. For unless it be by fastings, scourgings, prayers, alms, and by the very command of God[], he will not be cast out. Hear therefore, and not the answer of a man, but of Him who lives. Choose seven priests of good testimony, and whom the merit of their life approves, in the name and order of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Melchisedech, Jacob, and Aaron, who offered sacrifice to the living God, and the seventh in the name of Christ, who offered Himself to God the Father on the cross; and, fastings, scourgings, prayers, alms, and celebrations of Masses having gone before, let them approach the sufferer with humble intention and in priestly habit, with stoles, and, standing around her, let each of them hold a rod in his hand, in figure of the rod with which Moses at God's command struck Egypt, the Red Sea, and the rock, so that, as God there showed miracles through the rod, so here also, the worst enemy being cast out by rods, He may glorify Himself. In figure of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit there shall be seven priests, so that the Spirit of God, who in the beginning was borne over the waters, and who breathed into the face of man the breath of life, may breathe out the unclean spirit from the wearied man. And let the first, who shall be in the name of Abel, holding the rod in his hand, say: Hear, malignant and foolish spirit, whoever thou art that dwellest in this person; hear these words, not premeditated by man, but made manifest by Him who is and who lives, etc. And when the holy Virgin had finished that letter, the Holy Spirit revealing it, she sent it by the hands of him who had secretly inquired, as she says in the book Scivias*, to the monastery where the woman was held, that it might be humbly recited over her. And when the reader had come to that place where at the end it is written: And I, an unlearned and poor little womanly Form, O spirit of blasphemy and mockery, say to thee in that truth in which I, a poor and unlearned Form, saw and heard these things from the light of wisdom, and by that same wisdom I command thee to go out of this person in true steadfastness, and not in the whirlwind of thy instability — that same wicked spirit roared out wholly, and, wailing, sent forth such howlings with horrid cries that he struck the greatest terrors into the bystanders. And when he had raged in these things for about half an hour, at length, as it pleased God, he left the vessel which he had long possessed. When the woman felt that she had been delivered, she stretched out her hands to the bystanders that they might raise her up, because she had no strength.

[49] after she had been free a short time, the demon returning, she is sent Then before the principal altar of St. Nicholas she prostrated herself and gave thanks to God for her deliverance, the people seeing these things and, as the crowd is wont, making a din, but also giving thanks and praises to God with the ringing of bells resounding, the brethren too singing the hymn We praise Thee, O God: alas — a thing pitiable to say — that same ancient enemy returned by God's hidden judgment, and reclaimed the vessel which he had left. Whence the woman, trembling all over, and raising herself with gnashing and outcry, began to rage more than before. Whence, those who were present being terrified and filled with sorrow, the wicked spirit, being asked why he had dared to reclaim the creature of God which he had left, answered: Terrified by the sign of the Crucified, I fled. But since I knew not whither to go, I reclaimed my vessel, empty and unsigned. And when by the aforesaid letter and adjurations of the holy Virgin he was compelled to go out, gnashing, he cried that he would not go forth except in the presence of that same Old Woman. Then those who were of sounder counsel persuaded the friends and guardians of the woman to bring her to the blessed Virgin. And so, having received the blessing of the abbot and the brethren with a letter of commendation, they began to go thither. And the letter was in this manner: To H., venerable lady, worthy of all thanksgiving, G., unworthy abbot of the men of Brauweiler, with his brethren: to live, to advance, to have the world beneath her feet, and whatever more excellent can be wished for a handmaid of Christ. That the Lord looked upon you and poured in His grace, the whole world now knows. But we, who hitherto have spoken to your Holiness by our messengers and letters concerning the need of the woman possessed by a malignant spirit, now at last, through the person of that same woman, directed to you with great hope, seek again the city of our need, and devoutly add prayers to prayers, that, the nearer she is to you bodily, the more you may be favourable to her spiritually. For the demon, adjured by your letter which you sent at the Holy Spirit's dictation, had left the vessel he possessed for a short hour; but alas, by what judgment of God we know not, he has returned, and, invading anew the forsaken vessel, now wearies it more sharply than before. But when we adjured him again and pressed him strongly, at last he answered that he would not leave the vessel he possessed except in your presence. For this reason we send her to your Holiness, that what we, our sins requiring it, have not deserved, the Lord may accomplish through you; and that, the ancient enemy being cast out, He who is mighty above all may be glorified in you. May your motherly love fare well.

