The Book of Divine Works (Liber Divinorum Operum): Part 3, Vision 3
by
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
Hildegard’s final and greatest visionary work was the
Liber Divinorum Operum (“The Book of Divine
Works”), completed in 1172-1174. In it, the
Visionary Doctor returns to the history of salvation
that formed the structure of her first work, Scivias—
but this time, prompted by an extraordinary mystical
experience while meditating on the Prologue to the
Gospel of John in the early 1160’s, she explores it
through the dynamic relationship between human and
divine, mediated in the Word through which all was
created and which then became a human being.
Like the third part of Scivias, the third part of the
Liber Divinorum Operum is built upon a vision of a
great edifice or city. In this latter work, the four-
square construction expresses the dynamic of
salvation history through successive manifestations of
the eternal predestination of the Word. An often
minority tradition within western Christianity, this
doctrine views the Incarnation not just as a reparation
for sin but more as a fundamental and “eternal
counsel” (Ps. 32[33]:11) of the divine will. God
willed from eternity to become a human being, that
human beings might become as God.
In the following vision, Caritas (Divine Love) is one
manifestation of the eternal counsel. As she speaks
from her place rooted in the fountain, she reveals in a
cascade of images and symbols “that creation is itself
theophany: in the utterance of the Word, divine Love
gives life to the forms that have always glimmered in Illustration of Liber Divinorum Operum III.3,
her unseen mirror.” This creative theophany of Love from Lucca, Biblioteca Statale, MS 1942
can be understood as the very substance of divine
grace, divinizing humanity in the overshadowing of its self-gift. The images of water and fire,
shadow and light, of the life-giving tree of love, and of spoken and written language (words),
coalesce not as a coherent picture but as “successive flashes of perception” whose “sheer
abundance …attempts to convey the plenitude of being that creatures possess in God.” 1 This
cataphatic approach is characteristic of Hildegard’s creative use of complex webs of symbols.
1
Barbara Newman, Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine (Berkeley: Univ. of California
Press, 1987 / 1997), pp. 52-5.
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): The Book of Divine Works, Part 3, Vision 3
Trans. Nathaniel M. Campbell. © The Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
This vision follows the same format as all of Hildegard’s visionary works: she first describes the
vision, together with the words spoken by the central figure of Caritas; then, the “voice form
heaven” explains the allegorical meaning of each element of the vision. It closes with an
admonition to the faithful reader to take its divine message to heart.
Translation adapted from St. Hildegard of Bingen, The Book of Divine Works, trans. Nathaniel M.
Campbell (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2018), pp. 386-93.
1. And I also saw three images as if in the middle of the aforementioned southern stretch.
Two were standing in the clearest fountain, 2 encircled and crowned with a round, perforated
stone; 3 and they were as if rooted in it, as when trees sometimes seem to grow in the water’s
midst. The one was dressed in purple, the other in white, and they gleamed so brightly that I
could not completely look upon them. The third meanwhile was standing outside the fountain
upon its stone rim, clothed in brilliant white. Her face shone with such stark radiance that it
turned back my face. And before these images appeared the blessed ranks of the saints like a
cloud, upon whom they gazed lovingly.
2. And the first image spoke: 4 “I am Divine Love, the radiance of the living God.
Wisdom has done her work with me, and Humility, who is rooted in the living fountain, is my
helper, and Peace accompanies her. And through that radiance that I am, the living light of the
blessed angels blazes. 5 For as a ray of light shines from its source, so this radiance enlightens the
blessed angels; and it cannot but shine, as no light can exist without its flash. For I have
composed humankind, who was rooted in me like a shadow, just as an object’s reflection is seen
in water. 6 So too I am the living fountain, because all that was made existed in me like a shadow.
In accordance with this shadow, humankind was made with fire and water, as I too am fire and
living water. So too humans have the ability in their souls to ordain each thing as they will.
“Indeed, every animal possesses this shadow, and that which gives each one life is like a
shadow, moving this way and that. In rational animals, these are thoughts, but not in beasts, for
their life is guided only by their senses, by which they know what to avoid and what to seek. But
only the soul, breathed by God, is rational.
“My radiance also overshadowed the prophets, who foretold things to come by holy
inspiration, as all things God wished to make were foreshadowed in him before they came to be.
