The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 65

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 65

“Blessed be thy heart, O Lady: with which thou hast
ardently and sincerely loved the Son of God.”
Our Lady of the Rosary (Murillo, 1650). Goya Museum,
Castres. Public domain. Didier Descouens CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Shout with joy to Our Lady, all the earth: sing ye a psalm to her name: give honour to her majesty[1].

2. Blessed be thy heart, O Lady: with which thou hast ardently and sincerely loved the Son of God[2].

3. Look upon my poverty[3], O glorious Virgin: delay not to remove my misery and my difficulties.

4. Take away my tribulations[4]: sweeten my weariness[5].

5. Let all flesh bless thee: let every tongue glorify thee[6]

Glory be to the Father etc.

1. Jubilate Dominæ nostræ, omnis terra: psallite hymnum nomini ejus, date honorificentiam majestati ejus.

2. Benedictum sit cor tuum, Domina: cum quo ardenter et sinceriter Filium Dei dilexisti.

3. Respice paupertatem meam, gloriosa Virgo: miseriam et angustiam meam ne tardes removere.

4. Aufer tribulationem meam: dulcifica languorem meum.

5. Benedicat te omnis caro: glorificet te omnis lingua.

Gloria Patri, etc.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. “Shout with joy to God, all the earth, Sing ye a psalm to his name; give glory to his praise.”: Davidic Ps. 1-2.

[2] Cf. “My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Luke i, 46.

[3] Cf. “Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. / Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us.” From the Salve Regina, attributed to herman Contractus (1013-1054).

[4] Cf. “The troubles [tribulationes] of my heart are multiplied: deliver me from my necessities”: Ps. XXIV, 17.    “thou hast laid afflictions [tribulationes] on our back:” from Davidic Ps. LXV, 11.

[5] Cf. “Dulcis Parens clementiae / Sweet Mother of clemency”, from the Memento rerum Conditor, a traditional hymn for the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Little Hours (Terce, Sext, and None) and for Compline. 

[6] Cf. “Behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me”: ibid. 48-9.

Davidic Psalm LXV

1 Unto the end, a canticle of a psalm of the resurrection.

Shout with joy to God, all the earth,  2 Sing ye a psalm to his name; give glory to his praise.  3 Say unto God, How terrible are thy works, O Lord! in the multitude of thy strength thy enemies shall lie to thee.  4 Let all the earth adore thee, and sing to thee: let it sing a psalm to thy name. 

5 Come and see the works of God; who is terrible in his counsels over the sons of men.  6 Who turneth the sea into dry land, in the river they shall pass on foot: there shall we rejoice in him.  7 Who by his power ruleth for ever: his eyes behold the nations; let not them that provoke him be exalted in themselves.  8 O bless our God, ye Gentiles: and make the voice of his praise to be heard.  9 Who hath set my soul to live: and hath not suffered my feet to be moved:  10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us by fire, as silver is tried.  11 Thou hast brought us into a net, thou hast laid afflictions on our back:  12 Thou hast set men over our heads. We have passed through fire and water, and thou hast brought us out into a refreshment.

13 I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,  14 Which my lips have uttered, And my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.  15 I will offer up to thee holocausts full of marrow, with burnt offerings of rams: I will offer to thee bullocks with goats. 16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what great things he hath done for my soul.  17 I cried to him with my mouth: and I extolled him with my tongue.  18 If I have looked at iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.  19 Therefore hath God heard me, and hath attended to the voice of my supplication.  20 Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

Notes

A canticle of thanksgiving to celebrate  deliverance resulting from God’s goodness.

Title: the customary dedication to the choirmaster : “unto the end.” This is a true lyric chant but the author is not indicated. The word resurrectionis (“of the resurrection”) was added by the Septuagint and the Vulgate, perhaps because of the first half of verse 9: “who hath set my soul to live,” in which there may be seen an allusion to the resurrection of the just. In the Greek Church this canticle is still called the “Psalm of the Resurrection.”

This is a hymn of thanksgiving composed on the occasion of a noteworthy deliverance granted by the Lord to the Israelites; for want of sufficient information, however, it is impossible to determine even approximately what this deliverance was. It is clear that it does not concern the end of the Babylonian captivity since none of the details have reference to this.

Structure: The psalm is divided into two parts :

‣ in the first, verses 1-12, the psalmist gives thanks to God in the name of the whole people;

‣ in the second, verses 13 -20, he speaks in his own name even though he seems to do this as a representative of his people.

First part: verses 1-12.

6: “Who turneth the sea into dry land, in the river they shall pass on foot”: the great miracle when the Red Sea opened to allow the Hebrews to cross ; and the similar miracle allowing them to cross through the waters of the River Jordan.

Second part: verses 13-20. Personal prayers of thanksgiving offered by the poet.  

15: “full of marrow” (Lat. medullata): the Hebrew substantive refers to fertile, plump lambs.

16-20: The psalmist recounts how his prayers have been heard in the midst of his distress.

20: Cf. The words of St Augustine who wrote: “Cum videris non a te amotam deprecationem tuam, securus esto, quia non est a te amota misericordia eius / When thou seest that thy prayer hath not been turned away from thee, rest assured, for His mercy hath not been turned away from thee.” (Enarrat. In Psalm., h. 1.)

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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.