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.

O speculum columbe (Symphonia 35)

An Antiphon for the Feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist
by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

St. John, the beloved disciple,
resting with Jesus.
Andachtsbild, carved and
painted wood, ca. 1320.
From the Dominican convent
in Sankt-Katharinenthal
(Switzerland).
Museum Mayer van den Bergh,
Antwerp / Web Gallery of Art.

O speculum columbe castissime forme, qui inspexisti misticam      largitatem in purissimo fonte: O mira floriditas que numquam arescens cecidisti,   quia altissimus plantator      misit te: O suavissima quies amplexuum solis: tu es specialis filius Agni in electa amicicia nove sobolis.

O mirror of the dove— the perfect form of chastity— you gazed upon the mystic      bounty within the clearest font: O wondrous, flourished bloom that never withered, never fell— the Gardener on high      has sent you forth: O sweet repose of sunshine’s warm embrace: the Lamb’s especial son you are within that privileged friendship of a new posterity.

O factura Dei (Symphonia R 405rb)

For Christmas, the Nativity of the Lord, a Verse on the Incarnation
by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

God enthroned upon
the mountain, with
Fear of the Lord (L)
& Poor in Spirit (R),
Scivias I.1.
Rupertsberg MS,
fol. 2r.

O factura Dei que es homo, in magna sanctitate edificata es, quia sancta divinitas in humilitate celos penetravit. O quam magna pietas est quod in limo terre deitas claruit,     et quod angeli Deo ministrantes Deum in humanitate vident.

O what a work of God you are, O human, forged and established in great holiness— for now divinity most holy has the heavens pierced in your humility. How great indeed that loving kindness is, as in the earthy clay the Godhead beamed, the angels in their ministry to God see now that God within humanity.

O splendidissima gemma (Symphonia 10)

For the Fourth Sunday in Advent, an Antiphon for the Virgin
by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Scivias I.4:
Conception of
Soul and Body.
Rupertsberg MS,
fol. 22r (detail)

O splendidissima gemma et serenum decus solis qui tibi infusus est, fons saliens de corde Patris, quod est unicum Verbum suum,      per quod creavit mundi primam materiam, quam Eva turbavit. Hoc Verbum effabricavit tibi Pater hominem, et ob hoc es tu illa      lucida materia per quam hoc ipsum Verbum      exspiravit omnes virtutes,      ut eduxit in prima materia omnes creaturas.

O jewel resplendent and bright and joyous beauty of the sun that’s flooded into you— the fountain leaping from the Father’s heart. This is his single Word      by which he did create the world’s primordial matter, a motherhood into confusion cast by Eve. This Word the Father made for you into a man— and this is why you are that bright      and shining matter, through which that Word      has breathed forth every virtue’s pow’r,      as he brought forth all creatures in a primal motherhood.

O Verbum Patris (Symphonia R 404va)

A Verse for Word and Wisdom by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Scivias II.1: Creation
Rupertsberg MS,
fol. 41v (detail)

O Verbum Patris, tu lumen prime aurore in circulo rote es, omnia in divina vi operans. O tu prescientia Dei, omnia opera tua previdisti, sicut voluisti, ita quod in medio potencie tue latuit    quod omnia prescivisti, et operatus es quasi in similitudine rote cuncta circueuntis, que inicium non accepit nec in fine prostrata est.

O Word of the Father, you are the first dawn’s light within the circuit of the wheel, performing all in energy divine. O God’s foreknowledge, you have foreseen your every deed according to your will— all that you have foreknown lay held within your power’s heart. Your working is as like a wheel that all encompasses— beginning kept it not nor ever was it wound down to an end.

Ave generosa (Symphonia 17)

For the Third Sunday in Advent, a Hymn for the Virgin
by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Virgin Mary, Queen of Heavens'
Symphony, Scivias III.13
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 229r

1. Ave generosa, gloriosa et intacta puella. Tu pupilla castitatis, tu materia sanctitatis, que Deo placuit. 2. Nam hec superna infusio         in te fuit, quod supernum Verbum      in te carnem induit.

1. Hail, nobly born, O Maiden, honored and inviolate. You are the piercing gaze of chastity, you the material of holiness— the one who pleasèd God. 2. For heaven’s flood poured      into you as heaven’s Word was clothed      in flesh in you.

Article Published: "Visio-Theological Designs in Hildegard of Bingen's Rupertsberg Scivias Manuscript"

I am pleased to announce that the full article upon which the paper I presented at the Kalamazoo conference earlier this year was based has now been published in the art history journal Eikón / Imago 4 (2013, Vol. 2, No. 2), pp. 1-68.

