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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 73
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| “Break for us the bonds of his malicious doings.” Virgen del Apocalipsis, by José de Ibarra (18th century). Pinacoteca de La Profesa, México. Public domain via Wiki-C. |
2. Let my prayer come into thy sight: and despise not the voices of those who groan[3].
3. The enemy hath stretched his bow against us: he has strengthened his right hand, and there is no consoler[4].
4. Break for us the bonds of his malicious doings[5]: and deliver us by thy right hand.
5. Drive him back into the place of perdition: let eternal damnation possess him[6].
Glory be to the Father etc.
1. Ut quid, Domina, reppulisti nos: nec subvenis in die tribulationis?
2. Ingrediatur oratio mea in conspectu tuo: et voces gementium ne despexeris.
3. Tetendit arcum suum contra nos inimicus: firmavit dexteram suam, et non est consolator.
4. Disrumpe in nobis ligaturam malitiarum suarum: et libera nos dextera tua.
5. Repelle eum in locum perditionis: sempiterna damnatio suscipiat eum.
Gloria Patri, etc.
Footnotes
[1] Cf. “O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end?”: Davidic Ps. LXIII,1.
[2] “tribulation”, from Lat. tribulatio, itself said to derive from tribulum -i. n., a threshing sledge or board studded with stones or pieces of metal. See Pliny N.H. Ch. 72 (30). Cf. “For God is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in the day of tribulation: and he is a protector to all that seek him in truth”; Ecclesiasticus ii, 3. Cf. Ps. XIX, 2; XLIX, 15; LVIII, 17; LXXVI, 3; LXXXV, 7.
[3] Cf. “Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. / To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.” From the Salve Regina (Herman Contractus, 1013-1054).
[4] Cf. “He hath bent his bow as an enemy, he hath fixed his right hand as an adversary”: Lam. ii, 4.
[5] Cf. “And now I will break in pieces his rod with which he struck thy back, and I will burst thy bonds asunder”: Nahum i, 13.
[6] Cf. “And to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with the angels of his power: In a flame of fire, giving vengeance to them who know not God, and who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction, from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his power”: 2 Thess. I, 7-9; “And there came down fire from God out of heaven, and devoured them; and the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever”: Apoc. xx, 9-10.
Davidic Psalm LXXIII
1 Understanding for Asaph.
O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture? 2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. 4 And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs, 5 And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees, 6 They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down. 7 They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth. 8 They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land. 9 Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.
10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever? 11 Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever? 12 But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. 13 Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters. 14 Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians. 15 Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers. 16 Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun. 17 Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.
18 Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name. 19 Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor. 20 Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity. 21 Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name. 22 Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day. 23 Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.
Notes
A prayer to God at a time of a great national calamity.
A didactic psalm teaching how we should turn to God in our sufferings. The author is Asaph, not the celebrated Levite of this name but one of his descendants, which we know from the relatively late date of its composition. According to the most probable opinion, it seems to have been written almost immediately after the seizure of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, at a time when everything in the Jewish theocracy had been ruined and overturned, starting with the Temple and the worship of God ; verses 3-11. Cf. IV Kings xxiv; II Par. xxxvi; Jer. lii.
After a brief introduction in verses 1-2, in which he appeals for God’s pity, the psalmist describes the misfortunes recently unleashed on Israel and in particular the ruin of the Temple and divine worship, in verses 3 -9. He then reminds God of the spectacular miracles by means of which He had previously established and protected the holy people, in verses 10-17, and he finishes by imploring Him to save and avenge His poor people, who had been subjected to such trials and humiliations, verses 18-23. The psalm is a moving elegy where the laments are proportionate to the great misfortunes. It is beautiful to see how the poet’s heart was broken by the evils with which the people’s religion had been afflicted, more than by anything else. This is what causes him to weep the most.
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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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