The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 3

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 3

“Have mercy on me, O Lady, and heal my sickness...”
Santa Maria dei Fossi Altarpiece, by Pinturicchio
(1490s). Galleria Nazionale, Umbria. Public domain.

1. O Lady, why are they multiplied who afflict me?[1] By thy might thou shalt follow them and scatter them[2].

2. Loose the bands of our impiety : take away the burden of our sins[3]. 

3. Have mercy on me, O Lady, and heal my sickness[4]: take away the grief and anguish of my heart.

4. Deliver me not into the hands of my enemies[5] : and in the day of my death strengthen thou my soul.

5. Lead me into the harbour of salvation: and give up for me my spirit to my Maker and Creator.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

1. Domina, quid multiplicati sunt qui tribulant me? In tempestate tua persequeris, et dissipabis eos.

2. Dissolve colligationes impietatis nostræ : tolle fasciculos peccatorum nostrorum.

3. Miserere mei Domina, et sana infirmitatem meam : tolle dolorem, et angustiam cordis mei.

4. Ne tradas me manibius inimicorum meorum : et in die mortis meæ conforta animam meam.

5. Deduc me ad portum salutis : et spiritum meum redde factori et creatori meo.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,

sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me? Psalm. III. 2.

[2] Cf. Psalms LVIII. 12, LXVII. 2, CV. 27 & CXL. 6.

[3] Cf. Loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress: Psalm. LVIII. 6.

[4] Cf. O Lord, be thou merciful to me: heal my soul: Psalm. XL. 5.

[5] Cf. Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me; Psalm. XXVI. 12.

Davidic Psalm III 

1 Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things?  2 The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ.[1]  3 Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us.  4 He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them.  5 Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage.  6 But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment. 7 The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.[2]  8 Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.  9 Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron,[3] and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.  10 And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth.  11 Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling.  12 Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way.  13 When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.

Notes

“A morning prayer for a man weighed down with oppression but who finds consolation in God” – this sums up Psalm III. For the story of Absalom’s revolt and its denouement, Fillion recommends a reading in full of II Kings xv-xviii, describing the scriptural account as being the best commentary on this Psalm. The faith of David is shown forth wondrously in the way that the king, despite being abandoned, pursued, humiliated and facing great danger, is nevertheless confident that no human designs will ever succeed in frustrating and overturning God’s plans.

The psalm is comprised of four quite distinct strophes: the first speaks of David’s desperate straits; the second, reasons for hope; the third, the hope itself; and the fourth a prayer.

  

Verses 2-3: His enemies, and even his few friends perhaps, could all the more easily believe him abandoned by God since, having attained the apogee of his glory in triumphing over the Ammonites (II Kings x. 1 et seq.), he then drew upon himself from the Lord all manner of punishments for his double crime in relation to Urias and Bethsabee.

 

Verse 4: But thou, O Lord art my protector : this is a beautiful image in the Hebrew text : thou art my shield protecting my back. God protects him like a shield, as he protected Abraham (Ge. xv. 1) and Israel (Deut. xxxiii. 29). Normally a shield protects the body from the front ; but David was at this point fugitive being pursued. This is why God was a shield protecting his back.      

Verse 7: arise, O Lord : an urgent entreaty, magnificent in its boldness.    these are the first words of the hymn of triumph sung by Moses every time that the was lifted up, Leading Israel The Conquest of the Promised Land. See Num. x. 35 and Psalm. LXVII. 2.

Verse 8: thou hast broken the teeth of sinners :  treating them like wild beasts whose teeth would be broken to prevent them from causing harm. Cf. God shall break in pieces their teeth in their mouth: the Lord shall break the grinders of the lions (Psalm. LVII. 7). 

Verse 9: Salvation is of the Lord: and thy blessing is upon thy people. Nothing could be more touching than this final supplication. The good and saintly king, instead of cursing his rebellious subjects, begs for heaven’s blessings upon them, and pardoning these men who had gone astray, even as the second David will more perfectly when He is lifted up on the Cross (Luke xxiii. 34). 

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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.