The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 2

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. Virginis Mariæ of 1679; the text of the Douay-Rheims Psalms; with footnotes and ocasional notes translated from Fillion’s Bible (1900 edition).
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Psalm 2

The Virgen del Sol, 15th century (artist unknown).
Cathedral of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción,
Córdoba. See Apoc. xii. 1.

1. Why have our enemies raged and our adversaries devised vain things?[1]

2. May thy right hand protect us, O Mother of God : as a line of battle terrible in aspect[2], confounding and destroying them.

3. Come ye to her, all who labour and are in trouble : and she will give refreshment to your souls.[3]

4. Draw nigh to her in your temptations : and the serenity of her countenance will bring you peace and confidence.

5. Bless her with your whole heart : for the earth is full of her mercy.

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. Quare fremuerunt inimici nostri : et adversum nos meditati sunt inania?

2. Protegat nos dextera tua Mater Dei : ut acies terribilis confundens, et destruens eos.

3. Venite ad eum, qui laboratis et tribulati estis : et dabit refigerium animabus vestris.

4. Accedite ad eam : et stabiliet vos serenitatis vultus eius.

5. Benedicite illam in toto corde vestro : misericordia enim illius plena est terra.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,

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

Footnotes

[1] See verse 1 of the Davidic Psalm II.

[2] Cf. terrible as an army set in array : Cant. vi. 6.

[3] Cf. Come to me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you: Matt. xi. 28.

Davidic Psalm II 

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

[1] against the Lord and against his Christ – the object of the revolt. It is against God and against Him whom He Himself anointed as His representative on earth that the whole world rebels.

Christ: in Hebrew this is the celebrated word Mashiah, meaning “the anointed one,” from which we have made the word Messiah. The application of verses 1-2 is clear enough. In the time of our Lord Jesus Christ: Herod, Pilate, the chief priests and the great majority of the Jews: (see Acts iv. 25-27: “Who, by the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of our father David, thy servant, hast said: Why did the Gentiles rage, and the people meditate vain things?  The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and his Christ.  For of a truth there assembled together in this city against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel.”) The list is long, grows every day and will come to an end only with the tyrants prophesied by St John (see Apoc. xx.7-9).

[2] Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. “my son” is to be understood in a strict sense as by nature and not by adoption, as may be seen in the following words :  ego, a solemn pronoun meaning “I myself ” have begotten thee. These have rightly been described as astonishing words, but there is nothing more expressive  than this juxtaposition of the preterite, “I have begotten thee,” with the present, “This day.” The preterite tense indicates that the process of begetting has been accomplished and “this day ” signifies that it is permanent.  An eternal act which has neither past nor present, no yesterday and no tomorrow. Compare this with the words from Psalm 109 verse 3: “From the womb before the day star I begot thee.” Such is the direct and immediate sense of the words “this day have I begotten thee,”  but they also include all the manifestations of this eternal generation in time: the birth of Jesus Christ, His baptism, but especially His resurrection.

[3] Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron: this verse calls to mind the words of St John in Chapter xii verse 5 of the Apocalypse when he speaks of a man child who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. Note too the reference to the woman clothed with the sun and her role in this final battle:

“And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars:  2 And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.  3 And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his heads seven diadems:  4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son.  5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne . . . And the dragon was angry against the woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” [Apoc. xii. 1-5 & 17].

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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.