Gradual of Saint John Vianney

Psalm 91:13-14

The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus: planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. (Alleluia, alleluia) Ps. It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to Thy name, O Most High. Glory be to the Father.

Haydock

Verse 13. Palm-tree. Sept. foinix, means also a “Phœnician, or the Phœnix” bird, of which the ancients have said so much, Job xxix. 18. (C.) and of which Tertullian, (de Res. xiii.) and S. Ambrose, (de fid. Res.) seem to understand this passage. Amama. — But it must be explained in the sense of the Vulg. as the Heb. Tamar evinceth. This tree, and the cedar, were the most famous in those countries; the former for its fruit, and the latter for buildings and duration. The palm-tree will shoot forth again, after it has been cut down or burnt, (Pliny xiii. 14.) so the just will rise up from oppression. C.

Verse 14. Courts. In the Church triumphant, as well as in the militant. W. — The piety of the faithful induces strangers to embrace the truth. Bert.

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