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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).
Psalm 61
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| “O Lady, shall not my soul be subject to thee: who hast brought forth the Lord and Saviour of all?” Virgin and Child with kneeling members of the Guild of the Misericordia, by Bartolomeo Buon (1445-50). V & A. Public domain. Photograph by Jonathan Cardy (CC BY-SA 3.0). |
2. Be mindful of us, O Lady Saviour[2] of the lost: hear thou the weeping of our hearts.
3. Pour forth graces from thy treasury[3]: and with thine unguents soothe our grief.
4. Give us joy and peace: that thou mayest confound the enemies of the good.
5. Wash away all our sins: heal all our infirmities.[4]
Glory be to the Father etc.
1. Nonne, Domina, libi subjecta erit anima: qua; Salvatorem omnium genuisti?
2. Memento nostri, perditorum Salvatrix: exaudi planctus cordis nostri.
3. Infunde gratiam de thesauris tuis: et unguentis tuis placa dolorem nostrum.
4. Da nobis gaudium et lætitiam: ut confundas bonorum inimicos.
5. Ablue omnia peccata nostra: sana omnes infirmitates nostras.
Gloria Patri, etc.
Footnotes
[1] Cf. “Shall not my soul be subject to God? for from him is my salvation.”: Davidic Ps. LXI, 2.
[2] Cf. use of Salvatrix as a title for Mary by Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): “Unde, o Salvatrix, que novum lumen humano generi protulisti: / O Lady Saviour, who has offered to the human race a new and brighter light”: from “O virga ac diadema” – Sequence for the Virgin. The Armenian liturgy invokes Mary as “salvatrix” and “liberatrix,” and this can be traced back to the fifth century. In the Akathistos, a hymn recited by Eastern Catholic Christians, the faithful praise the Virgin Mary’s role in the Redemption praying, “Rejoice, O Bride Unwedded, the world’s salvation”: see Mattheson Trust website.
[3] Cf. “God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters, and He named it the sea (mare). He has made an assemblage of all His graces, and He has called it Mary (Maria). This great God has a most rich treasury in which He has laid up all that He has of beauty, of splendour, of rarity, and of preciousness, even to His own Son; and this immense treasury is none other than Mary, whom the Saints have named the Treasure of the Lord, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich.” From “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin” (Pt I, Ch. 1), by St Louis de Montfort (c. 1712).
[4] Cf. Mary’s title in the Litany of Loreto (Paris 1150-1200): “Salus infirmorum” / “Health of the sick.”
Davidic Psalm LXI
1 Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of David.
2 Shall not my soul be subject to God? for from him is my salvation. 3 For he is my God and my saviour: he is my protector, I shall be moved no more. 4 How long do you rush in upon a man? you all kill, as if you were thrusting down a leaning wall, and a tottering fence. 5 But they have thought to cast away my price; I ran in thirst: they blessed with their mouth, but cursed with their heart.
6 But be thou, O my soul, subject to God: for from him is my patience. 7 For he is my God and my saviour: he is my helper, I shall not be moved. 8 In God is my salvation and my glory: he is the God of my help, and my hope is in God. 9 Trust in him, all ye congregation of people: pour out your hearts before him. God is our helper for ever.
10 But vain are the sons of men, the sons of men are liars in the balances: that by vanity they may together deceive. 11 Trust not in iniquity, and cover not robberies: if riches abound, set not your heart upon them. 12 God hath spoken once, these two things have I heard, that power belongeth to God, 13 And mercy to thee, O Lord; for thou wilt render to every man according to his works.
Notes
Trust in God alone, amongst the greatest of dangers.
The title : Verse 1. “for Idithun”: indicating a special dedication to this celebrated Choirmaster. Cf. Ps. XXXVIII.
David is the author of this Psalm which was probably composed at the beginning of Absalom's revolt. He finds himself in most serious danger; his enemies are powerful and determined to bring about his downfall. They need only one final effort to bring him down completely. In this situation, which is in human terms desperate, David shows again and again his confidence and trust in the Lord. He knows that, protected by God, he has nothing to fear whereas the protection of men is useless.
Psalm LXI bears a remarkable resemblance to Psalm XXXVIII. They both clearly reveal the vanity of relying upon any human help. The frequent use of the Hebrew particle ‘ak, “yes, in truth,” (Vulgate : verumtamen) – see verses 5, 6 & 10) – highlights the principal ideas. Psalm LXI is noteworthy by reason of the gravity of the thoughts expressed, the depth and power of the religious sentiment, as well as by its vigorous and sublime language.
Structure:
1. Trusting in God for his support, David does not fear his enemies , however powerful they may be : verses 2-5;
2. He expresses an even higher level of trust in verses 6-9;
3. The vanity of all human help ; the power and goodness of the Lord when it comes to helping his friends: verses 10-13.
First part: Supported by God, the poet has no fear whatsoever of his enemies, however wicked and powerful they may be. Verses 2-5.
4: They all in great numbers and in a cowardly manner rushed towards their king who has almost been abandoned in order to put him to death. The vivid language shows to what extent David has been reduced : he is like a wall already beginning to topple over or a ramshackle fence on the point of collapse, that the slightest blow would cast down. Cf. Is. xxx, 18. The sense is different in the Hebrew where the wall on the point of falling represents the enemies of the psalmist who have surrounded him in order to crush him.
5: “I ran in thirst:”: these words very obscure in our Latin text which may have been altered, since St Ambrose and the Septuagint translators read as follows : “They ran in thirst” – meaning, “They rushed upon me, thirsting for my blood.”
Second part: David stirs himself to an even higher level of trust in God and he exhorts his people to share this noble sentiment with him. Verses 6-9.
Third part: The vanity of all human help, the power and goodness of God when he helps his friends. Verses 10-13.
10: “in the balances”: There is a certain obscurity in the Vulgate text. The Hebrew text is simpler and more picturesque: Placed in a balance, all of them together would be seen to weigh lighter than a breath. The comparison is striking : If they were all placed on one side of a balance, they are so light that instead of making it go down it would rise.
13: Cf. “Who will render to every man according to his works.” Rom. ii, 6.
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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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