[50] to the Saint, where after many exercises of piety, These letters being tasted beforehand, it seems fitting that our discourse be recalled to that from which it turned aside a little, and that we see how God, for the glorifying of His Virgin, so long deferred the deliverance of this woman. For the Almighty could easily have granted through other Saints, to whom she had been led about for so many years, what was asked for the possessed woman. But, transferring the glory of this miracle to the holy Virgin, He willed evidently to manifest to all in His own time the quality of her merits. And how this came about will be better known from her own words. Concerning the coming, she says, of the aforesaid woman we were greatly terrified, wondering how we could see or hear her, about whom so great a multitude of people had for so long been stirred. But God rained down upon us the dew of His sweetness, and without horror and

trembling we lodged her in the dwellings of the sisters without the help of men; and thereafter we in no way yielded to him, neither for the horror, nor for the confusion with which the demon confounded those who came in for their sins, nor for the mocking or foul words with which he wished to overcome us, nor for his most evil blast. And I saw that in that woman he suffered three torments: the first, when she was led from place to place of the Saints; the second, when the common people gave alms for her; the third, when by the prayers of spiritual persons, out of the grace of God, he was compelled to depart. And so from the Purification of holy Mary we and those of our province of both sexes laboured for her with fastings, prayers, alms, and chastisements of our bodies, until the Sabbath of Easter. Meanwhile the unclean spirit, constrained by God's power, uttered before the people, though unwillingly, many things concerning the salvation of baptism, concerning the Sacrament of the Body of Christ, concerning the peril of the excommunicated, concerning the perdition of the Cathars ^c, and things like these, to his own confusion and to the glory of Christ: whence many were made stronger in the faith, and many readier for the amendment of their sins. But when in a true vision I saw him utter falsehoods, I at once refuted him; whence, falling silent presently, he gnashed his teeth at me; but I did not forbid him to speak, for the people's sake, when he uttered true things.

[51] At length on Holy Saturday, when the font of baptism was being consecrated, she is wholly delivered on Holy Saturday. by the breath of the priest which he sends into the font, with the words which the Holy Spirit poured into the reason of man and into the doctors of the Church — since in the first creation the Spirit of the Lord moved the waters, as it is written: The Spirit of the Lord was borne over the waters — that woman was there present, and, seized with great fear, so trembled that she dug up the ground with her feet, and often sent forth a blast from the horrible spirit which had oppressed her. Presently in a true vision I saw and heard that the power of the Most High, which had overshadowed holy baptism and always overshadows it, said to the diabolical massing by which that woman was wearied: Go, Satan, out of the tabernacle of this woman's body, and give place in it to the Holy Spirit. Then the unclean spirit went out horribly through the woman's private parts with an excretion, and she was delivered, and thereafter remained sound in the senses of soul and of body, as long as she lived in the present world. And after this was published abroad among the people, all with canticles of praise and words of prayer said: Glory be to Thee, O Lord. And so, as God permitted that Satan should overspread Job's whole body with the horror and stench of worms, and as he reckoned that by his deception, whereby he had denied God's honour, he could overcome him also, yet, God guarding his soul, he could not touch it, because Job did not forsake God in faith, whence also he departed from him confounded, since God overcame Satan through him, that he might know that none could prevail against God: so also, when this woman was delivered over to the malignant spirit to be harassed, God did not permit her soul to fail in good faith; whence also the enemy was confounded in her, because he could not turn her away from the justice of God. — With these and suchlike words the Virgin of God related the works of the divine mercy, wrought for her and through her, attributing nothing to herself, gently, sweetly, modestly, and humbly: because to flee the boasting of virtues she counted in the place of a virtue.

NOTES.

perhaps quia* (because)

non* seems to be lacking

CHAPTER III.

The Saint's grave sickness, in which she is healed in a vision: benefits granted to various persons: her death and burial honoured by miracles.

[ ] The Saint's grave sickness: she visits various congregations: Whence also, after the recital of this virtue — so humble and presuming nothing at all about herself — as though she said with the Apostle, Lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan ^a, to buffet me, she at once adds that which followed upon it, as truly a sting against being exalted: the weakening of her whole flesh. After these things, she says — namely, after the deliverance of that woman — a great sickness again invaded me, so that my veins with their blood, my bones with their marrow withered, and my inward parts were torn asunder within[*] me, and my whole body languished as herbs lose their greenness in winter. And I saw that the wicked spirits mocked at this, saying with a cackle: Aha, this woman shall die, and her friends shall weep, with whom she confounded us. But I did not see the going out of my soul to be at hand. And that infirmity I suffered more than forty days and nights. Amid these things it was shown me in a true vision that I should visit certain congregations of spiritual persons, of men and of women, and make manifest to them the words which God should show me. And when at last I attempted to do this, and had not the strength of body, my infirmity was somewhat lightened; and, carrying out God's command ^b, I quieted the dissensions which certain persons had among themselves. When I neglected these ways which God commanded me, for fear of the people, the pains of my body were increased upon me, and did not cease until I obeyed: as also happened to Jonah, who was greatly afflicted until he bent himself to obedience.

