Bellarmine on Psalm 101: Verses 7-8

We continue our series of posts featuring St Robert Bellarmine's commentary on Psalm 101, the fifth of the Seven Penitential Psalms.

The Latin is reproduced courtesy of the Digital Collection site  - UANL and is accompanied 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.

Where footnotes are included, the text follows each section.

Verses 7 & 8

I am become like to a pelican of the wilderness: I am like a night raven in the house.

Similis factus sum pellicano solitudinis; factus sum sicut nycticorax in domicilio.

I have watched, and am become as a sparrow all alone on the housetop.

Vigilavi, et factus sum sicut passer solitarius in tecto.

To weeping and fasting he adds solitude and vigils, which are truly fitting for penitents; for unless a man withdraws himself for a time from the society of men, and seriously reflects upon the number and magnitude of his sins, it is scarcely possible for him to lament them worthily. The prophet recalls to mind three birds, to whom he compares a penitent soul. The pelican (pelecanus onocrotalus / the white pelican), is a bird that spends time in solitude; the night raven, or the night owl, or the common owl, that spends its time in the ruins of houses, or hidden in tumbledown walls : and that which we read, in the house, is to supplemented by dilapidated; it is written thus in the Hebrew. St Augustine reads it as in ruined walls, and he explains, in buildings, where the walls stand, but without any inhabitant. The solitary sparrow that actually lives in houses, but in the upper part ,so that it may be said to on top of the house rather than in it. The Greek uses the word on. St. Jerome notes in his letter to Sunia and Fratella that in Palestine and Egypt the roofs are not sloping but flat and exposed to the sun; there men are wont to meet for a chat, to take the sun or to have a meal; whence it is the same to say either in the house or in/on the roof, because for the Romans it is a roof and for the Palestinians it is a house; and as Matthew says: “preach ye upon the housetops.”[1] which may be taken to mean either the roof-terraces or the housetops; St Peter says he “went up to the higher parts of the house to pray;”[2] These three birds represent three

kinds of penitents: those who seek a place altogether deserted, such as Mary Magdalene, Mary of Egypt, Paul the first hermit, Antonius, Hilarion and many others, who can say with the Prophet in Ps. Liv: “ I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.”[3] those who are like the pelican who wages war on venomous creatures and, most powerfully, against serpents, as St. Jerome writes: thus the Anchorites fight continually against demons and derive sustenance from their victories over the demons. Others do penance in the cities, but set apart in cloisters and narrow cells, as in little huts, and like the

night owls, they spend a great part of the night in chanting the divine praises. The nycticorax is so called from calling out in the night, and so these night owls, from fear of divine judgement, call out in prayers and hymns and spiritual canticles. Finally, there are others who, with ties either to a wife, or the performance of a public office, are unable to be cut off from physical contact with men; they are like the sparrows who live in solitude on the rooftops; raised in the soul over families, crowds and even over their own households. These are indeed in the world but not of the world, and are not slaves to riches, to honours or to the business of this world; but they subject these things to themselves  and do not allow themselves to be taken or ensnared, but their soul passes time freely in solitude and hence turns its face heavenwards. To these it belongs to keep watch and to preach on the rooftops; to keep watch against their own and others’ temptations; and by word and example to preach unto those whom they lead. And this kind of penitence is most useful, in the highest rank to preserve humility, in the midst of great wealth, to be content with simple food and modest clothing, so that it may be possible to give to those who suffer want; in the great wantonness of sin to punish the body, by fasts and discipline of life to subjugate the body, and finally to serve your neighbours in charity, to have compassion on their weaknesses, to bear with their troubles and scandals.

[1] That which I tell you in the dark, speak ye in the light: and that which you hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops. Quod dico vobis in tenebris, dicite in lumine : et quod in aure auditis, praedicate super tecta. [Matt. x. 27]
[2] And on the next day, whilst they were going on their journey, and drawing nigh to the city, Peter went up to the higher parts of the house to pray, about the sixth hour. Postera autem die, iter illis facientibus, et appropinquantibus civitati, ascendit Petrus in superiora ut oraret circa horam sextam. [Acts x. 9]
[3] Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness. Ecce elongavi fugiens; et mansi in solitudine. [Ps. Liv. 8]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.