Hildegard of Bingen by Sabina Flanagan

Author:Sabina Flanagan [SABINA FLANAGAN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2011-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

6 The virtues. The illustration shows blind arcades pierced at various times by God’s mercy, allowing in knowledge of the divine. Scivias, 3, 6, Eibingen MS.

2 O blessed boyhood

shining in the dawn

and O praiseworthy youth

flaming in the sun.

For you, O noble Rupert,

shine like a jewel in them

whence you cannot be hidden by fools

just as the valley cannot hide the mountain.

These stanzas are the only concession to a description of Rupert’s life and subsequent cult in the poem. The fools is probably a reference to the Vikings who sacked Bingen and destroyed the shrine of St Rupert in the ninth century. The mountains and valleys could, as Dronke suggests, be a play on words—Rupertsberg being identified in a direct way with Rupert. We may recall that St Disibod was also apostrophized as a mountain. The next stanza returns to the heavenly Jerusalem with which Rupert is linked, by describing him as shining in its windows. Whether at this stage Hildegard is referring to St Rupert as he was on earth or in his present sanctified state is unclear. If the latter, being reflected in the windows would seem to put him outside the heavenly Jerusalem, but perhaps too much can be made of the distinction between this life and the next. Hildegard emphasizes that St Rupert’s earthly life was nothing if not an anticipation of his ultimate state.

3 Your windows, Jerusalem

with topaz and sapphire are excellently adorned.

You shine in them, O Rupert, and cannot be hidden

from those of little faith—

like the valley and the mountain,

crowned with roses, lilies and purple in a true showing.

This stanza may also allude to Hildegard’s re-establishment of worship at Rupertsberg by founding her monastery there, the plan for which she attributed to ‘a true showing’. We may recall that she was hindered for a time in this by people, including the monks at Disibodenberg, who had little faith in her plans. The mention of flowers, referring both to Rupert and Rupertsberg leads on to an apostrophe of him in terms ultimately derived from the Song of Songs, and also as a perfect and unsullied urn:

4 O tender flower of the meadow

and O sweet sap of the apple

and O harvest without pith

which does not divert hearts to sin.

O noble vessel which is not defiled

or consumed in the dance

of the ancient cave, and which is not oozing

with wounds of the ancient destroyer.

The juxtaposition of two images here, one positive and one negative, with its apparent reference to pagan ritual, serves to reinforce the description of Rupert’s excellence in an unexpected manner. It is extended in the next stanzas, where the dance becomes angelic and the vessel one of purity, accompanied by the spiritualized smells of good works:

5 In you the Holy Spirit makes music

because you are numbered in the angelic chorus

and shine in the Son of God

since you have no stain.

6 What a seemly vessel you are O Rupert,

who in your childhood and youth

sighed for God in the fear of God

in the embrace of love

and the most sweet odour of good works.

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