Christopher Page describes Abbess Hildegard von Bingen as “one of the most remarkable creative personalities of the Middle Ages” (2010:2). Born in 1098, she was put into the care of the abbess Jutta of Spanheim – abbess of a community of nuns attached to the monastery of Disibodenberg - when she was eight years old. “In 1141, having succeeded Jutta as abbess, she saw tongues of flame descend from the heavens and settle upon her. Thereafter she devoted herself to a life of intense and passionate creativity. Among her literary works she produced two books on natural history and medicine (Physica and Cause et cure) and a morality play, the Ordo Virtutum, which pre-dates all other works in that genre by some hundred years. Her book of visions, Scivias, occupied her for ten years between 1141 and 1151.” (Page 2010:2) Hildegard died on 17 September 1179 and, though her canonization was proposed various times, she was never canonized.
The song “O ignis spiritus” is described as “Hildegard’s apostrophe to her Muse, the Pentecostal fire which settled upon her and imparted knowledge of the major biblical books.” (Page 2010:3).
O ignis spiritus
O ignis spirits paracliti,
vita vite omnis creature,
sanctus es vivificando formas.
Sanctus es ungendo
periculose fractos;
sanctus es tergendo
fetida vulnera.
O spiraculum sanctitatis, o ignis caritatis,
o dulcis gustus in pectoribus et infusion cordium
in bono odore virtutum.
O fons purissimus, in quo consideratur
quod Deus alienos colligit
et perditos requirit.
O lorics vite et spes compaginis
membrorum omnium,
et o cingulum honestatis, salva beatos.
Custodi eos qui carcerati sun tab inimico,
et solve ligatos
quos divina vis salvare vult.
O iter fortissimum quod penetravit omnia;
in altissimis et in terrenis
et in omnibus abyssis
tu omnes componis et colligis.
De te nubes fluunt, ether volat,
lapides humorem habent,
aque rivulos educunt,
et terra viriditatem sudat.
Tu etiam simper educis doctos
per inspirationem sapientie letificatos.
Unde laus tibi sit,
qui es sonus laudis,
et gaudium vite,
spes et honor fortissimus
dans premia lucis.
O fire of Spirit
O fire of the comforting Spirit,
life of the life of all Creation,
you are holy in quickening all Kind.
You are holy in anointing
the dangerously stricken;
you are holy in wiping
the reeking wound.
O breath of holiness, O fire of love,
O sweet draught in the breast and flooding of the heart
in the good aroma of virtues.
O purest fountain, in whom it is seen
that God has summoned the gentiles
and sought out the lost.
O mail-coat of life and hope
of binding all the members of Ecclesia,
O sword-belt of honesty, save the blessed.
Guard all those who have been imprisoned by the Enemy,
and release the fettered
whom Divine Power wishes to save.
O most steadfast path which penetrates all things;
in the highest places, on the plains,
and in every abyss
you summon and unite all.
Through you the clouds stream, the upper air flies,
the stones have their temper,
the waters lead forth from their rills
and the earth exudes freshness.
You also always lead forth the comprehending
made joyful by the inspiration of wisdom.
Whence praise be to you
who are the sound of praise
and bliss of life,
hope and richest gift
giving the rewards of light.
* “A Feather of the Breath of God”: Sequences and hymns by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen. Hyperion, CDA30009. 2010. All quotation taken from the text by Christopher Page. 1982 & 2010.
Hildegard cover found here.
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