The Seven Penitential Psalms. Part One.

Roman Text is taken from The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.
Volume 4. Septuagesima.

Bold Italic Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

English: Saint Augustine of Hippo.

Deutsch: Hl. Augustinus in betrachtendem Gebet.

Four of the Penitential Psalms
were well known to Saint Augustine of Hippo.

Artist: Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510).

Date: Circa 1480.

Current location: Florence, Italy.

Notes: Deutsch: Auftraggeber: wahrscheinlich aus der Familie der Vespucci (Wappen).

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.
DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

Permission: [1].

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Penitential Psalms, or Psalms of Confession, so named in Cassiodorus's commentary of the 6th-Century A.D., are Psalms 6, 32, 38, 50, 102, 130, and 143 (6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142 in the Septuagint numbering).

Note: The Septuagint numbering system has been used throughout this Series of Articles.

Psalm 6.      Domine ne in furore tuo (Pro octava).
Psalm 31.    Beati quorum remissae sunt iniquitates.
Psalm 37.    Domine ne in furore tuo (In rememorationem de sabbato).
Psalm 50.    Miserere mei Deus.
Psalm 101.  Domine exaudi orationem meam et clamor meus ad te veniat.
Psalm 129.  De profundis clamavi.
Psalm 142.  Domine exaudi orationem meam auribus percipe obsecrationem meam.

A Setting by Lassus of Psalm 129,
"De profundis clamavi ad te Domine", 

("Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord").

Psalm 129 is one of the Seven Penitential Psalms.

Available on YouTube on
http://youtu.be/luLLO3c3LlE.

THE SEVEN PENITENTIAL PSALMS.

Part One.

David, struck down by sickness, asks pardon of God, and beseeches Him to heal the wounds of his Soul.

Psalm 6.

Domine ne in furore tuo arguas me:
* neque in ira tua corripias me.

Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam infirmus sum:
* sana me Domine, quoniam conturbata sunt ossa mea.

Et anima mea turbata est valde:
* sed tu Domine usquequo ?

Convertere, Domine, et eripe animam mean:
* salvum me fac propter misericordiam tuam.

Quoniam non est in morte qui memor sit tui:
* in inferno autem quis confitebitur tibi ?

Laboravi in gemitu meo, lavabo per singulas noctes lectum meum:
* lacrymis meis stratum meum rigabo.

Turbatus est a furore oculus meus:
* inveteravi inter omnes inimicos meos.

Discedite a me, omnes qui operamini iniquitatem:
* quoniam exaudivet Dominus vocem fletus mei.

Exaudivet Dominus deprecationem meam:
* Dominus orationem meam suscepit.

Erubescant et conturbentur vehementer omnes inimici mei:
* convertantur et erubescant valde velociter.


O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy indignation,
nor chastise me in Thy wrath.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

And my Soul is troubled exceedingly:
But Thou, O Lord, how long ?

Turn to me, O Lord, and deliver my Soul:
O save me, for Thy mercy's sake.

For there is no-one in death that is mindful of Thee:
And who shall confess to Thee in Hell ?

I have laboured in my groanings, every night I will wash my bed:
I will water my couch with my tears.

My eye is troubled through indignation:
I have grown old among all mine enemies.

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity:
For the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.

The Lord hath heard my supplication:
The Lord hath received my Prayer.

Let all mine enemies be ashamed and be very much troubled:
Let them be turned back, and be ashamed very speedily.


The Seven Penitential Psalms are expressive of sorrow for sin. Four were known as 'Penitential Psalms' by Saint Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th-Century. Psalm 50 (Miserere) was recited at the close of daily Morning Service in the Primitive Church.

Translations of the Penitential Psalms were undertaken by some of the greatest poets in Renaissance England, including Sir Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and Sir Philip Sidney. Before the Suppression of the Minor Orders and Tonsure, in 1972, by Pope Paul VI, the Seven Penitential Psalms were assigned to new Clerics after having been Tonsured.

Orlande de Lassus'

"Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales".

This is a Setting of Psalm 6, "Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me",

("O Lord, do not reprove me in Thy wrath, nor in Thy anger chastise me").

Psalm 6 is the first of the Seven Penitential Psalms.

Available on YouTube on

http://youtu.be/-0cILFy2sW4.

Perhaps the most famous musical setting of all the Seven Penitential Psalms is by Orlande de Lassus, with his Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales of 1584. There are also fine settings by Andrea Gabrieli and by Giovanni Croce. The Croce pieces are unique in being settings of Italian sonnet-form translations of the Psalms by Francesco Bembo. These were widely distributed. They were translated into English and published in London as Musica Sacra and were even translated (back) into Latin and published in Nürnberg as Septem Psalmi poenitentiales.

William Byrd set all Seven Psalms in English versions for three voices in his Songs of Sundrie Natures (1589). Settings of individual Penitential Psalms have been written by many composers. Well-known settings of the Miserere (Psalm 50) include those by Gregorio Allegri and Josquin des Prez. Settings of the De profundis (Psalm 129) include two in the Renaissance era by Josquin.


PART TWO FOLLOWS.