Hildegard von Bingen - Antiphon for Patriarchs and Prophets
Ivan M. Granger April 23rd, 2008
O spectabiles viri / Antiphon for Patriarchs and Prophets
by Hildegard of Bingen
English version by Barbara Newman
Spectacular men! you see
with the spirit’s eyes,
piercing the veil.
In a luminous shade you proclaim
a sharp living brightness
that buds from a branch
that blossomed alone
when the radical light took root.
Holy ones of old! you foretold
deliverance for the souls
of exiles
slumped in the dead lands.
Like wheels you
spun round in wonder as you spoke
of the mysterious mountain
at the brink of heaven
that stills many waters, sailing
over the waves.
And a shining lamp
burned in the midst of you!
Pointing,
he runs to the mountain.
— from Symphonia: A Critical Edition of the Symphonia armonie celstium revelationum, by Hildegard of Bingen / Translated by Barbara Newman
/ Photo by Wolfgang Staudt /
A few thoughts –
Spectacular men! you see
with the spirit’s eyes,
piercing the veil.
That taunting veil of surface seeming. It both hides and it reveals. It dances and teases the senses. But there is a point at which we must learn to see through its gauzy fabric.
In a luminous shade…
I’ve spoken often of the radiance experienced by many mystics in deep contemplation (”And a shining lamp / burned in the midst of you!”), but I like the way Hildegard von Bingen pairs that luminosity with “shade.” All of this imagery of light can sound overly intense, like a place of no rest. To me, Hildegard’s use of shade suggests a gentle shielding, a space of quietude, profound peace amidst the glow.
Like wheels you
spun round in wonder as you spoke…
These lines put a wide grin on my face. The imagery, the words carry a sense of delight. Pure wonder — at the Divine, at the sheer immensity of Existence — floods us, fills us, until all we can do is turn in all directions, in witness to the All. This almost brings to mind the image of Mevlevi dervishes, spinning and spinning, at once animated and at rest in divine contemplation.
…of the mysterious mountain
at the brink of heaven
that stills many waters, sailing
over the waves.
The mountain, like Christ, brings calm to the waters. But the phrasing here is particularly interesting to me. To talk of stilling “many waters” uses the gospel story of Christ calming the water and transmutes it into a broader statement about the psyche and its relationship with the world around it. It suggests a profound stilling of the turbulent movement that occurs throughout creation. It suggests the waves of the mind and its disharmonious perceptions of the world being made still, calm, clear. This “mysterious mountain,” which is the bridge to heaven (”at the brink of heaven”), summons forth the hidden awareness of the harmonious unity of creation.
|
Hildegard of Bingen |
Hildegard was born in Bermersheim, not far from Mainz, to a noble family. She was the tenth and last child to be born to the family. At the age of eight, Hildegard was “given to God as a tithe” by placing her in the care of Jutta, a woman who had chosen a life of solitary seclusion. Hildegard would later describe Jutta as “uneducated,” yet she taught the girl the basic skills of reading, as well as the religous life.
Hildegard’s health was always fragile, but she had a rich interior life, by her own account receiving visions since early childhood. Hildegard describes one vision she had at the age of three of witnessing “a brightness so great that [her] soul trembled.” This was a light that remained a part of her perception throughout her life. Even in her seventies, Hildegard described it as a light that seemed to permeate everything without hindering her ability to see normally, as well.
She also apparently had a natural gift of clairvoyance and the ability predict the future.
Illness was intimately linked with Hildegard’s mystical life. Bouts of illness seemed to be brought on by the tensions that existed between her divine promptings and the limitations of the roles allowed to her as a woman and a nun. She had especially severe illnesses occur prior to the major decisions in her life.
Hildegard’s early life was relatively quiet. A small community of women gathered around Jutta, that eventually joined the Benedictine order. Hildegard herself took monastic vows in her teens. When Jutta died in 1136, Hildegard was elected to lead the monastic community.
It wasn’t until she was in her forties, however, that Hildegard began to gain notoriety for her visions. She was surprised to receive an inner prompting to “tell and write” her visions. She initially resisted and was soon bedridden as the inner conflict played out. Eventually she relented and began to dictate her visions.
The first work she produced was Scivias, a description of a cycle of visions about the relationship of humanity and nature with God. She also composed a collection of music and poetry called the Symphonia. She also wrote extensively about medicine and herbs.
Hildegard’s fame quickly spread, bringing pilgrims and the curious, eventually overwhelming the capacity of the small community. A new, larger monastery was built between 1148 and 1150 in Rupertsberg near Bingen.
Throughout the 1150’s, Hildegard made several teaching tours through the Rhineland.
Although Hildegard had received blessings from Church authorities through most of her work, toward the end of her life she ran into conflicts for, among other things, allowing an excommunicated man who had died to be buried in consecrated ground. She refused to have the body dug up and, as a result, she was not allowed to take the eucharist — a deep wound for a devout Catholic. This ban was eventually lifted, but she died only a few months later.
Subscribe (