The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 25

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 25

“O Lady, I have loved the beauty of thy face.”
The Immaculate Conception (1599-60), by Velázquez.
National Gallery, London. Public domain.

1. Judge me, O Lady, for I have departed from my innocence : but because I have hoped in thee, I shall not become weak[1].

2. Enkindle my heart with the fire of thy love : and with the girdle of chastity bind my reins[2].

3. For thy mercy and thy clemency are before my eyes[3]: and I was delighted in the voice of thy praise.

4. O Lady, I have loved the beauty of thy face[4]: and I have revered thy sacred majesty.

5. Praise ye her name, for she is holy: let her wonders be declared forever.

Glory be to the Father etc.

1. Iudica me, Domina, quoniam ab innocentia mea digressus sum : sed quia speravi in te non infirmabor.

2. Ure cor meum igne amoris tui : et cingulo castitatis restringe renes meos.

3. Quoniam misericordia tua et clementia tua ante oculos meos : et delectatus sum in voce laudis tuæ.

4. Domina dilexi decorem faciei tuæ : et veneratus sum sanctam maiestatem tuam.

5. Confitemini nomini eius, quoniam sanctum est : enarrentur in sæculum mirabilia eius.

Gloria Patri, etc.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. “Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence: and I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened;” Davidic Ps. XXV, 1.

[2] Cf. “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart;” Davidic Ps. XXV, 2. The heart and the reins (an old English word for the kidneys) are considered to be the most hidden parts of a human being, the seat of the affections and of the will. 

[3] Cf. “For thy mercy is before my eyes;” Davidic Ps. XXV, 3.   

[4] Cf. “I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house;” Davidic Ps. XXV, 8. Cf. the way Mary is compared by the early Church fathers to the Ark of the Covenant as housing the Word made flesh, the Bread of life and the eternal High Priest. 

Davidic Psalm XXV

“I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy altar, O Lord.”
From the Baronius Missal (1962).

1 Unto the end, a psalm for David. Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence: and I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened.  2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart.  3 For thy mercy is before my eyes; and I am well pleased with thy truth.  

4 I have not sat with the council of vanity: neither will I go in with the doers of unjust things.  5 I have hated the assembly of the malignant; and with the wicked I will not sit.  6 I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy altar, O Lord:  7 That I may hear the voice of thy praise: and tell of all thy wondrous works.  8 I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth.  

9 Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men:  10 In whose hands are iniquities: their right hand is filled with gifts.  11 But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me.  12 My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord.

Notes

This Psalm by David contains the humble prayer which a holy and persecuted man addresses to God to obtain justice. Trusting in the innocence of his life he is leading, the supplicant surrenders himself to divine judgement; he knows that he will be treated according to his integrity and he promises the Lord in advance that he will render public thanksgiving to Him. It is therefore a sort of “apologia pro vita sua” (a defence of one’s life) which David is making here, as he does elsewhere in the Psalter, in order to protest against the accusations made against him by his enemies. As for the precise date of the Psalm’s composition, commentators have proposed the time of Saul’s persecution and that of Absalom’s rebellion. The second seems to us more likely.

The Psalm is divided into three parts : Firstly, the prelude, an appeal to God’s justice (verses 1b-3); secondly, the apologia (verses 4-8); thirdly, the prayer (verses 9-12).

Whenever the priest washes his hands in the offertory of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, he recites verses 6-12 which express so well the perfection required to immolate the divine Victim.

First part : verses 1b-3.

Verse 2: “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart;” “prove”, “try” and “burn”: 3 vivid expressions describing rigour of the examination to which the psalmist has no fear of subjecting himself. In Hebrew: “sound me, test me, make me pass through the crucible.” “reins” and “heart”: considered as the most hidden parts of the human being, being the seat of the affections and of the will. Cf. Ps. VIII, 9 etc.

Second part: verses 4-8. 4. “the council of vanity”: the “men of vanity” (Hebr.) do not differ from the wicked, their behaviour offering only what is hollow and empty. 

“the doers of unjust things”:  in Hebrew : those who hide themselves, namely liars and hypocrites.

6.  “I will wash my hands”: as the priests did before performing their holy duties. Cf. Exod. xxx. 17-21. The washing of hands is a natural symbol of innocence (cf. Deut. xxi, 9; Matt. xxvii, 24).

Third part: verses 9-12. Verses 9-10: By these words David may have in mind the utter criminality of several highly placed personages of his time who did not shrink before murder or perverting the course of justice for money. Verse 12: “in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord;”   confident that his prayers will be heard, David promises the Lord that he offer him heartfelt and public acts of thanksgiving. 

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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.