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
§ 3. She was recognised and called Blessed by the Jews and the Mahometans
1 Great is the power of truth, for passion and hatred are not able to prevent it from being uttered through the mouths even of its enemies. This is reason alone for us to value their testimony so highly and I admit this is why I am going to give examples of Jews who came after the birth of the Saviour, since the ones who came before have been discussed in Chapter III. I shall also bring forward examples of Mahometans who have shown honour to Mary in what they said. I do this not to showcase their misconceptions and fantasies but only to demonstrate how powerless they have been to resist the truth and that despite themselves they have had to show reverence to her.
Pietro Galatino was a learned Author and luminary of the Order of St Francis. He robustly countered[1] the Jews of his day by quoting the words of their own Rabbis and made them admit that several of them, less prejudiced and more clear-sighted than the others, spoke powerfully of Jesus Christ as the one, true Messiah and of Mary as His worthy Mother. He quoted in particular one whom they called Rabbanu Hacodin[2], which means our Holy Master. This Doctor taught them that before the world was created, God foresaw the sin of Adam and the curse that would follow thereon. This caused God to question whether He would go on to create the world, of which man was to be the centrepiece. His Word, however, argued in a spirited manner that God should go ahead with His plan and this persuaded Him to do so, particularly the following thought: a rock would be hewn from the quarry without the hand of man, meaning it would be out of Israel that the Messiah would be born, the chosen rock, but through a Virgin and not in the ordinary manner. Accordingly, it was out of love for the Messiah and His Mother that God agreed to create the world.
By way of confirmation, we read the following words in the prophecy of Jeremiah[3]: If my covenant with the day can be made void, and my covenant with the night, that there should not be day and night in their season. In place of these words, the Hebrew Cabalists read the following: Were it not for the covenant I willingly made, I would never have established the order that exists between Heaven and earth, between day and night. In their opinion, this amounts to saying:
Were it not for love of Mary and Jesus her Son, I would never have agreed to create the world.
Let us return to Rabbi Hacodin: he goes on to say that the Holy Virgin is compared in Sacred Scripture to a display cabinet or sideboard, taking this image from a passage of the Psalmist[4] which speaks of what the right hand of God has planted. He adds that:
It is with good reason that the Mother of the Messiah is compared to the display cabinet or sideboard of Paradise; for just as a sideboard is utilized in the halls of the Great to display in rows vessels of gold and silver, and to showcase their wealth and possessions; in the same way God has made the Virgin so that she will show His glory for all the ages to come.
Rabbi Simeon applies to this same Virgin, the MOTHER OF GOD, words from the fourth Canticle: Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee[5].
The writings of Galatino provide more examples for those who may wish to pursue the matter further. I will close in repeating that it is no small matter that these people, having conceived such a hatred for Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother that they curse them several times each day in their Synagogues (according to St Epiphanius), are unable to prevent the truth from appearing in their own writings.
Footnotes
[1] Lib. VII de Arcanis.
[2] This appears to be a reference to Rabbenu ha-Kadosh. See “Galatino” in Catholic Encyclopedia and “Judah I” in the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906).
[3] Jer. xxxiii. 20.
[4] Ps. LXXIX.
[5] Cant. iv. 7.
2 The same may be said of the Mahometans, sworn enemies of the Christian name and Religion. Their heresy proves unable to prevail over the truth, as is shown by their Prince, Mahomet himself, who was constrained to publish it in his Koran. Here is what he says at one point[1]:
God placed His own soul in Mary, the best of all women, who was never touched by any man; along with His Son, He held her up above all nations as a most wondrous in her excellence.
Elsewhere, he says[2]:
With no exceptions whatsoever, she was the purest and most stainless of any human ever; her every though was directed towards God alone.
In anther place, he addresses her as follows[3]:
O Mary, there is no doubt whatsoever that God chose thee, purified thee and handpicked thee from others to be the most famous woman of all history.
In another place, he says[4]:
She will be replete with honour in this world and in the next.
This false Prophet and signal impostor[5] had a great Companion who was called Abu Hurayrah, who enjoyed great authority among the Saracens. He states that he learned from his master:
There are no children of Adam not in the hands of Satan except for Mary and her Son. There are among men numerous said to be perfect but among women there is no-one other Mary mother of Isa (as he calls our Saviour and Redeemer).
Does this not seem to you as though we were hearing one of those damned spirits that occasionally convulse the bodies of those who are possessed, forced by the exorcism to render unto God the glory, honour and truth which are His?
Footnotes
[N.B. The particular references to the Suras have not been cross-checked with the Koran]
[1] Sura 31.
[2] Sura 5.
[3] Sura 8.
[4] Sura 3.
[5] In Apokari seu Mozlin.
3 I would like to bring this discussion to an end with a remarkable account by the learned
James of Valencia, Bishop of Christopolis, which features in what he wrote about the fourth verse of the Magnificat. He says that:
While John XXII was in the chair of St Peter, there came to Avignon (where the Popes had moved their seat from Rome) the son of the king of Armenia, with the noble intention of seeing for himself the Christian Religion as practised at its source and to prepare himself for becoming as Christian. He accompanied the Pope in the Office, in visits to various Churches, listening to sermons and observing other works of piety. Unfortunately for the young Prince, on the very day of the Immaculate Conception of the MOTHER OF GOD, he found himself present at a sermon where the preacher went out of his way to show that Our Lady had been conceived in sin. This so offended him that without waiting for the sermon to finish he angrily walked out of the Church and immediately made arrangements to return home. Now, the Pope had returned to his palace after the divine service and the Prince, still scandalized, did not hold back from explaining how shocked he was that the his Holiness and the Cardinals next to him, being Princes of the Church and pillars of Religion, had permitted such a sermon in their presence. He made the point that, even though his people were Mahometans, if they had heard such things said of Our Lady, or indeed of Mahomet’s Mother, the person saying such things would have been stoned.
From this we may learn how highly the MOTHER OF GOD is honoured, even among these barbarians without the Faith.
👑 👑 👑
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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