[53] After these things the Bride of Christ deserved a visitation from on high, health restored to her in a sweet vision. from which she received so great a consolation that from the delight of it she said she had been filled with an exultation of inestimable joy. A most beautiful, she says, and most loving man appeared to me in a vision of truth, who was of such consolation that his look overspread all my inward parts as with the odour of balsam. Then I exulted with great and inestimable joy, and desired always to gaze upon him. And he commanded those who had afflicted me to depart from me, saying: Depart, for I will not that you torment her thus any more. And they, retiring with a great howling, cried out: Ah, that we came hither, since we retire confounded. Presently the sickness which had disquieted me left me at the man's words, like waters which are stirred to flooding by stormy winds; and I received my strength, as a pilgrim, when he returns to his own country, gathers up his possessions again; and my veins with their blood, my bones with their marrow, were restored in me, as though I had been raised from death. But I kept silence in patience, I was still in gentleness, and, as a woman in labour after her toil, so I spoke after my pain.

[54] After these things I was constrained by my abbot and the brethren, with most humble insistence and devotion, certain Works written: to write, as God should will, the Life ^c of St. Disibod, to whom I had formerly been offered, because they had nothing certain concerning him. And, prayer with invocation of the Holy Spirit being first made, I looked, being admonished in a true vision, to the true Wisdom; and according to what she taught me I wrote down the Life and merits of that Saint. Then I wrote the book Of the Divine Works ^d, in which, as almighty God poured it into me, I saw the height, depth, and breadth of the firmament, and how the sun and moon, the stars and the rest were established in it. — Many other monuments of writings also, and notable documents of prophecy and grace, the holy Virgin composed, as we said above, in which we gather the tokens of her soul, taught by the Holy Spirit and given to divine things. For those can find very much profit in them who bear a love of doctrine and of knowledge, since they were ordained by God and published to men through her, in whom the Wisdom of God sat as on a throne of power with lofty authority, and, working marvels through her, decreed judgments of things.

[55] These things being arranged by us, so far as the ability of our small wit sufficed, benefits granted let us turn our pen to the words of her holy daughters, and let us, with the Lord's help, faithfully and truthfully attach to this work the things worthy of memory which they wrote concerning her — above all what concerns her blessed passing, which they saw and heard and handled with their hands.

A certain woman, they say, sharply harassed by a dumb demon, over whom the brethren of Laach ^e also had laboured very much, when she had been carried to her on a bed with great labour of men, the pious Mother, confidently resisting the boldness and presumption of the demon with words uttered from the Holy Spirit, did not cease from prayers and blessings until by the grace of God she delivered her from the malignant enemy.

In like manner another woman also, who because of the fury of her madness had been bound with dire chains, when she had been brought to her, she admonished that she be loosed; and immediately, to the wonder of all who were present, having received soundness of mind and body, she returned home with thanksgiving.

[56] Likewise, a certain sister from the cloister of Schöneberg the devil, feigning himself to be an angel of light, was exhorting to holy works, prayers, vigils, and fasts, and to the receiving of the Sacraments as well; given. and he strove to confound her by the confession of criminal sins to which she had never been subject. Among which he also so afflicted her that she so abhorred the names and the sight of certain men and animals that, when they were seen or heard, she made a din with a horrible voice for a long hour. She, being sent with a letter by the Prior and the Convent to the holy Virgin, was both strengthened by her and delivered from the devil's deception.

By the same power she delivered two other women possessed by a demon, one of whom, since she was a poor little woman and blind, being received into her almsgiving, happily consummated her life in a spiritual habit.

[57] The Saint's death These things therefore being set forth, since we hasten to the end of this work, let us also see the end of the holy Virgin's life, and by what things God made it illustrious, as the aforesaid sisters described it. When the blessed Mother, they say, had devoutly warred for the Lord in many contests of labours, being wearied with the tedium of the present life, she daily desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ. And God, hearing her desire, revealed to her by the spirit of prophecy her own end, as she had wished beforehand, which also she foretold to the sisters some time before. And so, labouring under infirmity, in the eightieth

second year of her age, on the 15th of the Kalends of October, she passed by a happy transit ^f to the heavenly Spouse. But her daughters, whose every joy and solace she was, stood by the funeral of their beloved Mother weeping most bitterly. For although they did not doubt concerning the rewards and the supports that would be conferred on them through her, yet they were affected with the greatest sorrow of heart at her departure, by whom they were always consoled. But God evidently declared at her passing of what merit she was with Him.

