A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

the theology of repentance 239
Particularly striking is the representation of hell, as Hildegard claims
that she cannot see into the eternal damnation. She sees a blackness that
is not even illuminated by the light of the fijires that burn there, as they do
so without flames.
And hell was there, which held every type of torment, misery, stench, and
punishment, but I could see nothing of that or of anything in that darkness,
because I was gazing upon the blackness from the outside, not from the
inside.59
The Vite mer. shows the reader which punishments are possible, yet
remains on the side of those humans for whom heaven is still an option.
Readers do not have to fijight their way out of hell; they must only guard
themselves from falling down into it. However, after the fijive parts of the
book, Hildegard’s readers know what they can do in the meantime to
avoid this fate and instead fijind their way, possibly through penitential
purifijication, to the path that leads to heavenly joy.
The representation of eternal life consists primarily of four elements:
costly clothing, perfumes, light, and singing.60 In the wealth of their light,
jewelry, and sound images, the heavenly joys explode beyond the bounds
of the work up to this point. And, as occurs at the end of every section, a
concluding formula emphasizes yet again that Hildegard cannot see all of
the panoply that is prepared for those who enter into heaven.61
Of particular interest is the fact that these heavenly joys are organized
hierarchically. At the bottom are those penitents from the worldly life
who fulfijilled their penance over the course of their lives. They are followed
in increasing rank by those who lived righteous, worldly lives, those
who showed obedience in the religious life, the Doctors of the Church and
leaders of the people of God, the martyrs, and above all “those people who
served God in the celibate life of virginity.”62 The individual hierarchical
59 Ibid., 6.10, p. 268, ll. 103–07: “Et in his gehenna erat, que omne genus cruciatuum et
miseriarum et fetorum ac penarum in se habet; sed nihil eorum que in ipsa seu in eisdem
tenebris fuerunt, uidere poteram, quoniam easdem tenebras non interius, sed exterius
uidebam.”
60 Ibid., 6.25–31, pp. 274–86.
61 Ibid., 6.25, p. 274, ll. 298–99: “reliquis ornamentis et illorum et istorum, que plurima
fuerunt, mihi occultatis.” Similar statements appear in Vite mer., 6, pp. 276, 277, 279, 281,
283, 285–86.
62 Ibid., 6, pp. 262–63, in the chapter titles for sections 25–30: “secularium hominum qui
ante horam mortis sue penitendo peccatis suis abrenuntiauerant”; “secularium hominum
qui in activa uita precepta legis diligenter obseruauerant”; “spiritalium hominum qui in
spiritali uita obedientie se subdiderant”; “hominum qui doctores et rectores in populo Dei
existentes bona opera operati sunt”; “hominum illorum qui pro gloria Dei membra sua in
martyrio morti subiecerant”; “hominum qui in uirginitatis singularitate Deo seruierant.”