by St. Hildegard of Bingen [1]
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| Scivias III.4: The Pillar of the Word of God. Rupertsberg MS, fol. 145v. |
| O spectabiles viri qui pertransistis occulta, aspicientes per oculos spiritus et annuntiantes in lucida umbra acutam et viventem lucem in virga germinantem, que sola floruit de introitu radicantis luminis: Vos antiqui sancti, predixistis salvationem exulum animarum que inmerse fuerant morti, qui circuisti ut rote, mirabiliter loquentes mistica montis qui celum tangit, pertransiens ungendo multas aquas, cum etiam inter vos surrexit lucida lucerna, que ipsum montem precurrens ostendit. |
O men of sight—what a sight! Through mysteries you’ve passed with gaze of spirit’s eyes, to announce in shining shadow a living, piercing light that buds upon that single branch that flourished at the entrance of deep-rooted light: You saints of old! You have foretold salvation of souls in exile plunged, in death immersed. You circled, spun like wheels as wondrously proclaimed the mountain’s mysteries whose top the heavens touched and passed through many waters with anointing— yet still among you arose a shining lamp that raced ahead, that mountain to reveal. |
