Mario Del Franco

SUMMARY: The antiphon devoted to Apostles O cohors milicie floris is one of the fourteen poems, that appear in the first visionary work composed by Hildegard von Bingen, the Scivias, and then are included in her poetic-liturgical cycle, the Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum. The manuscript tradition and the complex philological issues presented by the poem are discussed; a new critical edition is given, with fresh contributions to the text and a new Italian translation, suitable for the complexity of Hildegard’s poetry. A new interpretation of the poem is suggested by means of the analysis of the Biblical, theological and literary sources of the text, in order to deeply explain its meaning. Among the sources, besides the Bible and liturgical poetry, there are doctrinal and exegetical works of many Church Fathers (Augustin, Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory the Great), some medieval authors, like Rupert of Deutz, and the visionary works of Hildegard herself, especially the Scivias.