The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 12 : § 5.113-116

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

§ 5. She was recognized  and honoured by all Nations everywhere in the world

Italy

OUR LADY OF MONTDEVI & OUR LADY OF OROPA

 113   In the region of Piedmont there is nothing more celebrated than Our Lady of Mondevi, whose name and miracles have spread far and wide. In the history written by Philippe-Marie Roffredy,  we read that the site started to attract visitors from all parts in the year 1595 because of the miracles reported to be taking place. Here is what happened.

The Citadel of Mondovi was falling into ruins and the governor ordered a builder to start work in his limekiln so as to begin the task of repairing the building. This man set to work in compliance with this request but he soon noticed that the wood he was using, though perfectly dry, was not catching fire and he started to become very impatient. This made his own daughter suggest to him that he should make a promise to Our Lady that he would build a pillar for her as thanksgiving if the wood would only catch fire. He had scarcely begun to formulate the promise in his head when the wood in the kiln caught fire and everything then proceeded as normal. Immediately afterwards, he kept his promise and he also painted on the southern side of the column that he had built a beautiful, holy image of Our Lady. The Mother of kindness immediately recognised what he had done by granting him a new blessing, and from that moment onwards everything went so smoothly for the builder that the bricks were produced to perfection but using two thirds less wood than would normally be the case. This shows how true it is that the Queen of Heaven shows herself as a good Mother not only in big things but in small things too.

About three leagues from Biella, which is a city beyond the river Poe belonging to the Duke of Savoy, located on a mountain called Oropa, there is a chapel of the glorious Virgin with a miraculous statue which attracts crowds of visitors.

The ancient tradition, confirmed in a Bull issued by Pope Clement VIII approving this chapel, is that St Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli and Martyr[1], built it one thousand two hundred and fifty years previously. It was a place where he would seek calm and respite during the troubles caused by the Arians in Italy. He would go there each and every time he felt he needed recollection after his energies had been dissipated by the multitude of concerns that his responsibilities brought upon him. The statue is believed to be of cedar wood and is as tall as a person, The common view is that it is the handiwork of a truly talented artist. There have been many miracles reported here over a period of twelve hundred years, some of which were examined and formed part of an official compilation in 1621.

The people of Biella and the vicinity were kept safe when the plague ravaged the surrounding provinces at the beginning of this century. In gratitude, they built a truly fine Church in honour of the most sacred Virgin on the same spot, whilst retaining the the little chapel which St Eusebius had built. As devotion continued to grow, on the 3Oth of August 1620 they crowned the statue of the Virgin with a triple crown of gold, placing at  the same time an imperial diadem of the same material on the head of the infant Jesus who is held in the arms of His Mother. This was all done with such solemnity and with such public rejoicing that it would take more words to describe than space permits here. You can read about it in a book which appeared in the Italian language, printed in Turin 1601. All around the mountain there are various cells or stations where the mysteries of the life of the blessed Virgin are represented and where pilgrims to this holy site provide evidence of their devotion to the Queen of Heaven.

Footnotes

[1] c. 283-371.

Savoy

OUR LADY OF CHARMES, OUR LADY OF VIVONE, OUR LADY OF ROCHETTE & OUR LADY OF MYANS

 114   We shall end our world tour in Savoy where Our Lady is religiously venerated, concentrating on certain locations where she has been particularly generous in her graces and favours. In the town of Charmes there is a  miraculous image of the most sacred Virgin whose history and miracles have been carefully compiled by Jacques Bertrand, a Savoyard physician. Near Vivone there is a church of Our Lady and a Carmelite house which were founded around 1485 in the following circumstances.

There was a certain oxherd who wanted to drive his oxen across a particular field but was unable to do so no matter how he beat them or prodded them with his goad. A gentleman who happened to be passing by gave him a piece of wise advice : not to continue stubbornly trying to make them go forward, but to find out what it was that could be making them stop at that particular place. It turned out that this gentleman had been inspired by God, for the oxherd followed his advice and dug in the earth at the place where he had noticed the oxen would not cross. He found first of all a flagstone still looking as if it had been recently laid and when he lifted it up, he found underneath a beautiful image of the most glorious Virgin which had been placed in the Earth, without receiving any honour other than what the Angels from heaven offered her. Once the local inhabitants heard about this, they ran to the place and the image was carried in honour to the village Church, but the next morning, they found the image was back in the place where the oxen had refused to walk. When this happened a third time they realised that it was a clear sign the holy Virgin wanted to be venerated at that particular place. Accordingly, they built a beautiful church and a house for the Carmelite Fathers, into whose care the image was assigned. 

