Holy Church considers many Old Testament figures to be saints.
The other day I posted about the Roman Curia’s wall calendar getting wrong the date of the commemoration of King David, considered to be a saint.
Today when you open your trusty copy of the 2005 Martyrologium Romanum you will find, just below the St. Thomas Becket, this interesting entry:
2. Commemoratio sancti David, regis et prophetae, qu, filius Iesse Bethlehemitae, gratiam invenit ante Deum et oleo sancto a Samuele propheta unctus est, ut populum Israel regeret; in civitatem Ierusalem Arcam foederis Domini transtulit ac Dominus ipse mox ei iuravit semen eius in aeternum mansurum esse, eo quod ex ipso Iesus Christus secundum carnem nasciturus esset.
I am sure some of you readers can come up with your renderings of the Latin original, either in a smoother version or perhaps in a slavishly literal way.
Changing tracks slightly, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (I have posted about this before), there is a fine painting of King David, part of a series with other Old Testament figures.
These are elements from an altar piece by Florentine painter Lorenzo Monaco (known also as Piero di Giovanni +1422).
Moses is at the top left. Next to him is Abraham. Below him on the bottom right is Noah with his ark.
David is on the bottom left, holding a psaltery.
When you get the audio guide at the Met and listen to experts talk about the works, sometimes you get a sample of period music. In this case, you get to hear some music played on a psaltery.
I dug around a bit and found some psaltery music on Youtube and elsewhere.
You can hear in this file a sample of bowed psaltery (also psaltry) together with a small harp, also appropriate to David, as well as plucked psaltery in two versions of a Medieval Lament for Tristan.
Listen as you do your translation!
When you go to the Met, you will surely have the chance to see these four paintings. They are in the same room as the Madonna and Child by Duccio di Buoninsegna, a must see.
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“The commemoration of St. David, king and prophet, the son of Jesse of Beit-lehem, who found favor before G-d, and was anointed with holy oil by Samuel the prophet so that he might rule the people of Israel. He transferred the Ark of the Coveanant of the LORD and the LORD himself soon promised David that his line would remain forever, this line from which Jesus the Christ would be born in the flesh.”
A quick linguistic line – “transferre” came through exactly from Latin to English. An exegete could note that this ancestor of the Anointed (of G-d) had himself been anointed by the Lord’s spokesman and leader of the people. Finally, note the future infinitives.
Lectio finita est. Salutationes omnibus..
Well, Tom beat me to the punch but here goes anyhow:
“The commemoration of holy David, king and prophet, who, the son of Jesse of Bethlehem, found favor before God and was anointed with holy oil by the prophet Samuel, so that he might rule the people of Israel; he brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant into the city of Jerusalem and the Lord then vowed to him that his seed would endure forever; thus from it Jesus Christ should be born according to the flesh.”
The translation is more slavishly literal than smooth, perhaps.
Slavishly literal is just fine around here!
The commemoration of holy David, king and prophet, the son of Jesse from Bethlehem, who found grace before God and was anointed by the prophet Samuel to lead the people of Israel; he transferred the Arc of the Lord’s Covenant to the city of Jerusalem and the Lord Himself swore to him that his seed would remain forever, inasmuch as that, according to the flesh, Jesus Christ was to be born from him.
Fr. Z, if you happen to find yourself in Sarasota, FL be sure to visit the Ringling Museum. They have a fine collection of Catholic paintings and other works of art. Sorry I cannot translate latin, but I am enjoying the Christmas tunes you’re spinning on Radio-Sabina.
http://www.ringling.org/ArtMuseum.aspx
I’m not much a Latin translator-but I sure like the paintings and the psaltery music!
Oh, how I wish I could go to the Metropolitan Museum in NYC! There are so many wonderful works of art!
I especially like the close-up of King David’s picture! Nice details!
Beautiful painting.
St. David Ben Jesse ora pro nobis.