A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

238 susanne ruge
blessed who await fijinal salvation after the Last Judgement. The reader is
granted a vision of the future that is revealed to believers, “those who persevered
in baptism.”55 This incentive appears in all fijive parts, presented
in contrast to the purifying chastisements, which are accorded the greatest
amount of text in the representations of the afterlife. The number of
punishments described in each part corresponds to the number of vices
who held forth.
The primary means of purifijication appear to be fijire and burning of
all kinds; however, frigid cold, fijilth, foul odors, or a slimy pool, as well as
bites from a multitude of worms, also appear. Even the very darkness itself
serves as an element for chastisement.56 In this conception, the souls being
punished possess some type of physical body so that they can experience
these torments. In a singular case, a form of purifijication is mentioned in
which the souls are led to the edge of the fijire and the mere possibility of
future chastisement serves to efffect purifijication.57 During the discussion
on penitential theology, it has already been demonstrated that purifijication
involving these punishments can be partially or completely mitigated
through earthly repentance.
At the end of the Vite mer., in part six, the experiences of the souls in
the afterlife following the Last Judgement are described. The fijirst section
focuses on those who did not receive baptism: they “sufffer no great torment
other than the darkness of disbelief .”58
55 Vite mer., 2.34, p. 90, l. 621: “plurimique in baptismo perstiterunt.”
56 Fire appears in the case of all vices except Inepta letitia (Vite mer., 1.121, p. 64), Inanis
gloria (Vite mer., 3.54–56, pp. 158–59), and Vagatio (Vite mer., 5.43–45, pp. 247–48). In the
case of the latter two vices, sinners have to endure immeasurable amounts of fijilth and
stench. Worms appear as a punishment associated with the various forms of Anger. With
regard to the two enormous worms that punish those who murder for greed, Schipperges
(Heinrich Schipperges, trans., Hildegard von Bingen. Der Mensch in der Verantwortung. Das
Buch der Lebensverdienste (Liber vitae meritorum) [Salzburg, 1972], p. 77, n. 7) suggests
dragons as an appropriate translation (Vite mer., 1.97–105, here 100, p. 58, ll. 1649–50: “duo
maxime et horribilis forme vermes erant”). Darkness appears in relation to Inobedientia
and Infijidelitas (Vite mer., 3.57–62, pp. 159–61), whereas cold punishes those who murder in
anger (Vite mer., 1.99, p. 58). There is no possibility of purifijication or repentance in the case
of suicides: they are sent immediately to the abyss of hell (Vite mer., 1.105, p. 60).
57 This occurs with respect to those who occasionally flared up in anger while they
lived, yet did not constantly surrender to ire. See Vite mer., 1.98, p. 57, ll. 1634–37: “Anime
autem que sine odio et sine consuetudine ire, dum in corporibus suis fuissent, in iram
aliquando mote sunt, exute corporibus circa eundem lacum ibant, et magnas penas istas
in eo uidebant, ac eas timebant.”
58 Vite mer., 6.9, p. 268, ll. 89–90: “Nam anime iste grauia tormenta non patiebantur, sed
tenebras infijidelitatis habebant.”