{"id":1526,"date":"2018-11-04T20:13:35","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T00:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/?p=1526"},"modified":"2018-11-04T20:13:35","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T00:13:35","slug":"peering-into-the-psalter-of-the-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/peering-into-the-psalter-of-the-passion\/","title":{"rendered":"Peering into the Psalter of the Passion"},"content":{"rendered":"

For my blog post, I chose to write about the Psalter of the Passion section found in one of the British Library\u2019s manuscripts, Harley MS 2985<\/a><\/u>. Having no idea what the Psalter of the Passion was, I set out to do some research. And I found\u2026 almost nothing. There was only one reference to the Psalter of the Passion in the books Dr. Camp recommended, and it was a footnote for an image of this section in another manuscript. Additionally, a Google search for \u201cPsalter of the Passion\u201d revealed only ten results: all manuscripts that contain this section. Since I couldn\u2019t find any research on the Psalter of the Passion, I set out to do my own.<\/p>\n

The first step was identifying the Psalms contained in Harley MS 2985\u2019s Psalter of the Passion. I did this by comparing them to the Psalms in the Latin Vulgate Bible<\/a><\/u>. Using the Vulgate Bible, I found that this Psalter of the Passion contains five medieval Psalms: 21, 25, 27, 28, and 30. Of the five, Psalms 21, 25, 27, and 28 are written out completely, and only the first six verses in Psalm 30 are written. In addition to the five Psalms, there is a short prayer, Oratio Sine Oremas, at the end of the Psalter of the Passion.<\/p>\n

To help with my understanding of the Psalter of the Passion, I found four other manuscripts that contain this section: Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, Walters MS W.202<\/a><\/u>; London, British Library, Kings MS 9<\/a><\/u>; London, British Library, Add MS 54782<\/a><\/u>; and Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS ff.6.8<\/a><\/u>. Harley MS 2985, Walters MS W.202, and Kings MS 9 all have identical Psalter of the Passion sections. They each contain the medieval Psalms and prayer I mentioned above. Add MS 54782 and MS ff.6.8 each contain Psalms 21- 26 and 29-30:1-6, and an unidentified prayer. Determined to find a link between these five manuscripts, I looked at their manuscript descriptions and found that all five have similar origin stories. They were all made in Bruges in the fifteenth century for the English market. All of these manuscripts, with the exception of MS ff.6.8, are Use of Sarum (MS ff.6.8 is also probably Use of Sarum, but the manuscript description does not state a Use).<\/p>\n

Since the Psalms included in the Psalter of the Passion seemed random, I quickly acquainted myself with their modern edition: the Psalms of the Passion. Psalms 21-30:6 are known as the Psalms of the Passion. Cynthia Robinson, a professor of History of Art and Visual Studies at Cornell, writes that Psalms 21-30 were \u201cbelieved by medieval Christians to have been prayed by Christ from the Cross during the final hours of his life.\u201d Because they believed these Psalms were said by Jesus on the cross, medieval Christians made these Psalms a part of the Passion, like Pilate\u2019s washing of his hands or Peter\u2019s thrice denial.<\/p>\n

Knowing that Jesus was quoting directly from Psalms made the job of finding links between the Psalms of the Passion and the Gospels\u2019 accounts of the Passion of Christ easier. I was also able to understand why medieval Christians believed that Jesus said these Psalms. The opening line of the Psalter of the Passion, Psalm 21:1 \u201coh God my God\u2026why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d is a line that the Gospels record Jesus saying on the cross. It is written here in Matthew 27:46<\/a><\/u> \u201cAbout three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice\u2026\u2018My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d Jesus\u2019s famous last words, \u201c\u2018Father, into your hands I commit my spirit\u2019\u201d (Luke 23:46<\/a><\/u>) are the last lines of the Psalter of the Passion, Psalm 30:6 \u201cInto thy hands I commend my spirit…\u201d Thus, it makes sense that medieval Christians would have believed that everything in between those lines was also said by Jesus.<\/p>\n

According to Honorius of Autun,\u00a0Gemma anim\u00e6<\/em>, Liturgica, cap. 83: De trag\u0153diis:<\/p>\n

