The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 12 : § 5.60-62

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

OUR LADY OF TONGRE

 60  In Hainaut we come to Our Lady of Tongre and the origin of this Church deserves a few words here. Tongre[1] is a pleasant little village in the diocese of Cambrai, about a league from the city of Ath and half a league from Chièvres.

There was a nobleman called Hector of Tongre who was notable not only for his extraction (being a cousin of the Counts of Flanders and Saint-Paul, as well as a nephew of the Count of Namur), but for his good and praiseworthy life. On the eve of Candlemas in the year 1081, an image of the most glorious Virgin was brought into his garden by Angels at eleven o’clock at night. It was surrounded by a beautiful, bright cloud that illuminated all the country roundabout as though it were a fine summer’s day. The lord of Tongre had been blind for three years and when he heard news of what had happened he was carried straight away to his garden. There, along with the greater part of his subjects, he spent about an hour and a half listening to heavenly music which was accompanied by such a sweet fragrance that it seemed to them like a foretaste of Paradise. After this had finished, the lord carried the image to his chamber with every sort of pomp and honour, ordering that it was to be guarded most diligently. The following morning, it was borne solemnly to the Church of St Martin and placed on the high altar. The next day, however, they noticed something mysterious had happened, for the image was found back in the garden at the spot where the Angels had first set it down. The news of this miracle spread everywhere and no-one could speak of anything else. The Bishop of Cambrai was told and he took the steps necessary to ensure he was juridically informed of everything that had happened. Then, on the 17th of February, after preaching a fine sermon praising the MOTHER OF GOD, he blessed the garden where the image stood and then the whole château which since then has witnessed countless miracles.

I was given this account by Sir Robert of Hautport, lord of Grands-Sars, who has compiled details of the main and best-attested miracles.

Footnotes

[1] Tongre is now known as Tongre Notre Dame and must be distinguished from Tongres (Tongeren).

OUR LADY OF CAMBRAI, OUR LADY OF CHIÈVRES & OUR LADY OF SPINLIEU

 61   In the same County of Hainaut and in the same diocese of Cambrai, there is a beautiful and ancient Abbey called Cambron which is about three leagues distant from Mons. There was a converted Jew who would visit the Abbey, having been brought to Baptism by the Count of Hainaut who also gave him a post at the Mons court.

In this Abbey, there was a certain gallery in the section open to visitors which had an image of the glorious MOTHER OF GOD with her Son in her arms, being adored by the Magi. This was a simple image traced in red chalk on a clay wall but it provoked such anger and contempt in this wretch who was Christian in name only that the hatred he felt towards the MOTHER OF GOD frequently caused him to wake up with a start, in the belief that she was always telling him things or doing something. This made his anger blaze all the more, as if the Virgin would have taken pleasure in troubling his repose or interrupting his sleep. Filled with fury and rage, he was not content with the terrible insults he continually hurled at her but one day in the year 1322, he was so carried away that he stabbed at the image of the Virgin five times with a spear, being unable to tolerate her presence any longer. Immediately, blood began to flow copiously from the wounds. Two lay Brothers heard some shouting and confused noises. One was a carpenter named Jean Mandidier and the other was called Matthieu de Lobbes.

They saw the damage that the Jew had caused and they were scandalized. Jean was on the point of using his axe to split open the head of the culprit who had committed this sacrilege, but his companion prevented him and they agreed it was better to follow the procedures of justice. They submitted a report to the Abbot, who in turn consulted with the Count of Hainaut. On the basis of the allegations, the criminal was arrested and questioned but he was able to keep his tongue under control. He gave his answers in such a way that his case was dismissed and he was allowed to take up his post once again.

Four years after this, an Angel appeared to an old man living in Estinnes. His name was Jean Flamand, known as le Fèvre[1], and he had been sick with the palsy for seven years. The Angel told him to challenge the Jew to fight a duel so that he might avenge the outrage he had perpetrated against the image of the most glorious Virgin MOTHER OF GOD. The old man sought the advice of his Pastor who, seeing him suddenly cured of his palsy but still weak and feeble, told him to wait and see if there would be a confirmation of the Angel’s order. On the third night, the Angel returned more resplendent than before and ordered him on behalf of the Queen of Heaven to go to the Abbey at Cambron and see with his own eyes the crime committed by the perfidious Jew. He was then to seek vengeance in the way that had been indicated to him. Filled with confidence and zeal, the old man betook himself to the Abbey and presented his challenge to the Jew who was obliged to accept it. The duel was fought at the gate of the park in Mons, where you can still see to this day a little chapel dedicated to the honour of the Virgin of Cambron. The wretched Jew was felled to the ground by the first blow struck and was condemned to be drawn behind a horse to the place of his execution, there to hanged by his feet upside down, over a fire with a ravenous guard dog on either side of him.

All this is recounted by the above-mentioned Count of Hautport and readers can discover from his writings the great wonders performed by God in connection with this image.

