Chapter 11 : The Tenth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God
Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020) |
Mary is the Miracle of Glory
The Pilgrim who is absent for a long time from his country has never waited more impatiently to see his home and his dear children again than I have been waiting to start this discussion where I aim to show the principal splendours of the MOTHER OF GOD. What the Prophet Isaiah says[1] is most true, that the Royal splendour and magnificence of our God may only be seen properly in Heaven. It is there, as St Bernardine of Siena remarks[2], that we shall see the choice she made of the better part:
in the brightness of the beatific vision, in the way she enjoys life with God, in the honour she has of drawing nearer to Him than any other person, in the exaltation of her throne, in the plenitude of her possession of life everlasting, in the superabundance of her incomparable glory which is the reward for her exceptional merits.
These are some of the considerations which lead to me call her the Miracle of Glory. Let us begin our discussion with the dealings she had with the Kingdom of death itself, the first stage in the usual path taken by Saints towards happiness.
Footnotes
[1] Because only there our Lord is magnificent: Isai. xxxiii. 21
[2] T. II, conc. 51, art. 3, c. 2.
§ 1. The great privileges of the death of the MOTHER OF GOD
1 I am aware that St Epiphanius[1], perhaps unduly influenced by an excessive respect for the MOTHER OF GOD, was reluctant to accept that she was subject to death in the way normally understood. His view should not, however, side-track us here because it is the common belief of the Catholic Church that she underwent death. This is founded on ancient tradition such as we find in the writings of St John Damascene[2], Epiphanius (Priest of Constantinople)[3], Andrew of Candia[4], St Juvenal the Patriarch of Jerusalem[5], and of many other serious minds[6], following Dionysius the Areopagite who provides a summary account in the third chapter of his work on the divine names.
Reason in fact requires nothing less because in this, as in the rest of her life, Mary had to conform to her divine Son, as St Augustine remarks[7]. It follows because death is something natural to man and, in the worst case, a punishment for sin, not repugnant to God Himself and which can occur in the absence of sin. The Manichaeans and the Valentinians were heretics who claimed Mary had an angelic nature. In order to combat this heresy, it was sufficient to show through Mary’s death that her body, and consequently the body of her Son, were of the same nature as our own, having the same passible quality. We may add to this what was said by St John Damascene[8] and St Augustine[9]:
If King David the Prophet said Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints[10], then the death of the Queen of Saints must have had value and merit impossible to calculate, for herself and for her children.
We can also say with the same St John Damascene[11] and with St Andrew of Candia[12], that:
it was necessary that she should alleviate the fears and anxieties we have about death by the example of her own.
Footnotes
[1] Hæresi 68.
[2] Sermonibus de Dormitione B. Virginis.
[3] Sermonibus de Dormitione B. Virginis.
[4] Sermonibus de Dormitione B. Virginis.
[5] Apud Nicephorum, lib. V. Hist., c. 5.
[6] Niceph., loc. cit. ; Metaphrast., de Vita et Dormitione Deipara, 15 aug, etc. ; S. Joann. Damasc., Orat. 1 de Dormit. B. Virg.
[7] S. Aug., Serm. de Assumpt.
[8] Initio Orat. 2 de Dormit. B. Virg.
[9] Serm. cit.
[10] Ps. CXV. 15.
[11] Serm. 1 de Dormit. B. Virg.
[12] Homil. 2 de Assumpt. B. Virg.
The first privilege of her blessed death
2 In the end we can say that death took nothing away from her merit. On the contrary, the first privilege of her blessed death was death itself. I call it a privilege not because I mean by this word that death was something particular to her, but it was granted to her when she could not receive it except as a signal mark of her beloved Son’s affection at this point. To make this clear, I would ask you to remember that the Doctors have put forward various reasons why the Saviour, who loved His Mother so tenderly, did not grant her the favour of taking her with him at the time of His triumphant Ascension, or at least taking her up to Heaven soon after Him. St Augustine[1] explains :
This was so that the poor Church militant would not suddenly be orphaned and deprived of all help; and so that the Mother would make up in some way for the absence of her Son, and that her presence would take away some of the pain caused by the departure of her Son.
When the Sun seems to abandon us, the moon appears as if to console us for the loss we feel at the departure of the beautiful star. Abbot Rupert says[2]:
It was entirely fitting for Mary to remain for a time on earth, to instruct us in the faith and to serve as an example for Virgins and Widows.
St Anselm notes that[3]:
one of the main reasons was to allow her to have her own triumph and so that the honour she would receive at her Assumption would not be as though eclipsed by that of her Son’s Ascension.
One Doctor[4] whom I am reluctant to name because of the trouble he caused to the Church in his day (even though some say he made reparation for with due penitence for what he did), goes even further in his comments:
The Saviour deliberately arranged matters so as to render the triumph of His Mother in a certain manner more magnificent than His own, not only by placing her at the head of the blessed Spirits, accompanied by several Saints whose glorified bodies added in small way to the brilliance of her glory, but also through being present in person Himself as the crowning point of her honour and joy.
Blessed cardinal Peter Damian says almost as much in a sermon on the Assumption. Whatever else may be said, there is no doubt that her death was a favour for she received it from God in the gentlest and most desirable way imaginable.
This leads us straight on to the second privilege of her death.
Footnotes
[1] Serm. de Assumpt. Virg., t. IX operum.
[2] Lib. V in Cant. ; S. Bernard., Serm. 4 in Missus.
[3] De Excellentia Virg., c. 7.
[4] Petrus Abailardus, Serm. de Assumpt. B. Virg.
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
© Peter Bloor 2024
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