They found supporters in
all ranks of the community, and were connected with the later German
mystics. An indictment preserved for us proves the religious originality
of one of those sects, "The Brethren of the Free Spirit," who upheld the
heretical view that it were better that one man should attain to
spiritual perfection than that a hundred monasteries should be founded.
At the same time the inspired seer and hysterical nun, Hildegarde of
Bingen, wrote wild letters to the popes, denouncing the vice existing in
the Church and the degradation of religion. "But thou, oh Rome, who art
well-nigh at the point of death, thou wilt be shaken so that the
strength of thy feet shall forsake thee, because thou hast not loved the
royal maiden righteousness with an ardent love, but with the torpor of
sleep, and thou hast become a stranger to her. Therefore she will desert
thee if thou do not call her back." Pope Adrian IV. replied, almost
humbly: "We long to hear words of warning from you, because men say that
you are endowed with the spirit of the divine miracles.
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