The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 38

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 occasional notes translated from Fillion’s Bible (1900 edition).

Psalm 38

“By thy sweetness my soul was melted.” Our Lady with
the Christ child, By Pinturicchio (1496-8). From the 
altar-piece of Santa Maria degli Angeli (Perugia). 
 Now in the Galleria nazionale dell'Umbria. Public domain.

1. I said: I will take heed to my ways, O Lady[1] : when by thee the grace of Christ was given to me.

2. By thy sweetness my soul was melted : to the depths of my being I am inflamed by thy love[2].

3. Hear my prayer, O Lady, and my supplication[3] : and let mine enemies pine away.

4. Have mercy on me from Heaven and from the height of thy throne : and permit me not to be troubled in the valley of misery[4].

5. Keep my foot[5], lest it should be injured: and may thy grace be with my end.

Glory be to the Father etc.

1. Dixi custodiam vias meas, O Domina : cum per te gratia Christi mihi fuit data.

2. Dulcore tuo liquefactum est cor meum : amore tuo inflammata sunt viscera mea.

3. Exaudi orationem mean Domina, et deprecationem meam : et contabescant adversarii mei.

4. Miserere mei de cælis, et de altitudine throni tui : et ne permittas me in valle miseriæ conturbari.

5. Custodi pedem meum ne lædatur : et in fine meo sit gratia tua.

Gloria Patri, etc.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. Davidic Ps. XXXVIII, 2.

[2] Cf. “My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.” Ps. XXXVIII, 4.

[3] Cf. “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears.” Ps. XXXVIII, 13.

[4] Cf. “In the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set.” Davidic Ps. LXXXIII, 7.

[5] Watch over my footing and guide my footsteps. Cf. “Keep thy foot” in Ecclesiastes iv. 17.

Davidic Psalm XXXVIII

1 Unto the end, for Idithun himself, a canticle of David.

2 I said: I will take heed to my ways: that I sin not with my tongue. I have set guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me.  3 I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed.  4 My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.  5 I spoke with my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end. And what is the number of my days: that I may know what is wanting to me.

6 Behold thou hast made my days measurable: and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity: every man living.  7 Surely man passeth as an image: yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up: and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things.

8 And now what is my hope? is it not the Lord? and my substance is with thee.  9 Deliver thou me from all my iniquities: thou hast made me a reproach to the fool.  10 I was dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.  11 Remove thy scourges from me. The strength of thy hand hath made me faint in rebukes:  12 Thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider: surely in vain is any man disquieted.

13 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears. Be not silent: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were.  14 O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be no more.

Notes

A humble prayer in the midst of anxieties and a plaintive reflection on the nothingness of human life.

The title: to the master of singing, to Idithun; meaning, to the choirmaster, Idithun. This is the name of a celebrated personage in the history of David’s reform of sacred worship. He was, along with Asaph and Heman, one of the three great cantors and masters of music in the Tabernacle. Cf. l Par. xvi, 41 et seq.: xxx, 1 et seq.; Par. V, 12; xxxv. 15.

This Psalm is a truly wonderful elegy and some have said that it is perhaps the most beautiful of all in the Psalter. It bears a great similarity to Psalm XXXVII as far as the subject matter is concerned : the same feeling of trust in God, the same state of suffering and the same enemies who seem to be triumphant; but here the predominant thought consists of striking reflections on the nothingness of life and the emptiness of human things. Compare Psalm LXI.

Structure: the Psalm is divided into four strophes or parts:

1: When he considers his sufferings and compares them to the way the wicked seemed to be prospering, the psalmist is tempted to murmur against God and so he resolves to hold his peace; but this same effort only makes his feelings increase and they burst out again: Verses 2-5 a;

2. he seeks refuge in prayer and in contemplation of the ephemeral nature of life and its vanity, verses 5b-7;

3. he understands that the LORD is his unique refuge and he turns to him with resignation, verses 8-12;

4. he prays that God anger may cease, continuing to note the nothingness of human life, verses 13-14.

Part 1:

2: “when the sinner stood against me”: not so much “against” as in front of him, so that he had before his eyes the picture of their prosperity which was for him a source of temptation. Cf. Ps. XXXVI, 1; Hab. I, 3.

Part 2:

6: “my substance is as nothing before thee”: What does this little speck which we call our life amount to for God?

7: “man passeth as an image”: a vivid image : Man comes and goes like a phantom, like a shadow in a dream, (σχιᾶς ὂναρ, says Pindar).

Part 3:  David understands that God is his unique resource in this ephemeral and deceptive world, and he turns towards Him with trust and resignation. Verses 8-12.

9: “Deliver thou me from all my iniquities”: David’s Prayer to obtain remission of his sins which are the true cause of his misfortunes. Cf. Ps. XXXVII, 18-19.

12: “like a spider”: the Hebrew employs a different image:  thou destroyest what man has of the most gracious, namely his life, like a moth larva. As is well known, the larva attacks fabrics and destroys them in next to no time.

Part 4: The poet implores the Lord God to put an end to his sufferings, in view of the little time that he has left here on earth verses 13-14.

13: According to the sayings of the rabbis, there are three sorts of supplications: prayer, cries and tears. Prayer is effected in silence, cries are uttered out loud, but tears surpass everything. There is no door which tears are unable to open.  

“Be not silent:”: Better, following St Jerome, “Do not be deaf...”

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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.