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| Titian, Averoldi Polyptych (1520-22) SS. Nazarius & Celsus are the standing figures in the lower left |
“Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before Thee, O Lord; render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom; revenge the blood of Thy saints, which hath been shed. Ps. O God, the heathens are come into Thy inheritance: they have defiled Thy holy temple: they have made Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit. Glory be to the Father... Let the sighing...”
This virile Introit for today’s TLM—in honor of the martyrs Nazarius, the boy Celsus, and Pope Victor I, and the confessor Pope Innocent I (cf. Dom Guéranger’s commentary on them)—is taken from Psalm 78, verses 10–12. Verse 12, a “cursing” verse, was removed from both the Lectionary and the Liturgy of the Hours, so it is nowhere prayed in the Novus Ordo. These saints, too, were given the axe, in spite of being called upon by the Church for well over a thousand years.
In general, the spirited or thymotic psalms have been minimized or excised, which corresponds to the generally effeminate presentation of Christianity in recent times. Think of the doe-eyed Sacred Heart images from the 19th and 20th centuries, where Our Lord is depicted as a saccharine, fragile, androgynous figure, as if He would flinch at a passing softball, or deflate when poked with a needle.
