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).
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| 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
3 It is alas the case that the ancient worker of evil is never short of lying stratagems and true enough he soon found a way of trying to undo the effects of the words he had been forced to utter. His trick was to put into men’s minds that the prophecy referred to the great Mother of the Gods[1] (as she was called by these poor souls in the blindness of their ignorance). Accordingly, they dedicated this superb temple to her. Later, however, the Emperor Zeno was unable to allow this insult to the true Mother of God to continue any longer, Around the year 470 he cast out the demons along with their statues and idols and consecrated the building in honour of the immaculate Mother of the Redeemer.[2]
Footnotes
[1] Magna Deum Mater: the ancient Oriental-Greek-Roman deity commonly known as Cybele in Greek and Latin literature from the time of Pindar (c. 518 – 438 BC).
[2] John Malalas, in his Chronographia (4.8), reports that the emperor Zeno (r. 474-475, 476-491) converted the temple of the goddess Rhea in Cyzicus/Kyzikos (north-west Asia Minor) into a church dedicated to Mary (Mother of Christ). Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria) or Constantinople, in the mid-6th c.
4 The learned Martyr Procopius was arraigned on account of his faith before the judge Flavian. In the beautiful speech[1] he delivered which was to lead to his martyr’s crown, he made use of the reply given long previously to Jason the Conqueror, Captain of the Argonauts who had asked Apollo at Delphi to whom he should dedicate the famous Temple he had built in the city of Athens. Here are the words quoted:
Take care to follow all that can guide you on the virtuous path of righteousness. As for my wishes, they may be summed up in three thoughts: In one only God who reigneth on high, from whom the incorruptible Word conceived in the womb of a Virgin most and pure passing across the world like a fiery bow[2] will win over men for a pleasing offering to His Father. This Temple will be His and His Mother’s name will be Mary.
The ancient Serpent, however, played so many tricks in the minds of the poor Athenians that he was able to conceal the true meaning of the Oracle and caused the Temple to be dedicated to Minerva the Goddess, as they would say, of Wisdom.
Footnotes
[1] Metaphraste apud Surium, 8 julii ; Bozius, loc. cit.
[2] The French word used is arc which can refer to an archer’s bow, a rainbow (as in Gen. ix. 130, a geometrical arc or an arch in architecture.
5 Historians recount[1] how the following story about Emperor Augustus : having brought the civil wars to an end, he returned to the city of Rome and ordered the construction of an altar on the Capitol with the following inscription: Altar raised to the Firstborn of God. Some say this was on on the very spot where, guided by Sibylline verses, he had seen a vision above him of a Virgin holding her infant son in her arms. Today, the Franciscans have a beautiful Church here dedicated to Our Lady and known as Santa Maria in Aracæli[2].
St Epiphanius in his life of Jeremias, Dorotheus in his Synopsis and several others recount the following:
This prophet fled for a time the savage fury of King Nabuchodonosor and withdrew to the Priests of the Egyptians. Among other secrets, he warned them a time would come when their Idols would be cast down. This would be after a Virgin, who conceived and gave birth to her baby in a manger, chose Egypt as a place of safety for a time. The Priests took careful note of this and sought to pass on the memory by means of an image showing a Virgin kneeling before a manger in which was laid a little baby. Their successors did not seem overly curious about its meaning and when the King Ptolemy asked them what the image signified, their only reply was that it was something handed down by their predecessors.
Footnotes
[1] Baron., in Apparatu.
[2] Aracæli : “altar of Heaven,” referring to the inscription on the altar raised by Augustus.
6 St Thomas along with many others reports that in the year 796 (although not all agree completely with this chronology), during the reign of Constantine VI and his mother Irene, an ancient sepulchre was opened and inside they discovered a body (which some say was Plato’s). Among the remains was a necklace with a gold medallion on which was engraved the following inscription:
The Christ will be born of a Virgin and I believe in Him; and thou, O Sun, wilt see me again in the time of Irene and Constantine.
Around the year 1201 A.D., when Honorius III was Pope and during the reigns of the Emperor Frederick II and Ferdinand King of Castille, it came to pass in the precincts of the city of Toledo that a Jew was working in a vineyard. He broke open a large rock and inside he found an ancient book with pages made from the bark of a tree. It was written in three languages : Hebrew, Greek and Latin. The text spoke of three ages or major events in world history. At the beginning of the third section were the following words:
In the third age, the Son of God will be born of the Virgin Mary, and He will suffer for the salvation of men.
I will have more to say later on Our Lady of Chartres and there is in fact much more to discuss but I think it is better for the time being not to overtax readers.
Footnotes
[1] Most authorities now give the dates of his Papacy as 1216-1227.
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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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