Hildegard von Bingen

“ Hildegard spoke as truthfully as she could about her visions and the source of her knowledge, matters hard for her to put in words, and by no means easy for others to classify in categories of seeming explanation. Guibert may have read the work in question. At all events, his interesting correspondence with her, and her great repute, led him to come to see for himself and investigate her visions; for he realized that deceptions were common, and wished to follow the advice of Scripture to prove all things. So he [Pg 452] made the journey to Bingen, and stayed four days with Hildegard. ”

“ One of the most noted of them was the Benedictine abbess, St. Hildegard, of Bingen on the Rhine, who was eminent [Pg 278] not only as a theologian but also as a writer whose treatises on various branches of science are justly regarded as the most important productions of the kind during the Middle Ages prior to the time of Albertus Magnus. Besides this, she not only wrote many books on materia medica, on pathology, physiology and therapeutics, but, as a practitioner, she gloriously sustained the best traditions of her sex in both theoretical and practical medicine. ”

“ Two Rhenish Prophetesses of the 12th Century.―St. Hildegard was founder and abbess of a cloister near Bingen on the Rhine, where she died in A.D. 1178 in her 74th year. Grieving over clerical and papal corruptions, she had apocalyptic visions of the antichrist, and travelled far and engaged in an extensive correspondence in appealing for radical reforms. St. Bernard and pope Eugenius III. who visited Treves in A.D. 1147 acknowledged her prophetic vocation, and the people ascribed to her wonderful healing power.―Hildegard’s younger contemporary was the like-minded St. ”

“ As wide apart as life will be the phases of its manifestations. The tears of Peter Damiani are not like the love of the God-man in St. Bernard; St. Francis’s love of Christ and love of man is again different and new; and the mystic thought-shot visions of a Hildegard of Bingen are as blue to crimson when compared with the sense-passion for the Bridegroom of a Mechthild of Magdeburg. ”

“ And there was no one who loved Germany more ardently than he, even though he did say severe things about it."
"That is a thing about which you can have no opinion, Hildegard," said Pfeifer, with paternal decision; and he blew a dense cloud of smoke toward the ceiling.
Miss Hildegard looked rebellious for an instant, but accepted the verdict of superior wisdom with submissive silence. The old man gave me a little confidential wink as if to say:
"There is a model girl for you. She knows that women should not speak in meeting." ”

“ Bingen is an exceedingly pretty place, having at once the somber look of an ancient town, and the cheering aspect of a new one. From the days of Consul Drusus to those of the Emperor Charlemagne, from Charlemagne to Archbishop Willigis, from Willigis to the merchant Montemagno, and from Montemagno to the visionary Holzhausen, the town gradually increased in the number of its houses, as the dew gathers drop by drop in the cup of a lily. ”

“ Bingen is not a very interesting town, but has many walks and drives that are full of interest in every way.
Directly opposite, on the heights of Niederwald, is the beautiful monument built to commemorate the restitution of the German Empire in 1870-1871.
Alice and Nellie did wish they could stop long enough to go up and see it, it looked so grand and mighty outlined against the sky. Mr. Winter said, "No, we must get to Mayence to-night." ”

“ Hereupon, my love was more hopeful, and I looked for a better issue.”
“I remember the time well,” observed Hildebrand.
“I held my hope good,” resumed Inez, “till I saw the fair Evaline, and even then gave it not up directly. Yet thou mayst remember, on consideration, that, one fair afternoon, I came on you by surprise, and beheld what convinced me that thou lovedst her.”
“Then knew I not how I was loved by thee,” said Hildebrand.
“’T is true,” said Inez; “and think not I blamed thee, but, in my utter despair, I blamed and hated her. That night, I sought to take her life.” ”

“ The virtues are simply voices; but the monstrous or bestial image of each sin is described:
"Ignavia (cowardly sloth) had a human head, but its left ear was like the ear of a hare, and so large as to cover the head. Its body and limbs were worm-like, apparently without bones; and it spoke trembling." [16]
Hildegard explains the general features of her vision: God with secret inquisition, reviewing the profound disposal of His will, made three ways of righteousness, which should advance in the three orders of the blessed. These are the three winds with the three clouds above them. ”