But rationality speaks with sound, and sound is like thought, and word like work. 7 From this
shadow, moreover, came forth the writing of Scivias, 8 through the form of a woman who was but
a shadow of strength and health, since such powers were not active within her.
2
Peter Dronke notes that this fountain implicitly irrigates the garden-like city of salvation; see “The Symbolic Cities
of Hildegard of Bingen,” Journal of Medieval Latin 1 (1991): 168-83, at 180-82.
3
Cf. Hildegard’s sequence, Columba aspexit, verse 2b (Symphonia 54).
4
For this image of Divine Love (Caritas) and her eternally predestined role in creation and redemption, cf. Book of
Divine Works 1.1.1-3 and 3.5.1-4; Letter 85r/a (1:192-4); LVM 3.6(8); and Newman, Sister of Wisdom, pp. 63-64.
5
For the combination of fountain and light, cf. Ps 35.10(36.9).
6
“shadow . . . reflection”: both umbra; see “Introduction” to The Book of Divine Works, p. 16.
7
Cf. Scivias 2.2.7 and Letters 31r and 77r (1:97, 167-8); Newman (Sister of Wisdom, p. 54) traces the Trinitarian
overtones to Augustine, De Trinitate 9.12.
8
Hildegard’s first visionary work, composed 1142-51. Other than in prologues and epilogues, this is the only place
in Hildegard’s visionary trilogy in which voice is given to such (auto)biographical details.
2
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): The Book of Divine Works, Part 3, Vision 3
Trans. Nathaniel M. Campbell. © The Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
“And so the living fountain is the Spirit of God, which he distributes unto all his works.
They live because of him and have vitality through him, as the shadow of all things appears in
water. And there is nothing that can clearly see this source of its life; rather, it can only sense
what causes it to move. As water makes what is in it to flow, so too the soul is the living breath
ever streaming in a human being, and it makes him to know, to think, to speak, and to work as if
by streaming forth.
“Wisdom also distributes in this reflected shadow all things in equal measure, so that one
thing should not exceed another in weight, 9 nor should one thing be able to be moved by another
contrary to its nature. For she overcomes and restrains every wicked plot of the devil, because
she existed before the beginning of all beginnings, and after their ending she will remain,
mightiest in her own power, and nothing will be able to stand against her. Never has she called
upon any for help, nor has she lacked for anything, for she was the first and the last. She answers
to none, for she is the first and fashioned the direction of all things. In herself and through herself
she established all things with gentle kindness, and these no enemy can destroy, for she oversees
with excellence the beginning and end of her works, all of which she fully appointed to reign
also with her. 10
“She looked too upon her work, which she had set in order and right proportion in the
shadow of the living water, when through the aforementioned unlearned womanly form [i.e.
Hildegard], she revealed certain natural powers of various things, the writing of the [Book of the]
Rewards of Life, 11 and certain other profound mysteries, which she saw in true vision, even as
she became weak and debilitated. 12
“But before all these things, Wisdom drew from the living fountain the words of the
prophets and the words of other wise people and of the Gospels, and entrusted them to the
disciples of God’s Son, so that rivers of living water might flow out through them into all the
globe, to return people to salvation like fish caught in a net. 13
“Indeed, the leaping fountain is the purity of the living God, and in it shines his
radiance. 14 In that splendor God embraces with great love 15 all things whose shadow appeared in
the leaping fountain before God bade them to come forth in their forms.
“And in me, Divine Love, all things shone resplendently, and my splendor revealed their
formation, as a shadow indicates a physical form; and in Humility, my helper, creation came
forth at God’s bidding. Likewise in humility, God bowed down to me, to refresh those dried-out,
fallen leaves in that blessedness by which he can do all that he wills. For he had formed them
from the earth, and so he has also freed them after their fall.
9
Cf. Wis 11.21; and Hildegard’s Solutions to Thirty-Eight Questions, number 26.
10
This description of Wisdom draws on several scriptural sources, esp. Prv 8.22-31; Wis 7.22-8.1; and Sir 24.5-31;
cf. Book of Divine Works 3.4.2 and 14; Scivias 3.9.25; and LVM 1.34(46) and 4.28(38).
11
I.e., Cause et Cure, Physica, and LVM, the last composed 1156-63.
