Bellarmine on Psalm XLIV: Verses 16-17

Verse 16

After her shall virgins be brought to the king: her neighbours shall be brought to thee.

Adducentur regi virgines post eam, proximae ejus afferentur tibi.

Although the bride of Christ is unique, and she is uniquely beloved, that is, the universal Church, there are after her other brides of Christ, with special prerogatives above the rest of the faithful, those souls who have solemnly dedicated to God their virginity according to the flesh, and who have taken pains to please Him alone. Of these, the Apostle says in I Corinth. Vii: “ He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband.”[1] Of these things, the Prophet now speaks and in these two lines commends virginity, which is wondrously pleasing to the virginal Christ, who feedeth among the lilies.[2] “After her,” he says, “shall virgins be brought to the king,” that is, after His principal bride, the Church, there shall also be brought to the nuptial chamber of the heavenly bridegroom those souls who have dedicated their virginity to God. “Her neighbours shall be brought to thee,” that is, 

only those virgins shall be brought to thee, O Spouse, who were close to the principal Bride of thy Church, that is, who were bound and united to her, which is what the holy Fathers Basil and Augustine as well as others, say, to the exclusion of heretics and schismatics: for virginity outside the Church does not have the privileged position of a bride. And since we said at the beginning that we read in this Psalm of a Bride, it may also be understood as referring to the Blessed Mary, mother of the lord, who is justly called the Queen of virgins: and we can explain the following things about her, so that the sense is: all true virgins shall be brought to Christ after her, that is, after the mother of the Lord; and her neighbours, that is, those who have come close to her through imitation of her perpetual virginity, shall be brought to the nuptial celebrations of the same spouse and king, Christ.

[1] Volo autem vos sine sollicitudine esse. Qui sine uxore est, sollicitus est quae Domini sunt, quomodo placeat Deo. Qui autem cum uxore est, sollicitus est quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeat uxori, et divisus est. Et mulier innupta, et virgo, cogitat quae Domini sunt, ut sit sancta corpore, et spiritu. Quae autem nupta est, cogitat quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeat viro. But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband. [I Cor. Vii. 32-34]

[2] My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies, Dilectus meus mihi, et ego illi, qui pascitur inter lilia, [Cant. of Cant. ii. 16]

Verse 17

They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple of the king.

Afferentur in laetitia et exsultatione; adducentur in templum regis.

He explains the joy of such a number of nuptial celebrations. “They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing,” that is, the virgins shall be brought tot the nuptial feast with great joy and applause throughout the whole of heavenly Jerusalem. Perhaps he is referring in this text to that canticle which only the choir of virgins were permitted to sing in the heavenly kingdom, and of which we red in Apocalypse chapter xiv: “And they sung as it were a new canticle, before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the ancients; and no man could say the canticle, but those hundred forty-four thousand, who were purchased from the earth. These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.”[1] Happy souls who follow the Lamb advancing on His virginal way, and with joy and exultation they chant the new canticle, unknown to the ancient Fathers, and which no other can sing; and with this jubilation they will be led into the King’s temple, that is, into the heavenly tabernacle, which may be called a palace on account of its magnificence and a temple on account of its holiness.

[1] And they sung as it were a new canticle, before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the ancients; and no man could say the canticle, but those hundred forty-four thousand, who were purchased from the earth. These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb:Et cantabant quasi canticum novum ante sedem, et ante quatuor animalia, et seniores : et nemo poterat dicere canticum, nisi illa centum quadraginta quatuor millia, qui empti sunt de terra. Hi sunt, qui cum mulieribus non sunt coinquinati : virgines enim sunt. Hi sequuntur Agnum quocumque ierit. Hi empti sunt ex hominibus primitiae Deo, et Agno :[Apoc. Xiv. 3-4]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.