[58] and her burial made illustrious by miracles. For above the dwelling in which the holy Virgin at the first twilight ^g of the night of the Lord's day gave back her happy soul to God, two most shining arcs of different colour appeared in the firmament, which spread themselves out to the size of a great street, extending into the four parts of the earth, of which the one went from the North to the South, the other from the East to the West. But at the summit, where these two arcs were joined, a bright light came forth of the size of the lunar circle, which, stretching itself out widely, seemed to drive the darkness of night from the dwelling. In this light a glowing cross was seen, at first small, but afterwards immense with growing, around which were innumerable circles of various colour, in each one of which glowing little crosses arose with their own circles, yet seen to be smaller than the first. And when these had spread themselves in the firmament, they reached with their breadth further to the East, and, seeming to bend toward the earth toward the house in which the holy Virgin had passed away, they lighted up the whole mountain. And it is to be believed that by this sign God showed with how great brightness He had made His Beloved illustrious in the heavenly places. Nor were there lacking, before she was buried, miracles attesting the merit of her holiness. For two men who with good hope presumed to touch her holy body recovered from a grievous infirmity. Her obsequies therefore having been reverently celebrated by reverend men, she was buried in a venerable place, where by her merits many benefits are granted to all who seek with a pious heart. An odour also of marvellous sweetness, breathing forth from her sepulchre, overspread the nostrils and breasts of some men with the fragrance of its sweetness. And so we hope, and believe without doubting, that his memory is immortal with God, who in this life had conferred on her a special prerogative of His gifts; to whom be praise and honour for ever and ever. Amen.

NOTES.

perhaps intra* (within)

ACTS

Of the Inquisition concerning her virtues and miracles.

From a Ms. of the convent of Bödeken of the Regulars of St. Augustine, of the diocese of Paderborn.

BHL Number: 3932

From the Ms.

[ ] Testimonies of many concerning possessed persons delivered, We therefore, coming in person by the authority of this mandate ^a to the monastery of Saint Rupert, received witnesses worthy of faith, in this manner, concerning the life, conversation, reputation, merits, and signs, and other circumstances of blessed Hildegard, refusing a multitude of witnesses, since time rather than a supply of witnesses could not be had. The mistress of Saint Rupert at Bingen, Elsa ^b by name, on oath testifies concerning the miracles of blessed Hildegard that she saw Mechtild, possessed by a demon, delivered at the tomb of blessed Hildegard. She saw Regnissa and Segnissa, noblewomen, delivered from demons in the same place, who afterwards served in the same monastery for the time of their lives. She saw also very many epileptics delivered there. In like manner sufferers from tertian and quartan fevers ^c were delivered at her sepulchre at the invocation of her name. The same, on oath, says the prioress Agnes, the mistress's sister. The same says Beatrice the sacristan; ^d Odilia the cellaress, Hedwig the lay sister, say that they saw the same there in mind ^e. Sophia the cantress says the same. Roricus the priest on oath says the same, but he added that when he had come to adjure ^f that possessed woman, and before he spoke anything to her, she called him by his double name, saying: Henry Roricus — which had before been unknown in those parts. He saw also four ravens then sitting in the windows within the church. Asking of the possessed woman who those ravens were, she answered, saying that they were her companions and were awaiting her going out. Which said, making a great gape, she breathed out a most black smoke; and so, the possessed woman being delivered, they at once did not appear: which the sounder part thus testifies. He added also that he saw eighteen possessed persons delivered at her sepulchre by the invocation of that same Virgin. Daniel the priest on oath says the same. The bishop ^g of the same place on oath says the same.

[2] others concerning various miracles, The mistress ^h Jutta, being questioned, says of her that all these things happened within thirty years. Beatrice the sacristan, of Coblenz, on oath says that when she was twelve years old she was offered to the same monastery, and, having lived for some time with blessed Hildegard, she saw and heard that holy Hildegard foretold the day of her death publicly in chapter, and that after her death she saw Mechtild ⁱ, who was blind, given light by the invocation of that same Virgin. She saw also a man out of his mind restored to health. Likewise she saw the maidservant Metza, who, when she had carried off earth from her sepulchre and had placed it in a less honourable place, was rebuked and struck by blessed Hildegard; and being so constrained, and the earth being put back, and being terrified[] at this, she was at once delivered. She saw Clementia ^k, now a sister, who because of the hairs of blessed Hildegard, which she had given to her brother, was scourged until the hairs were most devoutly[] restored by him. She saw also a laywoman on whose leg a bone had grown out, so that she could not walk. That bone being smeared with the hairs of blessed Hildegard, the bone at once vanished, and so she was cured. In these articles concerning the hairs the greater and sounder part of the chapter, the queen ^l, on oath agrees. She saw also him who out of indignation thrust blessed Hildegard with his foot, deprived of his foot by the scourge of God. The same says the cellaress on oath, who lived with the blessed Virgin six years and more; adding that a certain woman with a tertian fever ^m, imploring her help, she sent her water in her own cup; which being tasted, she was cured. She added also that, when two maidens were serving blessed Hildegard's refectory, she said to them: Take good heed to yourselves for fourteen days, and do penance; and when those days were finished, they expired. The same woman added also concerning a certain cleric that the like happened to him; with whom the cellaress ⁿ Hedwig, lay sister, on oath agrees.

