Fall 1999: Week 7

SYMPHONIA ARMONIE CELESTIUM
REVELATIONUM

THE SYMPHONIES OF THE HARMONY OF HEAVENLY REVELATION
by SAINT HILDEGARD OF BINGEN

O Ecclesia,
oculi tui similes
saphiro sunt,
et aures tue monti Bethel,
et nasus tuus est
sicut mons mirre et thuris,
et os tuum quasi sonus
aquarum multarum.

Ecclesia! Your eyes
are like sapphires,
your ears like Mount Bethel, your nose
like a mountain of incense and myrrh,
your voice like the sound of many waters.

In visione vere fidei
Ursula Filium Dei amavit
et virum cum hoc seculo reliquit
et in solem aspexit
atque pulcherrimum iuvenem
vocavit, dicens:

Ursula fell in love
with God’s Son in a vision:
her faith was true. She rejected
her man and all the world
and gazed straight into the sun,
crying out to her beloved,
fairest of the sons of men:

In multo desiderio
desideravi ad te venire
et in celestibus
nuptiis tecum sedere,
per alienam viam ad te currens
velut nubes que in purissimo aere
currit similis saphiro.

With yearning I have yearned
to come to you and sit by you
at our wedding in heaven!
Let me race to you strangely,
chase you like a sapphire cloud
where the sky is purest.

Et postquam Ursula
sic dixerat,
rumor iste
per omnes populos exiit.
Et dixerunt:
Innocentia puellaris ignorantie
nescit quid dicit.

When Ursula had spoken,
all people heard her and answered:
How naive she is! The girl
has no notion what she means!

Et ceperunt ludere cum illa
in magna symphonia,
usque dum ignea sarcina
super eam cecidit.
Unde omnes cognoscebant
quia contemptus mundi est
sicut mons Bethel.

And they began
to mock her in harmony–
until the burden of flame
fell upon her. Then they learned
how scorn for the world is like Mount Bethel.

Et cognoverunt etiam
suavissimum odorem
mirre et thuris,
quoniam contemptus mundi
super omnia ascendit.

And they discovered
the fragrance of incense and myrrh –
because scorn for the world
mounts above all.

Tunc diabolus
membra sua invasit,
que nobilissimos mores
in corporibus istis
occiderunt.

Then the devil possessed his own.
In those virgin bodies they
slaughtered nobility.

Et hoc in alta voce
omnia elementa audierunt
et ante thronum Dei
dixerunt:

And all the elements heard
the clamor of their blood and cried
before the Throne of God:

Wach!
Rubicundus sanguis innocentis agni
in desponsatione sua
effusus est.

Ach! The scarlet
blood of an innocent lamb
is spilled at her wedding.

Hoc audiant omnes celi
et in summa symphonia
laudent Agnum Dei,
quia guttur serpentis antiqui
in istis margaritis
materie Verbi Dei
suffocatum est.

Let all the heavens hear it
and praise God’s lamb in great harmony –
for the neck of the ancient serpent
is choked in these pearls
strung on the Word of God.

Columba aspexit
per cancellos fenestre,
ubi ante faciem eius
sudando sudavit balsamum
de lucido Maximino.

A dove gazed in
through a latticed window:
there balm rained down on her face,
raining from lucent
Maximin.

Calor solis exarsit
et in tenebras resplenduit,
unde gemma surrexit
in edificatione templi
purissimi cordis benivoli.

The heat of the sun blazed out
to irradiate the dark:
a bud burst open, jewel-like,
in the temple of his heart
(limpid and kind his heart).

Iste, turris excelsa
de ligno Libani et cipresso facta,
iacincto et sardio ornata est,
urbs precellens artes
aliorum artificum.

A tower of cypress is he,
and of Lebanon’s cedars–
rubies and sapphires frame his turrets–
a city passing the arts
of all other artisans.

Ipse, velox cervus,
cucurrit ad fontem purissime aque
fluentis de fortissimo lapide,
qui dulcia aromata irrigavit.

A swift stag is he
who ran to the fountain–
pure wellspring from a stone
of power–to water
sweet-smelling spices.

O pigmentarii,
qui estis in suavissima viriditate
hortorum regis,
ascendentes in altum
quando sactum sacrificium
in arietibus perfecistis:

O perfumers! You who dwell
in the luxuriance of royal
gardens, climbing high
when you accomplish the holy
sacrifice with rams:

Inter vos fulget hic artifex,
paries templi,
qui desideravit alas aquile,
osculando nutricem Sapientiam
in gloriosa fecunditate
Ecclesie.

Among you this architect
is shining, a wall
of the temple, he who longed
for eagle’s wings as he kissed
his foster-mother Wisdom
in Ecclesia’s garden.

O Maximine,
mons et vallis es,
et in utroque alta
edificatio appares,
ubi capricornus
cum elephante exivit,
et Sapientia
in deliciis fuit.

O Maximin,
mountain and valley,
on your towering height
the mountain goat leapt
with the elephant
and Wisdom was in rapture.

Tu es fortis et suavis
in cerimoniis
et in choruscatione altaris,
ascendens ut fumus aromatum
ad colupmnam laudis:

Strong and sweet in the sacred
rites and in the shimmer
of the altar,
you rise like incense
to the pillar of praise–

Ubi intercedis pro populo
qui tendit ad speculum lucis,
cui laus est in altis.

where you pray for your people
who strive toward the mirror
of light. Praise him!
Praise in the highest!