The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 77

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).

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:

St Bonaventure’s Life of St Francis

Psalm 77

“Have mercy on me, O Queen of glory and honour.”
Coronation of the Virgin, by Jacopo di Mino del
Pellicciaio (1340-50). Museo Civico di Montepulciano,
Tuscany. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

1. Attend, O people of God[1], to His commandments: and forget not the Queen of grace.

2. Open your heart to search her out: and your lips to glorify her.

3. Let her love come down into your hearts[2]: long to please her.

4. Her beauty outshines the sun and the moon[3]: she is adorned with the ornaments of virtues.

5. Have mercy on me, O Queen of glory and honour[4]: and keep my soul from all danger.

Glory be to the Father etc.

1. Attendite, popule Dei, præcepta Dei: et Reginæ gratiæ nolite oblivisci.

2. Aperite cor ad investigandum eam: et labia ad glorificandum illam.

3. Descendat amor ejus in cordibus vestris: concupiscite placere illi.

4. Pulchritudo ejus vincit Solem et Lunam: compositio ejus ad ornamenta virtutum.

5. Miserere mei, Regina gloriæ et honoris: et ab omni periculo custodi mentem meam.

Gloria Patri, etc.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. “Attend, O my people, to my law”: Davidic Ps. LXXVII, 1.

[2] Cf. “And hope confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us”: Rom. v, 5.

[3] Cf. “Who is she . . . fair as the moon, bright as the sun. . .?” : Cant. vi, 9.

[4] Cf. “Queen of heaven and earth by the Lord, exalted above all choirs of angels and saints, and standing at the right hand of her only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, she intercedes powerfully for us with a mother's prayers, obtains what she seeks, and cannot be refused.” Pius XII (quoting Pius IX) in his Encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam (1954) on Proclaiming the Queenship of Mary.

Davidic Psalm LXXVII

1 Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of Asaph.

2 I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice, and he gave ear to me.  3 In the day of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up to him in the night, and I was not deceived. My soul refused to be comforted:  4 I remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised, and my spirit swooned away.

5 My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not.  6 I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal years.  7 And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was exercised and I swept my spirit.

8 Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more favourable again?  9 Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation to generation?  10 Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut up his mercies?

11 And I said, Now have I begun: this is the change of the right hand of the most High.  12 I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning.  13 And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in thy inventions.

14 Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great God like our God?  15 Thou art the God that dost wonders. Thou hast made thy power known among the nations:  16 With thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and of Joseph.

17 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled.  18 Great was the noise of the waters: the clouds sent out a sound. For thy arrows pass:  19 The voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Thy lightnings enlightened the world: the earth shook and trembled.  20 Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy footsteps shall not be known. 21 Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Notes

1: “for Idithun”:  see Ps. XXXVIII, 1. Here the reference can only be a descendant of David's celebrated cantor. “a psalm of Asaph”: The author is a descendant of Asaph. The psalmist is imploring God to show His goodness, in the midst of a national calamity which seems to threaten the very existence of the Israelites. To begin with, from verse 2 onwards, he almost despairs of obtaining help; then suddenly, from verse 11 onwards, having received divine illumination and consolation, he abandons himself to a feeling of joyous confidence, recalling the dazzling miracles through which the Lord had previously saved his unfortunate people, especially at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. That which God once did, can he not do it again? Perhaps the psalm was inspired, as a number of interpreters believe, by the ruin of the breakaway kingdom of the ten tribes (721 B.C.). We do not, however, think that its composition has to be put back to the time of the Babylonian captivity, as certain critics have suggested.

Structure:

‣ the profound grief of the poet the sight of his people’s misfortunes: verses 2-10;

‣ a lively feeling of confidence at the recollection of ancient miracles worked by the Lord to deliver his people: verses 11-21;  

There are six strophes, each with three verses: 2-4, 5-7, 8-10, 11-13, 14-16, 17-21.

First part: verses 2-10.

5: “My eyes prevented the watches”: night was divided into three watches each lasting four hours, the first of which began at 6:00 p.m. The psalmist is saying that he was being kep constantly awake.

7: “I swept my spirit”: seeking thoughts to console himself or an explanation for the mysterious behaviour of the Lord.

Second part: verses 11-21. 

11: “Now have I begun”: meaning: “I am beginning to understand.” The Hebrew text suggests : “This is my infirmity”; which seems to mean : “my despair comes from my own weakness.”  

14: “Thy way, O God, is in the holy place”: a Hebraism for: “Thy way, Thy manner of acting is quite perfect.” Cf. Ex. xv, 11. This passage recalls the canticle composed by Moses immediately after the passage through the Red Sea.

17-21: a brilliant description of the passage through the waters of the Red Sea. The psalmist is choosing from all other miracles this example of God’s omnipotence and infinite goodness. 

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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.