Two putti hold up a globe, a symbolic representation of heaven. Within the globe is a shining castle - a metaphor for the new Jerusalem. The putti on the right points to his heart - perhaps indicating that is where the kingdom of heaven is made. Writing in the twelth century Hildegard of Bingen depicted the return of the soul to heaven using architectural imagery. Humans construct their repentance and restoration as they participate in building the heavenly city.
Hildegard was supervising the construction of Rupertsberg around 1150 and on her preaching tours she witnessed the passion for building in the Rhineland. It seems her personal life may also have influenced her interest in the imagery. In her autobiography Vita Hildegardis she writes that she dug a moat and constructed a wall around her sisters with the words of the scriptures, discipline and good habits in order to fortify them against evil.
Throughout her Expositiones and other works and letters Hildegard repeatedly presents human efforts to achieve salvation using the construction metaphor.
In a letter to Conrad, Bishop of Worms, Hildegard advises that one who follows God's commandments in doing good builds the heavenly Jerusalem whereas one who performs carnal deeds will fall from this edifice. She also says that one who renounces self-will decorates heavenly buildings with pearls, precious stones and the finest gold.
Hildegard also conceives of heaven as constructed from living stones (people). She prays that Guibert of Gembloux continue in service so that he may become deserving of being a living stone in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In a letter to Bishop Gunther of Speyer she teaches that the foundations of the city consist of repentant sinners who have pressed down their sins through penance and form a kind of gravel bed for the city walls.
By contrast the gem image is used to describe the radiant saints dwelling in the heavenly city.
Hildegard never interiorizes the city as other contemporaries do. Constructing heaven does require the labour of the inner self but the imagery is not directed inward. Rather it is seen as an outward process reflecting the virtues' transport of stones up the ladder of salvation.
Source for today's post: Mayne Keinzle, B. (2007) 'Constructing Heaven in Hildegard of Bingen's Expositiones Euangeliorum' In Muessig, C. and Putter, A. (eds.) Envisaging Heaven in the Middle Ages, Oxon: Routledge, pp.34-43
It has always amazed me how so many beautiful churches could be (and are) built while the poor lived on starvation diets. I think the Baptists are winning that game over the Catholics in modern times. I'll take good works over beliefs any day. :)
ReplyDeleteThe more ascetic the monastic orders were the more wealth they amassed thus sowing the seeds for their destruction in the reformation. Although the pillaging of the monasteries under Henry VIII didn't help the poor either - straight into the coffers of the King and his barons.
DeleteJesus was all about good works not grand temples and I agree it how you put beliefs into practice that matters. I'm still a sucker for a beautiful monastery - a stripped back ruin for preference.
Heaven turns out to be an ossuary, love it.
ReplyDeleteOssuary - new word woohoo!
DeleteI guess good deeds are perfect mortar maybe more than just faith
ReplyDeleteYes cementing human relations through good deeds better expresses the core message of love (for self, for god if you wish and for one's 'neighbours') thank you for the mortar metaphor it made me think.
DeleteHow am I supposed to get smarter if you aren't taking care of business here? :)Miss your posts and viewpoint
ReplyDeleteHa! - sorry it has been a super busy week at work in fact I've been working today as well. Sending emails on a Saturday a bad idea as it just creates expectations of being permanently available and invites more work :( new post coming up in five with a vague relation to history. :)
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