Hildegard of Bingen CISTERCIAN STUDIES SERIES NUMBER TWO HUNDRED FORTY-ONE Hildegard of Bingen Homilies on the Gospels Translated with Introduction and Notes by Beverly Mayne Kienzle Cistercian Publications www.cistercianpublications.org LITURGICAL PRESS Collegeville, Minnesota www.litpress.org A Cistercian Publications title published by Liturgical Press Cistercian Publications Editorial Offices Abbey of Gethsemani 3642 Monks Road Trappist, Kentucky 40051 www.cistercianpublications.org © 2011 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, microfilm, microfiche, mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or by any other means, known or yet unknown, for any purpose except brief quotations in reviews, without the previous written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint John’s Abbey, PO Box 7500, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America. 123456789 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hildegard, Saint, 1098-1179. [Expositiones Euangeliorum. English] Homilies on the Gospels / Hildegard of Bingen ; translated by Beverly Mayne Kienzle. p. cm. — (Cistercian studies series ; no. 241) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes. ISBN 978-0-87907-241-4 — ISBN 978-0-87907-203-2 (e-book) 1. Bible. N.T. Gospels—Sermons. 2. Sermons, Latin—Translations into English. 3. Sermons, Medieval. 4. Catholic Church—Sermons. I. Kienzle, Beverly Mayne. II. Title. BS2555.54.H5513 2011 226'.0609021—dc23 2011019850 For all who have aided this work: students, staff, colleagues, and especially for Edward, Kathleen, and the cats, “when at home we sit and find, entertainment to our mind.” (Pangur Ban, ninth-century poem) Contents Abbreviations xi Preface xv Introduction 1 Homilies 1 and 2 Luke 16:1-9 The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost 29 Homilies 3 and 4 John 6:1-4 The Last Sunday before Advent 37 Homilies 5 and 6 Matthew 1:18-21 The Eve of the Lord’s Birth 46 Homilies 7 and 8 Luke 2:1-14 The Lord’s Birth 50 Homily 9 John 1:1-14 The Lord’s Birth 55 Homilies 10 and 11 Matthew 2:13-18 The Eve of the Epiphany 62 Homilies 12 and 13 Matthew 2:1-2 The Feast of the Epiphany 67 Homilies 14 and 15 Luke 2:42-52 The Sunday in the Octave of the Epiphany 75 Homilies 16 and 17 John 2:1-11 The Second Sunday after the Epiphany 81 vii viii Hildegard of Bingen Homilies 18 and 19 Matthew 8:1-13 The Third Sunday after the Epiphany 87 Homilies 20 and 21 Luke 2:22-32 The Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary 94 Homilies 22 and 23 Matthew 20:1-16 Septuagesima Sunday 100 Homilies 24 and 25 Matthew 4:1-11 The First Sunday of Lent 108 Homilies 26 and 27 Luke 15:11-32 Sabbath before the Third Sunday of Lent 117 Homilies 28 and 29 Mark 16:1-7 The Sunday of the Resurrection 127 Homilies 30 and 31 John 10:11-16 The Second Sunday after Easter 132 Homilies 32 and 33 Mark 16:14-20 The Lord’s Ascension 135 Homilies 34, 35, and 36 John 3:1-15 The Finding of the Holy Cross 139 Homilies 37 and 38 Luke 16:19-31 The Octave of Pentecost 149 Homilies 39 and 40 Luke 14:16-24 The Third Sunday after Pentecost 158 Homilies 41 and 42 Luke 1:57-68 The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist 164 Homilies 43, 44, and 45 Luke 5:1-11 The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost 169 Homilies 46, 47, and 48 Luke 19:41-47 The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost 176 Homilies 49 and 50 Mark 7:31-37 The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost 181 Contents ix Homilies 51 and 52 Luke 18:10-14 The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost 185 Homilies 53, 54, 55, and 56 Luke 21:25-33 The First Sunday of Advent 190 Homilies 57 and 58 Luke 19:1-10 The Dedication of a Church 199 Bibliography 205 Liturgical Index 211 Scripture Index 214 Topical Index 218 Abbreviations CCCM Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaeua- lis (Turnhout: Brepols, 1966– ) CCSL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina (Turnhout: Brepols, 1954– ) CSEL Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum (Vienna, 1866– ) PL Patrologiae cursus completus, series latina, ed. J.-P. Migne, 221 volumes (Paris: Garnier, 1844–64) SCh Sources chrétiennes Vulg. Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 3rd ed. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1983). Hildegard of Bingen’s Works Cause Cause et cure, ed. Laurence Moulinier and Rainer Berndt, Rarissima mediaevalia Opera latina 1 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2003). De reg. Bened. De regula Sancti Benedicti, ed. Hugh Feiss, in Opera minora, 67–97. V. Disib. Vita sancti Disibodi episcopi, PL 197:1095–1116 (Paris: Garnier, 1855). Diu. operum Hildegardis Bingensis Liber diuinorum operum, ed. Albert Derolez and Peter Dronke, CCCM 92 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1996). Epistolarium, 1 Hildegardis Bingensis Epistolarium. Pars prima: I–XC, ed. L. Van Acker, CCCM 91 (Turn hout: Brepols, 1991). xi xii Hildegard of Bingen Epistolarium, 2 Hildegardis Bingensis Epistolarium. Pars secunda XCI–CCLR, ed. L. Van Acker, CCCM 91A (Turn- hout: Brepols, 1993). Epistolarium, 3 Hildegardis Bingensis Epistolarium. Pars tertia CCLI–CCXC, ed. Monika Klaes, CCCM 91B (Turnhout: Brepols, 2001). Expl. Atha. An Explanation of the Athanasian Creed, trans. with intro. and commentary by Thomas M. Iz- bicki (Toronto: Peregrina, 2001). Expl. Symb. Explanatio Symboli Sancti Athanasii, ed. Christo- pher P. Evans, in Opera minora, 109–33. Expl. Rule Explanation of the Rule of Benedict by Hildegard of Bingen, trans. with intro. and commentary by Hugh Feiss (Toronto: Peregrina, 1990). Expo. Euang. Expositiones euangeliorum, ed. Beverly M. Kien- zle and Carolyn A. Muessig, in Opera minora, 185–333. Letters Hildegard of Bingen, Letters, trans. Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman, 3 vols. (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, 1998, 2004). Life of Hildegard The Life of the Saintly Hildegard by Gottfried of Disibodenberg and Theodoric of Echternach, trans. with notes by Hugh Feiss (Toronto: Peregrina, 1996). Opera minora Hildegardis Bingensis Opera minora, ed. Peter Dronke, Christopher P. Evans, Hugh Feiss, Beverly Mayne Kienzle, Carolyn A. Muessig, and Barbara J. Newman, CCCM 226 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007). Ordo Ordo uirtutum, ed. Peter Dronke, in Opera minora, 503–21. V. Rup. Vita sancti Ruperti ducis, confessoris Bingensis , PL 197:1083–92 (Paris: Garnier, 1855). Sciuias Hildegardis Sciuias, ed. Adelgundis Führkötter and Angela Carlevaris, CCCM 43, 43A (Turn- hout: Brepols, 1978). Abbreviations xiii Scivias (Eng.) Scivias, trans. Columba Hart and Jane Bishop; intro. Barbara J. Newman; preface by Carolyn Walker Bynum (New York and Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1990). Solut. Solutiones triginta octo quaestionum, PL 197:1037– 54 (Paris: Garnier, 1855). Symph. Symphonia armonie celestium reuelationum , ed. Barbara Newman, in Opera minora, 371–477. V. Hild. Vita Sanctae Hildegardis, ed. Monika Klaes, CCCM 126 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1993) Vite mer. Hildegardis Liber uite meritorum, ed. Angela Car- levaris, CCCM 90 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1995). Preface The English translation of Hildegard of Bingen’s Expositiones euangeliorum follows my coediting of the text, with Carolyn A. Muessig and George Ferzoco, published in Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis (Hildegardis Bingensis Opera minora, 2007), and my book, Hildegard of Bingen and Her Gospel Homilies (Turn- hout: Brepols, 2009). My comprehension of Hildegard’s method and theology of exegesis and her use and interpretation of sources has grown during the process of editing the texts and reflect- ing and commenting on them and their historical and monastic context. Still, the Expositiones, described by the fifteenth-century monastic scholar Johannes Trithemius (1462–1516) as “quite ob- scure” and “intelligible only to the learned and devout,” pose a formidable challenge to the translator. I wish to acknowledge first my mentors in monastic spirituality, the scholars in Cistercian studies who first welcomed and encour- aged me and guided my work in the sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo beginning in the 1980s. My research on Hélinand of Froidmont and especially on Bernard of Clairvaux paved the way for my study of Hildegard and Benedictine monasticism. It seems most appropriate to have the translation published jointly by Cistercian Publications and Liturgical Press. I am grateful to Fr. Mark Scott and the editors at Liturgical Press for their thoughtful and capable editing. Barbara Newman first made me aware of the need for work on the Expositiones euangeliorum over a decade ago, when I was searching for evidence that medieval religious women preached to their sisters. Carolyn A. Muessig, my coeditor of the Expositiones, xv xvi Hildegard of Bingen and George Ferzoco provided important insights on the Riesen- kodex that bear on the analysis of the Expositiones and thus on the translation. Discussions with Carolyn over the meaning and appropriate punctuation of the Latin edition, and the interweav- ing of patristic sources, helped elucidate the possible ways of interpreting the Latin text and translating it. The editor of the Opera minora for Brepols, Luc Jocqué, raised important questions that shed light on the reading of the homilies. Stephen D’Evelyn, a scholar working primarily on Hildegard’s Symphonia, was a teach- ing assistant in my 2005 course on “Hildegard and the Gospels” and a valuable discussion partner for the translations we looked at in class. I am grateful also to my colleagues François Bovon and Kevin Madigan, who invited me to their courses on exegesis for fruitful discussions of the Expositiones. Bovon, a New Testament scholar, guided my first efforts at analyzing Hildegard’s exegesis. Bernard McGinn shared his insights on Hildegard’s visionary exegesis. My students have been eager participants in the ongoing intellectual exchange about the Expositiones. Deserving of spe- cial mention are Fay Martineau, Annelies Wouters, and Regina Christianson, all of whom worked on the translation itself.