The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 5

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. Virignis Mariæ of 1679; the text of the Douay-Rheims Psalms; with footnotes and occasional notes translated from Fillion’s Bible (1900 edition).

Psalm 5

Our Lady of Guadalupe (1531).[8]  
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Tepeyac Hill, Mexico City.

1. Give ear, O Lady, to my words[1]: and turn not away from me the beauty of thy face[2].

2. Turn our mourning into rejoicing[3]: and our tribulation into joy.

3. May our enemies fall down at our feet[4]: by thy power may their heads be crushed[5].

4. Let every tongue praise thee: and let all flesh bless thy holy name[6].

5. For thy spirit is sweet above honey: and thy inheritance above the honey and the honeycomb[7].

Glory be to the Father etc.

1. Verba mea auribus percipe Domina : et ne avertas a me speciositatem vultus tui.

2. Converte luctum nostrum in gaudium : et tribulationem nostram in iubilationem.

3. Corruant ante pedes nostros inimici nostri : virtute tua eorum capita conterantur.

4. Benedicite te omnis lingua : et nomen sanctum tuum confitatur omnis caro.

5. Spiritus enim tuus super mel dulcis : et hereditas super mel et favum.

Gloria Patri, etc.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. Psalm. V. 1.

[2] See Psalm. XXVI. 9, LXVIII. 18 & Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xli. 26.

[3] See Esther xiii. 17, Jer. xxxi. 13 & Amos viii. 10.

[4] Cf. Psalm. XVII. 39 &  1. Cor. xv. 25.

[5] And the Lord God said to the serpent . . . I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel : Gen.iii. 14-15.

[6] Cf. Psalm. LXVI. 44. 

[7] For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. [Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 27.

[8] “Guadalupe” is said by some commentators to represent Coatlaxopeuh in an Aztec dialect meaning “the one who crushes the head of the serpent.” 

Davidic Psalm V 

King David kneeling in prayer, initial from a choir book
c1490-1500. The Fitzwilliam Museum. (CC BY-NC-ND).

1 Unto the end, for her that obtaineth the inheritance. A psalm of David. 2 Give ear, O Lord, to my words, understand my cry. 3 Hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God. 4 For to thee will I pray: O Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice.  5 In the morning I will stand before thee, and will see: because thou art not a God that willest iniquity.  6 Neither shall the wicked dwell near thee: nor shall the unjust abide before thy eyes. 7 Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity: Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie. The bloody and the deceitful man the Lord will abhor.  8 But as for me in the multitude of thy mercy, I will come into thy house; I will worship towards thy holy temple, in thy fear.  9 Conduct me, O Lord, in thy justice: because of my enemies, direct my way in thy sight. 10 For there is no truth in their mouth; their heart is vain. 11 Their throat is an open sepulchre: they dealt deceitfully with their tongues: judge them, O God. Let them fall from their devices: according to the multitude of their wickedness cast them out: for they have provoked thee, O Lord. 12 But let all them be glad that hope in thee: they shall rejoice for ever, and thou shalt dwell in them. And all they that love thy name shall glory in thee: 13 For thou wilt bless the just. O Lord, thou hast crowned us, as with a shield of thy good will.

Notes

1: for her that obtaineth the inheritance : Fillion notes the obscurity of these words and points out that according to ancient commentaries they refer to the Synagogue and then to the Christian Church, insofar as they inherited special favours from Jehovah. He notes, however, that the Hebrew may actually be a reference to the sorts of wind instruments that were supposed to accompany this hymn. It is in fact interesting to read these words in the light of the verse from Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 11 which says, speaking of Wisdom: “and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord,” and which are in the Epistle on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Verses 5-7: The hatred provoked in God by the behaviour of sinners is portrayed in an altogether vivid manner through six consecutive turns of phrase, serving as expressive synonyms for sinners and their blameworthy actions:

iniquity (the Hebrew uses the concrete noun résah);

the wicked (Hebrew: ra’, bad, sinful);

the unjust (Hebrew: holelim, the senseless; for the Hebrews rightly considered wickedness as madness);

all the workers of iniquity, referring to the habitual practice of iniquity;

all that speak a lie; and, concluding this sad catalogue by one of the greatest crimes,

the bloody man,  committing cowardly murder. 

+       +        +

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.