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
§ 5. She was recognized and honoured by all Nations everywhere in the world
Cathay
10 After China, let us move on to Cathay. For a long time they were thought to be one kingdom but it has recently been discovered that they are in fact different, and people have come into contact with this great Cathay so longed for, which is to say the Kingdom of Jesus. Those whose zeal for the house of God has led them hither and who have received a warm welcome from a pagan prince, recount amongst other things how they have seen in their Temples images of the Virgin no different from our own. They also have on display at her side three children that look like each other and which they say are only one and signify only one, even though they are represented as three. It may easily be believed that these represent the vestiges of a time when the MOTHER OF GOD had taken possession of this kingdom and we must hope and pray that she will receive the honour due to her and that she enter again into the enjoyment of her rights.
Japan
11 Considering where we began our journey, Japan is the furthest away of those countries we have been discovering in the direction of the rising sun. Those who write about the empire of Japan state that before the Christian Religion was brought there by St Francis Xavier (who was honoured with the title of Apostle of Japan), they had in their Temples a woman holding a little child in her arms which they adored and to which they recourse in time of affliction. Today they honour with a full understanding her of whom they have only heard of as though in a dream. The woman whose help they invoked in time of need is the same woman who today gives them the courage that they are showing in a time of persecution and their constancy when faced with the extreme trial of martyrdom.
New Christendom: the Portuguese and Spanish conquests
12 Let us now cross the line Pope Alexander VI drew which divides the Spanish and Portuguese conquests. We shall find in this new Christendom all the signs of the primitive Church, especially when it comes to a love for serving sand honouring the MOTHER OF GOD. We shall see in Baya, Pernambuco, Patatininga and other parts of Brazil; in Lima, Cuzco, Potosi, La Paz, Guamanga, Quito and many other places in Peru; in Chile, Córdoba, Tucuman, and other places in Paraguay; in Cartagena, Panama, Tunia, Caxica and other places in New Granada; in Mexico, Oajaca, Guadalajara, Puzcuara, Topozotlan, Guatemala, Zacatecas and other cities in New Spain; in Manila, Zebu, Taitay, Dulac, Carigara, Tinogon and a hundred other cities, towns and villages in the Philippines where Satan reigned supreme only eighty years ago, all that we consider to be the best and the most beautiful in our Europe. Not forgetting my plans for this journey, we should note the presence everywhere of Churches dedicated to the MOTHER OF GOD, Confraternities and Congregations established for the furtherance of her devotion – in short, honour is shown to Mary in hundreds of different ways similar to those found in the towns where she has from been honoured the beginning. The Virgin, moreover, not only allows them to experience the graces and favours that she distributes in other places, but she treats them like infants at the breast and every day she nurses and caresses them in a most extraordinary manner so as to wean them away from their ancient errors.
Portugal
13 It seems that the time has now come for us to visit our very own Europe which the Virgin looks upon with a fond gaze and where she is recognized more widely than anywhere else. We shall make our entrance via Portugal where she has received a great honour. That tall cliff-top that you can see from afar has given the name of Peñanegra to the immediate vicinity. The beautiful Church on the cliff-top is called Our Lady of Nazareth and I must now tell you how and why it came to be built.
14 In the 1150s Alfonso was the first King of Portugal and the first of this name. One of his attendants was a knight of great virtue and courage named Fuas de Roupinho who had a passion for hunting. On the feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, he was pursuing a deer at full gallop but without fully realizing where he was headed as there was a thick fog covering all the local countryside. Suddenly, he found himself on the edge of this clifftop and if his horse had not halted, he would have found himself falling down into the sea. God knows how astonished Fuas was to find himself there and how in his heart he offered thanks to God for having preserved his life. But he was still not out of danger, for he could not go forward or rein in the horse to go back. At that moment he looked behind and saw a statue of the Virgin and with her help, along with that of of the kindly Angel who had reined in his horse, he quickly withdrew backwards with such power that the rock was marked by the horse’s iron shoe, which can still be seen to this day.
I will not detain you by giving details of the thanksgiving he offered up to the Queen of Heaven, but suffice it to say that he built on the spot a small chapel which was called Our Lady of Nazareth. The reason for this name is as follows: Fuas had prostrated himself before the statue to offer his adoration and he then he took it in his hands and became curious to read a note that was attached. He learned the statue was very ancient and had been honoured in Nazareth from the time of the Apostles. When the persecution by the Iconoclast Emperors was spreading all over the East, a Greek monk named Cyprian took the statue to a monastery in Spain called Garliñan near Mérida where many miracles took place until 714. After this, the Moors poured into Spain and King Rodrigo was forced to seek sanctuary in this monastery. He is said to have left disguised as a religious in company with a monk called Roman. They took with them the statue as well as some relics of St Bartholomew and St Blaise. Eventually, it is said he hid all these in a little cave near the cliff-top.
In 1377 Prince Fernando, son of Juan I, built a beautiful Church which was later greatly enriched, embellished and strengthened thanks to the generosity of Eleanor, daughter of Juan II and gifts from King Emmanuel. It is now some years since they built a chapel under the Church in the little cave where the statue had been found. No-one who stands at the foot of the rocks looking up at the cliff-top can fail to be shaken by the sheer height and the violence with which the waves crash against the shore.
All the details above are taken from the account written by Doctor Bernard the Breton, a Cistercian monk, in the Chronicle of his Order.
We may also note here the ancient Church of Our Lady of Carquere on the river Douro where Egas de Monis, the tutor of Alfonso I, took his young charge to seek healing for his crippled feet by the intercession of the Virgin. This miracle duly came to pass as I shall recount in Part III.
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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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