The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 12 : § 2.1 [Pt I]

Chapter 12 : The Eleventh 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)

She has been and is still recognized and called blessed by all generations in the world

§ 2. She has been recognized and called Blessed by the Gentiles

 1   It is a long time since Clement of Alexandria said[1]:

God, as the Father of all men, has never failed to illuminate the darkness of the disordered and brutish lives men lead with flashes of His light. These are always more than sufficient to lead them to knowledge of the truth. In every age He has brought into this world people who have been able to shine the light of this truth so as to guide men to the safe haven of salvation.

Putting to one side the Jews whom God treated as His chosen people, let us now consider the Gentiles who, although enveloped in darkness, had their own lights to lead them on the right path of virtue and piety. Among these, I am now going to discuss the Sibyls because the Doctors of the Church have used their prophecies in a wondrous manner for the benefit of the Christian Religion[2]. It cannot be denied that through a special act of Divine providence the Gentiles were moved to preserve with such care these books which would provide us with the means to refute their paganism. The Emperor Augustus, for example, was a Prince with a most enquiring mind and he ordered the most learned men he could find to conduct a diligent review and study of the texts. These were then honoured by being placed in two golden chests beneath the statue of Apollo Palatinus.

Now I am well aware of the differences of opinion between scholars concerning the number of these Virgin prophetesses of the Gentiles and I have no intention of trying to settle this question. I shall follow the consensus which has opted for twelve, all of whom lived long before the birth of the Saviour, including some who predate Him by nearly two thousand years. It is a marvel to see how they explained with such clarity the mysteries concerning Jesus Christ and His Mother. You will be pleased to read them in our own language.*

*[Translator's note: I have followed the alexandrine metre and rhyming scheme of Fr Poiré's French text in the verse translations below, staying fairly close to his word patterns]

I shall begin with the Persian Sibyl, a daughter of Berosus and from the time of King Cyrus. She normally wore a robe made from cloth of gold with a white veil on her head. She speaks about the MOTHER OF GOD : 

The first-born Son of God, conceived through virgin Maid,

His royal City soon will enter on a colt;

A gentle Prince will man redeem from sin and fault,

Who to His Father then will safely be conveyed.

The Libyan Sibyl is referenced by Euripides and Theognis, two very ancient poets. She was never seen without a floral hat. She speaks thus:

The One who lives alone from ages sempiternal

And contemplates within His essence all serene,

Will rest within the womb of His own mortal Queen;

Forsooth ye men and Angels – adore your King supernal!

The Delphic Sibyl, who was prophesying in the era before the city of Troy fell, served as a mouthpiece for the Delphic oracle. Here are her words:

The Lord extends His hand and holds His sinews taut,

Suspending nature’s laws in truth is His intention;

A Virgin will conceive without man’s intervention,

Remaining all intact, of pain she suffers naught.

The Cimmerian Sybil’s name comes from a town in Italy near Cumae. She spoke as follows:

Behold the sovereign Prince, the mighty Empire’s blessing,

Enthroned upon the lap of Virgin without peer;

When radiant star on high does suddenly appear,

Behold now from the east, three Magi are progressing.

The Samian Sybil, or the Sybil from Samothrace, was a Virgin of exceptional beauty. Some identify her with the celebrated Pytho of whom Nicanor speaks in his account of Alexander the Great’s deeds and Eratosthenes in his Annals of the Samians. She has left us these lines:

In Heaven will be seen a star on high has soared,

In darkness light will shine, to show men here on earth

That God is born like us, so like our own His birth;

Hence Mother and her Son by men will be adored!

The Cumaean Sibyl was known as Amalthea or Deiphobe (from her father Deiphobus, son of Glaucus). She uttered her prophecies in Italy and here is what she declared:

The Lord sought out which clothes would suit His incarnation;

He chose a Virgin’s womb, whom gladly she embraced, 

Most chaste among the fair, most fair among the chaste,

She was His masterpiece, His joy, His exultation.

Footnotes

[1] Lib.VI Stromatum.

[2] Lactant., lib. I Divin. Institut.; D. Aug., lib. XVIII de Civit. Dei, c. 28 et permulti alii.

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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