Hildegardis Bingensis, Opera Minora

This volume presents five works by Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) that relate to Benedictine life and liturgy, a unique collection among the known writings of medieval women. The magistra of Rupertsberg expounded the Benedictine Rule, the Athanasian Creed, and the Gospels; in addition, she composed a play: the Ordo virtutum, and numerous liturgical songs, arranged in the Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum. The fifty-eight Expositiones evangeliorum demonstrate remarkably creative readings of twenty-seven pericopes common to monastic lectionaries. Introductions for each of this volume's five works assess the respective texts, discuss the manuscripts with care, and establish the principles of the editions. The extraordinary ensemble of these works demonstrates the remarkable richness and range of Hildegard's oeuvre, as she applied her genius to everyday Benedictine practice at Rupertsberg. The volume will be of great interest to scholars of women's spirituality, monastic studies, liturgy, sermon literature, and medieval Latin literary and religious culture.