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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 79
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| “All salvation springs out of her heart.” The Immaculate Heart of Mary, by Leopold Kupelwieser (1840-50). St Peter's Church, Vienna. Diana Ringo (CC BY-SA 4.0). |
2. Arise and shake thyself from the dust, O my soul[2]: go forth to meet the Queen of Heaven.
3. Loose the bands of thy neck, O poor little soul of mine[3]: and welcome her with glorious praises.
4. The odour of life comes forth from her[4]: and all salvation springs out of her heart.
5. By the sweet fragrance of her spiritual gifts[5]: dead souls are raised to life.
Glory be to the Father etc.
1. Qui regis Isræl, intende ad me: Matrem tuam collaudare.
2. Expergiscere de pulvere, anima mea: perge in occursum Reginæ cœli.
3. Solve vincula colli tui, paupercula anima mea: et gloriosis laudibus accipe illam.
4. Odor vitæ de illa progreditur: et omnis salus de corde illius scaturizat.
5. Charismatum suorum fragrantia suavi: anime mortuæ suscitantur.
Gloria Patri, etc.
Footnotes
[1] Cf. “Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel”: Davidic Ps. LXXIX, 2.
[2] Cf. “Shake thyself from the dust, arise, sit up, O Jerusalem”: Is. lii, 2. The Prophet portrays the Jewish capital as a woman who, struck by the divine anger and overwhelmed with grief, lies prostrate as though lifeless amidst the dust of the highway; he encourages her to arise, in order to begin a life much more glorious and happy than the first. (Fillion Commentary)
[3] Cf. “loose the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion”: Is. lii, 2.
[4] Cf. “For we are the good odour of Christ unto God, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one indeed the odour of death unto death: but to the others the odour of life unto life”: 2 Cor. ii, 15-16.
[5] Cf. “How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! thy breasts are more beautiful than wine, and the sweet smell of thy ointments above all aromatical spices . . . and the smell of thy garments, as the smell of frankincense”: Cant. iv, 10-11.
Davidic Psalm LXXIX
1 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, a testimony for Asaph, a psalm.
2 Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth 3 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and come to save us. 4 Convert us, O God: and shew us thy face, and we shall be saved.
5 O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy servant? 6 How long wilt thou feed us with the bread of tears: and give us for our drink tears in measure?
7 Thou hast made us to be a contradiction to our neighbours: and our enemies have scoffed at us. 8 O God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be saved. 9 Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the Gentiles and planted it. 10 Thou wast the guide of its journey in its sight: thou plantedst the roots thereof, and it filled the land. 11 The shadow of it covered the hills: and the branches thereof the cedars of God. 12 It stretched forth its branches unto the sea, and its boughs unto the river.
13 Why hast thou broken down the hedge thereof, so that all they who pass by the way do pluck it? 14 The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste: and a singular wild beast hath devoured it. 15 Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard: 16 And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.
17 Things set on fire and dug down shall perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. 18 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself. 19 And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will call upon thy name. 20 O Lord God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be saved.
Notes
A prayer for the mystical vineyard of the Lord, ravaged and laid waste.
The title: 1: “for them that shall be changed, a testimony for Asaph”: Hebr.’al-sôsannim édût: “sung to the melody The Lilies of Witness.” Cf. Ps. XLIV, 1.
This is another remarkable elegy which has rightly given rise to admiration on account of the perfect beauty of its images, its grace and the dignity of its style. The tone is gentle and calm but also sad and moving. It is a prayer which is pressing but at the same time delicate, addressed to the Lord at a time of great anxiety on behalf of the theocratic state which was in danger of collapsing beneath the blows of a terrible enemy. The people of God is represented under the image of a vine which the Lord Himself had planted in Palestine and which developed magnificently on this fertile ground but which was now being attacked by wild beasts and was on the point of perishing entirely. The poet calls upon God to restore it to its state of luxuriant vigour.
Several tribes are referred to in the first verses but uniquely only those tribes descended from the patriarch Joseph and which belonged entirely or in part to the schismatic Northern Kingdom. As the majority of commentators agree, Psalm LXXIX must have been composed with this kingdom in mind. The historical background seems to be revealed in the words “a Psalm concerning the Assyrian” which are found added to the title in the Septuagint text. This would be a reference to the Assyrian incursions onto the territory of the ten tribes in the north, some time before the complete destruction of the Kingdom of Israel. Cf. IV Kings xv, 19-20, 29.
Structure: the division of the poem reveals a very real art. There are five equal strophes (verses 2-4, 5-6, 7-12, 13-16 and 17-20), which incorporate a refrain which each time becomes greater, by means of an epithet added to God’s name: “O God,” verse 4; “O God of hosts,” verse 8; and “O Lord God of hosts,” verse 20.
2: From the first lines of the psalm, God is invoked under one of his most beautiful titles, that of the Good Shepherd of Israel. Cf. Gen. xlviii, 15; xlix, 24; Ps. XXII, etc. “Israel,” “Joseph”: representing the whole people, with Joseph who seems to represent here more particularly the Kingdom of the ten tribes.
9-12: This is where the main part of the psalm begins (verses 9-20). The prayer and the lament, outlined briefly up to this point, are now developed.
10: “its journey”: The wanderings over forty years across the Arabian Desert.
20: “O Lord God of hosts”: the refrain under its most complete form.
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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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