The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 11 : § 4.5-6

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).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

§ 4. The peerless qualities of her holy soul

The third peerless quality

 5   We now move on to the third splendour and this concerns her accidental glory[1]. This is a reference to certain increases in glory which the Saints experience in an extraordinary manner or which are attached to particular classes or conditions of persons. I am saying it is indeed the case that God may choose to favour His faithful servants in Heaven with an increase of accidental glory. Their happiness is an unchanging state when we are talking of essential glory, but as far as accidental glory is concerned, we must remember that God loves His Saints infinitely and so He occasionally gives them new causes for rejoicing. 

He may do this, for instance, 

    • by revealing to them something which advances His honour in a matter of interest to them all; or

    • by increasing their happiness through the fruits of the good examples and holy institutions they left behind on earth; or

    • by illuminating their souls, according to His good pleasure, with a sudden enlightenment and making their hearts burst with a delight quite out of the ordinary, all according to His good pleasure.

In all this, it is clear that none of the blessed surpassed or even came near to what the MOTHER OF GOD received, not only because of the way she was conjoined with the principle and point of origin for all these benefits, but also by reason of her own most eminent qualities. As universal cause, she partook as of right in all the particular joys of the Saints, without mentioning those which came to her privately.

Footnotes

[1] For a discussion of this and related terms, see Ch.VII HEAVEN—HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN—ESSENTIAL AND ACCIDENTAL GLORY OF THE BLESSED, from The Last Things, by Abbé A. Michel, Translated by The Rev. B. V. Miller, D.D.(1929) 

 6   The other increases in accidental glory are given according to state, being granted to particular orders and conditions of the Saints, and reserved for outstanding services performed for God in this life. Such are those privileged rewards that we refer to through the imagery of haloes and laurel crowns[1] 

associated with Holy Martyrs, Doctors and Virgins. I have already said more than once that the MOTHER OF GOD holds the keys to all the privileges and that she has full access to them. When we come to bring forward the proof, the matter will soon be settled. No-one has any doubt, for example, that she deserved to be awarded virginity’s garland. As for the crowns worn by the Doctors, I explained earlier that she performed this teaching role and acquired this mark of recognition. The Angelic Doctor[2] teaches that to obtain this award it is not necessary to preach in public by way of profession but it is sufficient to have taught and explained to others the mysteries of Religion. It might be more difficult with regard to the Martyrs’ crown since she did not pass from this life as a result of a violent death, but let us consider what certain others have to say on this, writers such as St Anselm[3] who wrote that:

all the torments of the Holy Martyrs were moderate in comparison with the suffering endured by the Mother of God and that she would never have been able to bear them without extraordinary help from Him for whom and with whom she suffered;

or St Ildphonsus[4], who observed that:

Her body may not have been struck with a physical blade but her soul was pierced by the spiritual sword of love and tenderness which was worse, for wounds to the soul are penetrate more deeply than those in the body. If death’s executioner did not come into her life, she did not flee him when she was at the foot of the cross, her station keeping;

or the venerable Abbot Guerric[5] who said that:

from the time that she gave birth to the Saviour, she underwent a martyrdom of continual languor and distress : in fear, because of the snares prepared for her Son by His enemies; in pain because of the indescribable torments she saw Him endure; in love, as she saw herself removed from the unique object of her love;

or St Bernard[6], who remarked that:

the nails which dug into the feet and hands of her Son penetrated Mary’s soul; the lance which was plunged into the Saviour’s flesh after His death pierced the glorious Virgin’s spirit, opening such a painful wound that she would never have survived it if were not that she might suffer still more. 

Or St Lawrence Justinian[7], who sums this up when he says:

Throughout the passion of her beloved Son, her heart was a true mirror of all the sufferings He endured and a perfect image of death.

Having considered what they have written, can we disagree with these same Doctors when they call her Martyr, more than a Martyr and Queen of Martyrs? 

All these privileges of glory will become more visible when we discuss the splendour of the throne upon which she was raised.

Footnotes

[1] For a discussion of the term aureola, see Ch VII in The Last Things, by Abbé A. Michel, Translated by The Rev. B. V. Miller, D.D.(1929) 

[2] In IV, dist. 49, q. 5, art. 5.. 

[3] Lib. de Excellentia Virg., c. 5.

[4] Serm. 2 de Assumpt.

[5] Serm. de Assumpt.

[6] Serm. in Signum magnum, etc.

[7] Lib. de Thriumphali Christi agone, c. 21.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

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.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

© Peter Bloor 2024