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Book/Printed Material The Book of Divine Works. Liber Divinorum Operum

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About this Item

Title

  • The Book of Divine Works.

Other Title

  • Liber Divinorum Operum

Summary

  • Liber Divinorum Operum (The book of divine works), which Hildegard von Bingen began composing in 1163-64 and finished in 1172-74, is the last of her three great works of visionary theology. It was preceded by her best-known work, Scivias (Know the ways, composed in 1142--51), and Liber Vitae Meritorum (Book of life's merits, composed in 1158--63). In each of these works, Hildegard (1098-1179) describes the often strange and enigmatic visions she received, which she then follows with an explanatory commentary pronounced by the voice of God. The manuscript presented here is one of three transcriptions of the work, and the only illuminated manuscript. It can be dated to between the second and third decades of the 13th century. The manuscript is in Gothic handwriting in two columns of 38 lines on each page, with hard point ruling. It has ten full-page miniatures, each of which marks the start of one of the ten visions in the work. Titles, summaries, and the incipit and explicit of each vision are in red ink; sections of text begin with red and blue initials with frames and illuminated initials. Pages are numbered within each vision in the side margins in red and blue Roman numerals. The manuscript has marginal notes in various hands, some of which were partly removed due to the trimming of the pages of the codex. Now held in the State Library of Lucca, the codex came originally from the monastery of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God in Lucca. The manuscript underwent conservation treatment in 1936. Hildegard von Bingen was a Benedictine abbess and mystic, also known as the Sybil of the Rhine. She was born in Bockelheim, Germany, and founded Rupertsberg Convent near Bingen in around 1147. One of the first of the great German mystics, she is known for her music, poetry, and theological visions, which have remained popular over the centuries. Hildegard was canonized and named a doctor of the church in 2012.

Names

  • Hildegard, Saint, 1098-1179 Creator.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [1210 to 1230]

Headings

  • -  Italy--Tuscany--Lucca
  • -  1210 to 1230
  • -  Hildegard, Saint, 1098-1179
  • -  Illuminations
  • -  Miniatures (Illuminations)
  • -  Saints
  • -  Theology
  • -  Visions

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  "The visions are: 1) Theophany of Divine Love; 2) The Cosmic Spheres and Human Being; 3) Macrocosm of Winds, Microcosm of Humors; 4) Cosmos, Body, and Soul: The Word Made Flesh; 5) The Earth: Life's Merits, Purgatory, and Commentary on the Creation; 6) The City of God and the Mirror of the Angels; 7) The city in Salvation History: Creation to Incarnation; 8) The Fountain of God's Work: Theophany of Divine Love, with Humility and Peace; 9) Wisdom and the Ancient counsel Unfolding in God's Works; and 10) Divine Love upon the Wheel: Eternity and History."--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
  • -  Original resource extent: 167 folios : illuminated ; 39 x 25.5 centimeters.
  • -  Reference extracted from World Digital Library: Nathaniel M. Campbell, "Capitula (Table of contents, or chapter summaries" of the Liber Divinorum Operum: The Book of Divine Works, by St. Hildegard of Bingen. International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies. http://www.hildegard-society.org/p/liber-divinorum-operum.html.|Saint External Hildegard of Bingen, Liber Divinorum Operum: The Book of Divine Works, translated and introduced by Nathaniel M. Campbell (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, forthcoming 2018).
  • -  Original resource at: State Library of Lucca.
  • -  Content in Latin.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021668244

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Hildegard, Saint, Creator. The Book of Divine Works. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1230, 1210] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668244/.

APA citation style:

Hildegard, S. (1210) The Book of Divine Works. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1230] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668244/.

MLA citation style:

Hildegard, Saint, Creator. The Book of Divine Works. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1230, 1210] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021668244/>.