Verse 6
Praise and beauty are before him: holiness and majesty in his sanctuary.
Confessio et pulchritudo in conspectu ejus; sanctimonia et magnificentia in sanctificatione ejus.
He said that God is great and to be feared : now he adds that He is to be praised from every point of view, the most beautiful, the most glorious and the most holy; and this is chiefly to be seen in His heavenly sanctuary where He shows Himself to the Angels and the other blessed spirits. Verses 1 & 2 of
Psalm CIII will shed light on this line which is somewhat obscure: “Thou hast put on praise and beauty: And art clothed with light as with a garment;”
[1] for it is said that God has put on praise and beauty because from every point of view He is said to be praiseworthy, and therefore He is praiseworthy because He is totally beautiful and comely, whether considering His essence, His attributes, His judgements, His thoughts or His works, which St. John summarised in I
Epist. chapter I: “ God is light, and in him there is no darkness.”
[2] The Prophet therefore says of God : “Praise and beauty are before him,” that is, praise, or matter for praise, and beauty, or comeliness and glory, are all around God, because He has put on praise and beauty; and for this reason He sees His praise and beauty all around Him, and He is everywhere seen as beautiful and praiseworthy : just as the sun, if it had the sense of sight, would see everywhere the rays of its own light, as they are seen everywhere bright and dazzling. “Holiness and majesty in his sanctuary,” that is, holiness, or purity and magnificence, or majesty and glory, with which God is clothed as by vestments, is seen in His sanctity, that is, in His sanctuary, or in His holy temple, which God Himself has in the heavens. This verse can also be translated as “Praise and beauty are before him,” that is, let the confession of His praise and the beauty of His justice beauty be offered before Him; “holiness and majesty in his sanctuary,” that is, let the sanctity of His life and the magnificence of His good works be together offered in His holy temple. By
confession, St. Augustine understood the confession of sins, by means of which a man deformed (by sin) could begin to grow beautiful, and to be made holy and pleasing to the celestial spouse, who is supremely beautiful and holy. Concerning the vocabulary, the Hebrew word translated as
sanctimonia / holiness properly signifies
solidity and
strength; but it is also taken as meaning
glory, honour, substance, riches (power). The Septuagint translators seem to have taken this word in the sense of
glory and
purity, which is proper to holiness: as in the following verse they took it in the sense of
honour and conjoined it with
glory. For the words
in sanctificatione ejus, the Hebrew has
in His sanctuary, and this is also how St. Jerome translates it. Nor is it unusual in the Scriptures that
sanctificatio / sacredness is taken in the sense of
sanctuary; for this is how it is read (for example) in I
Machab. I : “ And he proudly entered into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar,” etc.
[3][1] For David himself. Bless the Lord, O my soul: O Lord my God, thou art exceedingly great. Thou hast put on praise and beauty: And art clothed with light as with a garment. Who stretchest out the heaven like a pavilion: Ipsi David. Benedic, anima mea, Domino : Domine Deus meus, magnificatus es vehementer. Confessionem et decorem induisti, amictus lumine sicut vestimento. Extendens caelum sicut pellem. [Ps. CIII 1-2]
[2] And this is the declaration which we have heard from him, and declare unto you: That God is light, and in him there is no darkness. Et haec est annuntiatio, quam audivimus ab eo, et annuntiamus vobis : quoniam Deus lux est, et tenebrae in eo non sunt ullae. [I John i. 5]
[3] And he proudly entered into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof, and the table of proposition, and the pouring vessels, and the vials, and the little mortars of gold, and the veil, and the crowns, and the golden ornament that was before the temple: and he broke them all in pieces. Et intravit in sanctificationem cum superbia, et accepit altare aureum, et candelabrum luminis, et universa vasa ejus, et mensam propositionis, et libatoria, et phialas, et mortariola aurea, et velum, et coronas, et ornamentum aureum, quod in facie templi erat : et comminuit omnia. [I Macchab. i. 23]
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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