Common section

STRUGGLES FOR INDEPENDENCE

7. Songs for Saint Disibod

The universal community of the saints was a genuinely felt reality in the lives of Hildegard and her nuns, not only as an example to follow but also as a source of inspiration and a focus of devotion. This was especially true of patron saints of the locality such as Disibod, the seventh-century Irish bishop and hermit who founded a monastery on the summit of the hill that later bore his name. Hildegard spent half her life on the Disibodenberg and must have been highly familiar with its topography. She clearly associated the heights of the mountain with the spiritual stature of the saint to whom she dedicated her verses.

O mirum admirandum. Antiphon for Saint Disibod1

O wondrous marvel,

a hidden form shines forth

and rises up in glorious stature

to where the living height

gives forth mystical truths.

Therefore, O Disibod, you will rise up at the end,

as once you were raised,

by the succouring blossom

of all the branches of the world.

O viriditas digiti dei. Responsory for Saint Disibod2

O green vigour of the hand of God,

in which God has planted a vineyard,

it shines in the heights

like a stately column,

You are glorious in your preparation for God.

And O mountain on high

you will never weaken in God’s testing

but you stand far off like an exile.

The armoured man does not have the power

to seize you.

You are glorious in your preparation for God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. You are glorious in your preparation for God.

8. Letter to Hartwig of Bremen

Hartwig of Bremen was the brother of Richardis of Stade, and presumably well-known to Hildegard.1 His mother, Marchioness (Margravin) Richardis, was related to the family of futta von Spanheim, and gave Hildegard her support during the preparations for the move to Rupertsberg which began in the late 11408. Hartwig himself became Archbishop of Bremen in 1148 and immediately began a policy of extending the power and influence of his see in the north and north-east, often in direct conflict with his enemy Henry the Lion, the powerful Duke of Saxony and Bavaria and head of the Welf dynasty.

Hildegard to Hartwig, Archbishop of Bremen, after 1148 [Letter 11]

Consider the One who saw you on the first day, who gave you eyes to see with; who gave you the wings of all creation to fly with. Consider the One who made human beings to be a mirror to the fullness of all his miracles, so that the knowledge of God would shine in them, as it is written: ‘You are gods and all of you are sons of the most high’.2 May he look upon you, and direct you to his will.

Whenever human reason imitates God, then a human being can reach God, who has neither beginning nor end. For God is revealed by the knowledge of good and evil. This is what the wheel of eternity is like.

May God himself so act that you flee the evil which began on the first day, the evil which lacks all good will and is forever opposed to God. May he set within you the windows that shine in the heavenly Jerusalem, the beautiful structures of the Virtues. May he cause you to soar in God’s loving embrace. As the one on whom God poured his blessing said: ‘Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?’3

And again, consider this: I, a poor female, saw you in the light of salvation. Fulfil now the commandments of God, given you by his grace, and taught to you by his Holy Spirit.

9. Song for Saint Ursula

Hildegard reserved a special devotion for the martyrs of the faith such as Ursula, killed with her many companions at Cologne by the Huns during the Dark Ages, and she wrote two songs to be sung in her honour in church. The sequence as a type of song was intended to be inserted into the liturgy of the mass; divided into stanzas, its form gave scope for longer meditations on a particular theme. The exact date when the following sequence was composed is not known, but the lines spoken by Ursula’s detractors (’In the innocence of her girlish ignorance, she does not know what she is saying) have an obvious application to Hildegard and the opposition she experienced in the early years of her life and work. Whether consciously or unconsciously, Hildegard may have identified with the pilgrim Ursula in her own plans for departure to a new community at the Rupertsberg.

O Ecclesia oculi tui. Sequence1

O Church, your eyes are like sapphire,2

and your ears like Mount Bethel,3

your nose is like a mountain of myrrh and incense,4

your mouth the sound of many waters.5

In a vision of true faith,

Ursula loved the Son of God,

she abandoned husband and worldly life

and gazed at the sun,

calling the fair youth and saying:

‘I have eagerly desired6

to come to you at the heavenly nuptials

and sit with you,

running to you on the pilgrim way like a cloud7

racing through the purest air like a sapphire.’

And after Ursula had said this,

a rumour went through the people.

And they said: ‘In the innocence of her girlish ignorance,

she does not know what she is saying.’

And they began to make fun of her,

singing their songs,8

until the fiery burden fell on her.

Then they all acknowledged her,

for rejection of the world is like Mount Bethel.

