The Seven Penitential Psalms. Part Two.

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 Two.

David experiences the happiness felt by a Soul, whose sins have been forgiven her by God; he expresses his feelings, by comparing himself to a sick man, who was at the point of death, and is restored to health.

Psalm 31.      Beati, quorum remissae sunt iniquitates.

Beati, quorum remissae sunt iniquitates:
* et quorum tecta sunt peccata.

Beatus vir, cui non imputavit Dominus peccatum:
* nec est in spiritu ejus dolus.

Quoniam tacui, inveteraverunt ossa mea:
* dum clamarem tota die.

Quoniam die ac nocte gravata est super me manus tua:
* conversus sum in aerumna mea, dum configitur spina.

Delictum meum cognitum tibi feci:
* et injustitiam meam non abscondi.

Dixit Confiteabor adversum me injustitiam meam Domino:
* et tu remisisti impietatem peccati mei.

Pro hac orabit ad te omnis sanctus:
* in tempore opportuno.

Verumtamen in diluvio aquarum multarum:
* ad eum non approximabunt.

Tu es refugium meam a tribulatione, quae circumdedit me:
* exsultatio mea, erue me a circumdantibus me.

Intellectum tibi dabo, et instruam te in via hac qua gradieris:
* firmabo super te oculos meos.

Nolite fieri sicut equus et mulus:
* quibus non est intellectus.

In camo et freno maxillas eorum constringe:
* qui non approximant ad te.

Multa flagella peccatoris:
* sperantem autem in Domino misericordia circumdabit.

Laetamini in Domino, et exsultate justi:
* et gloriamini omnes recti corde.

Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven:
And whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man, to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin:
And in whose spirit there is no guile.

Because I was silent, my bones grew old:
Whilst I cried out all the day long.

For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me:
I am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened.

I have acknowledged my sin to Thee:
And my injustice I have not concealed.

I said, I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord:
And Thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.

For this shall every one that is holy Pray to Thee:
In a seasonable time.

And yet, in a flood of many waters:
They shall not come nigh unto him.

Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me:
My joy ! Deliver me from them that surround me.

Thou hast said to me: I will give thee understanding,
      and I will instruct thee in this way in which thou shalt go:
I will fix mine eyes upon Thee.

Do not become like the horse and the mule:
Who have no understanding.

With bit and bridle, bind fast their jaws:
Who come not near unto thee.

Many are the scourges of the sinner:
But mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord.

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye Just:
And glory, all ye right of heart.



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 THREE FOLLOWS.