“ All three girls were crying by this time, and little Gertrude laid her head on her sister's shoulder and sobbed aloud. Bell smoothed her hair with light, motherly touches, drying her own eyes the while. Hildegarde sat silent for a while, the letter in her hand; then she folded it again, and gently, reverently laid it again in the doll's hand.
"Dear Hester!" she said, "we do know, dear; we do understand, indeed." ”

“ Seeing the ferment of men’s minds increase, Arnold resolved on leaving Bingen, where he then was, to go into his cathedral city and put down all resistance with a high hand. He purposed lodging the first night in the monastery of S. James, outside the walls. Hildegarde warned him of his danger, but he would not listen. A friend, the abbot of Erbach, also cautioned him. “Bah!” scoffed the archbishop, “these Mainzers are dogs; they bark, but do not bite.” When Hildegarde heard this, she said, “The dogs have had their chains broken, and they will tear you to pieces.” ”

“ I never wear any shoes in my room, Hilda; bare feet are part of my creed."
"But—but you have no carpet here, dear," said Hildegarde, with a little shiver. "And it must be very cold—"
"Delightfully cold!" cried Bell. "I know few things pleasanter than the touch of a good cold floor to the bare feet on a winter morning."
"She is volcanic, Hilda!" put in Gertrude. "She sleeps under a sheet all winter, and never looks at a blanket; it is true!"
Bell nodded gaily in answer to Hildegarde's horrified look. "No use, dear! I am hardened in mind as well as in body, and cannot change my ways. Look here! ”

“ Hildegarde is certainly the most sensible girl I have ever known, and if she, who knows her brother so well, says that there is no other means of helping him except a change of climate, then he shall have it. ”

“ He sprang to his feet and stood erect at Frau von Arnim's side.
"Whatever else I am, I am not consciously a cad," he said. "What I had done wrong I was determined to put right at all costs. I loved Hildegarde, and I had dedicated my life to her happiness. Nothing and no one must turn me from my purpose. ”

“ GOOD-BY!
"I have come to say good-by!" cried Jack Ferrers, rushing up the steps, as Hildegarde was sitting on the piazza, with Hugh curled up at her feet. "Uncle Tom will come for me with the wagon. Oh, Hilda, it doesn't seem possible, does it? It is too good to be true! and it is all your doing, every bit. I sha'n't forget it. I say! I wish you were coming too!"
"Oh, no, you don't!" said Hildegarde, speaking lightly, though her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright with real feeling. ”

“ The boat went to bed at nine o'clock, with the rest of the children. I beg your pardon, Miss Grahame," he added, turning to Hildegarde with his kind, grave smile, "for naming you in company with this lawless crew of mine."
"Oh, please," cried Hildegarde, "I like to—I wish I were—" She stammered, and felt herself blushing in the furious way that makes a girl the most helpless creature in the world. She would have given her hand, she thought, to keep back the tide that surged up over throat and cheek and brow. "When there is nothing earthly to blush about, ninny!" ”

“ Bingen (bĭng′en) , a picturesque old town of Germany, on the Rhine, in the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. Population of the commune, 8,187. Neighboring mountains, crowned with ruins, and an old bridge, dating back to the era of the Romans, increase the beauty of the place. Below the town is the famous Bingerloch or Bingen Hole, where the Rhine narrows into a strait between towering rocks. ”

“ Incidents that, like the images that the sun calls up on a reflective lake, become mere shadows on inspection, originally assume the shape and attitude of substantial advantages; and when the turbulent flood of life is rushing mercilessly over us, a very thread of hope, which [295] the eye can hardly distinguish, appears to be a cable, and we seek to haul ourselves from the depths by floating straws.
Hildebrand caught at the proposition of Inez as if it had opened a channel for escape.
“How can I ever requite thee, dearest lady?” he said. “I prithee, see the cavalier use despatch in coming.” ”

