Oldal 124 [124]
ANIKÓ DARÓCZI
accompany the addressee only up to a certain point, after which she has to
leave her friends to their own devices; her words must be powerful enough to
open their heart to receive minne.
Yet only if silence follows upon powerful speech can silence be weighty and
fruitful. It is this voice of silence that the addressee must hear and allow to work
deeply within. For this reason, we must also read Hadewijch’s Letters in such
a way that the vitality of this stillness that lies enclosed can come to the fore.
In order to make it easier to understand this way of reading and its
mechanics, in what follows I write out the texts per cola et commata. This is
one of the oldest forms of punctuation, a system used to help the reader know
where to pause or take a breath in order to recite the text correctly.'? The text
was broken up into ‘rhetorical units’ or ‘lines of meaning’— the copyist begins
a new line after every sentence or textual segment." Here I expand on the
system a bit further by striving to ensure that main clauses and subordinate
clauses are placed under each other, as a result of which we can also follow
a syntactical analysis.” By reading the texts below in this manner, we can
hear and feel the vox intexta more clearly. For a member of Hadwijch’s
mystical circle, such a reading might have been enlightening — and, at certain
moments, as we shall see, even initiatory.
READING/LISTENING AS SEEING
In the very first Letter we can distinguish the various steps that lead to
the formulation of the essence of Hadewijch’s teaching: Fiat voluntas tua.
The letter begins with the word God, followed immediately by ‘clear Love’
(clare minne). A link is thus made between God and this clear Love. Words
denoting light continue to dominate the entire first sentence (italics are mine).
God,
who clarified clear Love
— that was unknown - by His life,
by which He clarified all life with the clarity of Love,
He may enlighten and clarify you
with the clear clarity
The system was introduced by St Jerome for writing out biblical texts in order to make their
meaning clear. Parkes 1993, 35.
The cola et commata method was discussed extensively in medieval treatises on grammar
and music, along with distinctio, periodus (which consists of several cola et commata) and
pausa. There are slight differences in nuance in the meanings given these terms by various
authors. See, among others, Gysin 1958, 76.
In the new translation of the Letters (see note 6) the text is printed according to this
segmentation.
+ 122 +
Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 122 6 2020.06.15. 11:04:16