Incarnation and the Sacrament of Marriage

Book II of Scivias describes visions of redemption and compares times before incarnation to times after it in order to better outline the sacraments.

The discussion of the sacrament of marriage is the most extensive one, which is unsurprising given the stress of reproduction and sexuality even in modern day Catholicism. Given her devotion of her life to Christ through joining a convent, this candid discussion of marriage is seen through the lens of someone who for our own purposes is married to god. Her discussion of marriage, therefore, will have a stronger emphasis on its connection to the sacrament rather than its connection to procreation. This is not to say that procreation and deviancy will not be addressed, especially given Scivias’s tendency to point out specific rules for living virtuously in order to better outline the concept of virtue itself. How then is the sacrament of marriage defined and how has it changed?

Gender is important to address in the scheme of this paper. Hildegard of Bingen is one of the more famous medieval German theologians and one of the better-known female theologians of antiquity and she is given direct visions from god. Despite this overtone of grandeur, Hildegard constantly humbles herself in the face of god and the reader (much like the confessions of Augustine). It must be noted, however, the parallels in language to descriptions of Eve. Poor, small, and naïve are all words that all repeat in her understandings of femininity. Hildegard sees herself as a vessel for a higher power, but not special in and of herself.

There’s something of a dualism within the messages on the sacrament of marriage that Hildegard outlines in this. On one hand, they reflect the patriarchal society that existed at the time, while on the other they have more latent and nuanced feminist views. In her discussion of marriage before the incarnation, she talks about how polygamy was practiced in the Bible and was generally accepted in earlier times. While she does not attempt to diminish these relationships outright, she does point out a shift in the nature of marriage. Before the incarnation, marriage was for and by the man. Afterwards, matrimony became for god. The endorsement of chastity is not presented as a one way street. Sins of lust and premarital sex are not merely put on the woman but on the couple as a whole. While views like these seem regressive in some senses due to the views of sexuality and the immutable pairing of sex to procreation, but it is far less gendered than most discussions of sexual deviance. Adjacent to the discussion of Eve in the first book in which Hildegard portrays Eve as having been tricked rather than being conniving, there’s another diffusion of blame. Just as Satan was to blame, moral deviance rather than the nature of women was the subject of scrutiny.

As a side note: In addition to arguments about marriage being a holy endeavor, Hildegard also makes a point to argue against child marriage. While she makes this statement for a strictly mechanical, reproductive reason, there’s something to be said about its progressivity.

Hildegard, in “The Creation and the Fall” puns on Corinthians 11:12 by intentionally switching the verse’s first corollary: that man was not made for woman. In this, the tone of reliance and subversion is replaced by one of mutualism and symbiosis. Indeed, woman was created for man, but makes the extension that man was also created for woman. She asserts in her argument against divorce that women were given by divine power to men, and as such a husband should never leave one another. Furthermore, given the ability of Eve to mother the whole of humanity, would woman’s ability to carry and create life not also make her fertility divine? Hildegard states new brides, following their loss of purity, should not attend mass. This seems to fit with the corollaries of previous catholic thought: chastity good, virginity better, sexuality bad. However, she furthers this statement in stating that women who have recently given birth should not enter the temple by comparing the predicament of postpartum women to that of soldiers wounded in battle (who are also not allowed in church).  In this, the womb is similar to the body as a whole in its ability to be broken and later heal.  The body is a temple and these comparisons allow for birth to be seen as an act of courage and noble duty. This is something of a contrast to the idea that because man disobeyed the creator, the creator put the duty of creation unto him. In this light, creation through birth is not seen as a punishment, but a great responsibility.

Discussions of marriage in Book II are very interesting not only in their statements about marriage are very interesting in that they abide by traditional Catholic doctrine, but provide alternate explanations as to why these rules and conventions are in place. While its easy to get bogged down in their affirmation of female subjugation and their reaffirmation of previous thought, the new representation is an interesting look into different interpretations of the Bible and theology. Hildegard becomes important in her difference in viewpoint. While its easy to say that her ideas and ideals are products of their time, Scivias, when examined at a more microscopic level, can be interpreted far differently than if it were merely taken as a whole.

-JJ