Adelene Lai REL 224 - Elkins Written Comments Hildegard as a Teacher: Discussion

04/11/12

Elisabeth of Schnaus letter to Hildegard is unlike any of the previously assigned letters in that it is very personal in nature. The gracious formalities that typically serve as openings to letters written in this time are perfunctorily carried out as the real issue at hand seems to require immediate attention. Elisabeth is clearly in emotional distress. She appeals desperately to Hildegard for consolation (I have been disturbed, I confess, by a cloud of trouble) in the capacity of a mentee, one that strikingly lacks formality. Had this letter been allowed to stand alone without Hildegards response, it would appear as if Hildegard did have personal relationships outside those that were directly involved with her office (as in the case of Richardis). However, the opening of Letter 55 suggests otherwise. Hildegard seems to detach herself from Elisabeth and offers no sense of intimacy, responding as a vessel of the Serene Light. It seems strange that Hildegard should feel the need to justify herself in this way since it is clear that Elisabeth reveres her and does not dispute her gift. Is this Hildegard doggedly maintaining what she fears people perceive as pretence? The fact that her letters were edited and compiled for the purposes of her proposed canonisation make this question difficult to answer. A sense of the human Hildegard does appear later in the letter however when she addresses Elisabeth as my anxious daughter. In the correspondence with the prelates of Mainz, Hildegard looked as usual to the True Light which seems inconsistent since this implies that Hildegard actively sought guidance instead of receiving it in an unsolicited manner. Her visions seem to come, very conveniently, as a result of being weighed down by this burden instead of having come before she chose to take the course of action she ultimately took, implying that her visions affirm, not inform, her actions. The theme of feminine versus masculine also features strongly in this letter, as does Hildegards boldness (you and all prelates must exercise) and her wordplay involving the keys of heaven. That she could afford such playfulness with respect to such a serious matter is an interesting choice on her behalf, and I wonder if there are other examples of this in other letters.