316 HILDEGARD OFBINGEN
SCIVIAS (in part)
BOOKI, VISION 4
16: ANINFANTISVIVIFIED IN THEWOMB ANDCONFIRMED
BY ASOUL ONLEAVINGIT
And you see the image of a woman who has a perfect human form in her womb. This
means that after a woman has conceived by human semen, an infant with all its mem-
bers whole is formed in the secret chamber of her womb. And behold! By the secret
design of the Supernal Creator that form moves with vital motion;for, by God’s secret
and hidden command and will, fitly and rightly at the divinely appointed time the infant
in the maternal womb receives a spirit, and shows by the movements of its body that it
lives, just as the earth opens and brings forth the flowers of its use when the dew falls on
it. So that a fiery globe which has no human lineaments possesses the heart of that
form;that is, the soul, burning with a fire of profound knowledge, which discerns what-
ever is within the circle of its understanding, and, without the form of human members,
since it is not corporeal or transitory like a human body, gives strength to the heart and
rules the whole body as its foundation, as the firmament of Heaven contains the lower
regions and touches the higher. And it also touches the person’s brain;for in its powers
it knows not only earthly but also heavenly things, since it wisely knows God; and it
spreads itself through all the person’s members;for it gives vitality to the marrow and
veins and members of the whole body, as the tree from its root gives sap and greenness
to all the branches. But then this human form, in this way vivified, comes forth from the
woman’s womb, and changes its color according to the movement the globe makes in
that form;which is to say that after the person has received the vital spirit in the mater-
nal womb and is born and begins his actions, his merits will be according to the works
his soul does with the body, for he will put on brightness from the good ones and dark-
ness from the evil ones.
17: HOW THESOULSHOWSITSPOWERSACCORDING
TO THEPOWERS OF THEBODY
The soul now shows its powers according to the powers of the body, so that in a person’s
infancy it produces simplicity, in his youth strength, and in adulthood, when all the per-
son’s veins are full, it shows its strongest powers in wisdom; as the tree in its first shoots
is tender and then shows that it can bear fruit, and finally, in its full utility, bears it. But
then in human old age, when the marrow and veins start to incline to weakness, the
soul’s powers are gentler, as if from a weariness at human knowledge; as when winter
approaches the sap of the tree diminishes in the branches and the leaves, and the tree in
its old age begins to bend.
Hildegard of Bingen,Scivias,Book I, Vision 4, Chapters 16–26, translated by Mother Columba Hart and Jane
Bishop (New York: Paulist Press, 1990). Copyright © Abbey of Regina Laudis: Benedictine Congregation
Regina Laudis of the Strict Observance, Inc. Reprinted by permission.