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| Wisdom From the Stammheim Missal, fol. 11; Getty Museum, Ms. 64 (97.MG.21)) |
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| Humility; detail from the Pillar of the Savior's Humanity, Scivias 3.8 (Rupertsberg MS, fol. 178r) |
Now published in Religions 14:3 (2023), 342 (21pp), as part of a Special Issue on “The Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Devotion and Iconography.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030342.
Despite the lush visual imagery of the twenty-six visions that form the foundation of Hildegard of Bingen’s first work, Scivias, the physical person of the Virgin Mary appears only once, as the Queen of the heavenly symphony in the book’s final vision. The images that coalesce in the musical compositions dedicated to the Virgin in that final symphony, however, resonate throughout the rest of the work, revealing Mary’s constant background presence. Moreover, analogues of traditional Marian imagery in both the text and the illustrations Hildegard designed for the work allow us to see how the Virgin exemplifies the life of the virtues from which Hildegard constructs the City of God. Finally, connections between Scivias and Hildegard’s third work, Liber diuinorum operum, demonstrate that the Virgin Mary models the path of virginity that Hildegard holds up as the singular road to holy perfection for herself and the nuns under her care.
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| Scivias 3.12: The Last Judgement Rupertsberg MS, fol. 225r |
In this new essay published today at The Church Life Journal, I look at St. Hildegard of Bingen's views on the origins of sexual abuse and the universal #MeToo moment. She notices precisely the ways in which the abuse of power distorts our ability to know and understand reality, and thus distorts our relationships with each other and with God. Her solution lies in the redemption of human nature through Christ's humility.
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| The Nativity of Christ, from the Floreffe Bible, British Library, Add MS 17738, fol. 168r (ca. 1170, Belgium) |
From the Speculum Ecclesiae of Honorius Augustodunensis (early 12th cen.)[1]
Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice! Let the mountains break into songs of praise, for the Lord has comforted his people and will have mercy on his poor (Ps 95[96].11 / Is 49.13).[2] It is right that the heavens are bid to be glad today, for today they have gained the illumination of new light and new joy. Today indeed heavens’ King has willed to visit the earth with his presence and to restore through humans the loss incurred in heaven by the angels’ fall.[3] So at once the heavens have shown their cheerful joy to the world by sending forth a shining star in honor for their King. It is also right to urge the earth to rejoice today, for the Truth that sprung up from the earth (Ps 84.12[85.11]) has come today to free her from the curse and to unite humankind, born from the earth, with the angels in heaven. The earth has made her great exultation known to the world today by pouring forth from her womb a spring of oil for her God, who is born from her bosom, and offering it to those who look in wonder [4] The mountains, too, are urged to break into song in praise of God.[5] The mountains are the patriarchs and prophets, who transcended human merits by their holy way of life like mountains that rose high above the plains of the earth. Today they have broken into song in praise of God, for what the patriarchs once foretold in figures and the prophets in Scripture, they rejoice today to see fulfilled—that the people of the Gentiles who walked in the darkness of ignorance have seen today the great light of God’s eternal Wisdom (Is 9.2). And on those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death—that is, hell—light has risen (Is 9.2): Christ is born, the splendor of the everlasting Father;[6] after coming down for them and snatching them from the darkness, he drew them towards eternal light.
Nathaniel M. Campbell, “Picturing Hildegard of Bingen’s Sight: Illuminating Her Visions.” Ch. 12 in The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, ed. Jennifer Bain. Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp. 257-279; access online here.
This chapter explores the development and purpose of the illustrations in two manuscripts of Hildegard of Bingen’s works: one designed by Hildegard (the Rupertsberg Scivias), the other designed by a later generation of her monastery’s nuns (the Lucca Liber divinorum operum). An overview of her visionary experiences demonstrates the prophetic mission of their detailed images to communicate theological truths. I argue that Hildegard designed the Scivias images to aid that communication and provide visual exegesis of her visions, serving as a teaching tool to guide the reader through the manuscript. The next generation of nuns followed Hildegard’s impulse to illustrate her visions with the later Liber divinorum operum manuscript, but its famous cosmological diagram diverges from the text because the designer did not understand its meaning. The chapter closes with an assessment of the very limited influence of Hildegard’s illustrations in the later Middle Ages, with one story from the preaching of Johannes Tauler demonstrating their liability to reinterpretation.