And they acknowledged also

the pleasant fragrance of myrrh and incense,

since rejection of the world had descended upon all.

Then the devil sent out his troops

to murder the most noble behaviour in their bodies.

And all the elements heard this with a loud cry

and they shouted before the throne of God:

‘Alas the red of the Lamb’s innocent blood

has flowed

at this betrothal.’

May all the heavens hear,

may they praise the Lamb of God in highest harmony,

because the ancient serpent’s throat

has been choked with necklace of pearls9

made of the material of the Word of God.10

10. The Trials of the Soul (from Scivias I, 4)

The first few chapters of Scivias I, 4 form a separate section prior to a discussion of the physiology of human conception and Church teachings on marriage. Two of the chapter titles describe the text as ‘the lament of the soul on the path of error but returning through the grace of God to her mother Zion’ (ch. 1) and ‘the wings of the soul’ (ch. 2), both of which give some indication of the theme. It is tempting to see a link between the spiritual states symbolized in this story and Hildegard’s own tribulations as she gradually gained recognition as a writer and spiritual leader. She returned to a similar plot for her drama of Anima (Soul) in the Play of the Virtues (13). The theme of the runaway daughter is also of interest, for it links the story to the later departures of Richardis and Adelheid (12).

The accompanying illustration in the Rupertsberg manuscript shows, in its main frame, a golden light pouring life into a woman’s womb. To the right of the larger picture is a vertical row of five smaller framed pictures depicting the soul in her tent, the soul threatened by a torrent of waters on a mountain peak, the soul afflicted by scorpion creatures, the soul in a wine-press, and the soul being led out to eat with pigs. All of these scenes form part of the symbolic drama of the soul as told in the text here.

1–2. The lament of the soul

Where am I in my exile?1 In the shadow of death. What is this path I am walking on? The path of error. And what comfort do I have? The comfort of pilgrims.

I was to have had a tent, a tabernacle2 decorated with five square stones that shone brighter than the sun and the stars. And the stones were to shine not with the rising sun and stars but with the glory of the angels. Its foundations were to be topaz, with gemstones3 for its roof and walls. Its steps were to be covered with crystal and its streets paved with gold. I was to be the companion of angels!

For I am the living breath4 which God breathed into the dry dust of the earth. And so I was to know God and to feel God.

But what misfortune! When the tent of my body realized that it could cast its eyes in all directions it pitched itself towards the north.5 Abomination!6 There I was captured and robbed of my sight and joy of knowledge. All my garments were torn to shreds!

And so I was drummed out of my inheritance. My captors dragged me to this place of exile without beauty or honour. They threw me into slavery. They beat me with their fists and made me eat with the pigs.7 They sent me to a desert place and gave me bitter herbs to eat dipped in honey. Then they laid me in a wine-press8 and subjected me to many torments. They pulled off my clothes, striking me with many blows and sending me out to hunt.

And I was made to catch all manner of evil and venomous worms, like scorpions and vipers, which sprayed me all over with their poison till I sickened with weakness. They mocked me then and said, ‘Where is your honour now?’

I trembled all over, groaning in my misery, and I said: Where am I? Oh where have I come from? What comfort can I look for in this captivity? How can I break these chains? What eye can see my wounds and what nostrils can bear the stench of this affliction? What hand can anoint my wounds with oil? Who will ever show me mercy in my pain?

May Heaven hear my cry! May the Earth tremble at my misery and all that live on her have pity for my captivity! I am oppressed by bitter pains, for I am a pilgrim without comfort or support. Who will console me, for my mother has left me because I strayed from the way of salvation. None will help me but God!

Oh Zion, my mother, when I remember how I would have dwelt with you, then I look at this bitter captivity into which I have been thrown! And when I recall all the harmonies of music9 within you, then I can only consider my wounds. And when I remember the joys and delights of your glory, then I curse these poisons with which they are polluted.

Where shall I turn? Where shall I run to? My pain is immeasurable, since if I remain in this evil plight, I will be a companion to them – the ones I knew shamefully in the country of Babylon. Where are you, Zion my mother? What misfortune! If only I had not left you! I could bear this pain more easily if I did not know you.

Now I shall flee these evil companions! Wretched Babylon has loaded me with weights of lead; she oppresses me with heavy timbers so that I can scarcely breathe. But when I cry out to you, my mother, in my tears, wretched Babylon pours forth a crashing sound of rushing waters so that you cannot hear my voice. In great trouble, therefore, I will seek the narrow ways. And so I will escape my evil companions and my miserable captivity!

