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
§ 7. How she was recognised and honoured in the Regular Orders
The Society of Jesus
20 I feel duty-bound to say a few words about the Society of Jesus[1] to which God called me and gave me the honour of joining. It has always been the belief of those who enjoy this privilege with me that, after the One whose name the Order bears, the Holy Virgin herself played the greatest part in its origins : procuring its institution, facilitating its establishment, granting her favours to the undertaking, her blessings to its progress and coming to its defence on countless occasions when she ensured its continued growth. The founder, Saint Ignatius, may himself be considered her own work for he owes to her entirely everything that he is and all that he has achieved.
From her he received the first promptings of his conversion, through her he was fortified in his struggle for chastity, to her he surrendered everything in his former life that had taken his attention. It was in her church at Montserrat on the eve of the Annunciation that he spent a warrior’s vigil in his first assay of spiritual Chivalry, spending the whole night in prayer before her miraculous image. With her as his guide and companion, he undertook his journeys, his studies and his devotions. We may well believe that she inspired him and dictated, as it were, the wonderful book of Spiritual Exercises which he compose without benefit of any formal study, except for his knowledge of the Saints. In her presence, which is to say in her Church at Montmartre near Paris, and with the benefit of her blessing and favour, he and his nine companions offered to God their first vows and solemn undertakings placing themselves entirely at her service. Under her guidance, he journeyed with his companions to Italy where in the year 1540 he obtained from Paul III the first approval of the Society that he had founded. Without her he never undertook anything whatsoever, since she had taken him and the Order into her protection. As far as the name of this new order is concerned, there could never be any question that it would have anyone other than Jesus and Mary as Father and Mother. This is what he enjoined upon his children, that they should always hold to this double source of support. It would be an impossible task to relate in how many ways she showed her favour to their praiseworthy plans for winning over souls and for advancing the glory of God.
Martin Gutierrez was a member of this Society who was in communication with the Mother of God in a most particular manner. A few years before his death, whilst he was at prayer he saw his beloved Mother in a way which filled him with consolation and was such as to encourage those who came after to dedicate themselves eternally to her.
He saw her surrounded by a most remarkable light and wearing a great cloak of golden brocade. Beneath the cloak, she showed him all his Brothers and in this way reassured him that she had taken them under her protection; and that for as long as they entrusted themselves to her, she for her part would never cease to be their most beloved, loving and faithful Mother.
I have already written previously of similar favours accorded to other Orders and it does not surprise me in the least that she should have should have shown the same care and affection to our Society, which has need of her help more than all the others. I will show elsewhere how through her exceptional kindness she has been pleased to bring in new members and encourage those whom she identified as being able to spread even further the glory of her Son. I shall have occasion to mention from time to time the indescribable favours she has granted and the care recipients have taken to show their gratitude to her and make her loved and honoured everywhere.
Footnotes
[1] The French has La Compagnie de Jésus,“The Company of Jesus,” following the title given by St Ignatius to indicate its true leader and its soldierly spirit. The title was Latinized into “Societas Jesu” in the Bull of Paul III (1540).
The Order of Discalced[1] Carmelites
21 It was my means of a wise and virtuous woman that God confounded the armies of Nabuchodonosor[2], and He has done no less in our time by overturning the wicked designs of Satan by the courage of a valiant woman who founded or restored a holy Order, who strengthened the ranks of the Church Militant and carefully helped to populate the Church Triumphant. Concerning the blessed Teresa of Jesus, I can say in a few words that she owed to the Holy Virgin everything that a creature possibly could owe and she in return loved and honoured the Virgin as much as it is possible for a mortal heart.
Having lost her mother when she was twelve years old, she sought the embrace of the glorious Virgin, solemnly choosing her to be henceforth her beloved Mother and her only hope after God. From that moment onwards, she served her so carefully with such a tender-hearted devotion that she never undertook anything without having first sort her help and approval. Her only pleasure was to think on her alone, to speak of her splendours and draw everyone she could to love her as tenderly as she did. It was through love of her that she felt an indescribable affection for the blessed Saint Joseph. In order to please the holy Virgin, she entered the Carmelite Order which is specially dedicated to her, as I showed above. In order to encourage the order to a still greater devotion, she did everything within her power, whether in tightening the discipline of the Order which had become somewhat lax, or in developing a new discipline.
We can go further than this and note that it was thanks to an extraordinary favour granted by the MOTHER OF GOD that Teresa from a very early age had been granted sweet graces which were such as to make her a worthy instrument for such a noble and holy undertaking.
With this in mind, she bound Teresa with links of a charity most wondrous to a loving colloquy with her beloved Son, from whom she acquired bounteous graces. As Teresa herself was accustomed to say: just as she would lose these extraordinary graces from Heaven, her Mother would restore health to her. At one fell swoop, she broke the chains of the petty preoccupations and vanities of the world which held her in thrall and she changed her heart almost in an instant. It was her |Mother who helped her in achieving the designs she had for the glory of God in establishing her Order and who one day enabled her to see all the children she had given to the order who were there, nestled under Mary’s Royal cloak, proving to Teresa how she kept them under her special protection. I might also say in perfect truth that all the joy of this holy Order is to be found in the persons of the most Holy Family of the Word Incarnate: Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Considerable time would be needed to set forth all the ways in which the Holy Virgin showed her care for the Order from the moment of its foundation onwards and the more than maternal that she showed towards them. That, however, is a task for those who have written the history of the Order rather than for me. I shall simply note in passing that what this Order has received from the Holy Virgin is the equal of other Orders, being sheltered under the wings of the most gentle and loving providence of the most sacred MOTHER OF GOD.
Footnotes
[1] A term applied to those religious congregations of men and women, the members of which go entirely unshod or wear sandals, with or without other covering for the feet.
[2] See the Book of Judith: viii-xvi.
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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 2025
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