“ But though he was so anxious to hear what she had to say, Hildebrand’s attention was not so wholly engrossed by this object, above every other, that he could look on Inez herself without emotion. Her appearance was not calculated to encourage or confirm his reviving fortitude. On throwing back her cowl, her long black hair, which was wont to be arranged with such exquisite taste, appeared loose and dishevelled, and had evidently been pushed behind her small ears with a rude and careless haste. ”

“ Gertrude was in tears by this time, the big crystal drops rolling silently down her cheeks; her heart was wrung, she did not know why.
"Hester Aytoun," said Hildegarde, softly. "This must have been her playroom, Bell. She used to live here; it is about her that I wanted to tell you. But first let us see what she has written here. I think she would be willing; we are girls, too, and I don't think Hester would mind." ”

“ Bingen is a good sort of manufacturing town, and the fact that the poet selected the name because of its rhythm and not because it fitted the situation accounts for the success of the poem. After some reflection on the subject among the storied regions of Europe I have come to the conclusion that it is the romancer and the singer who make a country great and interesting, and not any special merit of the place itself. If Cow creek had a few legend-writers in a few years it would rank with the Rhine, the Black Forest, and even the fields of old England. ”

“ Hildegard, mistaking the jest for a serious charge, vowed to disprove it at once by undergoing the ordeal of water, and flung herself out of the window and into the river, before her husband could stop her. ”

“ Edwin Binns sat down on the camp bed under the slope of the roof. A candle burned on a rickety little table beside him, and its unsteady flicker accentuated the nervous quiver at the corners of the unformed mouth beneath the overwaxed mustache. He was breathing quickly, as if he had been running, and there was something sullenly exultant about him that was not attractive.
He held an unopened letter in his hand. The writing on the envelope was feminine and very neat. The Times had added the address, but the feminine handwriting dominated by its exquisiteness and character. ”

“ Too feeble to ask questions, she only smiled, and took obediently the remainder of the potion that Pete poured from his flask and heated in the tin-cup among the embers. On her wakening again it was seen that the fever was broken. But life in her was only a tiny flame, at times the merest spark that every gust of wind through the cavern threatened to extinguish. Hour after hour Haig and the Indian watched it, the one in such anguish as the repentant murderer suffers as he kneels over the poor victim of his rage, the other in stolid resignation, seeing that perhaps he had come too late. ”

“ There was no family breakfast at the house in Gramercy Park. A smiling chambermaid brought up a tray to Hildegarde's room, with all manner of pleasant things under suggestive little covers. Hilda ate and was thankful, and then, finding that her aunt would not be visible before noon, she put on her hat and went for a walk. The streets were chilly, in the November morning, but the air was fresh and good, and Hildegarde breathed it in joyously. ”

“ At first I wanted to go to them—oh, so badly! because those people are devils, and I would rather die; but now I have you, Purple Maid, and your mother is like balm dropping in the valley, and I don't mind waiting, if only I thought they didn't mind it too much." He looked up wistfully, and Hildegarde bent to kiss him. ”

“ HILDEGARD, ST (1098–1179) , German abbess and mystic, was born of noble parents at Böckelheim, in the countship of Sponheim, in 1098, and from her eighth year was educated at the Benedictine cloister of Disibodenberg by Jutta, sister of the count of Sponheim, whom she succeeded as abbess in 1136. From earliest childhood she was accustomed to see visions, which increased in frequency and vividness as she approached the age of womanhood ”

“ In the eyes of Hildegard there is no doubt as to their being altogether evil.
The situation of the Rupertsberg near the Rhine, the highway of communication in those days, kept Hildegard in touch with the outside world. She received many visitors and took frequent journeys. We hear of her going to Cöln, Trier, Würzburg, Bamberg and to many monasteries in the neighbourhood, but the story that she went as far as Paris and Tours is unfounded—the result of a misinterpreted passage in the account of her life [725] . ”