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
§ 1. The great privileges of the death of the MOTHER OF GOD
The third privilege of her blessed death
8 This leads us on to the third privilege of her death. Now, it is scarcely possible to find any Saint who before dying was not warned of the day and time of their death. How much more reason do we have for saying this favour was not denied to her who surpassed them all in holiness? This is particularly so since it is the pious belief of all those who, through even the slightest degree of affection, wish to preserve the honour of the peerless Virgin. This was the view of Albertus Magnus[1] and the whole of venerable antiquity taught the same. As for identifying the person chosen to deliver this message, it is difficult to do so with certainty. Those, however, who give this honour to St Gabriel have a strong case[2], not only because of his elevated status as being one of the seven Spirits who stand before God and receive the most important commissions for the government of the world, but also because he was always preferred to the others in matters which concerned the MOTHER OF GOD. Besides this, the same Virgin told St Bridget[3] that the Angel in question revealed himself to her just as he was on the other occasions when she saw him. It is, therefore, not difficult to suppose that it was none other than St Gabriel who served her as Chamberlain. It is also a possibility that the blessed Archangel, at the commandment of God, showed her the crown prepared for her on high. This should not strain our belief since the same grace was granted to many others. There are accounts showing this privilege was accorded to the soldier St Victor and to his wife St Corona[4], who suffered death in Syria on the 15th of May under the emperor Antoninus. The same is true for the forty Martyrs who died of cold in an icy lake in the town of Sebasteia in Armenia[5] under the Emperor Licinius. This being so, why would such a privilege be denied to the MOTHER OF GOD? In fact, no rain ever fell on a thirsty earth more propitiously than did this message reach the ears of Mary, whose sighs longed only for Heaven and for the dissolution of her body, which is the unique way leading thereto.
Footnotes
[1] Super Missus, c. 149.
[2] Metaphrastes, in Orat. de Vita et Dormit. B. Virg., etc.
[3] Lib. VI, c. 62.
[4] Martyrol. Rom., 15 maii.
[5] Hist. Passionis ipsorum.
The fourth privilege of her blessed death
9 The fourth privilege is one which is mentioned by St John Damascene[1], by Nicephorus[2], by Metaphrastes[3], by Glycas[4], and by others after St Denys in the place I cited earlier : namely, that in attendance at her death was the most noble and honourable company ever assembled. Without counting the Blessed Spirits who surrounded her deathbed in their millions[5], and without mentioning the goodly number of Saints whom the Saviour took with Him up to Heaven on the day of His Ascension and who all came down to pay their last respects to their liberatrix (according to St John Damascene), those men whom David calls the Princes of the earth, St Paul the Pillars of the Church and St John the Gates of Heaven (i.e., the Holy Apostles) found themselves led there, probably through the office of Angels, and with them, all those who helped in spreading the Gospel.
Who could imagine the Canticles of praise sung by this holy gathering, asks Andrew of Candia, the thanksgiving they offered to the most holy Trinity, the fervent desire to serve God which lit up their hearts, the acclamations made to the Holy Virgin and – especially – the rejoicing of some and the weeping and lamentations of others?
I cannot here pass in silence over the holy and loving contrast between the Blessed Spirits of those in the Church triumphant on the one side and the noble gathering of the Church militant on the other. Those in the former, inviting her to go and receive the reward for her labours and the prize for her incomparable merits, called her the glory of Jerusalem and the honour of the heavenly city. They showed her the commandment from their Lord and Master not to return without her.
Those poor people in the early Church, however, wept floods of tears and filled the air with their sighs and sobbing. They called her their stay and their support, their refreshment, their joy, their life, their teacher, their consolatrix, their refuge, their mother, their all. They pressed her warmly not to abandon them, knowing this was in her power; or if she was resolved to depart, then to take them with her.
The contrast between these two groups reminds me of an antique painting entitled Love, pictured by the ancients as a a figure suspended midway between Heaven and earth, drawn equally upwards and downwards by golden chains. Such, it seems to me, was the Queen of Love’s heart when Heaven and earth were vying with each other for her presence.
Footnotes
[1] Orat. 2 de Dormit. B. Virg.
[2] Lib. II Eccl. Hist., c. 21.
[3] Orat. de Vita et Obitu B. Virg.
[4] III part. Annalium S. Brigitta, loc. cit.
[5] S. Brigitta, ibidem ; Sophron., Serm. de Assumpt. ; Ildefons., Serm. 1 de Assumpt. ; Arnoldus Abbas, Tract. de Laudib. Virg.
[6] Orat. de Dormitione S. Mariæ Deiparæ.
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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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