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| 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. |
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 34
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| “Judge, O Lady, them that wrong me ... and avenge my cause.” Virgin of the Victory of Malaga (c. 1740), artist n/k. Denver Art Museum USA. Public domain. |
2. My soul will rejoice in thee: and I will devoutly exult in thy benefits[2].
3. The heavens and the earth are full of thy grace and sweetness: from every side thy kindness surrounds us.
4. For wherever we may walk: the fruit of thy virginal womb meets us.
5. Let us run, therefore, dearly beloved, and salute the noble Virgin overflowing with sweetness: that we may rest in the bosom of her sweetness.
Glory be to the Father etc.
1. Iudica Domina nocentes me : et contra eos exurge, et vindica causam meam.
2. Anima mea in te lætabitur : et tuis beneficiis devotus exultabo.
3. Gratia et dulcedine tua pleni sunt cœli et terra : undique tuis beneficiis irretisti nos semper.
4. Quocumque enim pergimus : occurrit nobis diffusio tui uteri Virginalis.
5. Curramus ergo carissimi, et ita nobilem et dulcifluam Virginem salutemus : ut in suæ dulcedinis gremio quiescamus.
Gloria Patri, etc.
Footnotes
[1] Cf. “Judge thou, O Lord, them that wrong me: overthrow them that fight against me.”: Davidic Ps. XXXIV, 1.
[2] Cf. “But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; and shall be delighted in his salvation.” Davidic Ps. XXXIV, 9.
Davidic Psalm XXXIV
1 For David himself. Judge thou, O Lord, them that wrong me: overthrow them that fight against me. 2 Take hold of arms and shield: and rise up to help me. 3 Bring out the sword, and shut up the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul: I am thy salvation. 4 Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and be confounded that devise against me. 5 Let them become as dust before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord straiten them.
6 Let their way become dark and slippery; and let the angel of the Lord pursue them. 7 For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto destruction: without cause they have upbraided my soul. 8 Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him: and let the net which he hath hidden catch him: and into that very snare let them fall. 9 But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; and shall be delighted in his salvation. 10 All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like to thee? Who deliverest the poor from the hand of them that are stronger than he; the needy and the poor from them that strip him.
11 Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not. 12 They repaid me evil for good: to the depriving me of my soul. 13 But as for me, when they were troublesome to me, I was clothed with haircloth. I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer shall be turned into my bosom. 14 As a neighbour and as an own brother, so did I please: as one mourning and sorrowful so was I humbled. 15 But they rejoiced against me, and came together: scourges were gathered together upon me, and I knew not. 16 They were separated, and repented not: they tempted me, they scoffed at me with scorn: they gnashed upon me with their teeth. 17 Lord, when wilt thou look upon me? rescue thou my soul from their malice: my only one from the lions. 18 I will give thanks to thee in a great church; I will praise thee in a strong people.
19 Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: who have hated me without cause, and wink with the eyes. 20 For they spoke indeed peaceably to me; and speaking in the anger of the earth they devised guile. 21 And they opened their mouth wide against me; they said: Well done, well done, our eyes have seen it. 22 Thou hast seen, O Lord, be not thou silent: O Lord, depart not from me. 23 Arise, and be attentive to my judgment: to my cause, my God, and my Lord. 24 Judge me, O Lord my God according to thy justice, and let them not rejoice over me. 25 Let them not say in their hearts: It is well, it is well, to our mind: neither let them say: We have swallowed him up. 26 Let them blush: and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my evils. Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak great things against me. 27 Let them rejoice and be glad, who are well pleased with my justice, and let them say always: The Lord be magnified, who delights in the peace of his servant. 28 And my tongue shall meditate thy justice, thy praise all the day long.
Notes
An appeal to Divine Justice against unjust and cruel enemies.
This Psalm contains the urgent prayer of a man unjustly persecuted by enemies who are no less ungrateful than wicked. The supplicant implores God to help him and to punish those who are making him suffer in this way. A powerful emotional force is discernible in the feelings and in the language. The time of its composition is credibly thought to be that of David’s persecution by Saul The poet appears here once more (compare Psalm XXX) as the type or prefiguration of the suffering Christ. In fact, our Lord Jesus Christ directly applied to Himself words from this Psalm, cf. verse 19 and John xv, 25 (“They hated me without cause”).
The Psalm is divided into three equal parts which each finish in a regular manner with an act of thanksgiving :
• a prayer for help, verses 1b-10;
• the ingratitude of the psalmist’s enemies, verses 11-18; and
• a repetition of his prayer, verses 19-28.
First part: prayer for prompt and powerful aid, verses 1b-10.
Verse 2: “arms and shield:”: Hebr,: the small and the great shield. The mâgèn served to ward off blows, the sinnah protected the whole body.
Verses 4-6: anathemas against the enemy.
Verse 10: “All my bones”: these, by way of metaphor, experience the joys of the soul as well as its sufferings.
Second part: the ingratitude of David’s enemies. Verses 11-18. An emotional picture which he describes at some length in order to move the Lord to show His goodness in favour of the supplicant and His anger against his hateful persecutors. The tone here is much calmer.
Third part: a repetition of his prayer. Verses 19-28. This part contains the ideas of the first part, versus 1-10, and some of the second, expressed in a calmer tone.
Verse 28: “praise all the day long”: St Augustine gives a beautiful commentary on these words (Enarrationes in Psalmos):
“Tota die Deum laudare quis durat? Suggere remedium, unde tota die laudes Deum, si vis. Quidquid egeris, bene age, et laudasti Deum … In Innocentia operum tuorum praepara te ad laudandum Deum tota die.”
“Who can manage to praise God all day long? Here is a remedy, if you wish, by which you may praise God all day: whatever you do, do it well, and you have praised God... In the innocence of your deeds, prepare yourself to praise God all day long.”
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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.
The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.
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.
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