108:8 May his days be few: * and his bishopric let another take.

Psalmus 108(2-13) [1]
108:2 Deus, laudem meam ne tacúeris: * quia os peccatóris, et os dolósi super me apértum est.
108:3 Locúti sunt advérsum me lingua dolósa, et sermónibus ódii circumdedérunt me: * et expugnavérunt me gratis.
108:4 Pro eo ut me dilígerent, detrahébant mihi: * ego autem orábam.
108:5 Et posuérunt advérsum me mala pro bonis: * et ódium pro dilectióne mea.
108:6 Constítue super eum peccatórem: * et diábolus stet a dextris eius.
108:7 Cum iudicátur, éxeat condemnátus: * et orátio eius fiat in peccátum.
108:8 Fiant dies eius pauci: * et episcopátum eius accípiat alter.
108:9 Fiant fílii eius órphani: * et uxor eius vídua.
108:10 Nutántes transferántur fílii eius, et mendícent: * et eiciántur de habitatiónibus suis.
108:11 Scrutétur fænerátor omnem substántiam eius: * et dirípiant aliéni labóres eius.
108:12 Non sit illi adiútor: * nec sit qui misereátur pupíllis eius.
108:13 Fiant nati eius in intéritum: * in generatióne una deleátur nomen eius.

Ever since the First Sunday of Advent, the Hour of None on Saturdays has had me intrigued. It is comprised of Psalm 108 in the Vulgate (Ps. 109 by contemporary editions of the Bible), of which I quote the first third above in Latin. Psalm 108 (109) finds no place in the 4 Week Psalter, perhaps because it is one curse after another. I put the English translation of verse 8 in the title line of this post, because that is the one which grabbed my attention from the very first recitation back when on the Saturday of the First Week of Advent 2018.

Contemporary Bible translations in English of Ps. 109 don't come off quite so abrupt, no doubt because they lean more heavily on the Hebrew. I am wondering if that predilection can as such really be justified. There is something to be said for the argument in favor of the Vulgate offered by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori. Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, in the preface to his commentary on the psalms of the Breviary, argues in favor of the Vulgate over the Hebrew, because of its proximity to the Septuagint, as being the more reliable text:

   

"As regards ourselves, the question is decided; for the Council of Trent, having declared the Vulgate exempt from every substantial error, we regard it as the safest version. The Council says: “If any one receive not, as sacred and canonical, the said books entire with all their parts, as they have been used to be read in the Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the old Latin Vulgate edition, … and knowingly and deliberately contemn them, let him be anathema.” This decree adds: “The holy Synod ordains and declares, that the said old and Vulgate edition, which, by the lengthened usage of so many ages, has been approved of in the Church, be in public lectures held as authentic; and that no one is to dare or presume to reject it under any pretext whatever." (”The Divine Office: Explanation of the Psalms and Canticles (Illustrated) (pp. 12-13). Aeterna Press. Kindle Edition.)

108:8 May his days be few: * and his bishopric let another take.... Ouch!

Saint Robert Bellarmine, in "A Commentary on the Book of Psalms" (Illustrated). Aeterna Press. Kindle Edition, referring to our verse of the psalm in question, applies these curses to Judas, whose bishopric passed to Matthias. St. Augustine, in his "Exposition on the Book of Psalms" (Kindle Edition), also clearly applies the psalm to Judas Iscariot and by extension to all who betray Christ:

"He therefore who refused to be subject unto Christ, deserved this, that he should have the devil set over him, that is, that he should be subject unto the devil....For this reason also it is said of those who, preferring the pleasures of this world to God, styled the people blessed who have such and such things, "their right hand is a right hand of iniquity." [4926] ..."

I really think priests and bishops should have to face Ps. 108 (109), some of us deserve to be cursed, you might say: 108:8 May his days be few: * and his bishopric let another take.

The prayer obviously is that we would be cursed unto repentance, like St. Peter, who denied Christ three times, before he wept bitterly and turned his life around, and not like Judas, who sold Jesus out, despaired and went off and hung himself.

Even if one is not disposed to take on the whole old Breviary, perhaps it might be worth it to put a tab in your browser for Saturday None?