A letter from Elisabeth of Schoenau ()

Translated letter:

To lord Gerlach, venerable abbot of the Deutz church, sister Elisabeth sends greetings and devout prayers. (1) One of your friends asked me to announce these things to you because he understood from your letters that you desired this. While I was awaiting the return of my brother who had set out to see you, it happened that I had a nocturnal vision. In it I saw him as if returning to us, holding in his hand three beautiful lilies. One of them was very small and looked as if it had just recently opened from the heat of the sun, but it was whiter and more lovely in appearance that the others. Placing it in my hand, he seemed to say, “Receive it, sister. She is called Euticia.” After this, when he did return, he stopped first to see us, and while the brothers were preparing themselves for the procession, he told us about two sacred virgins, Fenellina and Grata, whom he brought and about that third one, the infant which he claimed was sent especially to me from you. Immediately I understood the vision of the three lilies and that third one he brought without a name is Euticia.(2)

Original letter:

Domino G. venerabili abbati Tuiciensis ecclesie soror E. salutem et orationes devotas. Rogavit me unus ex amicis vestris, et hec vobis annunciarem, quia ex litteris vestris hoc vos desiderare intellexit. Cum essemus expectantes adventum fratris mei, qui fuerat profectus ad vos, accidit, ut viderem in visione nocturna, quasi venisset ad nos, gestans in manu tria lilia elegantis speciei, quorum unum valde pusillum et quasi recenter a calore solis apertum videbatur, sed magis ceteris candidum et amabile visu. Quod in manus meas porrigens, dicere videbatur: Accipe soror. Hec vocatur Euticia. Post hec cum reverteretur, primum divertit ad nos, usque dum fratres ad processionem se prepararent, narravitque nobis de duabus sacris virginibus: Fenellina et Grata, quas afferebat et de tercia illa infantula, quam mihi specialiter a vobis missam asserebat. Continuo intellexi visionem trium liliorum, ac terciam illam, quam sine nomine attulit Euticiam.

Historical context:

Elisabeth reveals a vision about a child the abbot had sent to her.

Scholarly notes:

(1)This translation is copyrighted by Anne Clark. For permission to reproduce, contact Paulist Press. (2)In Visionen, this letter is concluded with a sentence added by an 18th-century hand in Wiesbaden, Nassauische Landesbibliothek MS 3: “Farewell always in God your Savior.”

Printed source:

Die Visionen der hl. Elisabeth und die Schriften der Aebte Ekbert und Emecho von Schönau, ed. F.W.E. Roth (Brünn: Verlag der Studien aus dem Benedictiner- und Cistercienser-Orden, 1884), Bk.6, ch.17, p.150; trans. Anne L. Clark, The Complete Works of Elisabeth of Schönau (New York: Paulist Press, 2000), 17.