\u201cDecem namque psalmos, scilicet a\u00a0Deus meus respice<\/em>\u00a0usque\u00a0In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum<\/em>\u00a0cantavit, et sic expiravit.\u201d\u00a0 [\u201cFor He sang ten Psalms, that is, from the\u00a0Deus meus respice<\/em>\u00a0to\u00a0In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum<\/em>, and then died.\u201d][1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jesus\u2019s recitation of Psalms 21-30:6 is not their only connection to the Passion. Several of the events of the Passion seem to have been foretold in Psalms. Psalm 21:15 says \u201cI am poured out like water\u2026\u201d and in John 19:34<\/a><\/u> \u201c\u2026one of the soldiers pierced Jesus\u2019 side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.\u201d Jesus is indeed poured out like water.<\/p>\n

Another seemingly prophetic verse from the Psalms of the Passion is Psalm 21:19 \u201cthey parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots.\u201d This happens to Jesus while he is on the cross. Matthew 27:35<\/a><\/u> says \u201cwhen they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psalms 25 and 27 are harder to connect with the Passion, as they seemed to go against the teachings of Jesus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have hated the assembly of the malignant; and with the wicked I will not sit.\u201d (Psalm 25:5)<\/p>\n

\u201cGive them according to their works, and according to the wickedness of their inventions. According to the works of their hands give thou to them: render to them their reward. Because they have not understood the works of the Lord, and the operations of his hands: thou shalt destroy them, and shalt not build them up.\u201d (Psalm 27:3-4)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To me, this seems to contradict the very purpose of Jesus\u2019s coming, as even on the cross, \u201cJesus said, \u201cFather, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing\u201d (Luke 23:34<\/a><\/u>). As for what they believed in the Middle Ages, I was not able to find any research that there was a medieval belief that Jesus\u2019s persecutors were punished for this crime, though it would certainly fit the medieval mindset of justice and punishment.<\/p>\n

One thing this project taught me is that the medieval perspective is entirely different from the modern perspective. They were more focus on the Passion than modern Christians are. They believed different things about the world and their lives were ruled by a completely different system. It is sometimes easy to forget, when looking at a manuscript, that we cannot use modern logic and ideologies to inspect medieval texts. Though we can see and touch manuscripts from that era, it is important to keep in mind that we should be looking at these things with medieval eyes.<\/p>\n

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[Featured image is taken from London, British Library, Harley MS 2985]<\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

Bible Gateway\u00a0https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

British Library Add MS 54782 http:\/\/www.bl.uk\/manuscripts\/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_54782_fs001ar<\/a><\/p>\n

British Library Harley MS 2985\u00a0http:\/\/www.bl.uk\/manuscripts\/Viewer.aspx?ref=harley_ms_2985_fs001r\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

British Library Kings MS 9\u00a0http:\/\/www.bl.uk\/manuscripts\/Viewer.aspx?ref=kings_ms_9_f001r\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Digital Walters W.202\u00a0http:\/\/www.thedigitalwalters.org\/Data\/WaltersManuscripts\/html\/W202\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Latin Vulgate Bible\u00a0http:\/\/www.latinvulgate.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The Psalms of the Passon: A Lenten Devotion\u00a0http:\/\/psallitesapienter.blogspot.com\/2012\/02\/psalms-of-passion-lenten-devotion.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Robinson, Cynthia. Imagining the Passion in a Multiconfessional Castile. <\/em>University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013.<\/p>\n

University of Cambridge MS ff.6.8 https:\/\/cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk\/view\/MS-FF-00006-00008\/190<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For my blog post, I chose to write about the Psalter of the Passion section found in one of the British Library\u2019s manuscripts, Harley MS…<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingPeering into the Psalter of the Passion<\/span> <\/i><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2974,"featured_media":1527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[44,117,120,31,69,122,76,119,118,121,49],"class_list":["post-1526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-undergraduate","tag-book-of-hours","tag-harley-ms-2985","tag-kings-ms-9","tag-manuscripts","tag-medieval-manuscripts","tag-ms-ff-6-8","tag-passion-texts","tag-psalms-of-the-passion","tag-psalter-of-the-passion","tag-w-202","tag-walters-book-of-hours","entry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/235\/2018\/11\/download.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7AbKE-oC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2974"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/hargretthoursproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}