Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/611

 PSALMS

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PSALTERItJM

are clear in the sufferings of the Servant of Jahweh of Pss. xxii, xl, Ixix (xxi, xxxix, Ixviii). Ps. xxii was used in part, perhaps entirely, by Christ on the Cross; the Psalmist describes as his own the emotions and suffer- ings of the Messias. Hence it is that the Biblical Commission (1 May, 1910) rejects the opinion of those who do away with the Messianic and prophetic char- acter of the Psalms and refer only to the future lot of the Chosen People those words which are prophecies concerning Christ. Cf. Maas, "Christ in Type and Prophecy" (New York, 1893).

X. Liturgical Use. — A. — The use of the Psalms in Jewish liturgy has been spoken of. Cf. also articles Synagogue; Temple. — B. — Christian hturgical use of the Psalter dates from the time of Christ and Hia Apostles. He recited the Hallels at the last Passover, Pss. cxiii-cxiv before the Last Supper, Pss. cxv-cxviii thereafter; Ps. xxii was His dying words; authorita- tive citations of other psalms appear in His discourses and those of His Apostles (cf. Luke, xx, 42; xxiv, 44; Acts, i, 20). The Apostles used the Psalms in worship (cf. Acts, xvi, 25; James, v, 13; I Cor., xiv, 26). The earliest liturgical service was taken from the Psalter. St. Paul represents the Ephesian Christians, to all seeming, psalmodizing, one choir answering the other; "Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalmodizing [i/'dWowes] in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks [«i)xp"''o5i'Tes] always for all things" (Eph., v, 19). Probably the Eucharistic agape is referred to. A like reference is in Col., iii, 16. St. Basil (P. G., XXXII, 764) speaks of this psalmodizing in two choirs — ami.'f'iWat' dXXiiXoit. The custom of psalmody, or antiphonal singing, is said to have been introduced into the Church of Antioch by St. Ignatius (Socrates, "Hist. Eccl.", VI, viii). From Syria, this custom of the Synagogue would seem to have passed over to Palestine and Egypt, to Asia Minor, Constantinople, and the West. St. Ambrose was the first to inaugurate in the West the chanting of the Psalms by two choirs (cf. Batiffol, "HistoLre du br^viaire romain", 1S93). In the Proprium de tem- pore of the Roman Rite, all the Psalms are chanted at least once a week, some twice and oftener. In Matins and Lauds, according to the Vulgate's numeration, are Pss. i-cx, excepting a few that are fixed for Prime and other hours; in Vespers are Pss. cxi-cxlvii, e.x- cepting a few fixed for other hours. The great alphabetic praise of the Law, Ps. cxviii, is distributed between Prime, Terce, Sext, and None. The Bene- dictines, Franciscans, Carmelites, and Dominicans, who have their own rite, all chant the Psalter once a week; the Jesuits follow the Roman ritual.

In the Latin Rite, Pss. vi, xxxi, x.xxvii, 1, ci, cxxix, cxlii (Douai) have long been recited, in the above order, as prayers of sorrow for sin; they are lyric cries of the sorrowing soul and have hence been called the "Penitential Psalms". Their recitation during Lent was ordered by Innocent III (1198-1216). Pius V (1566-72) established the custom, now no longer of general obligation, whereby these psalms became a part of the Friday ferial Office of Lent.

The Ambrosian Rite, still used in Milan cathedral, distributes the Psalms over two weeks. The Oriental Rites in union with Rome (Melchite, Maronite, Syr- iac, Chaldean, Coptic, iEthiopic, etc.), together with the heretical Oriental Churches, all keep up the recita- tion of the Psalter as their Divine Office.

The bibliography of the Psalms is naturally enormous and can be given only in small part.

Greek Fathers: Oriqen, tielecla in Psalmo« in P. G., XII, 1043; Idem. Homilia: in Psalmoa in P. G., XII. 1319; Idem. Origiiiis Hexaplarum qu.m supersunt, ed. Field; Eusebius, Comm. in Psalmos in P. G.. XXIII, 0.5; XXIV, 9; St. Athanabids, EpiKt. ad Uarcellinum in P. 0., XXVII. 11; Idem. Eieoeses in Psatmos in P. G., XXVII, .55; Idem, De TiluKs Psiilmorum in P. O., XXVII, 64,5; St. Basil, Homilin in Pss. in P. 6'., XXIX, 209; St. Didymus of Alexandria in P. G.. XXIX. 11.55; St. Greo- ORY OF Nyssa in P. 0., XLIV, 431, 608; St. John Chrysostom in P. G., LV, .35, 527; St. Cyril op Alexandria in P. G., LXIX, 699; Theodoretus in P. 6'., LXXX, 857.