When I had spoken these words, I ran down the narrow path and hid myself in a small cave towards the north, weeping bitterly since I had lost my mother. Here too I considered all my pain and all my wounds. Here I cried and wept, pouring out my tears so that all the pain and malice of my wounds were flooded with my tears.

Suddenly, a pleasant fragrance touched my nostrils, like a gentle breeze sent to me from my mother. What sighs I uttered and what tears I shed when I felt that modicum of comfort! I cried and wept such tears of joy that even the mountain was moved in whose cave I had hidden.

And I said, ‘O mother, mother Zion! What will become of me? Where is your noble daughter now? For how long, for how long will I be without your motherly tenderness, without the great delight and joy with which you bring me up?’ With these tears I was as glad as if I had actually seen my mother.

But my enemies heard my cries and said, ‘Where is our companion whom we have had until now to do everything we desired? Look how she calls on the citizens of heaven! Let us employ all our skills to guard her with great care and attention so that she cannot escape us! Remember we had her completely in our power! If we do this, then she will follow us again.’

But I slipped out quietly from the cave where I had been hiding. I aimed to climb so high that my enemies could not find me. But they released such a sea of raging water against me that there was no way I could get over it. There was a bridge, but it was so small and narrow that I could not cross it. And on the other shore of the sea the mountains were so tall and jagged that I could not journey there either. And I said, ‘What can a poor creature do now? For a little while I was able to feel the benevolent presence of my mother, and I thought she would lead me back to her. But now she has deserted me! Where am I to turn? If I turn back now to my former captivity, my enemies will mock me more than ever before! I cried to my mother in tears and felt her sweet presence, but now she has abandoned me again!’

But I had been given strength by the sweet comforting influence of my mother which I had felt before. So now I turned to the east and set out again on the narrow paths. The paths were so full of thorns and briars and other obstacles that I could hardly make any headway. Eventually, with much effort and stress, I made my way through, though almost breathless with exhaustion from my labours.

Tired and exhausted as I was, I at last reached the summit of the mountain in which I had previously hidden, and made my way towards a gully where I had to descend. But there I stopped and looked. Vipers, scorpions, lizards and various other species of reptile were hissing their tongues at me and blocking the way down!

‘Mother, where are you?’ I screamed in my terror. ‘I could have borne this pain more easily if I’d never felt your presence before. Now I’ll be thrown into captivity again where I was kept for so long! Where is your help now?’

It was then that I heard my mother’s voice speaking to me, ‘Run, my daughter, run, for you have been granted wings to fly with by the great Giver whom none can resist. Quickly, therefore, fly over all these creatures opposing you.’ And then, with a great feeling of comfort and release, I took up my wings and flew quickly over those venomous and death-dealing vipers.

3. The tabernacle

And I came to a tabernacle, the inside of which was made of the hardest steel. And entering in, I performed works of light where before I had done deeds of darkness.

In this tabernacle, therefore, towards the north, I set up a pillar of unpolished iron on which I hung small fans of various feathers moving back and forth. I found manna, and I ate it.

Towards the east I built a fortification of square stones, kindling a fire within. Here I drank myrrh-flavoured wine with grape-must.

Towards the south I made a tower of square stones on which I hung red shields; in the windows I placed trumpets of ivory. And in the middle of the tower I poured out honey and prepared a precious ointment of various spices, so that its strong fragrance permeated all of the tabernacle.

Towards the west, however, I did no work, since that part was turned towards the world.

But while I was occupied with this labour, my enemies took up their quivers and attacked my tabernacle with their arrows. Because of the zeal with which I was doing my work, I did not notice the frenzy of their attacks until the door of the tabernacle was filled with arrows. Nevertheless none of their arrows was able to pierce the door or the steel covering of the tabernacle, and so I could not be harmed by them.10

Seeing this, they sent a great torrent of waters to throw me down with my tabernacle, but they achieved nothing with their evil actions. Without any fear now, I derided them for their failure and said, ‘The Craftsman who made this tabernacle is stronger and wiser than you are. Gather up your arrows therefore and take them away, for they cannot give you the victory you desire. Look and see: they have caused no injury!’

‘I have fought many wars against you in great hardship and pain. You tried to bring me to my death but were unable, for I was armed with the most powerful of weapons; I brandished sharp swords against you and defended myself vigorously. Depart, therefore, and leave me, for you can do nothing more against me!’