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| A statue of St. Hildegard in a garden. Source: The Abbey of the St. Hildegard. |
I gave the following talk as part of the 2020 “St. Hildegard Speaks” virtual pilgrimage in September:
You can find my translation of Hildegard’s Book of Divine Works from The Catholic University of America Press here or on Amazon here.
You can find the 2020 Chronogram from the end of the talk here.
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| Hildegard beholds the universe. Liber Divinorum Operum 1.4 (detail from Lucca, MS 1942, fol. 38r) |
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| Pentecost From British Library, MS Egerton 809, fol. 35v (Gospel Lectionary, early 12th cen., Germany) |
From the Speculum Ecclesiae of Honorius Augustodunensis (early 12th-cen.)[1]
By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all their power by the spirit of his mouth (Ps 32[33].6).[2] Through the Son, who is the Word of God, not only the heavens but all things were created from nothing, and so that they would not be again melted into nothing, they were confirmed by that same Word and all their power furnished by the spirit of his mouth. The angels, too, are called “heavens” who, when the others fell, were confirmed in divine love through the Word and decked out by his spirit with all power.[3] So it is written, The Spirit of God has adorned the heavens (Job 26.13), for he graced both the heavens with the stars and the angels with the virtues.
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| The Ascension of Christ 13th-c. apse window, Lyons Cathedral (Image: Wikipedia) |
A Sermon for the Ascension of the Lord
From the Speculum Ecclesiae of Honorius Augustodunensis (early 12th cen.)[1]
The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood fixed in its order (Hbk 3.11).[2] Christ is the eternal sun, by which all the angels’ choirs are enlightened; he is the true light, by which all souls are enlightened (Jn 1.9). While hidden here beneath the cloud of the flesh, he is surrounded by the gloom of our fragility—but at last he surfaced from the darkness of hell and today is lifted gloriously up above the stars and exalted above all the angels’ dignities, the Lord of Majesty at the right hand of the Father. The moon or Church, enlightened by him, stood fixed in her order,[3] as with the apostles she watched him ascend the heavens. The apostles indeed formed the Church’s order as they established for her the order of living rightly and instructed her in how to direct her course according to the Sun of righteousness (Mal 4.6). O how splendid these horns the newborn moon has extended today, as the sun rising high poured into it the brilliance of eternal splendor! O how clear her visage, as she stood fixed in her order, watching with the apostolic choir—who formed her order—and with the Virgin Mother of God—who served as her type—as her flesh penetrated the outer heavens with her head, that is, with her Redeemer, with her Bridegroom, with her God! O what happiness mounts up today in heaven for the angels, as the Son of God, who was directed from the palace to the prison on behalf of a servant—indeed from his homeland into exile, an exile on behalf of an exile—as he returns today triumphantly to the Father’s kingdom! So too this is called the day of God’s triumph, when the singular Conqueror of death is glorified as the Author of life with hymns of praise by the Senate of the heavenly Court.
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| Opening of the sermon De Paschali Die, from Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 56, fol. 58v. |
A Sermon for Easter Day
From the Speculum Ecclesiae of Honorius Augustodunensis (early 12th cen.)[1]
This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it! (Ps 117[118].24) Dear friends, the Lord has made all days in his majesty, but this one he chose in his loving kindness before all of them, as a joy for both angels and humans. Indeed, the night of death and pain that began with Adam’s sin and keeps all things wrapped in its gloom—this holy night has brought it to an end. And today began the day of happiness and joy that will have no evening. The entire course of time from Adam until Christ was called the day of death, in which every person was led at death into hell. But this time is called the day of life and resurrection—it begins when Christ is declared to have risen again with many; and when it ends, there is no doubt that the whole human[2] race will be raised again on that very same day. In that day indeed, that time of grace, the elect who have been withdrawn from the flesh soon shall enter the joy of the Lord (Mt 25.21); but when the last resurrection has been accomplished, they shall possess double in their land (Is 61.7), when they rejoice everlastingly in body together with the soul at the Lord’s good things.