Here is another example which is very similar in its details to the the story I have just recounted and it concerns Our Lady of Rochette.

This site is not very far from Geneva and it is surrounded by a field where, in that same year, a shepherd was leading his flock. He thought he heard a a voice crying from inside a bush. He determined to find out out what this could be and found that as he drew closer, the voice grew louder and cried out more. Finally, he noticed an image of the Virgin which was in the middle of a bush. He alerted all his neighbours and they eventually decide to carry the image away, but as before, they could not manage to move it away from the bush. This made them decide to build a Church on that spot and they entrusted it to the care of Carmelites, as had happened at Vivone. It so happened that later some people removed the image and took it into Dauphiné because of the miracles associated with it. The next morning, the image was found back in its original location.

 115   About a quarter of a league on the main road from Chambéry to Montmélian and a good league from each of these two towns, being half a league from the little village called Les Marches, there is a slight eminence on which stands a chapel of Our Lady. Its origins are lost in antiquity and it has an image of the Holy Virgin holding the Infant Jesus on her lap. This statue is called Our Lady of Myans and its construction seems to involve woven material and a moulded cast. The chapel is very popular with the those who live in the district and several miracles have been reported, some of which are included by Fr. Jacques Foderé, a member of the Franciscan Observantine Order, in a description he wrote of the convents in his Order that are in the St Bonaventure province, where Myans is situated. Here is one example that I cannot pass over in silence.

Around the year 1249, Pope Innocent IV travelled to Lyon in search of the help of St. Louis against the machinations of the Emperor Frederick II. He obtained from Count Thomas of Savoy, through the agency of a secretary and favourite of the Count, an agreement to close off the Alpine passes to the Emperor. In return for this, the secretary obtained from the Pope the rich priory of Saint Benedict which was in the town of Saint André in Savoy, now the site of the Château of Apremont, a quarter of a league from Myans. To make himself more comfortable there, the secretary acted very severely with the monks who were based there, forcing them to leave and find somewhere else to live. They set off intending to go back to the Abbey of Saint Lambert, the mother house of their priory.  Weeping and feeling very upset, they decided to pop into Our Lady of Myans as they were passing, in order to express their sorrow. The secretary, however, was in Saint André, where he was meeting with the town leaders. Suddenly the sky grew dark and demons aroused such dreadful thunder and such strange storms and earthquakes that the town of Saint André together with sixteen nearby villages were swallowed up, part of Mount Granier collapsing in an avalanche of rocks that swept upon them. What was remarkable, however, was that the disaster did not affect Myans and although the avalanche came close to the monks, none of them suffered any harm whatsoever. Amid the terrible cacophony they heard the devils at the rear of the storm shrieking to those at the front: “Keep going, keep going, go on!” The ones at the front shouted back that they couldn’t because the Black Lady would not let them. The disaster produced deep gouges which the locals nicknamed abysses, a name which has stuck with them to this day. They cover an area a good league in length and just as wide. For the space of some forty years, no one saw a single blade of grass or any plants growing there until the 8th of December (which is the feast of the Conception of the holy Virgin) in the year 1258, when the place was blessed by Laurent Alemani, Bishop of Grenoble. Since then, the land has supported vines orchards and anything that people have wanted to sow there.

I should like to think that my pen would bear favourable witness to future generations of the gratitude that the members of the noble Senate and the right honourable Congregation in the Jesuit college at Chambéry have offered to the most glorious Virgin these past months of the year 1632. They, along with several other provinces, have had to suffer three consecutive scourges sent by God : war, famine and the plague. They were in no doubt that this great Princess had stayed the hand of God’s just vengeance and accordingly they presented to her a silver heart with wings which was crowned with stars and crescents. Within it was a small book bound in silver with precious stones, containing the names of all the confreres written in letters of gold. This was borne in solemn procession to Our Lady of Myans. 

Worthy servants of the Virgin, who join in this way so happily the exercise of justice with that of devotion, may ye be so blessed with the holy graces of the Queen of hearts that ye will ever grow in the graces and favours of Heaven so as to attain the joy of contemplating her in Sion.

 116   It is now time to draw this long journey to close. My hope is that no one will have been offended if, through any forgetfulness or ignorance on my part, I have failed to mention any remarkable things which may be found in various cities and provinces concerning this devotion to the holy Virgin. I hope readers will understand that I have sincerely tried to concentrate on those things that my memory brought to mind and that it was never my plan to make a detailed compilation of all that can be said on this matter. My intention was simply to show, by the little I have been able to present, that Our Lady has been no less honoured across the vast extent of earth than she has been and will be throughout the long duration of the ages.

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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