7. How anger, hatred and pride are overcome

When anger is about to burn up my tabernacle, I look to the goodness of God, whom anger has never touched, and so I become softer than the air which waters the dry earth with its sweetness. Then the virtues and powers manifest the force of their green vigour within me, and spiritual joy is mine! In this way I feel the goodness of God!

But when hatred attempts to defame me, I look to the mercy and the pain of God’s Son, and so I contain my flesh, receiving the sweet fragrance of roses from the thorns which grew up in memory of the Faithful One. In this way I acknowledge my Saviour!

And when pride11 strives to build without a firm foundation rock and raise up his tower of vanity within me, and when he is about to reach a great height that none can equal, and when I appear higher than the others: oh, who will come to my aid? This is the ancient serpent wishing to be greater than all! It is he who has fallen into death and is trying now to throw me down with him! In great sadness then I say: ‘Where is my king and my God? What good can I do without God? No good!’

And I look to the God who gave me life, and I run to the blessed Virgin who toppled the cave of pride of the ancient serpent.12 In this way I become a strong stone in God’s building. And the ravenous wolf who expired on the hook of divinity can no longer overcome me. And in this way I acknowledge the sweetest good, that is humility, in the height of God. I taste the savour of unfading balsam and rejoice in the sweetness of God, as if I was inside the fragrance of all fragrances! In this way also I repel the other vices with the strong shield of humility.

12. The words of Ezekiel

‘Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit.’13 You who travel the paths of the Sun which the blessed sheep walk! You who would persevere on the path of justice! Cast away from the knowledge of your hearts the study of forbidden things that do not benefit the wisdom of the king. You think to soar to the heights of vanity, while you plunge to the depths of the sea, where there is no goodness, where the fearful horror dwells that does not know God. Cast away such things, and you will walk to your salvation on the way of truth. In your hearts then you will bear the glory of the dawn and the breath of new life.

II. Songs for Saint Rupert

According to the Life of Hildegard by Gottfried of Disibodenberg and Theoderich of Echternach, the call to move from Disibodenberg came to Hildegard in a vision, accompanied by a bout of illness in which she remained until she consented to reveal what the vision had said to her. The place to which she felt called was the Rupertsberg, or Mount St Rupert, a site on a large hill overlooking what is now the modern town of Bingen in the Rhine Valley. At the time of Hildegard’s move in 1150, there was just an old ruined chapel dedicated to the eighth-century saint, while the rest of the area was cultivated as a vineyard. Rupert’s original monastery had been destroyed by the Vikings in about 882, the foolish men’ alluded to in the sequence O Jerusalem below. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the popular appeal of hagiography, Rupert became greatly honoured as the patron saint of the new monastery, and Hildegard, who also wrote a Life of Saint Rupert, was active in furthering his cult and veneration. As she saw it, Rupert’s life was short but inspiring, a fact that emerges in the themes of the two antiphons and the second stanza of the sequence below. With echoes of dedication hymns in its text, it is possible that this sequence was sung at the ceremony for the dedication of the new church on the Rupertsberg which probably took place on 1 May 1151.

O felix apparicio. Antiphon for St Rupert1

O joyful sight

when in Rupert, friend of God,

a flame of light ignited,

and the love of God

flowed in his heart

embracing the fear of the Lord.

So also his fame

has flourished among

the citizens of heaven.

O beatissime Ruperte. Antiphon for St Rupert2

Blessed Rupert,

who in the bloom of your age

did not produce or bear

the vices of the devil,

but left this shipwrecked world:

intercede now

for your servants in God.

Alleluia.

O Jerusalem. Sequence for St Rupert3

O Jerusalem, city of gold4

decorated with the purple of the King,

O edifice of the highest good,

you are a light that has never been obscured,

decorated with the dawn, in the heat of the sun.5

O blessed boyhood, reddening in the dawn,

and O blessed youth, burning in the sun.

You, noble Rupert,

shone in these like a gemstone

that can never be concealed

by foolish men,

just as a mountain cannot be hidden by the valley below.

Your windows, Jerusalem,

wonderfully decorated

with topaz and sapphire.

Among these you shine, O Rupert,

you are not hidden from lukewarm morals,

just as the mountain,

crowned with roses, lilies and purple blooms

is clearly seen from the valley in a true revelation.6

O soft flower of the field

O green vigour of the sweet apple

O weightless burden

that does not involve the heart in evil deeds.

