A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

the theology of repentance 241
This passage displays in an exemplary manner which elements are contained
in these sections: a statement about the meaning of penitence, the
penitential acts, and also the role of the confessor. These three aspects
will now be explained in more detail.
The meaning of penitence is explained anew in relation to each vice.
This is designed to prevent the possibility that penance becomes a routine.
Instead, it should always be consciously performed. The addressee
is one who has determined, following self-examination, that he or she
has been seduced by the respective vice. Additionally, this person is
one who is prepared to alter current behaviors in order to avoid posthumous
punishments.
The acts of penitence are often listed quite concisely; nevertheless,
various aspects of penance are concealed within them. Fasting, prayers,
and/or chastisements are cited as penitential acts in relation to almost all
vices. These penances have a physical aspect: the disturbed order [of the
cosmos] is supposed to be restored through worldly sufffering, and posthumous
sufffering is also rendered superfluous in this manner.67
Occasionally, other penances are indicated, such as giving alms, adopting
a monastic life, or withdrawing to the hermitage. The meaning of
prayers, sighing, and tears as part of penance has already been discussed
above (see notes 36, 38, 39, and 40).
Giving alms, an otherwise common act of penitence, appears in the Vite
mer. only in the role of restitution. Those consumed with greed (Auaritia)
are encouraged, for example, “to sincerely bestow their mercy upon the
poor, whom they have deceived, insofar as they are able,”68 in addition to
fasting and corporal chastisement. Obviously, the Vite mer. seeks to avoid
the possibility that the penitent might buy salvation through monetary
offferings.
An additional act of penance that is suggested quite consciously at
specifijic points is withdrawal to a hermitage. This appears to be one of
the most stringent penances within the Vite mer. and is mentioned only
three times; however, each time it is in connection with a particularly
heinous act: murder motivated by greed, murder by means of poison, and
suam secundum qualitatem et tenorem eorundem peccatorum suorum ieiuniis afffligant, in
quibus etiam pretiosum potum deuitent, secundum rectum iudicium iudicum suorum.”
67 See above, “The Relationship between the Disturbances to the Good Order, Purifijication,
and Penance—the Zelus Dei.”
68 Vite mer., 5.53, p. 251, ll. 1113–15: “et etiam pauperibus quos defraudauerunt, prout
potuerint, misericordiam cum ueritate rependant.”