[3] Mechtild on oath says that she heard from her mother that she was born blind, and when some wrought while she lived, blessed Hildegard was going to visit the village of Eibingen ^o, where she had also founded a monastery, her mother met her, carrying her and imploring the grace of blessed Hildegard; and the blessed Virgin herself, while she was still in the boat, smearing the blind girl's eyes with water of the Rhine, restored her sight to her. Irmingard, being questioned and on oath, said that she saw this same thing. She added also that blessed Hildegard named a certain maiden who had changed herself into a scholar, expressing her name, namely Bertruda[*], although she had not seen her before; to whom she said: Turn thee to a better state, since I know thy years no further — as if she said, This year thou shalt die. But when she had seen blessed Hildegard, being pricked in heart, she confessed that she was a woman; and being so converted, she died in that same year. With this the aforesaid women on oath agree. That same maiden also, because of her beauty, darkened herself with a foul colour, lest she should be loved by many, and on that account the whole neighbourhood cries the same. She added also that, when a certain matron was suspected concerning the death of her husband, and the purgation of the red-hot iron was enjoined upon her, she ran to blessed Hildegard, showing her the deed; and the blessed virgin Hildegard blessed the red-hot iron; and when she carried the red-hot iron, she remained unharmed. With which deed public report agrees in the city of Bingen. She said also that, when twice she herself laboured at her last, the help of that same blessed Virgin being invoked, she was delivered. She says also that she saw, both when she was dead and when alive, her name being invoked, possessed persons and epileptics delivered.

[4] The same says Hedwig of Alzey on oath, adding some after her death, that blessed Hildegard, on her bed of sickness

was always illumined [p]; and that she used to sing, walking through the cloister, the sequence which begins thus, by the prompting of the Holy Spirit: O Virga et diadema. With whom the sacristan and the cellaress on oath agree. Likewise she says that she saw a candle burning above her tomb when Mass was being sung for the dead. And when it was put out, the Gospel having been begun, it lighted itself, not once but often. She saw also a madman, bound and possessed by a demon, above her tomb, being led away violently by certain persons, from whose hands he at length freed himself and plunged himself into the river Nahe, which is at the foot of the mountain; and when many bystanders believed him to be dead, the grace of that same Virgin being found, he was drawn out alive. And he confessed that he had been delivered from the demon, and that he had been defended from the water by the sleeve of the blessed Virgin. With this deed public report agrees, and the greater part of the convent on oath. Rapodo, Hilde, and Humbert, citizens of Bingen, say that they saw blessed Hildegard on many days, and that she cast out demons from all[q] of her province and from those coming from elsewhere, cured epileptics, and did many other signs, and that they themselves saw this, and that of her holiness there is no room for doubt. Hartrad on oath agrees with the aforesaid, and added this, that he saw four possessed and epileptic persons delivered through the merits of that same Virgin. Henry, canon of Bingen, on oath says that he applied the hairs of the blessed Virgin to two sick women, and they were at once delivered; concerning possessed and epileptic persons he agrees with the aforesaid, namely with Rapodo, Hilde, and Humbert, citizens, and with Hartrad, canon of Bingen. Conrad of Bingen, however, agrees as to sight concerning the possessed with the aforesaid.

