The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 30

St Bonaventure Receiving the Banner of St Sepulchre
from the Madonna, by Francesco Solimena (1710). The 
Cathedral of San Paolo in Aversa, Italy. Public domain.

The following posts present the text of The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its authorship is generally attributed to St Bonaventure (1221-15 July 1274) who studied at the University of Paris where in 1243 he joined the Franciscan Order. In 1254, he was made a Master of Theology and took over the leadership of the Franciscan School in Paris. Bonaventure was officially confirmed as seventh Minister General of the Franciscans in 1257. He later wrote a life of St Francis and has been called the second founder of the Order. Appointed Cardinal the year before his death in 1274, he was canonised in 1482 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1588 with the title of Seraphic Doctor.

I offer this annotated presentation of St Bonaventure’s Psalter as a small gift to our gentle Queen and Mother in gratitude for her many graces and favours, praying for her continued help and protection for the author and his family.

This presentation of St Bonaventure’s Marian Psalms will include: an English translation based upon that of Sr Mary Emmanuel O.S.B. in the 1932 edition published by Herder; the Latin text as published in the Psalterium B. Virginis Mariæ of 1679; the text of the Douay-Rheims Psalms; with footnotes and occasional notes translated from Fillion’s Bible (1900 edition).

Psalm 30

“Into thy hands, O Lady, I commend my spirit : my whole life and my last day.”
Death of St Joseph (1720), by Paolo de Matteis. Civic Museum of Castel Nuovo,
Naples. © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro. CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. In thee, O Lady, have I hoped, let me never be confounded[1]: receive me in thy grace.

2. Thou art my strength and my refuge: my consolation and my protection[2].

3. To thee, O Lady, have I cried, when my heart was in anguish: and thou hast heard me from the heights of the everlasting hills[3].

4. Thou shalt draw me out of the snares which they hid for me[4]: for thou art my helper.

5. Into thy hands, O Lady, I commend my spirit[5]: my whole life and my last day.

Glory be to the Father etc.

1. In te Domina speravi, non confundar in æternum : in gratia tua suscipe me

2. Tu es fortitudo mea, et refugium meum : consolatio mea et protectio mea.

3. Ad te Domina clamavi, dum tribuletur cor meum : et exaudisti me de vertice collium æternorum.

4. Educas me de laqueo, quem absconderunt mihi : quoniam tu es adiutrix mea.

5. In manus tuas Domina commendo spiritum meum : totam vitam meam, et diem ultimum meam.

Gloria Patri, etc.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. “In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded”: Davidic Ps.XXX, 2.

[2] Cf. “Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me.” Davidic Ps. XXX, 3.

[3] Cf. “Thou enlightenest wonderfully from the everlasting hills:” .Ps. LXXV, 5]

[4] Cf. “Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me”: Davidic Ps. XXX, 5.

[5] Cf. “Into thy hands I commend my spirit:” Davidic Ps. XXX, 6; and Luke xxiii, 46.

Davidic Psalm XXX

1 Unto the end, a psalm for David, in an ecstasy.  2 In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: deliver me in thy justice.  3 Bow down thy ear to me: make haste to deliver me. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me.  4 For thou art my strength and my refuge; and for thy name's sake thou wilt lead me, and nourish me.  5 Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me: for thou art my protector.  6 Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.  7 Thou hast hated them that regard vanities, to no purpose. But I have hoped in the Lord:  8 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. For thou hast regarded my humility, thou hast saved my soul out of distresses.  9 And thou hast not shut me up in the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a spacious place.

10 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with wrath, my soul, and my belly: 11 For my life is wasted with grief: and my years in sighs. My strength is weakened through poverty and my bones are disturbed.  12 I am become a reproach among all my enemies, and very much to my neighbours; and a fear to my acquaintance. They that saw me without fled from me.  13 I am forgotten as one dead from the heart. I am become as a vessel that is destroyed.  14 For I have heard the blame of many that dwell round about. While they assembled together against me, they consulted to take away my life.

15 But I have put my trust in thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my God.  16 My lots are in thy hands. Deliver me out of the hands of my enemies; and from them that persecute me.  17 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy.  18 Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell.  19 Let deceitful lips be made dumb. Which speak iniquity against the just, with pride and abuse.

20 O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men.  21 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face, from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in thy tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues.  22 Blessed be the Lord, for he hath shewn his wonderful mercy to me in a fortified city.  23 But I said in the excess of my mind: I am cast away from before thy eyes. Therefore thou hast heard the voice of my prayer, when I cried to thee.  24 O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord will require truth, and will repay them abundantly that act proudly.  25 Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord.

Notes

Total confidence in God during a period of extreme peril.

This Psalm was composed by David, probably during Saul’s persecution. Humiliated, persecuted, worn out in mind and body, the poet abandons himself into the Lord’s paternal hands. Faith supports him when he recalls past mercies; discouragement takes hold of him when he thinks of his present distress; then the clouds part and the Sun of divine goodness shines into his soul. Whilst He was on the cross, Jesus made use of this Psalm for His last utterance before He gave up the ghost. Cf. Verse 6 and Luke xxiii, 46. In verses 10-14, the description of David’s sufferings can be regarded as a prophecy of the Passion of Christ, but within the limitations of type.

The Psalm is made up of four parts : verses 2-9 are a prayer filled with confidence; verses 10-14 are some for description of painful distressed; verses 15-19, are a reiteration of the confident prayer; verses 20-25 are a prayer of thanksgiving for graces anticipated. 

The first words of verse 2 serve as a conclusion for the Te Deum.

First part: A prayer of faith: verses 2-9.

Verse 3: “ a protector, and a house of refuge”: in the Hebr.: Be for me the rock of a fortress, and the keep of a citadel.

Verse 5: “ this snare”: David's enemies are compared to huntsmen who are laying traps for him.

Second part: description of the suffering and distress of the supplicant. Verses 10-14.

The memory of past graces throws into more striking relief his present anxieties. This passage recalls the first verses of Psalm VI.

Third part: a reiteration of his prayer of trust. Verses 15-19.

Fourth part: a Prayer of thanksgiving In anticipation of graces to be received. Verses 20-25.

the accent here is one of joy which contrasts with the distressed tone of verses 9 et seq. This is because the supplicant feels certain in advance of his future triumph.

24: “O love the Lord”: no matter what happens; in misfortune and prosperity  

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The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen. 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting. Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 30-31.30-31.