About Me

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I am a medievalist and an adjunct college instructor in the humanities at Union College. My research includes medieval theologies of history, text/image relationships in visionary and mystical texts, and the writings of the twelfth-century Doctor of the Church, St. Hildegard of Bingen. I am also a translator of medieval Latin and German texts, especially as relate to my research. My translation of Hildegard's Book of Divine Works is available from Catholic University of America Press here. I completed a Master's in Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame in 2010, a Fulbright Fellowship in Germany in 2008, and a B.A. in Classics and German at Boston College in 2007.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

O nobilissima viriditas (Symphonia 56)

For the Feast of St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr,
A Responsory for Virgins by St. Hildegard of Bingen [1]


Scivias II.5: Virginitas
& the Orders of the Church.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 66r
(detail)
V. O nobilissima viriditas,
que radicas in sole
et que in candida serenitate
luces in rota
quam nulla terrene excellentia    
comprehendit:

R. Tu circumdata es
amplexibus divinorum
ministeriorum.

V. Tu rubes ut aurora
et ardes ut solis flamma.

R. Tu circumdata es
amplexibus divinorum
ministeriorum.
V. O noblest, freshest green, viridity
you are, deep rooted in the sun
and shining bright in clearest calm
within a wheel
no earthly excellence
can comprehend:

R. You are contained within
the embraces of the service,
the ministries divine.

V. As morning’s dawn you blush,
as sunny flame you burn.

R. You are contained within
the embraces of the service,
the ministries divine.

Monday, January 13, 2014

O magna res (Symphonia R 407ra)

For the Octave of the Epiphany, a Verse for the Incarnate Word
and His Virgin Mother by St. Hildegard of Bingen [1]


Hand of God. Frontispiece,
Uta Codex, ca. 1025.
Munich, Staatsbibliothek
MS Clm 13601, fol. 1v.
1a. O magna res
que in nullo constituto latuit,   
ita quod non est facta
nec creata ab ullo,
sed in se ipsa permanet.

lb. O vita
que surrexisti in aurora,
in qua magnus rex
     sapientiam
que in antiquo
apud virum sapientem fuit
misericorditer manifestavit,
quia mulier per foramen
     antiqui perditoris
mortem intravit.
1a. O greatness that
no creature formed could hide—
not made indeed,
created not by anyone,
within itself abides.

1b. O life
that rose upon the dawn,
the dayspring when
     the mighty King
in mercy made his Wisdom known—
of old she dwelt
together with the sage—
for once a woman entered death
through the ancient slayer’s
     darkened door.

Monday, January 06, 2014

O quam preciosa (Symphonia 22)

For the Feast of the Epiphany, a Responsory for the Virgin
by St. Hildegard of Bingen[1]


Nativity of the Lord.
Stammheim / Hildesheim
Missal (ca. 1160-70), fol. 92r.
J. Paul Getty Museum
V. O quam preciosa est
virginitas virginis huius
que clausam portam habet,     
et cuius viscera
sancta divinitas calore suo
infudit, ita quod flos
     in ea crevit.

R. Et Filius Dei
     per secreta ipsius
quasi aurora exivit.

V. Unde dulce germen,
quod Filius ipsius est,
per clausuram ventris eius
paradisum aperuit.

R. Et Filius Dei
     per secreta ipsius
quasi aurora exivit.
V. How precious is
this Virgin’s sweet virginity,
her gate kept closed,
her womb
divinity most holy with its warmth
has flooded so a flower sprung
     within it.

R. The Son of God's come forth
from her most secret chamber
     like the dawn.

V. And so the sweet and tender shoot—
her Son—
has through her womb’s enclosure
opened Paradise.

R. The Son of God's come forth
from her most secret chamber
     like the dawn.