Latin Fathers: St. Ambrose, Enarrationes in XII Psalmoa in P. L., XIV, 921; St. Jerome, Liber Psalmorum juxta hebraicam veritatem in P. L., XXVIII, 1123; Idem, Excerpta de Psatlerio (Maredsous, 1895) ; Idem, Epislolos in P. L., XXII, 433, 441, 837; Idem, Breviarium in Psatmos in P. L., XXVI, 821; St. Auana- tine, Enarrationes in Pss. in P. L., XXXVII, 67; Idem, Expositia in Pss. C-CL in P. L., LI, 277; Cassiodorius in P. L.. LXX, 9.

Commentators of the Middle Ages: Bede, Peter Lombard, St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure and others of the Middle .\ges depend chiefly upon the Fathers for their interpretations. Nicholas of Lyra, in his Postilta, and the converted Jew, Paul, Archbishop OF BuRQOS, in his Additions to the Postilta, give us much of rab- binic interpretation.

Moderns: Bellarmine, Explanatio in Psatmos (1611), was by far the best commentator on the Psalms till recent times, as he used scientific methods in textual criticism; Schegg, Die Psatmen (Munich, 1845); Rohling (1871) ; Thalhofer (Ratisbon, 1904); WoLTER, Psattite Sapienter (Freiburg im Br., 1904); Bickell, Der Psalter (1884); van Steenkiste (1870); Patrizi, Cento Satmi tradotti e commentati (1875); Minochi, / Salmi tradotti del Testo Ebreo (1895); Le Hir, Les Psaumes Iraduits de Vhibreu en latin avec la Vulgate en regard (Paris, 1876); Les^tre (Paris, 1883) ; FiLLioN, Les Psaumes commentes seton ta Vutgate et I'Hibreu (Paris, 1893); Crampon (1889); P.annier (1908); Zenner-Wiesmann, Die Psatmen nach dem Urtext (Miinster, 1906); NiGLUTSCH (Trent, 1906); Eaton, Sing ye to the Lord (London, 1909) ; Hoberg, Die Psatmen nach der Vulgata (Frei- burg, 1892); M'SwiNEY, Psalms and Canticles (St. Louis, 1901).

Protestants: the commentaries of de Wette (1811-56); HiTziG (1863-65); Olshadsen (1853); Hupfeld (1855-88); Ewald (1839-66) ; Delitzsch (1895) ; Duhm (Freiburg im Br., 1899); Baethgen (Gottingen, 1904); Cheyne (New York, 1892) ; International Critical Commentary, ed. Briggs (New York, 1907), the best of non-Catho!ic commentators on the Psalms; KiRKPATRicK in Cambridge Bible (1893-95).

Walter Drum.

Psalms, Alphabetic, are so called because their successive verses, or successive parallel series, begin with the successive letters of the alphabet. Some of these formations are perfectly regular, others are more or less defective. Among the regular Alphabetic Psalms must be reckoned Pss. ex, cxi, cxviii (Heb., Pss. cxi, cxii, cxix). The praise of the strong woman in Prov., xxxi, 10-31, and the first four chapters of Lamentations exhibit a similar regular formation. Pss. ex and cxi consist of twenty-two verses each, and each successive verse begins with the corresponding successive letter of the alphabet. Ps. cxviii consists of twenty-two strophes containing each eight dis- tichs; the successive twenty-two strophes are built on the twenty-two letters of the alphabet in such a way that each of the eight distichs of the first strophe begins with the first letter, each of the eight distichs of the second strophe begins with the second letter, etc. Prov., xxxi, 10, consists of twenty-two distichs, each successive distich beginning with the successive corresponding letter of the alphabet. Lam., i, ii, iv, consist each of twenty-two short strophes beginning with the successive letters of the alphabet. In Lam., iii, each successive letter of the alphabet begins three lines, so that the chapter consists of sixty-six lines in which each letter of the alphabet occurs three times as the initial of the line. Defectively Alphabetic Psalms may be found in Pss. ix, xxiv, xxxiv, xxxvi, cxliv (Heb., ix, x, xxv, xxxvii, cxlv). But the device is not limited to the Book of Psalms; it is also found in other poetical portions of the Old Testament.

ViGODROUX, Did. de la Bible (Paris, 1895).

A. J. Maas.

Psalterium. — The Psalterium, or Book of the Psalms, only concerns us here in so far as it was transcribed and used for liturgical purposes. As a manual of private devotion it has already been sufficiently discussed under Prayer-Books. In its liturgical use the Psalterium contained the bulk of the Divine Office. The other books associated with it were the Lectionary, the Antiphonary, and Re- sponsoriale, and the Hymnary. The Psalterium contained primarily all the text of the Psalms, and it may be noted that for some centuries the Western Church used two different Latin versions, both due to St. Jerome. The earlier of these was a mere re- vision of the pre-existing Latin translation which closely followed the Septuagint. St. Jerome under-