"Imago expandit splendorem suum: Hildegard of Bingen’s Visio-Theological Designs in the Rupertsberg Scivias Manuscript" can be viewed on the journal's website here or on my Academia.edu profile here.

O Euchari, in leta via (Symphonia 53)

For the Feast of St. Eucharius, First Bishop of Trier (transferred fr. Dec. 8)
A Sequence by St. Hildegard of Bingen ^[1]

Choir of Bishops
and Confessors, from
Scivias III.13: Symphonia
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 229r

1a. O Euchari, in leta via ambulasti ubi cum Filio Dei mansisti, illum tangendo et miracula eius que fecit      videndo. 1b. Tu eum perfecte amasti cum sodales tui exterriti erant,      pro eo quod homines erant, nec possibilitatem habebant bona perfecte intueri.

1a. O St. Eucharius, you walked upon the blessed way when with the Son of God you stayed— you touched the man and saw with your own eyes      his miracles. 1b. You loved him perfectly while your companions trembled, frightened by their mere humanity, unable as they were to gaze entirely upon the good.

Hodie aperuit nobis (Symphonia 11)

(Nunc aperuit nobis)
For the Feast of the Immaculate Conception upon the Second Sunday
of Advent, an Antiphon for the Virgin by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Humility, from
Scivias III.8: The Pillar
of the Savior's Humanity.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 178r.

Hodie aperuit nobis clausa porta quod serpens in muliere              suffocavit, unde lucet in aurora flos de Virgine Maria.

Today was opened unto us a shut-up gate. For the serpent drew it tight,       in woman choked— yet from it gleams within the dawn the Virgin Mary’s flow’r.

Ave Maria, O auctrix vite (Symphonia 8)

For the First Sunday in Advent, a Responsory for the Virgin
by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Misericordia Dei
(Mercy of God)
Scivias III.3
Rupertsberg MS,
fol. 139r

V. Ave Maria, o auctrix vite, reedificando salutem, que mortem conturbasti et serpentem contrivisti, ad quem se Eva erexit erecta cervice cum sufflatu superbie. Hunc conculcasti dum de celo Filium Dei genuisti:     R. Quem inspiravit Spiritus Dei.

V. Hail Mary, O authoress of life, rebuilding up salvation’s health, for death you have disturbed, that serpent crushed to whom Eve raised herself, her neck outstretched with puffed-up pride. That serpent’s head you ground to dust when heaven’s Son of God you bore: R. on whom God’s Spirit breathed.

O Sancta Hildegardis: A Chronogram for the Feast of St. Hildegard of Bingen

Portrait of St. Hildegard.
Rupertsberg Scivias, fol. 1r
(Protestificatio)

o sanCta hILDegarDIs,
LVX opVsqVe VIVentes
LVCeant nobIs
per VIsIones tVas
In VIa DoCentes.

(O sancta Hildegardis, lux opusque viventes luceant nobis per visiones tuas in via docentes.)

(O Saint Hildegard, may the Living Light and the Living Work shine upon us through your visions as they teach upon the way.)

St. Hildegard of Bingen: Prologue to Liber Divinorum Operum

Portrait of Hildegard of Bingen
recording her visions in the
Liber Divinorum Operum (I.1).
Lucca MS 1942, fol. 1. (From Wikipedia)

St. Hildegard of Bingen prefaced each of her three visionary-theological works—the Scivias, the Liber Vitae Meritorum (“Book of the Rewards of Life” / “Book of Life’s Merits”), and the Liber Divinorum Operum (“Book of Divine Works”)—with a brief description of the chronological and visionary genesis of the work. Although a little longer than the opening of the Liber Vitae Meritorum—whose structure it nevertheless parallels—the Prologue to the Liber Divinorum Operum is only half the length of the Protestifactio that opens Scivias. Because that first declaration came at the beginning of Hildegard’s writing career, at a time when she was still quite unsure of herself, it went to great lengths to establish both Hildegard’s frail humility in the service of God and the legitimate, divine authority for her prophetic messages, as well as the dynamic of the visionary experience relating the two. The openings of the latter two works also take up those three themes that are central to Hildegard's visionary, prophetic, and theological vocation, but with greater concision.

