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Sakristanin Mechtild Redebere im Kloster Ebstorf an Priorin Sophia von Bodenteich im Kloster Lüne
nach Weihnachten 1498
Bitte um Ausleihe eines Gebetbuches — Request for the loan of a prayer bookKloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 9, fol. 18v
Lateinisch und Niederdeutsch.
Die Absenderin versichert der Empfängerin ihre Zuneigung trotz ihres langen Schweigens. Zum neuen Jahr sendet sie ihr den Jesusknaben als Geschenk und bittet sie demütig darum, ihr das Büchlein, um das sie im vergangenen Sommer gebeten habe, auszuleihen. Dieses enthalte Gebete an den Lüner Klosterpatron Bartholomäus, der auch der Eigenapostel der Absenderin ist. Die Ebstorfer Priorin lässt die Empfängerin herzlich grüßen, ebenso die Subpriorin und der ganze Ebstorfer Konvent. Grüße der Ebstorfer Priorin an ihre Verwandten, die Subpriorin und den Konvent im Kloster Lüne.
Mechtild Redebere, the sacristan of Ebstorf who had spent time in Lüne helping to introduce reforms there, fears her long silence could give the impression that she has forgotten the recipient, Sophia von Bodenteich, Prioress of Lüne. However, God is her witness that the recipient has always been in her heart and in her mind. She regrets that she cannot express this appropriately alone, as she is a poor woman. Borrowing an image from the writings of the Church Fathers originally drawn from 2 Corinthians, she writes that she therefore relies on the divine treasure of God’s wisdom, the infant Jesus, in whom she is made rich because he assumed the poverty of the human form, to help her express her gratitude. She sends Him as a New Year’s present to wish her a good, contemplative, and restful year. She prays that she would keep this present in the treasure chest of her heart and remember the sender in her prayers, just as the sender will remember her in hers. She also humbly asks the recipient to lend her the little book that she had asked for last summer, which contains prayers dedicated to St Bartholomew, the convent’s patron and the writer’s personal apostle. She promises to carefully look after the little book. Greetings are passed on from various members of the convent at Ebstorf, and she asks the recipient to greet her relatives in Lüne. A reference to a responsory used at Mattins on Christmas Day in the salutation suggests that the letter was written shortly after Christmas.
Indutum stola purpurea, scilicet natura humana, qui verus Deus apparuit et homo,1 premissum, orationibus utinam cum devotis in vinculo veri amoris!
Venerabilis domina, in ipso piissimo nostro salvatore michi singularissime diligenda, diu nec scripsi necque a vestra venerabilitate ulla scripta recepi, so mochte venerabilitati forsan invallen, wo ik juwer hedde verghetten, quia cessaret manus scribentis, quo etiam amor mutuus foret extinctus. Sed absit hoc a me in eternum, ut vestram venerabilitatem ymmoque caritatem tradam oblivioni, hoc est michi impossibile, ut vestri obliviscar. Deo, cui omnia sunt cognita, illi etiam notum est, dat gy my raroa komet a cordis memoria. Noch jummer ick juw heu neynerleye ghude effte willen in ullo kan exhiberen alze vestre [Lage 9, fol. 19r] venerabilitati e iure eghede pro plurimis benivolentiis totiens michi exhibitis, quia sum paupercula nil habens tribuendi. Paupercula inquam sum, sed revera gaudenter, quia propter illum, qui cum dives esset deitate pro nobis egenus et pauper effectus est humanitate.2 Sed in hoc cordintime doleo, quod vobis nil prebere valeo, in quo internum amorem cordis ostendam. Sed unum saltem scio, in quo non diffido vestre caritati sufficiet bonum, videlicet thesaurum incomprehensibilem et incorporabilem, qui nobis omnibus a patre eterno est datus et de matre virgine nobis natus, qui cunctis et singulis solus est sufficiens, scilicet eternam illam et preclaram sapientiam eiusdem eternum Dei patris filium perpetue karitatis dulcissimum puerum Jesum, amatorem hominis, [Lage 9, fol. 19v] cuius sunt delitie esse cum filiis hominum.3 Istum predulcem delectabilem inclitum parvulum, amantissimum sponsum et fratrem nostrum dirigo vestre venerabilitati cum exiguis orationibus ac optatione novi anni. Qui pro mea paupertate dignetur respondere habundantius adimplendo ea, qui michi desunt et que minime possum donando vobis in se ipso et per se ipsum annum vere novum iocundum, prosperum, contemplativum, opulentumb, tranquillum et beatum cum novis donis gratiarum et virtutum, que sibimet in vobis placeant ad perpetuam suam laudem et gloriam et ad salutem vestri corporis et anime.
