The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 45

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 45

“Thou art . . .a most powerful force bruising and crushing our enemy.”
The Virgin of the Assumption (1626-8), by Peter Paul Rubens.
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Public domain.

1. O Lady, thou art our refuge in all our needs: and a most powerful force bruising and crushing our enemy.[1]

2. The world is full of thy benefits: they surpass the heavens and penetrate the depths.[2]

3. By the fullness of thy grace those who were in the abyss : rejoice to find themselves liberated.[3]

4. By the protection of thy virginal fecundity, those who are now above this world : rejoice to find themselves freed.

5. By the glorious Son of thy most holy virginity: men are made companions and fellow-citizens of the Angels.[4]

Glory be to the Father etc.

1. Domina, refugium nostrum tu es in omni necessitate nostra : et virtus potentior conterens inimicum.

2. Beneficiis tuis plenus est mundus : superant cœlestia, penetrant et inferna.

3. Plenitudine gratiæ tuæ, quæ in inferno erant: se lætantur liberata.

4. Obtentu fœcunditatis tuæ virgineæ, quæ supra mundum sunt : se gaudent restaurata.

5. Per gloriosum tuæ virginitatis sanctissimæ partum : homines Angelorum fiunt socii et concives.

Gloria Patri, etc.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. “Our God is our refuge and strength: a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly.”: Davidic Ps. XLV, 2. Cf. “The Lord God said to the serpent . . . I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head”: Gen. iii, 14-15.

[2] Cf “If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.”: Ps. CXXXVIII, 8.

[3] Cf. “He [the Lord] heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs.” Ps. XXIX, 3.

[4] Cf. “Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are  fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God;” Eph. Ii, 19; “You are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of Angels;” Hebr. xii, 22.

Davidic Psalm XLV

1 Unto the end, for the sons of Core, for the hidden.

2 Our God is our refuge and strength: a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly.  3 Therefore we will not fear, when the earth shall be troubled; and the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea.  4 Their waters roared and were troubled: the mountains were troubled with his strength.

5 The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful: the most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle.  6 God is in the midst thereof, it shall not be moved: God will help it in the morning early.  7 Nations were troubled, and kingdoms were bowed down: he uttered his voice, the earth trembled.  8 The Lord of armies is with us: the God of Jacob is our protector.

9 Come and behold ye the works of the Lord: what wonders he hath done upon earth,  10 Making wars to cease even to the end of the earth. He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons: and the shield he shall burn in the fire. 11 Be still and see that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.  12 The Lord of armies is with us: the God of Jacob is our protector.

Notes

God’s people have the fullness of His security.

1: The title: The author is a Coraite (one of the sons of Core).

“for the hidden”:  some commentators see in this a reference to the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation; others see a reference to the hidden mysteries of Providence and God’s conduct towards His Church. The Hebrew words (‘al-‘alamot), however, give another meaning : literally, “for the voices of young girls.” It is thus in all probability a musical term which indicates that the psalm was to be sung by soprano voices. Cf. I Par. xv, 20. We find in the Talmud that the children of the Levites sang with their fathers to make for more harmonious music in the Temple.

The psalm takes the form of a lyrical poem which describes in magnificent language the absolute trust Israel has in their God, even amidst the gravest of dangers. The occasion of its writing must have been a wonderful and unexpected act of help bestowed by the Lord upon the Hebrews when they were in danger. Perhaps it was the total destruction of Sennacherib’s army under the walls of Jerusalem (cf. Is. xxxvi-xxxvii); or even the defeat in the time of Joseph of the Moabites, the Ammonites and the Idumeans who had formed an alliance against Israel (cf. II Par. Xx, 1 et seq.).

Structure: The psalm may be divided into three strophes or parts, each accompanied by a beautiful refrain , (see verses 8 and 12) except for the first, probably omitted through a copyist’s mistake.

First part: God is the refuge of Israel, His people. Verses 2-4.

In order to give fuller expression to their trust, they make use of bold metaphors to describe the extreme dangers which might befall them: a universal cataclysm, a new chaos, an overturning of whole world. Even then they would have nothing to fear, being sure that the Lord would be with them.

4: “Their waters roared”: the Hebrew text and Roman Psalter indicate the word “their” should be read as “His”.

Second part: God is in a special way the refuge of the city of Sion. Verses 5-8.

5: “The stream of the river”: it is clear from the context that the poet is now describing the peaceful movement of waters, producing a striking contrast : on the one hand, the waters of a river flow peacefully into the heart of Jerusalem; at the same time, the sea is in a state of convulsion and threatens to overcome everything. The Hebrew text expresses this idea differently, speaking of a river whose streams rejoice, probably an allusion to the river in Eden whose four heads went out to water Paradise, spreading freshness and fertility everywhere (cf. Gen. ii, 10) – symbolising the multitudinous graces that God poured upon His people. Cf. Ps. XXXV, 9; Apoc. xxii, 1.

8: “protector”: Vulg. susceptor for the Hebrew misgab, meaning the high place or citadel of His people.

Third part: describing the miracle recently worked by the Lord to save Israel. Verses 9-12.

This third concentric circle of the psalm contains the main point and, so to speak, the heart of the poem. The Psalmist invites his fellow citizens to come out of Jerusalem some distance and wonder at the miraculous works God has recently performed in order to save them. Through their devastating defeat, the enemies of Israel have been expelled beyond the Jewish frontiers and, in order to prevent any further wars, the Lord destroyed all the aggressors’ weapons.

11-12: It is now the Lord himself who speaks in a majestic and terrible manner.

“I will be exalted”: He wishes to make manifest his power and to be obeyed everywhere, amongst the pagans as well as in the midst of his people (“in terra”, i.e., in the promised land of His people).

12: The Psalm then ends powerfully with a repetition of the refrain first heard in verse 8.

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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.