Guest Post at Beyond Borders

I've written this week’s guest post over at the medieval art history blog, Beyond Borders. Titled, “Monstrosity within the Church in Hildegard of Bingen’s Rupertsberg Scivias Manuscript,” it explores the hybridized, monumental images of Ecclesia (the Church) in that manuscript, with a specific eye to the ways in which the monstrous and grotesque are central to the images, rather than marginalized, as in many later, Gothic-style manuscripts. The design of the images in the Ruperstberg manuscript transgresses medieval conventions in order to make explicit Hildegard's reformist message against monstrosity within the Church.

Go check it out!

Hildegard of Bingen and the Doctoral Stars

Liber Divinorum Operum I.2:
Macrocosm and Microcosm.
(Lucaa MS 1942)

In the second vision of St. Hildegard of Bingen’s final and most important work, the Liber Divinorum Operum, she lays out a vast schematic of the universe, structured around a series of swirling spheres that nest, one inside the other, down to the globe of the earth at their center. Evenly spaced around and within its outermost sphere, which she describes as a “circle of bright fire”, she sees sixteen principal stars that “strengthen each part of the firmament with their powers,” and “simultaneously hold [it] together (...) with the rightness of an even and necessary but not excessive number. Like the nails that hold together the wall in which they are fixed, these cannot be moved from their places but orbit with the firmament as they keep it solidly fixed together.” (Liber Divinorum Operum I.2.39)

Hildegard then proceeds to offer an allegorical interpretation of the place of each physical feature of the universe within the life of faith and the history of salvation. Of these sixteen principal stars arranged along the outer circumference of the sky, she writes:

These signify that in the pure wholeness of divine power exist the principal teachers (doctores) who have taught and continue to teach that the ten commandments of the law are to be fulfilled throughout the six ages of the world. (…) For these teachers exhort the faithful throughout the four parts of the world to tremble at the fear of the Lord (…), so that because of this holy dread, they should stop sinning.
         —Liber Divinorum Operum I.2.42

Little could Hildegard have known that one day, her name would be added to the catalogue of these great and stellar teachers of the faith.

Women’s Ordination, Part 2: More Thoughts and Reconsiderations

St. Hildegard of Bingen,
Scivias II.5: Orders of the Church.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 66r.

After offering an initial set of thoughts in my last post on the possibilities for using ancient notions of ordination to expand the authority of women in today’s Church while also preserving the sacramental reasons for the male priesthood, I had a lively conversation with various friends and colleagues that brought to light several areas of concern, reconsideration, and clarification:

1. An Order of Doctors? The magisteria of bishops and of theologians

Women’s Ordination: Teaching Authority, Sacramentality, and the Priesthood

Scivias II.6:
Ecclesia offers the Eucharist.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 86r.

With the declaration of St. Hildegard of Bingen as the fourth female Doctor (Teacher) of the Church last year, my thoughts have turned repeatedly to the question of how women have exercised teaching and other institutional authority within the Church, and to how the examples of the past might shape the future of the Body of Christ. As western society has moved decisively over the last century to break down the structural inequalities of patriarchy that had for so long held women inferior to men, the silence that the Church still seems to command of women in its own institutional structures deafens ever more with the cries of injustice. Indeed, several commentators noticed the seeming disconnect between Pope Benedict’s canonization and valorization of Hildegard, on the one hand, and the nearly simultaneous criticism of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the other. How can the Church authorize one of her most stridently critical prophetic voices as one of her most important teachers of the faith, and yet continue to bar entry into its modern magisterium to the women who serve that faith today?

Text vs. Image in the Lucca Illustration of Liber Divinorum Operum I.2: Humanity and the Macrocosmos

Humanity and the Macrocosmos.
Liber Divinorum Operum I.2
(Lucca MS 1942)

With the advent of the summer months, I have set to work again on my new translation of Hildegard of Bingen’s Liber Divinorum Operum. Last week saw me (re)tackling the second vision of the work, in which Hildegard revises her vision of the cosmos in the shape of an egg in Scivias I.3 into an elaborate series of “circles” whirling one inside the other, with a grand human figure standing astride the spinning globe. The vision text is extremely complex and intricate in its details, especially as Hildegard begins to describe the interplay of the four principal winds and their eight collateral winds, each represented by an animal’s head. As one reads through it, one feels compelled to pull out paper and pencil and to sketch it out, simply in order to keep straight above and below, left and right, east and west, north and south. In the course of carefully piecing together each detail, it soon became clear to me that the famed illustration of this vision in the thirteenth-century Lucca manuscript—so often compared to da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man”—has several significant flaws:

Book Review: The Shakespeare Thefts by Eric Rasmussen

Eric Rasmussen. The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. xv + 212 pp.

