The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 11 : § 5.4-5

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)

§ 5. The incredible elevation of Mary's royal Throne

 4   Blessed Cardinal Peter Damian, right at the beginning of the Sermon he prepared for this very feast, allows his ideas to take flight. He prays that his tongue may speak in golden streams of words, that the Holy Virgin will sharpen his understanding, guide his pen and enrich his language. He asks the Sun to rise on a wonderful day– for this is the blessed day when the Virgin without peer is assumed up to the seat of the Eternal Father and, taking her place near the Throne of the most holy Trinity, draws unto herself the gaze of all the blessed Spirits.

You will interpret the words of these great Saints in whatever sense appeals to you. For my part, I am satisfied at having kept my word by making them speak in your presence. As I promised, I shall not introduce my personal opinions. It would be going too far for me to make conjectures about the joy that filled Heaven on this day. Here are the words of the blessed St Ildephonsus[1]: 

Let us start with the Holy Virgin, for this feast belongs mainly to her. Try to picture how her soul burst with joy when she saw next to her Him for whom her heart had longed so patiently. We may perhaps hear the words she might have uttered at this point: 

My most beloved Son, Thou hast been the anchorage for all my hopes; what is there in Heaven or on earth that could possess my heart apart from Thee, who art my only good, my Lord and my God, whom I cherish over all that is lovable in the world, whom I honour and want with all the love in my heart? Now I hold Thee and possess Thee with no fear of losing Thee, with no anxiety about being separated from Thee. Through all eternity, thou wilt be my destiny, my inheritance, my happiness, my one and my only, my all…

Let us now consider the feelings of joy that filled the whole of Heaven. The same Saint goes on to ask[2] whether anyone could doubt the following : that the hundred and forty-four thousand Cantors of Heaven’s Chapel Royal, continually in the presence of the Throne of the Lamb with their musical instruments to hand, made the holy household resonate with the melodious harmonies of the new Canticle which they alone are able to sing; and that they came to perform before the Virgin, who is the one among the wise virgins. But did I say the one? She is rather the first among the first and the one who is always at the side of the Lamb, accompanying Him everywhere, whereas the others follow along after. 

Footnotes

[1] Ildefons., Serm. 1 de Assumpt.

[2] Serm. 1 de Assumpt.

Our Lady is the Throne of God

 5   In order to discharge fully my promise, all that remains is for me to show that the Saints confirm the same Virgin is, properly speaking, the true Throne of the King of Glory. The holy Abbot Guerric provides the best and clearest explanation of this[1]:

Be careful not to think that being received into the bosom of Abraham is comparable to being received into Mary’s bosom, granted that the King of glory placed His throne within her, saying: Come, my beloved, and I will place my Throne within thee. It was not possible to represent more candidly or more elegantly the glory of this holy soul than by calling it the Throne of God. It reveals quite clearly how God does not communicate with any of the Saints in such a full and familiar fashion as He does with Her in whom He takes His special repose. I know that He promised His Apostles they would sit on the twelve seats[2] to judge with him, because they had left all things for love of Him. I am aware of what he said[3] to encourage His soldiers, that He would allow them to sit with Him victoriously on His throne, as after His conquests He Himself did sit on the throne of His Eternal Father. But just as the Mother’s merit is quite different from that of the servants, so too is the reward. Telling her He will place His throne within her is as though He were to have said:

It is not enough, my sweetest Mother, for thou to be seated next to me and to judge with me; I need thee to become my throne of justice so that I may be seated with thee in particular, for my plan is to help thee understand in a privileged way that which is incomprehensible. Thou didst seat me in thy lap when I was little; now that I am infinitely colossal, thou dost seat me in thy spirit. Thou wast a shelter for the pilgrim, thou wilt be a palace for the King. Thou wast a tent for Him who was yet to go into battle, thou wilt be the triumphal chariot of glory for Him who now taketh a victory salute. Thou wast the nuptial couch of the Spouse Incarnate, thou wilt be the throne of the crownéd King.

O King of Glory, how true it is that Holiness is proper to Thy house, which Thou hast set in good order! Entering therein for the first time Thou didst increase her grace, but on the second Thou didst fill her to overflowing. Then, Thou wast born as a man; now Thou hast been glorified as a God. Then, Thou didst make her a sanctuary of grace, now she hath become the Throne of Thy glory.

I concede there are some among the blessed spirits whom we honour with the title of Thrones and I accept that the soul of the just is called in Sacred Scripture the seat of Wisdom[4]. I agree that Heaven is said to be full of seats and this reference is to the Saints, in each whom God has His repose, being accommodated according to their particular merits. There can be no debate, however, about the MOTHER OF GOD and she is not to be treated as being in this respect just like all the other Saints. Without diminishing their position, it must be granted that God has a throne which is exceptional, the glory of which is at a higher level than everything else in Heaven. I am speaking of Mary who is so far above all the choirs of Angels that none has precedence over the Mother except her Son, none goes before the Queen except the King, and none before the Mediatrix except the Mediator.

That is how this noble servant of the Mother of God speaks about this subject. 

He goes further in a subsequent Sermon where he has the Saviour addressing His Mother as follows:

I shall establish thee as the royal seat of my reign; in thee and through thee shall I dispense my justice; it will be from thy sacred hands that I shall receive the petitions of men. No person served me more faithfully than thee during my childhood, and this is why I serve thee above all others in my Royalty. Thou didst give me humanity, do thou receive in return my divinity. In thy humility thou wast content with a kiss from my lips, without asking for anything more; thou wilt in truth now receive an eternal embrace; by joining my lips to thine I shall unite my spirit with thine indissolubly, inasmuch as I have sought out thy beauty with a yearning greater than thou didst desire. It seemeth to me that there will be always something wanting to my glory until thou dost fully come to appreciate the incomparable good I desire for thee.

May the Angels bless Thee, O King of glory; may Thy Mother’s glory make Thine own shine forth ever more brilliantly; and may all the world understand how just as there is no Son like unto Thee, so too there is no Mother like unto her whom Thou hast so highly honoured.

Footnotes

[1] Serm. 1 de Assumpt.

[2] Matt. xix. 28.

[3] Apoc. iii. 21.

[4] Wisdom vii. See St. Augustine on Ps LXXX in his Exposition on the Book of Psalms.

👑       👑       👑

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