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| Human microcosm enmeshed by clouds. Liber Divinorum Operum 1.3 (detail from Lucca, MS 1942, fol. 28v) |
Nathaniel M. Campbell, “The prophetess and the pope: St. Hildegard of Bingen, Pope Benedict XVI, and prophetic visions of church reform,” postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies 10.1 (2019), 22-35; read online for free here.
Just published in a special issue devoted to “Prophetic Futures,” this article explores the affinities between St. Hildegard of Bingen and Pope Benedict XVI that may have led him to canonize her and declare her a Doctor of the Church in 2012. It pays special attention to their views on the Church’s prophetic mission and prophecy’s role in reforming it.
I am pleased to announce that my translation of The Book of Divine Works by St. Hildegard of Bingen is now available from The Catholic University of America Press. This is the first time that the Visionary Doctor’s final and most important visionary work has been issued in a complete and scholarly English translation. The volume includes:
You can get it directly from CUA Press here; through through Amazon here; European distribution can be accessed here, or email here.
I’ve been working on this project for nearly five years now. My oldest son was born at its beginnings, and my wife’s patience has been tested throughout. I owe my whole family the deepest debt of gratitude and reparations for its burden. Friends, too, have provided invaluable support, especially in accessing research materials unavailable to me. To all those who have helped: a big thank you!
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| St. Hildegard of Bingen recording her visions in the Liber Divinorum Operum (I.1), from Lucca, MS 1942, fol. 1. |
Campbell, Nathaniel M. “The Authorship and Function of the Chapter Summaries to Hildegard of Bingen’s Liber diuinorum operum.” The Journal of Medieval Latin 27 (2017), pp. 69-106.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1484/J.JML.5.114589
Also accessible online through academia.edu here.
Abstract
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| St. Hildegard of Bingen recording her visions in the Liber Divinorum Operum (I.1), from Lucca, MS 1942, fol. 1. |
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| St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). Detail from painting by Cynthia Large. |
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| St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) Stained-glass window (restored), Rochuskapelle / Museum am Strom. |
(O vox praeclara, videns in luce vivente: praecepta Dei nobis persones, ut opera eius virida in nobis floreantur.)
(O illustrious voice, seeing within the Living Light: ring out for us the precepts of God, so that his verdant works might flourish within us.)
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| St. Hildegard of Bingen recording her visions in the Liber Divinorum Operum (I.1), from Lucca, MS 1942, fol. 1. |
Unfortunately, as a result of the time commitment required to complete these two projects, in addition to my part-time teaching responsibilities and caring for my infant son while my wife teaches full-time, I will have to step back from making regular posts to this blog. Those of you who have been following my Symphonia series will, however, be able to see its completion through the ISHBS’s project (and I may cross-post occasional updates to that project here); and those who have enjoyed my translations of the LDO can look forward to its complete appearance in a few years.
Update, April 15, 2015:
My article, “‘Lest He Should Come Unforeseen’: The Antichrist Cycle in the Hortus Deliciarum,” has just been published in Gesta, Vol. 54, No. 1 (2015), pp. 85-118, and can be accessed online here. Gesta is the journal of the International Center of Medieval Art.
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Portrait of St. Hildegard. Rupertsberg Scivias, fol. 1r (Protestificatio) |
(O prophetissa teutonica et Doctrix beata Ecclesiae, visiones tuae nobis virtutes viriditatis in via vera ostendant.)
(O German prophetess and blessed Teacher of the Church, may your visions reveal to us the virtues of viridity upon the true way.)
