The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Introduction

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 the Psalter will include: an English translation based upon that of Sr Mary Emmanuel O.S.B. in the 1932 edition published by the B. Herder Book Co; the Latin text as published in the Psalterium B. Virignis Mariæ of 1679; the text of the Douay-Rheims Psalms; with footnotes and occasional notes translated from Fillion’s Bible (1900 edition).
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This first post now continues with: 

‣ the translator’s Preface; 

‣ the author's Preface; and 

‣ excerpts from Fillion’s Introduction to the Psalms.

A note on Louis-Claude Fillion (1843 -1927): A French  exegete who was a professor of Scripture and Hebrew. He was ordained priest in 1867 and admitted into the society of Saint-Sulpice. He was Professor of Sacred Scripture and Hebrew at the seminary in Reims from 1871 to 1874 and at Lyon from 1874 to 1893. In October 1893 he was nominated to the Catholic Institute of Paris where he occupied the chair of exegesis and of Sacred Scripture. Ten years later, he was named a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, retaining this position until 1927. 

Translator’s Preface

By Sr. Mary Emmanuel, O.S.B.

The following work, entitled Psalterium Beatæ Mariæ Virginis, St Bonaventure composed on the plan of the Psalter of David. There are in it one hundred and fifty Psalms, the initial verses of each corresponding to the Psalms of David, but the verses following are adapted to the Blessed Virgin in a most beautiful manner. This Psalter also contains eight canticles, in the manner of the canticles of Isaias, Ezechias, Anna, the two of Moses, Habacuc, the three children in the fiery furnace, and Zacharias ; besides the hymn, “We praise thee, O Mother of God,” after the manner of the Te Deum of Saints Ambrose and Augustine; and finally, a Marian “Quicumque vult” in the style of the creed of Saint Athanasius.

The author explains his aim in his preface which follows.

Author’s Preface

“Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her. She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown.”[1] 

Mary, Queen of Heaven, by Master of the St Lucy Legend
(c. 1485/1500). Nat. Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Glory be to God on high, and thanksgiving, and the voice of praise, who at one time by the mysteries of prophecy, at another by oracles from Heaven, again by the reading of the Gospel, and now by the mouth of preachers, in many ways and by divers channels, most sincerely urges and invites us to honour the Virgin Mary, the Queen of Heaven and of the Angels; that by her holy merits, most worthy of all acceptance, we, being delivered from the depths of hell, may be inscribed by her in the ranks of the Angels. Wherefore, although Solomon spoke the aforesaid words of Wisdom, nevertheless the Holy Spirit, by a mystical application, intends them to be understood of the most excellent Virgin Mary.

By means of these words, dearly beloved, He is drawing you to His love, and by various promises is attracting and softening your hearts, that you may enjoy His divine embraces. His meaning is that you will obtain four wonderful gifts, if this glorious Virgin is joined to you by a spiritual bond, and is embraced by you in the arms of fervent desire, with great reverence and devotion. 

First, she will bring you exaltation, and she shall exalt thee; secondly, glorification, and thou shalt be glorified by her; thirdly, the abundance of graces, and she shall give to thy head increase of graces; fourthly, the unfading crown of perpetual glory, and she shall protect thee with a noble crown. 

Therefore I beseech thee, dearly beloved and most desired, do not repel so noble and so beautiful a virgin; do not make little of so admirable and revered a queen as the Virgin Mary: lest, if she should see herself despised by you, you will be, I will not say, deprived of such great favours, but, which God forbid, you will incur perpetual evils. Expand the bosom of your mind to serve her, prepare your heart to praise and glorify her, loose your tongue, and with swift service hasten to please her. For there is no doubt that from her nearness to you, you will become more devout, from contact with her you will grow more pure, from her embrace you will abound more in grace and be more resplendent in purity. 

That I may give you an occasion of obtaining such great gifts, I send you the Psalter of this most Holy Virgin, put together and composed indeed by my feeble intelligence, but with her grace and help; by means of it you will praise with divers hymns, now her virginity and chastity, now her fecundity and sanctity, now her clemency and bounty. You will be able to salute her as full of all grace, or as filled with all knowledge, or as illumined by all understanding and wisdom. There you will bless the Fruit of her glorious womb, the members of His holy body, and the prerogatives of His soul, bestowing all sanctity. There you will invoke the aid of all the choirs of angels to praise her, and of all the multitudes of holy men, the isles of the nations, the heavens, the beauty of all luminaries and of the whole world. There you will beseech her to destroy the power of your spiritual enemies, to obtain for you pardon of all your sins, that she may render the great Judge propitious to you, that she may illumine your deathbed by her gracious presence, and obtain for you joy without end. 

Therefore, O dearly beloved souls, graciously receive this little gift which I offer you, and strive to draw fruit therefrom; by means of it frequently praise the Mother of God; and thus perchance she will turn to you her gracious countenance, receiving you to her love, refreshing your soul in the present, and placing upon your head a crown of precious stones in the world to come.

Footnotes

[1] Prov. iv. 8-9.

Excerpts from Fillion’s Introduction to the Book of Psalms (Vulgate)

The Psalter : its name

This collection of texts was customarily known to the Hebrews under the name of Séfer tehillim, or “book of praises”; This was sometimes shortened to tillim ou tillin, “praises,” coming from the root halal, from which the word alleluia is also derived. Although this term is used specifically only on one occasion in the Psalter to denote one particular hymn, Ps. CXLIV, it expresses very effectively the aim and the nature of the Psalms in general, the majority of which are in essence ‘alleluias,’ or divine praises. Another name equally fitting, is that of tefillôt, “prayers,” which may be found either in the titles of Psalms (such as Psalms XVI, LXXXV, LXXXIX, XC, CI and CXLI), or at the end of Psalm LXII in the Hebrew text. All the Psalms are in reality prayers in the wide sense of this term, according to fine observation by St Jerome[1]: “Read the whole Psalter . . . and there will be nothing except prayer to God in all works.” Another way of denoting these texts, equally Hebrew in its origin, has come to hold sway in the Christian Church : that of “Psalms.” This name comes from the Greek word ψαλμός, which corresponds precisely to the Hebrew mizmor and which serves to designate either the sounds of a stringed instrument or chanting accompanied by such instruments. In the primitive texts of the Bible, fifty-six Psalms are given the title of mizmor. Through an analogous metonymy, the collection of Psalms came to be called the ψαλτήριον, the Psalterium, from which we derive our word Psalter.

The subject matter of the Psalms

God and man form the subject of the Psalms : God in His greatness, His goodness, His mercy, His blessings and His justice; man in his weakness, his pettiness, his misery, his infidelities, and the need he has for help from his Creator. Perhaps even more accurately their theme is God, and man in face of God. Another commentator has said that God is, so to speak, the Sun around which all the Psalms orbit. He is truly their unique and ever present theme to such an extent that, out of one hundred and fifty Psalms in the collection, there are only seventeen where he is not named in the first verse.

The importance of the Psalms

The importance of the Psalms is beyond question. They have been fittingly called a Bible within the Bible, Because they contain the essence or the heart of the Bible. St Augustine goes even further when he writes[2]: “The Book of Psalms contains whatever is useful from all sources. It foretells the future, recounts the deeds of the past, provides a law for the living, and establishes the manner and measure of things to be done.”

Footnotes

[1] Dialogus Contra Pelagianos (Book I, Chapter 5). 

[2] Proleg, in Psalmos.

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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.