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) |
§ 5. The incredible elevation of Mary's royal Throne
1 St Bernard would always advise extreme caution to anyone presuming to speak about the reception given in Heaven to the MOTHER OF GOD and the elevation of the throne to which she was raised. He did not want anyone to consider the entrance by the Queen of Angels into Heaven any less remarkable than the descent to earth by the King of glory. Here is how he speaks of both:[1]
Why do you think Holy Church on the feast of the Virgin’s Assumption places before us the Gospel[2] of this valiant Lady who received the Saviour (note that he understands this in a mystical sense and is not speaking of any reception other than that given by the Blessed Virgin), if it is not so that the Son’s entry may lead us to that of His Mother and that we may understand the second is no less inexplicable than the first?
Indeed, even if a man were to speak with the tongues of men and of Angels, where could he find eloquence sufficient to describe how it came to pass that, by the omnipotent hand of the Holy Spirit and the Virtue of the Most High, the Word who made all things was made flesh; and the God of Majesty for whom the whole extent of the created world would be a constraint, was enclosed within the womb of a poor Virgin?
If you agree this mystery is incomprehensible, how do you think it is possible to understand the triumph of the Queen of the world when she was assumed into Heaven and seated on the throne of glory, as befitted the honour due to her as MOTHER OF GOD and the great dignity which was proper to such a Son? With this in mind, let anyone who feels confident try to describe the height of the Imperial throne where the Queen of glory was to be seated. I confess that I have no wish to risk such an attempt and I prefer to place before you what the Saints have written. We shall find they soar to such heights in their words that were they not Saints they would strain their credibility for the most faithful of the Virgin’s servants.
Footnotes
[1] Serm. 1 de Assumpt.
[2] Luke x. 38-42 was the Gospel for this feast before the changes made after the formal definition of the Assumption in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. William Durandus says of this text: “Jesus entered into a certain ‘small castle’, that is, into the Virgin Mary... called ‘a small castle’ in the diminutive (castellum) because of her humility, and because of her unique condition, since ‘neither before nor henceforth hath there been or shall be such another.’” See Rationale Divinorum Officium, Book 7, at New Liturgical Movement site.
Our Lady was placed higher than all the Saints
2 Holy Church and the Doctors speak in three different ways about the seat of honour which was given to the MOTHER OF GOD, firstly in general terms. Thus we sing with the Church of how she was lifted up to the Kingdom of Heaven higher than the choirs of Angels. St Bernard and a great number of other Saints whom we have heard earlier place her over everything else that is under God.
The Virgin, he says[1], is welcomed this day into the holy City by Him for whom she once provided a home in her little castle when He came down into the world. But with what honour, with what joy and with what glory do you think she will be received? Just as when He came down to earth from Heaven, she received Him in what was the most honourable and worthy place in all the world, in the same way when she was assumed into Heaven from earth, she was honoured with the noblest position of all.
The same is said by many others I do not have space to include here who, basing themselves on reason, have declared it is an unquestionable maxim that the MOTHER OF GOD constitutes in Heaven an order apart and that her throne occupies a unique position below the most holy Trinity, but immeasurably higher than the seats of all the other Blessed.
Footnotes
[1] Serm. 1 de Assumpt.
Our Lady takes up her abode next to her Son, enthroned with Him
3 When I come to consider the matter more closely and to study what has been written by great servants of God and by those with great zeal for His glory, I note that they speak so highly of the Holy Virgin that they set her at the right hand of the Saviour on a throne adjoining His own beneath the same canopy, placing her near the Royal Seat of the most adorable Trinity.
St Athanasius[1], the great Doctor in antiquity, applies to her the words of King David the Prophet when he says[2]: The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.
St Ildephonsus comments[3]:
On this day, the Holy Virgin was crowned whilst attended to by Angels in the Kingdom which had been prepared for her from the beginning of the world; on this day, she was assigned her place at the right hand of God, as the Psalmist sang of old.
St John Damascene is not satisfied with that and he places her on the self-same throne as that of her Son, as companion and sharer in His delight and Queen of the same Realm, saying[4]:
The King hath brought thee into His chamber where thou art surrounded by Principalities, blessed by Powers, honoured by Thrones and exalted by Seraphim as true Mother by nature and by grace of the Lord of the universe. Thou wast not taken up to Heaven like Elias, nor wast thou caught up only to the third heaven, like St Paul; thou didst come to the Royal Throne of thy Son, and there thou dost contemplate at thy will His adorable face and enjoy personal and tender dealings with Him.
St Augustine does her no less honour when he says[5]:
Thou hast left behind the choirs of Angels and hast arrived at the Throne of the Sovereign Lord; for the King thy Son hath raised thee to the same seat where He placed that which He took from thee, reason requiring that thou, who art the Queen, shouldst attain the same summit of honour as He who was engendered of thee.
Sophronius says as much in his Sermon on the Assumption which he addresses to St Paula and her daughter St Eustochium Julia:
This is the day on which the glorious Virgin was assumed to the highest Heaven and was seated on the Royal Throne by the side of her beloved Son.
St Anselm speaks of the unutterable gentleness the Saviour towards His Mother when he says[6]:
He came to her at the head of millions of Angels and then, after parading all the legions before her, He invited her to take her seat near Him on the Throne of His glory, at the same time investing her with absolute power over all the creatures who obey Him.
Footnotes
[1] Orat. de S. Deipara.
[2] Ps. XLIV. 10.
[3] Serm. 1 de Assumpt. Virg.
[4] Orat. 1 de Dormit. B. Virg.
[5] Serm. de Assumpt.
[6] Lib. de Excellentia Virg., c. 8.
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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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