A British fantasist whose playboy image is a sham; a New York couple drowning together while on holiday at a resort in Maine; and the unintentionally sticky fingers of both Pope Paul VI and the author himself (pp. 91-92): each makes an appearance in Eric Rasmussen’s The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios. This volume serves as the popular equivalent of a “Behind the Scenes” documentary for Rasmussen’s monumental scholarly project of the last two decades: to track down and catalogue in exhaustive detail as many as possible of the 232 known extant copies of the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare’s works, considered by many to be one of the most important and prized printed books in the English language.

Laus Trinitati (Symphonia 26)

An Antiphon for the Trinity by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Scivias II.2: The Trinity.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 47r.

Laus Trinitati que sonus et vita ac creatrix omnium in vita ipsorum est, et que laus angelice turbe et mirus splendor      archanorum, que hominibus ignota sunt, est,  et que in omnibus vita est.

Praise to the Trinity— the sound and life and creativity of all within their life; the praise of the angelic host and wondrous, brilliant      splendor hidden, unknown to human minds, and yet its mystery is life within all things.

O ignee Spiritus (Symphonia 27)

A Hymn to the Holy Spirit by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Scivias II.4: Tower
of the Holy Spirit.
Rupertsberg MS,
fol. 60r.

1. O ignee Spiritus, laus tibi sit, qui in timpanis et citharis operaris. 2. Mentes hominum de te flagrant      et tabernacula animarum eorum vires ipsarum continent. 3. Inde voluntas ascendit et gustum anime tribuit, et eius lucerna est desiderium. 4. Intellectus te in dulcissimo sono      advocat ac edificia tibi cum racionalitate parat, que in aureis operibus sudat.

1. O fiery Spirit, praise to you, who on the tympana and lyre play! 2. By you the human mind is set ablaze, the tabernacle of its soul contains its strength. 3. So mounts the will and grants the soul to taste— desire is its lamp. 4. In sweetest sound the intellect      upon you calls, a dwelling-place prepares for you, with reason sweating in the golden labor.

Karitas habundat (Symphonia 25)

(Caritas abundat)
An Antiphon for the Holy Spirit by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Caritas (Divine Love)
Liber Divinorum Operum
I.1 (Lucca MS 1942)

Karitas habundat in omnia, de imis excellentissima super sidera atque amantissima in omnia, quia summo regi osculum pacis       dedit.

Love abounds in all, from the depths exalted and excelling over every star, and most beloved of all, for to the highest King she gave the kiss of peace.

Spiritus sanctus vivificans vita (Symphonia 24)

For Pentecost, an Antiphon for the Holy Spirit by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Scivias II.4:
Confirmation.
Rupertsberg MS,
fol. 60r.

Spiritus sanctus vivificans vita movens omnia, et radix est in omni creatura ac omnia de inmunditia      abluit, tergens crimina, ac ungit vulnera, et sic est fulgens ac laudabilis vita,      suscitans et resuscitans omnia.

The Holy Spirit: living and life-giving, all things moving, the root of all created being: of filth and muck it washes      all things clean— no guilty stains remaining, its balm our wounds constraining— and so its life with praise is shining, rousing and reviving all.

Imago expandit splendorem suum: Hildegard of Bingen’s Visio-Theological Designs in the Rupertsberg Scivias Manuscript

Imago expandit splendorem suum...
Scivias II.3: The Church and Baptism.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 51r.

Update: The full article on which this presentation was based has now been published in Eikón / Imago 4 (2013:2), pp. 1-68, available electronically here.

A major point of contention within Hildegard studies is the question of her role in the production of the illuminated Scivias manuscript known as the Rupertsberg Codex.^[1] Much current German scholarship has tended to preclude Hildegard’s hand by dating the manuscript’s production after her death in 1179, based on stylistic comparisons to firmly dateable contemporary manuscripts or on the many places where the images in the manuscript diverge from or even contradict the text of the visions. Pre-war German scholars, however, who had access to the original manuscript before it was lost, and most modern Anglophone scholars have argued more or less strongly for Hildegard’s influence on the design. Today, I argue for Hildegard’s direction of the images based on their function as a theological discourse refracting the text. I propose that the manuscript was produced in the late 1160’s or early 1170’s, at about the same time Hildegard was writing the Liber Divinorum Operum; and that she designed the images specifically to offer a visual record of the work’s theology.

48th International Congress on Medieval Studies: May 9-12, 2013

I am pleased to announce that I have received a portion of the 2013 James J. Paxson Memorial Travel Grant from the BABEL Working Group, to help defray the cost of my attendance at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo in a few weeks.