O noble vessel

unpolluted and unconsumed

by the dance in the ancient cave,

unweakened

by the wounds of the ancient enemy.

In you the Holy Spirit sings in harmony

since you have joined the angelic choirs,

decorated by God’s Son

and faultless.

You are a vessel of beauty, O Rupert,

in your boyhood and youth you longed for God

in awe of God and in Love’s embrace7

in the lovely odour of righteous deeds.

O Jerusalem, your foundations were laid

with glowing gemstones

from publicans and sinners,

lost sheep found by God’s Son,

they ran to you and were placed in you.

Then your walls gleamed with living gemstones

which through the highest zeal of good will

soared like clouds in the sky.8

And your towers, O Jerusalem,

gleam and shine

with the red and incandescent brightness of the saints

and with all the glories of God

in which you abound, O Jerusalem.

O citizens of Jerusalem,

decorated and crowned,

and you, O Rupert, their companion there,

assist us, your maidservants, as we labour in exile.

12. The Departure of Richardis of Stade

With the various difficulties faced by the new community, some of the nuns decided to leave the Rupertsberg, sometimes for positions elsewhere. In 1151 Richardis of Stade was appointed abbess of Bassum, in the diocese of Bremen, where her brother was Archbishop. Hildegard, for various reasons, including her personal affection for Richardis, opposed the appointment. A delegation from Bremen appealed to Archbishop Heinrich of Mainz, the diocese in which the Rupertsberg belonged. When ordered by Heinrich to release Richardis, Hildegard sent the following response (Letter 18R).1 Eventually forced to submit, she sent a grieving letter to Richardis herself, now installed at Bassum.2

Hildegard to Heinrich, Archbishop of Mainz, 1151 [Letter 18]R

The clear fountain which is just and not false says this:

These legal pretexts brought in order to obtain authority over this girl are useless before God, for I am the height and the depth, the circle and the descending light. I did not compose or choose these pretexts, which have been issued by the conniving presumption of ignorant hearts. May all the faithful hear them with the open ears of their hearts, and not with the ears that hear outwardly, like animals taking in the sound but not the word.

The Spirit of God says in his zeal:3 ‘Shepherds! Weep and lament for these times, for you do not know what you are doing when you scatter the offices founded in God in favour of opportunities to make money and the human wickedness of evil men who do not have the fear of the Lord.’

Therefore, your curses and your malicious and threatening words are not to be heeded. Your rod and staff have been raised in pride, not in God’s service but in the weak presumption of your wicked desires.

Hildegard to Richardis, 1151–2 [Letter 64]

Hear me, my daughter, speaking to you in the Spirit. My grief rises up. That grief is obliterating the great confidence and consolation which I had from another human being. From now on I will say, ‘It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes.’4Which means that a human being must look to the living height without being obscured by love or by the weakness of faith, which the aerial humour of the earth can have only for a short period. Anyone who looks to God in this way can turn their eyes to the sun like an eagle. A man should not wait upon a person of high rank who fails him like a flower that withers; but I broke this rule in my love for a certain noble human being.

Now I say to you this: whenever I sinned in that way, God made my sin known to me, either in hardships or sufferings, just as he has done about you, as you yourself realize.

Now I have this to say also. Alas for me, a mother and alas for me, a daughter. Why have you forsaken me like an orphan? I loved you for your noble bearing, your wisdom, your purity, your soul and all your life! So much so that many people said, ‘What are you doing?’

May all who have a grief like mine mourn with me; all who in their love of God have had the same affection of heart and mind for another human being as I have felt for you – who were snatched away from me at a moment’s notice.

Nevertheless, may the angel of God go before you and the Son of God protect you. May his Mother watch over you.

And remember me, your mother Hildegard, so that your happiness will not fade.

13. The First Version of The Play of the Virtues (from Scivias III, 13)

This dialogue, the first Morality play in medieval literature, occurs with other songs as part of the triumphant finale to Hildegard’s Scivias. Like ‘The Trials of the Soul’ (10), it tells the story of the flight, oppression by enemies, and eventual return of the errant soul. Its basic thematic structure is an allegory in which the various moral qualities in the human being are conceived and externalized as active forces, the ‘virtutes’ or, as the meaning of the Latin word implies, the ‘virtues and powers.’ Not yet as fully developed as the Ordo virtutum (Play of the Virtues) of 1158,1 since its list of characters is shorter and there is less dramatic breadth, it is perhaps more suitable for reading than the later performance piece. Arguably, there is a stronger focus on the plight of Anima, the personified soul, as she struggles to free herself from the wiles of the deceiver.