12
Hildegard’s visionary experiences were chronically accompanied by a variety of maladies and illnesses; see Letter
103r (2:23-24), and Life of St. Hildegard 2.2, 2.5, 2.9, and 3.23-24.
13
Cf. Mt 4.18-22 and Mk 1.16-20.
14
Cf. Jn 4.14; and Hildegard’s antiphon, O splendidissima gemma (Symphonia 10 = Scivias 3.13.1a).
15
“love”: amore.
3
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): The Book of Divine Works, Part 3, Vision 3
Trans. Nathaniel M. Campbell. © The Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
“For humankind is fully the handiwork of God, 16 for humans look up to heaven and tread
upon the earth in dominion, and rule over all the creatures, because they gaze upon the height of
heaven in their souls. 17 This is why the human person is a heavenly being in the soul, but earthly
in the visible body. 18 Thus, as humankind lies in the depths, God draws them up in humility
against the one who was cast out of heaven in confusion. For when the ancient serpent wished
through pride to rend the angels’ harmony, God preserved it with his mighty power, so that it
would not be torn to shreds by that one’s madness. For because Satan possessed great glory on
high, he reckoned to himself that he could do whatever he wished, and that thereby he could
have everything he wanted without diminishing the glory of the stars. But in coveting all things,
he lost everything he had.”
3. And again I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: All that God has done, he has
accomplished in Divine Love, Humility, and Peace, so that humans, too, should lovingly desire
Divine Love and embrace Humility and hold also onto Peace, and should not go to ruin with him
who mocked these virtues in his first origins.
For you see three images as if in the middle of the aforementioned southern stretch. Two
are standing in the clearest fountain, encircled and crowned with a round, perforated stone; and
they are as if rooted in it, as when trees sometimes seem to grow in the water’s midst. These
three virtues in the strength of ardent justice are in the name of the Holy Trinity: first Divine
Love, second Humility, third Peace. Indeed, Divine Love and Humility exist in the purest
divinity, from which the streams of blessedness flow, for these two virtues reveal that the only
Son of God is known far and wide throughout the whole world, to free and set aright humankind,
which lay oppressed in the depths of sin. 19 For his body, which was perforated upon the cross
and buried, 20 he raised up by the wondrous power of divinity, and revealed himself to be the
stone of strength and honor—for all the miracles that God’s Son did in the world he rendered to
the glory of his Father. 21 These same virtues cannot be separated from divinity, as a root cannot
be cut away from its tree. For God is Love in all his works, 22 and holds humility in all his
judgments. For Love and Humility came down to earth with the Son of God and led him back as
he returned to heaven.
The one is dressed in purple, the other in white, and they gleam so brightly that you are
not able completely to look upon them. This shows that Divine Love burns in heavenly love like
purple, 23 but that in gleaming white rectitude, Humility casts off from herself earthly filth.
Although it may be difficult for mortals to imitate this in all things so long as they live in the
flesh, they should not neglect to love God above all things and to humble themselves in all
things, because of the reward of eternity.
16
Cf. Hildegard’s verse, O factura Dei (Symphonia, pp. 262-63).
17
Cf. Book of Divine Works 3.2.16.
18
Cf. Book of Divine Works 1.4.91-92.
19
Cf. Letter 85 r/a (1:193-94).
20
Cf. Jn 19.34; for Christ as the perforatus lapis, cf. Scivias 2.4.5.
21
For the body as (gem)stone, cf. Scivias 1.4.1.
22
Cf. 1 Jn 4.8 and 16.
23
Caritatem in celesti amore uelut purpuram ardere.
4
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): The Book of Divine Works, Part 3, Vision 3
Trans. Nathaniel M. Campbell. © The Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
The third meanwhile stands outside the fountain upon its stone rim. This is because
Peace, who dwells in heaven, also defends earthly undertakings that are outside the heavenly
realm. For the Son of God, the true cornerstone, 24 brought her forth when he enlightened the
whole world with his birth, and when the angels recognized him as God and Man in their song of
praise. 25 Her face shines with such stark radiance that it turns back your face. For Peace, who
arose through God’s Son, cannot yet be kept on earth as she is in heaven, for though heavenly
things exist forever in the stability of one accord, earthly things are constantly changing, cast
here and there as they stagger about. 26 Yet humankind, who is the work of God, will praise him,
for the human soul was made to praise like an angel. For while humans live in the world, they
cultivate the earth as they wish and desire, and they reveal God, for they bear his signature.
