The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 12

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 12

“The finder of grace, by whom the world is restored”

Madonna with St. Francis, by Corregio (1514 ). 
Old Masters Gallery, Dresden. Public domain.

1. How long, O Lady, wilt thou forget me[1] : and not deliver me in the day of tribulation[2] ?

2. How long will my enemy be exalted over me?[3] :
By the might of thy strength do thou crush him[4].

3. Open the eyes of thy mercy: lest our enemy prevail against us.

4. We magnify thee, the finder of grace[5], by whom the world is restored[6].

5. Thou art exalted above the choirs of Angels[7]: pray for us before the throne of God[8].

Glory be to the Father etc.

1. Usquequo Domina oblivisceris me : et non liberas me in die tribulationis?

2. Usquequo exaltabitur inimicus meus super me? : potentia virtutis tuæ contere ipsum.

3. Aperi oculos misericordiæ tuæ : ne inimicus noster adversus nos prævaleat.

4. Magnificamus te gratiæ inventricem : per quam sæcula reparantur.

5. Exaltata super choros Angelorum : ante thronum Dei, ora pro nobis.

Gloria Patri, etc.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. “How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me unto the end?” in verse 1 of the Davidic Psalm XII. “How long,” is repeated in verse 2 of the Marian Psalm but features three times in the Davidic Psalm, verses 1-3.

[2] Cf. “May the Lord hear thee in the day of tribulation: may the name of the God of Jacob protect thee:” Psalm. xix. 2.

[3] A precise echo of the words in the Davidic Psalm’s verse 3.

[4] “She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel:” Genesis iii.15.

[5] Cf. “And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God”: Luke i. 30.

[6] Pope St Pius X teaches us that Mary “merited to become most worthily the Reparatrix of the lost world (Eadmeri Mon. De Excellentia Virg. Mariae, c. 9) and Dispensatrix of all the gifts that Our Saviour purchased for us by His Death and by His Blood:” See his Encyclical Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum (1904) at para. 12.

[7] Cf. Matins Antiphon for the Assumption in  Divinum Officium (Tridentine – 1570).

[8] Cf. “Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid”: Hebr, iv. 16.  “before the throne of God” is an expression which appears three times in the Apocalypse of St John: Apoc. vii. 15, viii. 3 & xiv. 5.

Davidic Psalm XII 

1 Unto the end, a psalm for David. How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me unto the end? how long dost thou turn away thy face from me?  2 How long shall I take counsels in my soul, sorrow in my heart all the day?  3 How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?  4 Consider, and hear me, O Lord my God. Enlighten my eyes that I never sleep in death:  5 Lest at any time my enemy say: I have prevailed against him. They that trouble me will rejoice when I am moved:  6 But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation: I will sing to the Lord, who giveth me good things: yea I will sing to the name of the Lord the most high.

Notes

The subject of this Psalm is quite simple and is presented in a beautiful series of steps. Starting with a poignant lament drawn from him by his feelings of distress and noting the way he seems to have been abandoned by God, the poet then moves on to an impassioned prayer of supplication which he suddenly transforms into a prayer of joyous hope that he will soon be delivered from his woes.

This Psalm may also date from the time of Saul’s persecution, especially in its later stages when David, whose distressful situation was not only continuing but was getting worse, could not see any way out of his anguish in an earthly sense.   

The Psalm consists of three strophes unequal in length, verses 1-3, 4-5 and 6 : five lines for his lament, four for his prayer and three to express his joyful hope.

Verses 1-3: Four breathless questions follow quickly one after another; with a pressing tone, these are cries of desolation coming from the depths of a soul in extreme distress.

Verse 1: His misfortunes have gone on for so long in such a continuous manner, and the outlook is still so sombre, that he considers the possibility that God has forgotten him or even that He has deliberately turned His face away from him: a sign of indifference or even of anger.

Verse 2:   He has been forming a succession of new plans to obtain safety, but in vain; his projects are continually frustrated and this causes their author to be in a state of continual distress (“all the day”).

Verses 4-5: The tone now becomes calmer as trust reappears in the heart of the Psalmist.

Verse 6: Peace and calm have been completely restored to the Psalmist’s soul.

 +       +        +

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.