Bellarmine on Psalm 50: Verse 1

1542-1641. Rijksmuseum, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

From the commentary St Thomas Aquinas wrote in the 13th century, we move to the 17th century and another commentary on the same Psalm by the great polymath, Scripture scholar and apologist, St Robert Bellarmine (1542-1641).

“One of Bellarmine’s confreres in the College of Cardinals called him ‘the most learned churchman since St. Augustine’and I’d agree with that,” Fr. Baker[1] said. “His knowledge of Scripture and Theology — he seemed to know the entire Bible by heart, plus the teachings not only of nearly every pope, but of many bishops, too! — it’s just astonishing. Bellarmine was truly a polymath.” [From an interview published in the National Catholic Register in September 2017]
[1] Author of a translation of Bellarmine’s Controversies of the Christian Faith, published by Keep the Faith Books (2016)

The Latin is reproduced courtesy of the Digital Collection site  - UANL and is followed by my fairly literal translation. The Scripture excerpts (Douay Rheims/Vulgate) are taken from the DRBO site but the verse numbering follows that of Bellarmine’s Latin text.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy.

Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam;

The Prophet opens the Psalm with a prayer in which he asks for the remission of his sin; at the same time he explains the first reason by which he is moved to make the request, and by which he believes God may be moved to grant it; thereafter he goes on to explain his other reasons in subsequent verses. And so he says: “Have mercy on me, O God;” David acknowledges and confesses he is miserable on account of his admitted guilt, even though he had abounded in all the gifts of nature and fortune; but, on the contrary, it is to be said that blessed are they “who fear the Lord,”[1] not those who abound in riches and honours; from which we see how perverse are the judgements of this age about misery and happiness. He adds: “according to thy great mercy,” as though he might say: Therefore I implore Thy mercy for I am miserable; for mercy has regard to misery so that it may take it away. Now this expression “magnam” is not found in the Hebrew codex but interpreters of the Septuagint placed it in their version, whether because they found it in amended Hebrew codices or they wanted to include it in this place as an explanation. It is called “great mercy” because sins are remitted and because sin is a great misery; in comparison, small is that mercy said to be through which God grants temporal gifts; for God offers temporal gifts even to His enemies and to them whom He reproves in the end; in truth, He gives the grace of pardon for sins only to those whom he deigns to adopt as sons and heirs of His eternal kingdom. David therefore, not content with that lesser mercy by which he had received the glory of a kingdom and numerous pomps, a multitude of descendants, victory over enemies and other, similar, things, asked for the “great mercy” which he knew to found in the forgiveness of sins and the restitution of grace.

[1] Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: he shall delight exceedingly in his commandments.Alleluja, reversionis Aggaei et Zachariae. Beatus vir qui timet Dominum, in mandatis ejus volet nimis.[Ps. Cxi. 1]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

kkk.