Preamantissima domina, istud excellentissimum munus dignetur vestra venerabilitas suscipere de me paupercula scrinio vestri cordis dulciter includendo in spem pulcherrimi iuvenis [Lage 9, fol. 20r] pre cunctis filiis hominum speciosi et mei apud ipsum semper memorando in devotis vestris orationibus, sicut et ego libenter vestri sum memor. Et iam eidem speciosissimo fratri et sponso vestram venerabilitatem commendo, qui in domicilio vestri interioris hominis dignetur mansitare vobiscum comitando per divinam protectionem et gratie infusionem utrumque hominem vestrum roborando per longiora tempora. Et postquam modum hac vita terminata cum ipso ad patriam, qua nos duxit post victoriam, pergere valeatis. Item, preamantissima, peto humiliter dat gy my willen lenen illum libellum, dar ik in estate preterita leyt vorbydden cum orationibus de gloriossimo vestro patrono electissimoque meo apostolo sancto Bartholomeo. Ik wil dat per Dei gratiam diligenter vorwaren.
Venerabilis et predilecta domina nostra, de [Lage 9, fol. 20v] c led vestram venerabilitatem familiarissime saluteren. Similiter mater subpriorissa N et N et omnis congregatio domus Ebeken. Dignemini etiam salutare causa venerabilis domine nostre dilectas suas amitas N et N parte mei et sororem subpriorissam Wichburg Pravest et N et N et reliquam totam vestram congregationem. Cum hiis omnibus sint vobis tot amicabilia salutamina quot celum habet gaudia. Et valeatis cum hiis in dulcissimo iuveni Jesu Christo vero Deo et homine feliciter et longeve.
Raptim ex Ebeke post festum Nativitatis Domini anno eiusdem etc. XCIX°.4
Soror Mechtild Redebere professa in Ebken vestra inutilis.
Venerabili et religiose domine Soffie priorisse in monasterio Lune5 sancte sue et domine sue in Christo Jesu iugiter venerande.
a raro korrigiert aus roro
b opulentum korrigiert aus opalentum
c folgt überschüssig de
1 Responsorium zur Matutin an Weihnachten (Cantus ID 006411): Descendit de coelis, missus ab arce Patris, introivit per aurem virginis in regionem nostram, indutus stola purpurea; auch zitiert in der ‚Vita sanctae Elisabeth‘ des Eckbert von Schöngau, cap. 4, über die Visionen der Heiligen, in: Migne PL 195, Sp. 153: Et post pusillum requievit caro mea in exstasi, et sustulit me in spiritu in sublime, et contemplata sum iucunditatem, quam praeparavit Deus diligentibus se, quemadmodum anno priore. Cumque post longum excessum redirem ad me, continuo ori meo haec verba affluxerunt: „Descendit de coelis, missus ab arce Patris: introivit per aurem Virginis in regionem nostram, indutus stola purpurea, et exivit per auream portam, lux et decus universae fabricae mundi.”
2 2.Cor 8,9: im Vulgatatext heißt es propter vos egenus factus est, aber die Kirchenväter zitieren vielfach pauper, sicher aus einer älteren Übersetzung, so z. B. Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De fide, cap. 12, in: Migne PL 16, Sp. 677: Ipse enim dives secundum plenitudinem divinitatis, qui pro nobis pauper factus est, cum dives esset et rex aeternus; Augustinus Hipponensis, In Psalmum IX enarratio, v. 14, in: PL 36, Sp. 123: Miserere mei, Domine? An quia unus interpellat pro sanctis, qui primus pauper pro nobis factus est, cum esset dives.
4 Nach Weihnachten 1498.
5 Priorin Sophia von Bodenteich.