A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

150 kienzle and stevens
The magistra describes St Eucharius as the dove, a symbol of the Holy
Spirit:
O Eucharius,
the dove grants you the strength in signs of that one,
who once cried out in the middle of the wheel.
When you saw him no more in the body,
you have completed full signs in his shadow.
And as you have shined on his breast,
you have made a seal on the cherubim.
When you saw him no more in the body,
you have completed full signs in his shadow.71
The dove, once called from the midst of the wheel (in medio rote), gave
Eucharius its strength. The resulting imagery overlaps the symbols of
the wheel, the creature, and the Spirit to express Hildegard’s theological
message. The dove links the manifestations of the Spirit across the
ages with Eucharius. Moreover, the song evokes another echo of Ezekiel:
the fijigure of the cherubim shines forth from the heart of Eucharius, just
as the cherubim in Ezekiel 10:9–10 appears within the four wheels. The
seal Eucharius bears on his heart recalls an image Hildegard describes
in the Liber diuinorum operum, the fijigure of a man with a bright wheel
shining in his chest, analogous to the brilliance of true Charity, which
embraces the sphere of the world.72 This richly layered imagery expresses
the holiness of Eucharius at the same time that it encompasses Hildegard’s
theology of creation, incarnation, and the working of the Spirit
through history.
The magistra identifijies Ezekiel’s wheel as life itself. That meaning occurs
no fewer than four times in Expositio 35 on John 3:1–15, the conversation
between Jesus and Nicodemus about life and rebirth.73 Each passage merits
citation. Hildegard fijirst speaks about the life of every creature:
71 Symph., 52, p. 444, ll. 1–14: “O Euchari, / columba uirtutem illius / in signis tibi dedit, /
qui olim in medio rote clamitauit./ Quem cum amplius / corporaliter non uidisti, / plena
signa in umbra illius /perfecisti./ Et sic in pectore eius fulsisti / ac in cherubin sigillum
fecisti /Quem cum amplius / corporaliter non uidisti, / plena signa in umbra illius /
perfecisti.”
72 Diu. operum 1.2.1, p. 65, ll. 180–86; 1.2.46, p. 112, ll. 1–23.
73 Expo. Euang., 35, pp. 283–85.