Oldal 120 [120]
ANIKÓ DARÓCZI
(or “poems in stanzas”), and letters in rhyme and prose.! She was the magistra
of a small group of beguines — known as mulieres religiosae (devout women)
— belonging to the higher social strata, and therefore literate. Hadewijch
addressed her words to this small group of like-minded souls, but her writings
were known for at least two centuries and highly appreciated outside her own
circle. Within a network of Augustinian canons and Carthusian monks they
were even considered sacred.”
According to one of her letters, God touches (gheraect) with His own
fathomless depth the deepest part of the person and thus further deepens
that abyss of the soul, drawing her to Himself. In that space, the soul hears
the word that is ‘hidden’ (verholen) from those who do not serve God in
the freedom of a perfect experience of love (minne). In this freedom the soul
sees and hears the secret words that are ‘unsayable’ (onuertellec) and ‘unheard’
(onghehoert).* In Letter 2 we also learn that this word is ‘hidden’ (verborghen):
the soul, Hadewijch says, will hear from God the hidden counsel, as Job says:
‘To me was spoken a hidden word’.* This clearly alludes to Gregory the Great’s
absconditum verbum?, which can also be understood as an inner longing
that arises from within. To hear the hidden word is to receive the words of
the Holy Spirit with one’s heart. The Spirit’s speaking cannot be known except
by someone who is capable of taking in the words. It can be felt in silence but
not expressed verbally.° In Letter 28, as we shall see later on, Hadewijch speaks
of the soul that is ‘guided into a blessed stillness’ (gheleidet in ene verweende
! Her 14 Visions, 31 Letters in prose, 45 Songs or Poems in Stanzas and 14 Rhymed Letters
have been preserved in four extant manuscripts. The earliest one, Manuscript “A” (Royal
Library of Brussels, 2879-80), was copied in the first half of the 14th century, “B” (Royal
Library of Brussels, 2877-78 is a copy of A from around 1380. The third one, “C” ( Library
of the University of Ghent, 941), was copied at the end of the 14th century. There is a fourth
manuscript, “R”’ (Antwerp, Ruusbroec Society 385 II), from the 16th century, but it does not
contain all of the works of Hadewijch.
In the prologue of the Middle High German 13"-century translation of Hadeiwjch’s Letter
10 she is called St. Adelwip (...) who is a great saint in the eternal life” (sante adelwip... die do
ist ein grosze heilige in dem ewigen lebende) whose teachings have enlightened “friends of
God living in Brabant.” The author Jan van Leeuwen in his Zeven tekens uit de zodiac calls
Hadewijch “a holy glorious woman” (een heylich glorieus wijf), whose “books” are begotten
of God and whose teachings are as true as the teachings of Saint Paul. Within a Brabantian
network of Augustinian canons and Carthusian monks her works were considered to be
sacred texts Cf. Fraeters2014, p. 32 and 182 (Textual Appendix).
’Dan alre eerst moechdi rusten met sente ianne die op jhesus borst sliep. Ende alsoe doen
noch die ghene die in vrihede der Minnen dienen: Si rusten op die soete wise borst ende sien
ende horen die heimelike worde die onuertelleec Ende onghehoert sijn den volke ouermids
die soete runinghe des heilichs gheests.’(Letter 18, 182-188)
1 7... soe suldi den verholenen raet van hem horen, Alsoe iob van hem seghet: Te mi es
gheseghet een verborghen woert’ (Letter 2, 119-121, my italics)
5 Moralia in Iob, 5.28.50 (PL 75.705, rep. CCSL 143, Turnhout: Brepols, 1979).
° Cited from Reynaert 1981, 199-200.
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