The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 27

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 27

 “Blessed be thou, O Lady : to the uttermost ends of the earth.”
The Golden Lady (Our Lady Queen of Heaven). 1840.
St James’s Church, Spanish Place, London. Photo by author.

1. To thee, O Lady, will I cry[1], and thou shalt hear me : in the voice of thy praise thou wilt make me glad.

2. Have mercy on me in the day of my trouble : and in the light of thy truth deliver me.

3. Blessed be thou, O Lady : to the uttermost ends of the earth.

4. The sanctuary[2] which thy hands have established[3] : is the holy temple of thy body[4].

5. Thy conscience is pure and undefiled : a place of propitiation and the holy dwelling of God.

Glory be to the Father etc.

1. Ad te Domina clamabo, et exaudires me : in voce laudis tuæ lætificabis me.

2. Miserere mei in die angustiæ meæ : et in luce veritatis tuæ libera me.

3. Benedicta sis O Domina : in finibus omnis orbis terræ.

4. Sanctuarium quod firmaverunt manus tuæ : est sanctum templum corporis tui.

5. Conscientia tua munda et immaculata est : locus propitiationis et habitaculum sanctum Dei.

Gloria Patri, etc.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. “Unto thee will I cry, O Lord”: Davidic Ps. XXVII, 1.

[2] Cf. Mary as “Spiritus Sancti sacrarium / Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit” in the 12th century prayer O Intemerata. 

[3] Cf. “thy sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.” Exod. xv. 17.

[4] Cf. Mary as “templum Domini, sacrarium Spiritus Sancti /  temple of the Lord, shrine of the Holy Ghost,” in the Beata dei Genetrix antiphon. 

Davidic Psalm XXVII

1 A psalm for David himself. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not thou silent to me: lest thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.  2 Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, when I pray to thee; when I lift up my hands to thy holy temple.  3 Draw me not away together with the wicked; and with the workers of iniquity destroy me not: Who speak peace with their neighbour, but evils are in their hearts.  4 Give them according to their works, and according to the wickedness of their inventions. According to the works of their hands give thou to them: render to them their reward.  5 Because they have not understood the works of the Lord, and the operations of his hands: thou shalt destroy them, and shalt not build them up.

6 Blessed be the Lord, for he hath heard the voice of my supplication.  7 The Lord is my helper and my protector: in him hath my heart confided, and I have been helped. And my flesh hath flourished again, and with my will I shall give praise to him.  8 The Lord is the strength of his people, and the protector of the salvation of his anointed.  9 Save, O Lord, thy people, and bless thy inheritance: and rule them and exalt them for ever.

Notes

A prayer of supplication in great danger accompanied by thanksgiving in anticipation of divine assistance.

The holy king is in a state of distress and he cries out to the Lord, (verses1-2), imploring him not to make him share the fate of the wicked whom He is on the verge of chastising in His wrath (verses 3-5). Then, as often happens in other Psalms, his prayer is suddenly transformed into joyous feelings of gratitude because he is sure that his request will be granted  (verses 6-7). The Psalm is divided into two parts: the prayer, in verses 1-5; the thanksgiving, in verses 6-9. it is generally believed that this Psalm was composed during Absalom’s revolt. 

First part: insistent prayer in a situation replete with dangers. Verses 1-5.

Verse 1: “O Lord: O my God”: instead of “my God,” the Hebrew has: “my rock.” Cf. Ps. XVII, 2.

“be not thou silent”: rather, “be thou not deaf.”

verse 2: “to thy holy temple”:  the Hebrew refers to the debir which was the holy of holies, or the most intimate and sacred part of the Tabernacle and later the Temple. Cf. III Kings vi, 18 et seq.; viii, 6 etc. In their prayers, the Jews frequently turned in the direction of the sanctuary in Jerusalem. Cf. III Kings, 22, 30 et seq. ; Dan. vi, 10.

Verse 3: “ Draw me not away”: a powerful expression recalling the image of a criminal dragged to his place of execution. 

Verse 5: “ Because they have not understood”: the supplicant explains the reasons for  what he is seeking, in appearance so severe. The men of whom he is speaking are wilfully blind And refuse to understand the Lord’s intervention which is always so just and so perfect in the history of mankind. God will punish according to their deserts these men who are in practice atheists.

Second part: Thanksgiving offered in anticipation. Verses 6-9.

Verse 6: “he hath heard” : an example of what is known as the prophetic preterite tense.

“my helper and my protector”: in Hebr. “my strength and my shield.”

Verse 7: “my flesh hath flourished again”: a beautiful image of how, after being made ill by his distress, he is now restored to a flourishing state of health. There is a variant in the Hebrew : “My heart trembles with happiness.”  

Verse 9: “the protector of the salvation of his anointed”: Hebr. “He is the fortress of the deliverance of His anointed. The fortress which cannot fail to obtain salvation : note the use of the plural in the original (salvationum), which is significant – referring to multiple and wonderful deliverances. The anointed of God refers here to David whom God chose as king.

“rule them”: Hebr.: “pasture them.” Be a good shepherd for them.  Cf. Ps. XXII, 1.

“and exalt them for ever”: or, according to the literal translation of the Hebrew: “Carry them.” Like a shepherd does when a sheep is ill or weary. Cf. Deut. i. 31; Luke xv, 4 et seq. 

Verse 9 was added to the last part of the Te Deum.

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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.