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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).
Reminder: I began posting an annotated and illustrated version of St Bonaventure's Life of St Francis on the 4th October (his feast day) this year, the 800th anniversary of his death in 1226. To read these posts, please click on our sister blog:
Psalm 83
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| “For thy spirit is kind and gentle, thy grace fills the whole world.” The Immaculate Conception, by Murillo (1678). Museo del Prado, Madrid. Publid domain, via Wikimedia Commons. |
2. Honour her, O ye sinners: and she will obtain grace and salvation for you[3].
3. Her prayer is incense above frankincense and balsam[4]: her supplications will not return to her empty and unfulfilled.
4. Intercede for me, O Lady, with thy Christ[5]: neither do thou forsake me in death or in life.
5. For thy spirit is kind and gentle[6]: thy grace fills the whole world[7].
Glory be to the Father etc.
1. Quam dilecta tabernacula tua, Domina virtutum! quam amabilia tentoria redemptionis tuas!
2. Honorate illam, peccatores: et impetrabit vobis gratiam et salutem.
3. Super thus et balsamum oratio ejus incensum: preces ejus non revertuntur vacuas, nec inanes.
4. Intercede pro me, Domina, apud Christum tuum: neque derelinquas me in morte, neque in vita.
5. Benignus est enim spiritus tuus: gratia tua replet orbem terrarum.
Gloria Patri, etc.
Footnotes
[1] Cf. “How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!” Davidic Ps. LXXXIII, 2.
[2] Cf. “The voice of rejoicing and of salvation is in the tabernacles of the just.” Ps. CXVII, 15.
[3] Cf. “I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace”: Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv, 22.
[4] Cf. “I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon. and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh: And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm.” Ibid. 20-21.
[5] The earliest reference to the Blessed Virgin as our “Advocate” is found in the writings of St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130–202 AD): see Against Heresies (Book V, 19, 1). The view of Mary as Intercessor or Advocate is also implicit in the earliest known prayer to Mary: the Sub tuum praesidium which has been found on a papyrus fragment dated to around 250 AD: “Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus / Despise not our petitions in our necessities.”
[6] Cf. “Benignus est enim spiritus sapientiae / For the spirit of wisdom is benevolent”: Wisdom i, 6.
[7] Cf. “Quoniam spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum / For the spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world”: Wisdom i, 7; See also: “O intemerata et in æternum benedicta, singularis atque incomparabilis Virgo Dei Genetrix Maria . . . per quam post Deum totus vivit orbis terrarum / O unspotted and forever blessed, unique and incomparable virgin Mary, Mother of God . . . by whom next unto God the whole world liveth”: The earliest known texts of this prayer are from the 12th century, though it may have been composed earlier.
Davidic Psalm LXXXIII
1 Unto the end, for the wine presses, a psalm for the sons of Core.
2 How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! 3 My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. 4 For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God. 5 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall praise thee for ever and ever.
6 Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps, 7 In the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set. 8 For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion. 9 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.
10 Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of thy Christ. 11 For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners. 12 For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and glory. 13 He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence: O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
Notes
A burning effusion of love the sacred precincts of God’s house.
The title: 1: “for the wine presses”: Hebr. ‘al-hagggittit, on (meaning with) the lyre of Geth. See Ps. VIII, 1 and note. “for the sons of Core.”: see Ps. XLI and note.
This Psalm is a long and ardent sigh towards the house of God and, not without a tone of plaintive melancholy, it sings of the happiness of those who live near the Sanctuary. For a long time and quite rightly, it has been held to bear a striking resemblance to Psalm XLI. They both represent an intimate expression of a lively affection for the sacred precincts. Both were composed in the midst of harsh trials and far from the Tabernacle (vers. 7-8); they both contain a desire and a hope for a prompt return to Sion, with congratulations addressed to those privileged men who live continually in the presence of God. Finally, they both have a son of Core as their author. It is therefore probable that they were both composed on the same occasion, namely at the time of Absalom’s revolt when David, along with a handful of faithful servants, was forced to seek shelter on the other side of the River Jordan. The psalmist was in the king's entourage and shared all his sufferings.
Structure: The Psalm is divided into three strophes. the first two of which are marked in Hebrew by a sélah.
1. fervent sighs in the direction of the sanctuary, the happiness of those who dwell nearby: verses 2-5;
2. how those who have trust in God prosper: verses 6-9;
3. a pressing prayer and more congratulations for those who hope in the Lord : verses 10-13.
This poem is in no way inferior to Psalm XLI from the point of view of its inner beauty and form. It also recalls Psalm XLII in the exquisite delicacy of the sentiments which it expresses.
4: “sparrow...turtle”: an enchanting comparison which admirably expresses the feelings of the psalmist in respect of the divine precincts. What a soft nest is for the simple sparrow, for the timid turtle dove (or, according to the Hebrew, for the swallow), and for their little ones, the Tabernacle isfor the psalmist.
10: “look on the face of thy Christ”: not of the Christ par excellence, but of David who was also the anointed of the Lord in a very real way. May God deign to look upon David’s countenance, humbled, saddened and suppliant.
11: “I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God”: a wonderful image in the Hebrew: “I prefer to find myself on the threshold of God’s house.” This is well rendered in the Septuagint text by παραρριπτεῖσθαι, meaning to be cast aside (as at the doorway or threshold). This is particularly appropriate since the sons of Core were porters in the Sanctuary. Cf. I Par. xxvi, 1 et seq.
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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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