The same writer produced a history of Our Lady of Chièvres, a small village in Hainaut where in 1130 a noblewoman name Ide commissioned the building of a chapel near a spring where people went to draw water, near to which was an elderberry bush where an image of Our Lady had been placed to stimulate devotion to her among those coming for water. The Chapel was no sooner completed than crowds began to flock there.

 

What greatly increased devotion was what happened in 1306 to Huart Picquavet who was suffering from very painful gout and was delivered from his affliction by a vow he made to Our Lady of Chièvres. There is also the case of the man from Paris who had been sick with the palsy for a long time. He had himself carried to this chapel and found he was immediately freed from his illness. He resolved there and then to enlarge the chapel in the form which we can see today.

Our Lady of Spinlieu, which is near Mons in Hainaut, was once no more than a tiny Hermitage but today it is a fine Cistercian Monastery. The Holy Virgin has from the beginning been pleased by the way she is honoured and served in this place. I am including the city of Cambrai in Hainaut, although I know some make it a separate province. The people here recount how the city was besieged by the Huns or Hungarians in 930 and it was saved thanks to the intervention and favour of the most glorious Virgin. Its Archbishop St Vast had already won her over by dedicating the city’s beautiful Church to her. Our Lady of Haut in Hainaut was one of the small statues honoured most devotedly throughout her life by St Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew, King of Hungary[2]. She bequeathed them in her will as a rich legacy to her daughter Sophie who later distributed them amongst various Churches where God performs miracles through them to this day. The most famous amongst them is the one kept in Haut where she has more than amply repaid the honour shown her, having saved the city from danger on various occasions.

Footnotes

[1] Said by some to refer to his trade as a smith.

[2] Lipsius, in D. Virg. Hallensi.

OUR LADY OF THE WOOD, OUR LADY OF GOOD HOPE & OUR LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN

 62   In Arras which is located in the Artois region, there is a chapel called Our Lady of the Ardents[1] where they keep a miraculous candle believed to have been brought down from Heaven by Our Lady. Here is what happened[2]:

In the year 1095 according to some (or 1105 according to others), Arras was plagued by a sickness known as the Holy fire disease. The inhabitants sought help from the Mother of mercy who eventually, touched with compassion, came down through the vault in the choir of this great church. She was seen by a large number of people, with a candle in her hands which she gave to Ittier of Brabant and to Peter the Norman who at the time were at loggerheads concerning a murder that had been committed. The reconciliation of these two contending souls was the first miracle of this divine gift. Those suffering from sickness who drank of the water into which cooled the hot wax from the candle recovered their health. What has made this all the more extraordinary and inspiring is that even after five hundred years the candle has not diminished in size, even though numerous small candles have been made from the wax that melts each time it is lit.

There is another little chapel near Arras called Our Lady of the Wood,

where a wretch of a man called Jean de la Palu tried ride his horse in, as though it were a stable. The Holy Virgin was avenged immediately for this wrong he was about to commit against her, for as he spurred his horse forward, the horse threw him to the ground and he broke his neck. This happened in 1478.

In the middle of a wood in the same county of Artois, there is a beautiful Church founded by the Duke of Ascot as a result of numerous miracles connected with an image of Our Lady of Foy. Students at the Jesuit school had attached the image to an oak tree on the feast day of Our Lady of the Snows, which was on the 5th of August in 1526

Half a league away from the same city may be seen the little hermitage now known as Fontenelles, but formerly called Our Lady of the Fountain because of something remarkable that happened in 1008.

The plague was ravaging the city of Valenciennes and the Holy Virgin appeared to the Hermit, a holy man, on the day before the eve of her Nativity, asking him to tell the inhabitants on her behalf that they were to fast the next day and spend the night in prayer. She would then show them some miracles. All agreed straight away to do as she asked. When night fell, the majority of them could be seen on the walls offering their prayers and devotions. As they were praying, with increasing fervour, the Holy Virgin came down from Heaven in the sight of all; she was more dazzling than the sun and she was attended by countless Blessed spirits. She held a cord with which she girded the city – a distance of two leagues. Having done that, she went to the Hermit’s den and clearly instructed him to go and see the Magistrates and tell them on her behalf to pass the whole of the next day, her Feast day, in devotions and to make a solemn Procession where she had left the cord, adding that this would bring an end to the contagion.

Everything came to pass just as she had predicted. In recognition of such an extraordinary favour, every year during the octave of her Nativity, there is a solemn Procession which covers each day one part of the distance of the two leagues marked out by the Virgin.

The miraculous cord is kept with great honour among the most precious relics of the town. A Confraternity was instituted and the members are called the Rayés because on the feast day the members wear striped robes as a mark of rejoicing and to commemorate the great blessing received from Our Lady

Footnotes

[1] The French text has des Ardents, which seems to refer to a sickness called le mal des ardents, usually translated as “holy fire disease,” “St Anthony’s fire,” or ergotism. One of the main symptoms is a burning sensation in the limbs.

[2] Meyerus, in Annalibus Flandriæ.

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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