A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

hildegard of bingen and the hirsau reform 75
Rupert sought protection from Kuno II of Siegburg, bishop of Regensburg
and then archbishop of Cologne. After staying at Siegburg 1113–1120, he
spent the last decade of his life (1120–1129) as abbot of Deutz, where he
completed a vast series of commentaries on Scripture interpreted as the
record of the influence of the working of the Holy Spirit through history.
He was particularly critical of the theological arguments developed in
the French schools, in particular those of Anselm of Laon and William
of Champeaux, whom he sought to confront in person in 1117. Of particular
interest for understanding Hildegard’s claim to have experienced a
flash of divine insight is an account he includes within his treatise on the
glorifijication of the Trinity and the procession of the Holy Spirit, written
between March and August 1128. Rupert interrupts his discussion of the
famous signs recorded in Scripture of the coming of the Holy Spirit (for
example, the dove settling above the Lord and the flames of fijire settling
upon the apostles) with two examples of the working of the Holy Spirit in
his own day. His examples are carefully chosen to refer to both a woman
and a man.
The fijirst is the case of a girl called Waldrada, then getting ready for a
marriage with which she was uncomfortable.63 One night, as she stayed
awake while others were sleeping, she was overcome by the descent of
the Holy Spirit. According to Rupert, Waldrada was lying in the room next
to her mother, a widow, who was the only person to witness a great fijire
come over her, which penetrated her mouth and the inner parts of her
womb. Her mother woke up, thinking the house was on fijire. All she knew
was that Waldrada was weeping copiously, something she continued to
do abundantly from that time on. This was proof of what Rupert knew
from the Gospel of John, “The Spirit blows where it wills and you hear its
voice, but you do not know from where it is coming or where it is going”
(Jn 3:8). From that time on, Waldrada remained committed to holy virginity
until her old age as a recluse. The other example he offfers is that of an
alius quidam who was experiencing a long bout of depression about his
situation, which Rupert relates was not unusual among adolescents. This
person saw heaven open, and something like a shining coin (talentum) of
a living substance descended into his breast and shook him from sleep; it
was heavier than gold and sweeter than honey. At fijirst it stayed still, then
it moved around within him. Rupert describes it as “a living thing and
63 Rupert of Deutz, De glorifijicatione Trinitatis et processione Spiritus Sanctus 2.18, PL 169:
48C–D (Paris, 1854).