Misereré

Misereré, the name by which, in Catholic usage, the 50th Psalm of the Vulgate (51st in Authorised Version) is commonly known. It is one of the so-called 'Penitential Psalms,' which are said after Lands on the Fridays in Lent, except Good Friday. It has been commonly understood to have been composed by David in the depth of his remorse for the double crime which the prophet Nathan rebuked in the well-known parable (2 Sam. xii.). Another opinion, however—plainly stated by Theodore of Mopsuestia (died 428), and adopted by many moderns—attributes this psalm to some of the psalm-writers of the Captivity; whilst others, again, hold that the last two verses only were added after the return from the Exile.