The exact date of the first version of the play is not known, although Abbess Tengswich of Andernach may be referring to a performance of the play in a letter dated 1148–50. One of the letter’s criticisms is of Hildegard’s unusual liturgical practices, for after a respectful opening, Tengswich continues:

But a report of something unusual in your practices has also reached us. On feast days, your nuns stand in church chanting psalms with unbound hair and for decorative purposes wear long white silk veils which reach down to the ground. On their heads they wear crowns of woven gold in which crosses have been placed on each side and at the back, while a figure of the lamb is placed neatly at the front. And they adorn their fingers with golden rings. And they do this although the first shepherd of the Church forbade such things in his epistle, saying that women are to dress ‘with propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes’.2

Since Scivias itself was completed in 1151, about the time that Richardis and others were leaving the community at the Rupertsberg it is at least possible that those external events influenced the contents of the first official written version of the work. But the play is more than a series of allegorized events from the author’s biography. Original as a work of literature, its sources include the liturgy, the Bible, particularly the Song of Songs, and the Psychomachia (or Struggle of the Soul) by the late Roman poet Prudentius, in which the final triumph of the soul is also brought about by the virtues seizing the enemy, Discord, and so defeating him.

9. For the encouragement of the virtues and the contradiction of the wiles of the devil

And again that sound was heard, like the voice of a multitude, for the exhortation of the virtues to assist humankind, for the contradiction of the hostile devices of the devil, for the defeat of the vices by the virtues and the return of men and women to penance by divine inspiration. The sound rang out in harmony as follows.

[THE VIRTUES:]

We virtues are in God

and remain in God.

We fight for the King of kings

dividing good from evil.

We appeared at the first battle

and gained the victory,

while he who wished to soar above himself fell to the ground.

And so we fight now

and come to the aid of all who call upon us:

we trample the devices of the devil

and we lead those who wish to follow us

to the blessed mansions.

THE COMPLAINT OF THE SOULS, LOCATED IN THE FLESH:

We wayfarers!

What have we done, wandering into sins?

We should have been the daughters of the King

but fell into the shadow of sins!

O living Sun,

transport us on your shoulders

into that most just inheritance

which we lost in Adam!

O King of kings,3

we fight in your battle.

PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL SOUL:

Sweet divinity,

delightful Life

in which I will wear a bright garment,

accepting what I lost at my first appearance,

I sigh for you, and I invoke all the virtues.

RESPONSE OF THE VIRTUES:

Happy soul,

beautiful creature of God,

you are formed in the profound depths of the wisdom of God,4

you express love in great measure.5

THE FAITHFUL SOUL:

Oh let me come to you with gladness,

that you may bestow on me the kiss of your heart!6

VIRTUES:

Daughter of the King,

we must join you in the fight.

THE SOUL, DEJECTED, LAMENTS:

What grievous distress, what a heavy weight

I bear in the garment of this life,

since it is too hard for me to fight against the flesh.

VIRTUES:

O soul, formed by the will of God,

O happy instrument,

why are you so weak when you face

what God defeated through the nature of the Virgin?

In us you are bound to conquer the devil!

SOUL:

Give me your support and help me

to stand firm!

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD SPEAKS TO THE SOUL:

Look to the garment you wear,

daughter of salvation!

Be strong,

and you will never fall.

THE SOUL:

I do not know what I will do or where I will flee!

This is hard for me: I cannot bring to perfection

the garment in which I am clothed.

I would rather cast it from me!

VIRTUES:

Unhappy Mind!

Distressed Soul!

Why do you hide your face before your Creator?7

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD TO THE SOUL:

You do not know him,

you do not see or taste

the One who made you.

SOUL:

God created the world:

I am not doing him any harm,

I simply want to enjoy it!

THE DEVIL TEMPTS THE SOUL:

You labour foolishly, foolishly!

How does it benefit you?

Look to the world,

and it will embrace you in great honour!

VIRTUES:

Alas, alas.8

Virtues, let us grieve and mourn

because the sheep of the Lord has fled this life!9

HUMILITY:

I, Humility, queen of the virtues, say this:

Come to me, virtues,

and I will empower you to recover the lost drachma10

and crown the happy soul in her perseverance.11

VIRTUES:

O glorious Queen, most delightful intermediary,

we come rejoicing.