[5] and concerning other benefits Likewise the mistress [r] on oath learned by a sure report, both from better men worthy of faith and from the lady of Dorabecq herself, that on the anniversary of holy Hildegard a certain light, whose length did not exceed a hand, which could scarcely last through the celebration of a Mass, being kindled in honour of the aforesaid Lady, lasted from the evening hour to the hour of Mass of the following day; and that on her anniversary the whole neighbourhood flows and has flowed together to her sepulchre. She learned also from the elders of the monastery concerning the boy born blind [s], to whom she restored sight by smearing his eyes with water of the Rhine, while she was between Rüdesheim [t], which is a mile distant from her sepulchre — which she herself also, trembling, confessed before us to be so. For she learned[*] from the elders that, when William, archdeacon of Trier, to whom hairs of blessed Hildegard had been given for relics, had laid them away in a little silken box, and had placed that within a wooden one, and had set it in the church of Dalvanium upon the altar of the church, and when the things which were on the altar were burnt up, the little silken box remained unharmed, the wooden box itself being utterly burnt. She learned also that a certain noblewoman of Trier, when by the enchantment of a certain young man she had been made out of her mind, so that she was utterly alienated in mind, her parents, grieving over this, fled to blessed Hildegard, seeking her grace; and she blessed bread at her table and sent it to that sick woman; and when it had been tasted, she was at once cured. Which miracle Odilia the cellaress and Hedwig the lay sister saw, on oath, who were then with her at table [u]. She learned also from the elders of the monastery that, whatever sister of the monastery thought empty thoughts in the divine Office, blessed Hildegard at once rebuked her; and when they read the lessons, she gave them blessings according to their intention, expressing their will word for word: of whom she saw some who afterwards confessed the same in the habit of the Cistercian Order.

[6] and marvels Likewise, when a certain man unjustly excommunicated had been buried in her monastery, and when on this account the church of Mainz had suspended the divine offices there, and he was to be cast out [w], she signed his tomb with her staff with the sign of the cross, and so his sepulchre could not thereafter be found. Likewise, when a certain man had bound himself to the devil by homage, so that every year he should sacrifice to him some animal, he offered animals first, then his sons, and beyond that his wife. She, perceiving this, fled to blessed Hildegard, imploring help, setting forth the matter to her in order. And she gave her a portion of her own hairs; and the woman, according to her command, twined them into her own hair. And the demon, perceiving this, said to the husband: Thou hast deceived me: I have no right in her because of Hildegard's enchantments. The husband himself, stripping her, placed her in a bath, that he might thus at last accomplish what he wished. And when the devil could not have her, he broke the husband's neck. Likewise, when a certain bishop of Mainz, Christian [x] by name, was being received at Bingen by the ringing of bells, she understood those bells to sound, the one these words, Shepherd, mourn; the other, In thy safety flee quickly. These words seemed to be addressed to the bishop… As it were in the person of the bishop: I depart, I leave the land in confusion. And these words she said in the spirit to the sisters present. With whom agree the prioress Agnes,[*] the sacristan Odilia, Sophia, and very many others on oath. Mechtild also on oath says that she herself was long harassed by a demon, and says that by the invocation of blessed Hildegard she was delivered, and that the convent, which is there to this day, saw her thus harassed and delivered.

[7] She says also that she saw other possessed persons, and sufferers from quartan and tertian fevers, delivered there; by many. Testimony concerning her stock, childhood, religious life, with whom Jutta agrees, adding thus, that a certain epileptic boy, for whom she prayed at the tomb of blessed Hildegard, was delivered, and that the carpenter of the castle of her mistress[], when he was out of his mind, blessed Hildegard being invoked, was delivered by her help: with whom the public report of that same place agrees. Mechtild on oath says that she saw blessed Hildegard, and that she continually stayed with her; who also agrees with Mechtild who was born blind. Deta also, who after the death of blessed Hildegard received her sight, agrees in other matters with the mistress. Bruno, sacristan of St. Peter's at Strasbourg and priest, on oath speaks of the life of blessed Hildegard, but[] what he heard by public report, and what he read in the little book which was written concerning her life by two religious, namely Godfrey and Theodoric, who lived with the blessed Virgin, immediately after her death: which he believes in every way to contain true things, namely that she took her origin from noble parents; who, when she was five years old, saw a cow and said to her nurse: See, nurse, how fair a calf is in that cow, white and marked with divers spots on the forehead and on the feet and on the back — at which the nurse, marvelling, at once reported it to her mother. And the mother, whose cow it was, gave order that, after it should bring forth, they should present the offspring to her. Which being done, she knew all things to be true, as the girl, blessed Hildegard, had foretold: at which her parents marvelling, and seeing that she had manners different from other men, resolved to enclose her in a monastery; and in the eighth year of her age, commending her to a certain enclosed woman, Jutta by name, sister of the count of Sponheim, they offered her to serve the Lord under the Rule of blessed Benedict on the Mount of Saint Disibod.