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| Scivias III.3: Amor Caelestis. Rupertsberg MS, fol. 139r. |
| Quia ergo femina mortem instruxit, clara virgo illam interemit, et ideo est summa benedictio in feminea forma pre omni creatura, quia Deus factus est homo in dulcissima et beata virgine. |
For since a woman drew up death, a virgin gleaming dashed it down, and therefore is the highest blessing found in woman’s form before all other creatures. For God was made a human in the sweet and blessed Virgin. |
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| Scivias I.2: The Fall. Rupertsberg MS, fol. 4r. |
| Cum processit factura digiti Dei, formata ad imaginem Dei in ortu mixti sanguinis per peregrinationem casus Ade, elementa susceperunt gaudia in te, o laudabilis Maria, celo rutilante et in laudibus sonante. |
Although the craft of God’s extended finger, created in God’s image, came forth in birth of blood commingled, in pilgrimage exiled by Adam’s fall; the elements received their joys in you, O Mary, worthy of our praise, as heaven gleams with rubied light and echoes gladsome shouts of praise. |
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| Virgin Mary, Queen of Heavens' Symphony, Scivias III.13 Rupertsberg MS, fol. 229r |
| O quam magnum miraculum est quod in subditam femineam formam rex introivit. Hoc Deus fecit quia humilitas super omnia ascendit. Et o quam magna felicitas est in ista forma, quia malicia, que de femina fluxit hanc femina postea detersit et omnem suavissimum odorem virtutum edificavit ac celum ornavit plus quam terram prius turbavit. |
How great the wonder is! Into the female form subdued the King has come. This God has done, for meekness mounts o’er all. And O how great the happiness is in that form, for malice, which from a woman flowed— a woman then this malice wiped away, and ev’ry sweet perfume of virtues she has raised— the heavens graced far more than e’er the earth in chaos cast. |
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| St. Disibod Oil on canvas, 17th c. (From Colonial Art) |
| V. O viriditas digiti Dei, in qua Deus constituit plantationem que in excelso resplendent ut statuta columna: R. Tu gloriosa in preparatione Dei. V. Et o altitudo montis que numquam dissipaberis in discretione Dei, tu tamen stas a longe ut exul, sed non est in potestate armati qui te rapiat. |
V. O fresh viridity of God’s creative finger, in which God planted his green vineyard that glistens in the heights, a lofty pillar: R. How glorious you are as you prepare for God! V. And O, the mountain’s height! O never shall you be laid low at God’s discerning judgment— no, you stand yet afar, an exile, but not ensnared by that brigand’s power who snatches after you. |
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| “The Ruins of the Disibodenberg Monastery,” Lithograph, 1833. From Gemeinfrei IGL-Bildarchiv. |
| O mirum admirandum quod absconsa forma precellit ardua in honesta statura, ubi vivens altitudo profert mistica. Unde, o Disibode, surges in fine, succurrente flore omnium ramorum mundi, ut primum surrexisti. |
O wonder, O how wondrous! A hidden form, so hard, so high, so steep, surpasses in its lofty honor— where Living Height itself reveals the mysteries. And so, O Disibod, you shall arise at th’ end of time as first you rose— the flow’r of all the branches of the world comes to your aid. |
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| Scivias III.13: Symphonia in Heaven: Choir of Patriarchs and Prophets (detail). Rupertsberg MS, fol. 229r |
| V. O vos felices radices cum quibus opus miraculorum et non opus criminum per torrens iter perspicue umbre plantatum est, et o tu ruminans ignea vox, precurrens limantem lapidem subvertentem abyssum: R. Gaudete in capite vestro. V. Gaudete in illo quem non viderunt in terris multi qui ipsum ardenter vocaverunt. R. Gaudete in capite vestro. |
V. O merry roots, with whom the work of miracles— but not the work of crimes— was planted by a journey rushing, tearing forth, a path of shade perlucid; and you, O voice of ruminating fire, forerunner of the Rock that grinds to polish and to topple the abyss: R. Rejoice in him, your captain! V. Rejoice in him whom most on earth have never seen— yet ardently have called upon. R. Rejoice in him, your captain! |