And before these images appear the blessed ranks of the saints as in a cloud, upon whom
they gaze lovingly. For the glory of the highest heaven is achieved through Divine Love and
Humility when the minds of the faithful fly like clouds from virtue unto virtue. 27 Then Divine
Love and Humility, looking upon them with loving consideration and guidance, enkindle them
both vigorously and gently to desire the things of heaven. For Divine Love adorns the works of
God, 28 as a ring is adorned with a precious gem; while Humility has revealed herself openly in
the humanity of God’s Son, who arose from the undefiled Star of the Sea. 29
He did not fear the fall of the first humans, nor did their expulsion frighten him, for no sin
touched him, because he was wholly rooted in divinity. But some who saw him and went with
him dried up and fell like parched leaves. Yet he made others to spring up in their place, and
followed no human plan to overcome his enemies, who had fallen away from him by their self-
will. Nor was he idle, in contrast to the first human, who fell away, unoccupied by good works—
for he was renewing humankind for a life more glorious than was first appointed. 30 He did not
relax in the seat of pride like the devil, who deceived humankind with the disease of
disobedience; nor did he fear the way in which he would take humankind back from him, for he
foreknew that the devil’s head would be crushed by a mighty strength. 31 Thus the Church,
adorned and endowed with the virtues described above, was led into the King’s bedchamber, as
it is written:
4. “The queen stood at your right hand, in clothes of gold surrounded by variety.” (Ps.
44.10[45.9]) The meaning of this passage is to be taken in this sense: O Son of the Father, in the
betrothal of the catholic faith the Church stood in the prosperity of heavenly desire, endowed
with your humanity, which was bathed by the redness of your blood. 32 She is also clothed with
the manifold virtues that she brought from your Father’s house when she came into the embrace
of your love. Indeed, this betrothal came forth by the will of Almighty God, who accomplished it
24
Eph 2.20.
25
Cf. Lk 2.9-14; and Hildegard’s verse, O factura Dei (Symphonia, pp. 262-63).
26
Cf. 1.3.9; and Augustine, De civ. Dei 19.17.
27
Ps 83.8(84.7); cf. Book of Divine Works 3.2.10.
28
Caritas ornatrix operum Dei est; lit. “Divine Love is the embellisher of the works of God.”
29
Cf. Book of Divine Works 3.2.14; and Hildegard’s responsory, O clarissima mater (Symphonia 9).
30
Cf. Book of Divine Works 3.4.10 and 3.5.35; and Ordo Virtutum, Scene 3, lines 205-8 (pp. 176-77).
31
Cf. Gn 3.15.
32
Cf. Scivias 2.6.1 and Hildegard’s antiphon, O virgo Ecclesia (Symphonia 66).
5
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): The Book of Divine Works, Part 3, Vision 3
Trans. Nathaniel M. Campbell. © The Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
with a resplendent work when he gathered together humankind from the height even unto the
depth. With the cloak of justice he adorned them when the Son of God willed to suffer in the
flesh for humankind’s redemption. 33
For humankind is the work of God’s right hand. By him they are clothed and called to the
royal wedding that Humility prepared when God Most High looked out into the depths of the
earth and gathered the Church together out of the common people, so that those who had fallen
might rise again through repentance and be renewed in a holy way of life, adorned with a variety
of virtues as with the viridity of flowers. Pride, however, is forever corrupt, for it squeezes,
divides, and tears everything apart. But Humility never pillages nor tears anything apart, but
holds all things together in Divine Love; and in her God bent himself towards the earth, and
through her he gathers together all the virtues. The virtues indeed reach out to the Son of God, as
a virgin, by rejecting a man, declares Christ her Bridegroom; 34 and they are joined to Humility
when she leads them to the royal wedding.
These words, moreover, the faithful should receive with devout affection of the heart, for
they have been revealed for the usefulness of believers by the One who is the first and the last. 35
33
On the cloak of justice, cf. 3.5.9.
34
Cf. Letter 250r (3:48); and Hildegard’s “Symphony of Virgins,” O dulcissime amator, esp. verse 6 (Symphonia
57).
35
Is 41.4, Rv 1.17, and elsewhere.
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