[8] Of the conversation of her life he says that, when the fame of her holiness was widely spread, her deeds, the foundation of two monasteries, her remarkable fame, very many noble maidens flowed together to her. But since the dwelling of the house of enclosure could not hold them all, she was then admonished by the Lord, nay constrained, to transfer herself to saint Rupert the duke. And when she had reported this to the abbot through her confessor, and he took it ill, by what miracles she obtained leave, and passed over to the place divinely shown, and how in an unknown place she built a new monastery, and established herself there with eighteen noble maidens to serve the Lord, is more fully found in the little book of her Life. In which monastery she established prebends for fifty ladies, and two for priests; besides, seven for poor matrons in honour of the Holy Spirit, and in honour of blessed Mary. Besides, across the river Rhine at one league's distance she founded another monastery [y], where she established thirty prebends. Of her fame he says that three Apostolic men, having heard her fame, wrote to her — Eugenius, Adrian, Anastasius — to whom she also wrote; besides, the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, Trier, Magdeburg [z]; the patriarch of Jerusalem, bishops and very many others, and the holy abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, and other abbots, and provosts, and the rest of the prelates of the churches wrote to her; to whom also she wrote back: all which things are gathered from the books of her Letters.

[9] her books written, and these examined and approved, Of her merits he says: King Conrad and the emperor Frederick, inquiring concerning their end, heard things to come, and thus she brought them back to better things: which is had more fully from the book of Letters already mentioned. And that yearly on the day of her anniversary a great people, both of neighbours and of those far off, run together to her sepulchre, asking of her health of soul and of body. Besides, although she had no great holding [aa], in the forty-second [bb] year of her age she began to write not a few books by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, which is more fully contained in the approach to her book Scivias. Her book Scivias [cc] she completed in ten years; the book of Simple medicine, the book of the Exposition of the Gospels, the Song of the heavenly harmony, the unknown tongue with its own letters — all which she completed in eight years: which is more fully gathered in the approach to the book Of the Life of Merits. Afterwards, in the five following years, she wrote the book Of the Life of Merits; but last of all she wrote the book Of the Divine Works in seven years, which is more fully plain from the approach to that book. Of the signs he says there that he believes in every way that the signs which the Lord did through her in her life, which are also written in the little book of her Life, are true; and that the Lord wrought through her more miracles, both in her life and at her death, than the memory of men holds. Of the circumstances he says that, when she had had her books written out — namely the book Scivias, the book Of the Life of Merits, the book Of the Divine Works — according to the exemplars of her monastery, and when she had resolved to go on pilgrimage to blessed Martin at Tours [dd], she carried the books already mentioned with her to Paris [ee]; and, that she might study in them more securely, she obtained from the bishop [ff] of the place, then presiding, through many labours and great tribulations, that he called together all the masters then lecturing in theology, and gave to each of them for three quaternions those books to be examined, from the Octave of Martin to the Octave of the Epiphany. Which being examined, they restored them to the bishop; who assigned them to master William of Auxerre, master for his time; who also restored them to her[*], affirming that it was the sentence of the masters that there were not

in them human words, but divine.

[10] other testimonies: why the miracles ceased: He says also concerning her fame that his mother, when she was two miles distant from the monastery which she had built, in the village which is called Lorch [gg], with very many other matrons, having learned the fame of blessed Hildegard's holiness, carried him over with her, suppliantly asking that she would deign to lay upon him a hand of blessing: which also she did. Of the books examined, master Arnold, Scholastic of St. Peter's, says the same as Bruno, because he then studied theology at Paris; a great part of the convent agrees thus with Bruno, apart from his coming to blessed Hildegard. Master John, canon of Mainz and now provost of Bingen, agrees also with the aforesaid concerning the examination of the books, because at the same time he studied theology at Paris, saying that few now living know the truth concerning holy Hildegard better than he. When we also asked of the convent why blessed Hildegard did not now do signs, they said that, when after her death the Lord showed so many miracles, and so great a concourse of peoples was made to her sepulchre, religion and the divine Office were disturbed by the tumult of the people so far that they reported it to the lord archbishop of Mainz. Whence he, coming in person to the place, commanded her to cease from signs.

[11] Roricus the priest also, numbered above among the first witnesses, says the books of St. Hildegard sent with these Acts to the Pontiff. that in the limbs of that possessed woman [hh] whom he adjured, the demon appeared in the manner of a great[] mouse, and, the hairs of blessed Hildegard being applied, fled visibly from one limb to another: which also it darkened with a black colour, like coal. At length, when it had long been wearied, it departed in the manner of a most foul smoke, and appeared no more with the ravens. Her writings [ii] also, which the convent thus confessed to be hers, namely the book Scivias, the book Of the Life of Merits, the book Of the Divine Works*, examined at Paris by masters of theology; the book of the Exposition of certain Gospels, the book of Letters, the book of Simple medicine, the book of Compound medicine, and her Song with the unknown tongue, together with the little book which has been preserved written concerning her life — these we transmit under our seals, sealed up, by the same Bruno, priest, sacristan of St. Peter's at Strasbourg, a faithful man of good repute and procurator of the aforesaid monastery; entreating on bended knees the Paternity of your holiness that you would now be willing to set upon a candlestick so excellent a Lamp, hitherto hidden as it were under a bushel, so that it may shine for all those who are in the house of God, by inserting her name in the catalogue of the Saints, giving in mandate to some fit men that they carry through to its due effect, by your authority, a work so pious when it has been enacted, restraining gainsayers by ecclesiastical censure. These things were done at St. Rupert's. Given in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred and thirty-three, on the seventeenth of the Kalends of January.

