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23Hildegard to the prelates at

Mainz l11 78- 79

T his is r h ~ l the most f ~ m ( ) u s - - - - ( ; c r t a i n l y the most intrigu ing--of all I lildcgard's letters, because of her elawnl(ion of the idea of music as a means of recapturing the original joy ,md beamy of pa udisc. Pla

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As a result, my sis ters and I ~ l been greatly distressed and saddened.We ighed down by this burden, the refore, I heard these words in a vision : It isimproper for you to obey human words ordering yo u to :lbandon the sacr.l-merus of the Ga rmcnto f the Wo rd ofCod: \ho, born virginally of thc VirginMary, is your sa lv:ltion . Still , il is incumhem upon you to seek permission toparticipate in the sacraments from those prelates who laid the oblib

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But Adarn lost that angelic voice which he had in paradise, for he fell asleep tothat knowledge wh ich he possessed before his sin, jusr as a person on wakingup onl y dimly remembers what he had seen in his d r e a l 1 1 s . ~ And so when hewas deceived by the tri ck of the devi l and rejected rhe will of his Creator, hebecame wrapped up in the darkness of inward ignor.mcc as the just result ofhis iniquity.God, however, rcswrcs rhe souls of the elect to that pri stine blessednessby in fu sing them with the light of truth. And in accordance with His etcrn :llplan, H e so devised it that whenever He renews the hCllrts of many with thepouring out of rhe prophetic spirit, they might, by means of His imcrior illu-mination, regain some of the knowledge which Adam had before he was pun-ished for his sin .h

And so the holy prophets, inspired by the Spi rit which they had received,were called for th is purpose: not only to compose psal ms :md cantieles (bywhich the hearts of listeners wo uld be inflamed) but al so to construct variouskinds of musical instruments to enhance these songs of praise with melodicstrains. Thereby, both through the form and qual ity of the instruments, as wellas through the meaning of the words which accompany them, those who hearmight be taught, as we said above, about inward things, since they have beenadmon ished and aroused by outward things. In such a W,IY, these holy prophetsget beyond the music of this exile and recall to mind that divine melody ofpraise which Adam, in company with the angels, enjoyed in God beforehis fall.

Men of zeal and wisdom have imitated the holy prophets and have them-selves, with human skill , invemed several kinds of musical instruments, so thatthey might be ab le to si ng for the delight of thei r souls, and they accompaniedtheir singing with in struments pla yed with the flexing of the fin gers, recalling,in this way, Adam, who was formed by God's finger, wh ich is th e Holy Spirit.For, before he sinned, his voice had the sweetnt:ss of all musical harmony.Indeed, if he had re mained in his original state, th e wea kness of mortal manwould not have been able to en dure the power and the resonance of his voice.;

But when the devil, man's great (leceiver, learned lhat man had begun tosing through God's in spiration and, the refore , was being transformed to bringback the sweetness of th e songs of heaven, mankind 's homeland, hc was soterrified at seeing his clever mach in ations go to ru in th at he was greatly tor-mented. Therefore. he devotes himself continually to t11inkin g up and workin gout all kinds of wicked contrivances. Thus he never ceases from confoundingco nfession and rh e sweet beauty of both divine praise and spiritual hymns,eradicating th em through wicked suggestions, impure thoughts. or various dis-tractions from the heart of man and even from the mouth of the Church itself,wherever he can, through dissemion, scandal, or unjusl oppression.

Therefore, you and al l prelates mu st exercise the greatest vigilance to clearthe air by full and thorough di scussion of the justification for such actionsbefore your verdict eloses the mouth of any church singing praises to God orsuspends it from handling or receiving the divine sacraments. And you mustbe es peciall y certain that YOlL are drawn to this action out of zeal for God'sjustice, rather than out of in dignation, unjust emo tions, or a desire for revenge,

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and yOll must always be on your b'1larJ not [0 be circumvcmcd in your decisionsby Satan, who drove man from celestial har mony and the delights of paradise.

Consider, too, that just as the body ofJesus Christ was born of the purityof the Virgin Mary through the operation of the Holy Spirit so, too, the canticle of praise, reflecting celestial harmony, is rooted in the Church throughthe H oly Spirit. The body is the vestment of the spirit, which has a living voice,and so it is proper for the body, in harmony with the soul, to use its vo ice tosing pr.liscs to God. \hence, in metaphor, the prophetic spirit commands usto praise God with clashing cymbals and cymbals of jubibtion lef. Ps 150.5],as well as other musical instruments which men of wisdom :md zeal haveinvented, because all arts pertaining to things useful and necessary for mankindhave been created by the breath that God sent into man's body. For this reasonit is proper that God be pra ised in all things.

And because sometimes a person sighs and groans at the sound of singing,remembering, as it were, the nature of celestial harmony, the prophe t, awarethat the soul is symphonic and thoughtfully reflecting on the profound natureof the spirit, urges us in the psa lm (cf. Ps 32.2, 91.4J to confess to the Lordwith the harp and to sing a pS;llm to Him with the ten-stringed psaltery. H ismeaning is that the harp, which is plucked from below, relates to the disciplineof the body; the psaltery, which is plucked from above, pertains to the exertionof the spirit; the ten chords, to the fulfillmem of the law.1

Therefore, those who, without just cause, imllOse silence on :1 ch urch andprohibit the si nging of God's praises and those who have on earth unjustlydespoi1cCrt. 11\;s secmingl yinnocuous decision was to lead to I he bitterest confrontation that i-lildq,'

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mediator between Frcdcrick Ihrha rossa and Pope A J c ~ a n d c r Ill - not to mention theapparent case with which H i1ril;g-Jrd cou ld locate eyewitnesses to ;lrtirm the truth of theabsolution. In any C"JSC, Il ildcg;lrd was obdurate, resolutely refusing to give up the body.( rhe " protocol" of he r canonization reports that she Illade thl' sign of the cross overthe grave with her hIm/Ills, causing the tomb to vanish without a truce.) J-lildegardremained sp!t:ndidly dcfiam, suffering. at this lone stage in her life, all the consequencesof excommunication, see king all the while to have the decision oVCrfiJrncd.

Z. How cmnily H rldcgard pla}'S her masculiuc audience!J. This is a frcquem theme in Ihe leTters and the other works: the loss of the

"virility" o f th e ea rlier Church. H ence a woman, par:ldoxically, has been called by G odto help restore this lost \.irility. [n nnc of the numerous autnhiogl":lphical scctions in thcViM. [Iildeg:ml writes, "Eleven hundred years after the Incarnation of C hrist the doctrine of the apostles and the burning justice which had been firmly estahlished in theChristians and spirirual people bcg.m to falter ;m