I will be presenting on Thursday, May 9, at 1:30 p.m., in Session 94 (Bernhard 210), “Hildegard von Bingen: Bridges to Infinity,” sponsored by the International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies. My paper is titled, “Imago expandit splendorem suum: Hildegard of Bingen’s Visio-Theological Designs in the Rupertsberg Scivias Manuscript.” I have copied the abstract below, and you can read the full text here.

An Act of Cowardice

An Open Letter to Every Senator who Voted Against Background Checks:

I write to you with a heart aggrieved by your shameful decision this week to vote against the implementation of universal background checks for firearms’ transactions. This was a bill designed to close loopholes exploited by criminals and the mentally ill to purchase firearms to which they have no legal right at gun shows and over the Internet. It was also a bill that, contrary to the claims made falsely against it, did not infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of American citizens; indeed, little more than a decade ago, its provisions were openly supported by the National Rifle Association. It was a bill with overwhelming popular support (not to mention the support of a majority of your fellow senators), which you callously ignored because you were cowed and frightened by the shameless voices of mendacious bullies. This week, you perverted democracy.

O eterne Deus (Symphonia 7)

An Antiphon for God the Father by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Theophany of Caritas
(Divine Love)
Liber Divinorum Operum
I.1 (Lucca MS 1942)

O eterne Deus, nunc tibi placeat ut in amore illo ardeas ut membra illa simus que fecisti in eodem amore, cum Filium tuum genuisti in prima aurora ante omnem creaturam, et inspice necessitatem hanc que super nos cadit, et abstrahe eam a nobis propter Filium tuum, et perduc nos in leticiam salutis.

O eternal God, may you be pleased to blaze once more in love and to reforge us as the limbs you fashioned in that love, when first you bore your Son upon the primal dawn before all things created. Look upon this need that over us has fallen, draw it off from us according to your Son, and lead us back into salvation’s    wholesome happiness.

O magne Pater (Symphonia 6)

An Antiphon for God the Father by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Scivias III.12:
The New Heaven & New Earth.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 225v.

O magne Pater, in magna necessitate sumus.      Nunc igitur obsecramus, obsecramus te per Verbum tuum, per quod nos constituisti      plenos quibus indigemus. Nunc placeat tibi, Pater, quia te decet, ut aspicias in nos per adiutorium tuum, ut non deficiamus, et ne nomen tuum      in nobis obscuretur, et per ipsum nomen tuum    dignare nos adiuvare.

O Father great, in great necessity and need we are. Thus we now beg, we beg of you according to your Word, through whom you once      established us full of all that we now lack. Now may it please you, Father, for it behooves you, to look upon us with your kindly aid, lest we should fail again and, lost, forget      your name. By that your name we pray— please kindly help and bring us aid!

O pastor animarum (Symphonia 4)

An Antiphon for the Redeemer by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Scivias II.1:
The Redeemer (detail).
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 41v.

O pastor animarum et o prima vox per quam omnes creati sumus,     nunc tibi, tibi placeat ut digneris nos liberare de miseriis et languoribus nostris.

O shepherd of our souls, O primal voice, whose call created all of us: Now hear our cry to thee, to thee, and deign to free us from our miseries and feebleness.

O quam mirabilis (Symphonia 3)

An Antiphon for the Creator by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Humanity as Microcosm.
Liber Divinorum Operum I.2
(Lucca MS 1942)

O quam mirabilis est prescientia divini pectoris que prescivit omnem      creaturam. Nam cum Deus inspexit faciem hominis quem formavit,   omnia opera sua in eadem forma hominis integra aspexit. O quam mirabilis est inspiratio que hominem sic suscitavit.

How wonderful it is, that the foreknowing heart divine has first known everything      created! For when God looked upon the human face that he had formed, he gazed upon      his ev’ry work and deed, reflected pure in that humanity. How wondrous is that breath with which he inspires humanity,     rousing us to life!

O virtus Sapientie (Symphonia 2)

An Antiphon for Divine Wisdom by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Scivias III.5: The Zeal
or Jealousy of God.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 153r.

O virtus Sapientie, que circuiens circuisti, comprehendendo omnia in una via que habet vitam, tres alas habens, quarum una in altum volat   et altera de terra sudat et tercia undique volat. Laus tibi sit, sicut te decet, O Sapientia.

O Wisdom’s energy! Whirling, you encircle and everything embrace in the single way of life. Three wings you have: one soars above into the heights, one sweeps about the earth, and with the third you fly      throughout. Praise be to you, as is your due, O Wisdom.