A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

the theology of repentance 237
are described.52 At this point, the reader is decisively remanded from any
ignorance as to which spirit, good or evil, is represented in the words of
the vices.
A monastic context stands in the background for the selection of the
virtues and vices. Among the seven vices in part one, for example, four
appear that illustrate the dangers of the worldly life: Love of the World
(Amor seculi), Impudence (Petulantia), the Jestrix ( Joculatrix), and Foolish
Joy (Inepta letitia). It is thus clearly a monastic code of ethics that
provides the framework for the Vite mer. The Benedictine virtue of discretio
appears as the central focus.53 And yet, the statements are universally
applicable and can be of use to all people who carry within themselves
the “desire to live.”
Deterrence and Motivation—The Representations of the Afterlife
The Vite mer. includes multiple representations of the afterlife, including
conceptions associated with both the Last Judgement and with the time
that follows. In a construction that will appear familiar to the reader, the
posthumous realm displays a tripartite structure: in addition to heaven
and hell, there is a third locus, the place of purifijication.54 No information
is given, however, about the duration of the punishments.
Over the course of the text, the reader gains knowledge of the afterlife.
In parts one and two, this information focuses on the souls of the
52 Ibid., 1, pp. 51–52, 53–54, 55–56, 57–59, and 63–64.
53 On the meaning of discretio, see Heyerdahl, “Dyder og laster,” pp. 80–81, among
others.
54 The substantive purgatorium is not used in the chapter titles of the Vite mer.; instead,
the reference is always to the purifijication (purgatio, Vite mer., pp. 216–18), and more often
to the purifying punishments (penis purgatoriis, Vite mer., 1.77–78, p. 49; 2, pp. 64, 65, 69,
70, 76, 79, and the table of contents for Books 2–5: pp. 69–70, 120–22, 170–72, and 216–18,
respectively). However, the conception of a third location—in which the purifijication of
sinful souls is permitted to occur in the afterlife, and which will ultimately allow these
souls to attain heavenly bliss—is fully developed. See Jacques Le Gofff, The Birth of Purgatory,
trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Chicago, 1984); also Arnold Angenendt, Geschichte der
Religiosität im Mittelalter (Darmstadt, 2000), pp. 705–10.
The editors of this volume note that according to the description of manuscripts found
in the introduction to the edition of the Vite mer., pp. XLIV–LIX, the tables of contents
that begin each part are included in the extant manuscripts. In several manuscripts, one
or more of the tables is missing, e.g. the table for part 2 in the Trier manuscript. Of related
interest is the fact that in the Vienna manuscript, the chapter titles found in the table of
contents are integrated into the text in the section dealing with the disputation between
the vices and the virtues; see Vite mer., p. LIV.