NOTES.

p. She testifies, I think, that she was divinely radiant in face or head.

q. In the margin of the transcript it is noted, perhaps hominibus (men). But I do not see that that correction is necessary, if the codex clearly had omnibus. For it is not incredible that all the possessed who were brought to her while she lived were delivered of their evil.

r. Whether Elza the mistress, praised at n. 1, or Jutta at n. 2, is not expressed.

s. Mechtild, born blind, testifies at n. 3 that she was healed as an infant with water of the Rhine, alleging her mother's testimony. But here a boy born blind is said to have been given sight. Nevertheless there can be a suspicion that the same miracle is related again, since the German word which answers to the Latin word infans signifies equally a boy and a girl.

t. Here some words have been omitted. Probably it was written between Rüdesheim and Eibingen it was — which at n. 3 is called Hibingen, where she founded the monastery: for this at n. 8 is said to be one league distant from the Saint's sepulchre. But Rüdesheim lies between the two places, and is less distant.

u. There, namely, they saw her blessing the bread sent to the girl out of her mind; but they must have learned of her healing from others, unless the woman had been brought to the monastery: which is not asserted.

w. Of these things there has been full treatment in the Commentary, § XI.

x. Concerning Christian the archbishop certain things have been said in the same place at nn. 163 and 171, where his death is related. But the things here related could not have happened save in the time of the schism: for Christian was never in the diocese of Mainz after peace was restored to the Church in the year 1177.

y. These deeds are more fully set forth in the Life. The first monastery which she founded, and where she is said to have founded fifty prebends, that is, revenues for fifty noble nuns, is the Mount of St. Rupert, where she herself dwelt; the other is the convent of Eibingen, which was subject to the first, and concerning which what was said in the Commentary at n. 177 may be seen. Of the Letters also there has been wide treatment in §4 and following.

z. Among the published Letters of St. Hildegard none of an archbishop of Magdeburg occurs. Nevertheless, among those who wrote to the Saint an archbishop of Magdeburg is also reckoned by Trithemius in the Chronicon Hirsaugiense at the year 1150, and there is added: the archbishop of Ravenna, whose Letter likewise is not published, and many from Italy, whereas we have only a few published Letters given to the Saint from Italy. And so it must be said that the Letters of certain persons were not inserted into the codex of Letters when that codex was collected, nor published afterwards, as I have shown in the Commentary at n. 195.

aa. This word is probably written erroneously, or is plainly barbarous. But I suspect that understanding is meant, and that this is the sense: Although the Saint by no means excelled in natural understanding, yet she wrote many books from God's revelation.

bb. The Saint had completed forty-two years and seven months when she began to write, as is clearly had from the preface to the book Scivias praised here, and as was said in the Commentary at nn. 13 and 14.

cc. In the year 1141 she began to write this, from the Commentary alleged at n. 17. But the dates of this and of the remaining books I have assigned at nn. 191 and 192.

dd. It is most well known that the sepulchre and body of St. Martin in the city of Tours were for many centuries most greatly celebrated, and honoured with a great concourse of pilgrims. But of these we shall treat under St. Martin at the 11th of November. That that pilgrimage of St. Hildegard is to be fixed in the later years of her life, I have shown in the Commentary at n. 182.

ee. Namely, Paris of the Parisians lay on the way, and already at that time had a most celebrated university. The word Parisius is frequently set down in the middle age without inflection.

ff. The bishop of Paris was Maurice, who administered that see for a long time, praised by several in the Gallia Christiana, vol. 7, col. 70 and following.

gg. I find the village of Lorch noted on various maps on the opposite bank of the Rhine, about two German miles below Bingen.

hh. Of this possessed woman, and of the testimony of Roricus, more at n. 1.

ii. Here the examiners, who had been ordered by Gregory IX to transmit also the written little works of St. Hildegard, as is clear from the words of Gregory given in the Commentary at n. 208, turn to the Pontiff, and after the enumeration of the books which they were sending, they demand the canonization.

perhaps contrita*

perhaps devotissime*

add nominaverit*

perhaps etiam*

perhaps Beatrix* is lacking

perhaps matris*

perhaps scilicet*

* that is, to Hildegard

magni*