A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

the theology of repentance 225
the Last Days,10 followed by another vision of the place of purifijication and
of hell,11 as well as considerations about the four elements.12 Seven visions
on the heavenly joys and their interpretation form the focal point of part
four,13 to which are linked an audition in which the Son of Man speaks,
as well as additional interpretations.14 The conclusion to the work as an
entirety is an auditory experience which confijirms that this book contains
God’s word and was not invented by Hildegard.15
The entire text is stylistically an extended allegory, and everything that
is described in the visions and auditions is interpreted sentence by sentence
in connection with this stylistic choice.
What is the foundational thought behind this artfully constructed
work? In order to answer this question, it makes sense to initially consider
the repetitive formulae at the end of the individual sections and parts
of the Vite mer.
What Is the Liber vite meritorum About?—The Concluding Formulae
Each section in which the visionary descriptions are interpreted ends
with the words: “Whosoever has the desire to live, he should receive these
words in that [desire] and enshrine them in the innermost chamber of his
heart.”16 “Live” in this sense refers to living eternally as well as to a form of
earthly living during which a person prepares for eternal life. The Vite mer.
is concerned with how a life would look that leads to eternal life.
The path to this eternal life is indicated in the concluding formulae that
appear at the end of each section about an individual vice, its chastisements,
and the corresponding penitential acts: “This is spoken about the
souls of the penitents, who will be purifijied and redeemed, and it is true;
the faithful should attend to this and enshrine it in the memory of a good
conscience.”17
The Vite mer. thus addresses those people who perform penance in
order to purify themselves and to achieve salvation. Penance is the path
10 Vite mer., 6, pp. 265–67.
11 Ibid., 6, pp. 267–71.
12 Ibid., 6, pp. 271–73.
13 Ibid., 6, pp. 274–86.
14 Ibid., 6, pp. 286–91.
15 Ibid., 6, pp. 291–92.
16 Ibid., 1.85, p. 48; 2, p. 105; 3, p. 155; 4, p. 201; 5, p. 245; 6, p. 267.
17 Ibid., 1.87, p. 51; 1, pp. 53–54; 2, p. 107; 2, p. 109; 3, p. 156; 3, p. 158; 4, pp. 203–204; 5,
p. 246; 5, p. 248.