HUMILITY:

For this reason, my dearly beloved daughters,

I hold a place for you in the royal marriage chamber.12

O daughters of Israel,

God awakened you under the apple tree.13

At this time, therefore, remember his planting of the seed.

Rejoice, daughters of Zion!

THE DEVIL’S LOUD NOISE TO HUMILITY AND THE OTHER VIRTUES:

What is this power,14

as if there were none beside God alone?15

It is I that tell you this:

whoever will follow me and my will,

I will give them everything.16

As for you and your followers,

you have nothing to give!

Why, none of you

even know who you are!

HUMILITY RESPONDS:

In truth I and my companions know

that you are the ancient dragon.

You wished to fly higher than the highest,

until God himself threw you into the abyss.

VIRTUES:

And as for all of us, we live in the heights!

THE LAMENT OF THE PENITENT SOUL, IN THE BODY, CALLING ON THE VIRTUES:17

Royal Virtues!

How beautiful and bright you are in the height of the sun.

And how sweet is your habitation.

And how terrible for me that I have fled from you!

VIRTUES:

Return, fugitive! Return to us,

and God will receive you!

THE PENITENT SOUL IN THE BODY:

Ah, I have been swallowed up by the terrible sweetness of sins!

I have not dared to return!

VIRTUES:

Do not fear and do not flee,

for you are the lost sheep whom the Good Shepherd18 is seeking.

THE PENITENT SOUL IN THE BODY:

Now I need you to receive me back,

because I stink from the wounds

with which the ancient serpent has defiled me.

VIRTUES:

Run to us,

follow the footsteps in which you will never fall

with us as your companions,

and God will heal you.

THE PENITENT SOUL IN THE BODY:

I am a sinner who fled from Life:

covered with sores19 I return to you,

that you may offer me the shield of redemption.

VIRTUES:

Runaway soul, be strong,

and put on the armour of light.

THE PENITENT SOUL IN THE BODY:

You, all the cohort of the Queen,

and you, the white lilies and red roses,

bend down to me,

because I exiled myself from you as a wayfaring stranger,

and help me, that I may rise up through the blood of God’s Son.

Humility, true healer,

give me your help,

for Pride has broken me with many vices

and afflicted me with many scars.

I flee to you now:

therefore receive me!

HUMILITY TO THE VIRTUES:

All you virtues,

receive this sinner in mourning, with all her scars,

for the sake of the wounds of Christ,

and lead her to me.

VIRTUES TO THE PENITENT SOUL IN THE BODY:

We will take you back

and we will not desert you,

and all the host of heaven will be glad for you:20

now is the time to sound forth in harmony.21

HUMILITY TO THE PENITENT SOUL:

Unhappy daughter, I will embrace you:

the great healer has suffered hard and bitter wounds

for your sake.

DEVIL:

Who are you? Where have you come from?

You embraced me,

and I led you out.

Now you confound me in your reversal,

but I will throw you down in my struggle!

PENITENT SOUL REJECTING THE DEVIL:

When I realized all your ways were evil

I fled from you,

but now, deceiver,

I fight against you.

PENITENT SOUL TO HUMILITY:

Therefore, Queen Humility,

help me with your medicine!

HUMILITY, TO VICTORY AND THE OTHER VIRTUES:

Victory, who once conquered him in Heaven!

Run with your soldiers

and all of you bind the devil!

VICTORY, TO THE VIRTUES:

Come, strong and glorious soldiers!

Help me defeat the deceiver!

VIRTUES TO VICTORY:

Gentle warrior in the rushing water from the source

which swallowed up the ravenous wolf!

Glorious crown-bearer!

Gladly we will fight with you against that deceiver.

HUMILITY TO THE VIRTUES:

Bind him therefore,

shining Virtues!

VIRTUES:

We will obey you, our Queen

and fulfill your commands in all things.

VICTORY:

Rejoice, my companions,

that the ancient serpent is bound!

VIRTUES:

Praise to you, Christ, King of the angels!

O God, who are you that

contained in yourself that great counsel

which destroyed the hellish potion

among publicans and sinners

who now shine in the eternal light of goodness!

Praise to you, therefore, O King!

Father Almighty,

from whom the river flowed in a fiery blaze,

lead your sons and daughters to sail the waters with a good wind

so that thus we may bring them

to the heavenly Jerusalem.

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