The Armor of Understanding

At the beginning of Section III of the Scivias, we find Hildegard within ecstasy, begging the Trinity for understanding. She does not wish for knowledge to become powerful or for its own sake, but rather so that she may make known the mystical and divine counsel the One has shared with her (309). God uses Hildegard as a channel through which He shares Himself. The God we see in the Scivias is One who desires to awaken holiness in a person and set it growing through knowledge (310).

Hildegard shows her audience that every human is endowed by God with the "best of treasures," that is, a "vivid intelligence" (479). God so loved His creatures that He gave them this treasure so that they could profit from their intelligence, do good works, and grow in virtue so that He may be known (479). Through increased intelligence, the soul grows in knowledge of God and sees Him more clearly. Understanding becomes a protective armor for the soul so that she can exercise virtue all the more readily. Furthermore, holy and contemplative souls become examples of holy living for their neighbors -- the example of a holy soul becomes an outward sign to inspire the inward growth of others.

But why is it necessary to live virtuously? Hildegard would quickly answer that the role of the soul and of all creatures is to praise God. A life of contemplation naturally expresses itself as a life of virtue because true knowledge is of God. A contemplative soul properly uses they gifts they were endowed with by God to see Him. A vicious life is the result of refusing to see and know the Truth of the One. These souls do not even see their own wretchedness nor the beauty beyond beauty of God, otherwise they would desire to see Him.

But isn't the soul helpless and wretched? Is it even possible to be virtuous since humanity is trapped in a fallen state? Yes, the sinful soul is wretched! Hildegard frequently admits her sinfulness and admonishes herself for it--she is but "filthy ashes of ashes and transitory dust" (310).

However, Hildegard does not believe that the soul is not good nor that it cannot do anything good at all. Hildegard tells us through the words of the Son of Man that all souls definitely possess the "glory of knowing how to avoid evil and do good" (473). When the knowledge of good and evil is paired with the fear of God and faith, it flowers into a good work: "fear is the beginning of a just intention, and when that flowers into sanctity by good works, it joins with blessed faith and reaches God in full perfection." (326). It is possible for souls to reach perfect if only they fortify themselves with knowledge and good works (328).

Hildegard repeatedly refers to knowledge as a mirror. As knowledge of the One increases, the mirror appears to reveal the soul's latent desire to do good or evil (383). For Hildegard, conquering sin is therefore an act of seeing and knowing.

Sin occurs when the will refuses to see properly and acknowledge God. Hildegard shows us this when she describes how there are some unfortunate souls who do not want to open their eyes to the beauty of the soul: "O foolish people! You languidly and shamefully shrink into yourselves, and do not want to open an eye to see how good your souls could be" (473). If only these souls wished to know and see the potential beauty of their soul, they could shed from their soul the stains of languid shamefulness and evil desires. Virtue necessitates the desire to know and see God's glory.

A virtuous life requires the soul to exercise the power of self-mastery, or "self-martyrdom" (478). If wielded to honor and imitate Christ's Martyrdom, self-martyrdom will lead the soul to "return through penitence," defeat vice, please God, and ultimately be received and saved by Him (313, 478).

The will, through an exercise of reason, has the choice to either follow her own desires or to "fulfill the function of praise among the more glorious orders of angels" (335). To escape the snares of the Devil, the soul must undergo a sort of "mental circumcision" and have "right faith" (350). However this great toil of choice and consent is not without reward. By living a life of holy example, the soul becomes a "strong, glorious and holy soldier in the work of restoration, which he does in his soul and body for the sake of God" (335).

Hildegard teaches us that the knowledge of good and evil and the ability to work are the two goods of glory God bestowed upon all souls: "And so you cannot plead as an excuse that you lack any good thing that would inspire you to love God in truth and justice" (473). There is no excuse for a vicious life! God gave all souls the powers necessary to know good from bad and live virtuously through work (474).

But if the soul fails to have faith and produce works, is she abandoned? Hildegard answers this query in her figura of the Grace of God. This virtue calls all souls to become part of the Christian structure. Never does the Grace of God forsake a soul, even if they fester with putrid sin: "I choose, by my help and action, to be on his side in the struggle" (429-30). No soul is left unaided in the psychomachia, but they will not find themselves in the presence of God at the end of time if they continually refuse to know and see God. Vicious souls have eyes, but do not see; ears, but do not hear.

-Miriam Jaworski