The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St Bonaventure : Psalm 94

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 94

“Come, let us praise Our Lady with joy: let us joyfully sing to Mary, our Queen.”

Maestà, by Duccio (1308-11). Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena.

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

1. Come, let us praise Our Lady with joy: let us joyfully sing to Mary, our Queen, who bore the Saviour[1].

2. Let us come before her presence with joy: and in canticles let us all praise her together[2].

3. Come, let us adore, and fall down before her[3]: let us confess our sins to her with tears.

4. Obtain for us a full pardon, stand for us before the tribunal of God[4].

5. Receive our souls in the end: and lead us into eternal rest[5].

Glory be to the Father etc.

1. Venite, exultemus Dominæ nostræ: jubilemus salutiferæ Mariæ Reginæ nostræ.

2. Præoccupemus faciem ejus in jubilatione: et in canticis collaudemus eam.

3. Venite, adoremus, et procidamus ante eam: confiteamur illi cum fletibus peccata nostra.

4. Impetra nobis indulgentiam plenam: assiste pro nobis ante tribunal Dei.

5. Suscipe in fine animas nostras: et introduc nos in requiem æternam.

Gloria Patri, etc.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. “Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.” Davidic Ps. XCIV, 1.

[2] Cf. “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.” ibid. 2.

[3] On venerating the Mother of God: see: “. . . latria is due to God alone, it is not due to a creature so far as we venerate a creature for its own sake. . . Since, therefore, the Blessed Virgin is a mere rational creature, the worship of latria is not due to her, but only that of dulia: but in a higher degree than to other creatures, inasmuch as she is the Mother of God. For this reason we say that not any kind of dulia is due to her, but hyperdulia.” Aquinas: ST III, Q. 25, A.5.

[4] The earliest reference to the Blessed Virgin as our “Advocate” is found in the writings of St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130–202 AD): see Against Heresies (Book V, 19, 1). The view of Mary as Intercessor or Advocate is also implicit in the earliest known prayer to Mary: the Sub tuum præsidium which has been found on a papyrus fragment dated to around 250 AD: “Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus / Despise not our petitions in our necessities.” 

[5] Cf. the Fatima prayer, revealed by Our Lady to the seers on the 13th of July 1917: “O meu Jesus, perdoai-nos, (e) livrai nos do fogo do Inferno; levai as alminhas todas para o Ceu, principalmente aquelas que mais (d’ele) precisarem.” Literally translated this means: “O my Jesus, forgive us (and) save us from the fires of Hell; lead all little souls to Heaven, especially those most in need (of it).” For sources and a short review of issues relating to this prayer’s translation, see: The Prayer for Souls and Who Are the Souls “Most in Need”? at the Fatima Centre website.

Davidic Psalm XCIV

1 Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.  2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.  3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.  4 For in his hand are all the ends of the earth: and the heights of the mountains are his.  5 For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.  6 Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us.  7 For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

8 Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts:  9 As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.  10 Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said: These always err in heart.  11 And these men have not known my ways: so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.

Notes

An invitation to praise God and to obey His commandments.

Title: “Praise of a canticle for David himself.” this title is missing in the Hebrew. It contains two related elements  hold on one referring to the genre, a canticle of praise, and the other to the author, David himself. this is an exhortation addressed to the Hebrew people , Urging them to be faithful to God and to show themselves docile to the divine word.

Structure: The psalm may be divided into two distinct parts:

1. the psalmist invites the Israelites to praise God, by reason of His omnipotence and His goodness: verses 1 to 7;

2. he calls upon them not to abuse the Lord’s graces, but to be obedient to His orders: verses 8 -11.

The Jews sing this psalm on Friday evenings, at the opening of the Sabbath. In the Roman Breviary, it serves as an “invitatory” and introduction to Matins but in a form slightly different from the words of the Vulgate, because our Latin version follows the text of the so-called Gallican Psalter, whereas the Breviary has preserved for its invitatory the text of the Roman Psalter. 

6: “Come let us adore and fall down: and weep…”: In the Hebrew: “Let us prostrate ourselves, let us bow, let us bend the knee. Three gestures of adoration used from remote antiquity. 

8: “Today if you shall hear his voice…”: the adverb today signals the great importance of the present moment, a time when God speaks to man, urging him towards the good. This moment and this hour are decisive, for it is possible they will not come again. See the admirable way in which St Paul makes use of this text to the Christians : Hebr. iii, 7. 

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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.