Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 2 : § 1. 1-2

Chapter 2 : The First Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She alone had the power of drawing down to earth the divine Word

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)

I shall open our discussion on the splendour of the power of the MOTHER OF GOD with that which she had over God Himself, that is to say, over the Word Incarnate: for once this has been understood, I will be able to say of her what once the Angel said about the Patriarch Jacob[1]: if she has been strong against God, how much more shall she prevail against men? – or, expressing this more clearly, against all the enemies of men. The chapters in Part Two of this work promise to touch our hearts with her sweet gentleness, provided that our minds are open to receiving the ideas set out therein. It is my hope that we shall receive a foretaste of these in the following pages.

Footnotes

[1] If thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men? Gen. xxxii. 28.

§ 1. The Holy Virgin alone was found worthy of drawing down the divine Word from Heaven

 1   Here is a question asked by the Prophet Isaiah and which leaves us with an intriguing problem of interpretation: Who hath raised up the just one from the East, like a beautiful sun rising?[1] Some have interpreted this as a reference to the Patriarch Abraham and others to the king Cyrus; but Saint Jerome[2], Saint Cyril and Procopius of Gazza understand it as applying more fittingly to the Saviour, whom the prophet Jeremiah calls the Lord our just one[3]. The question proved so difficult to answer that more than nine centuries passed without a response, and in the meantime the world went on awaiting the arrival of this beautiful soul so dearly cherished as to cause Heaven to send the divine Word down on earth. Finally, several thousand years after the birth of the world, a Virgin named Mary was found who was capable of answering this question, saying along with Ecclesiasticus: It is I who worked this miracle and who made that there should rise light that never faileth in the midst of the darkness[4].

There is in truth no need to seek any other, says Saint John Damascene[5]: for she is the one who opened up for us the bottomless depths of God's good will.

She is the one, says the great Saint Augustine, whose courage meant that she was born aloft almost higher than Heaven, drawing down to earth the divine Word, who had from the beginning dwelt in the bosom of His Eternal Father.

In another place, the same author addresses God directly[6], saying: She is the only one who hath merited to receive and conceive at the same time the divine Word, serving as His throne and His royal residence. This is what it has pleased Thee to teach us through different figures and through various prophecies coming from the sacred mouths of Thy Patriarchs, Thy Prophets and Thine Apostles, whom we believe and trust for love of Thee, and for the infallible confidence that comes to us from never having been deceived by Thee.

The holy Archbishop of Ravenna[7] says that she is the only one found capable of receiving within her Him whom the whole world could not compass[8].

Saint Andrew of Crete says[9] she is the only one who, having been raised higher than the laws of nature, was chosen to renew nature and to serve Him who built the universe.

Saint Ambrose says[10] that the good news of the Incarnation was reserved for her and her alone; in consequence, she alone is called full of grace, forasmuch as the favour of receiving the author of grace within her was reserved unto her alone.

Footnotes

[1] Who hath raised up the just one from the east, hath called him to follow him? Isaiah xli. 2.

[2] Omnes in illud c. Isai.

[3] Jerem. xxiii. vi.

[4] I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth. Ecclesus. xxiv. 6.

[5] Orat. de Assumpt.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Serm. 143 : Deum, quem mundus non capit, sola capita.

[8] A woman shall compass a man. Jer. xxxi. 22.

[9] Serm. de Assumpt.

[10] In Luc.

 2   This is undoubtedly what the heavenly messenger meant when he said to her: Hail full of grace, and thou has found grace with God. 

But what was this grace? asks the pious Saint Bernard[1]. That which she so longed for, and which no one before her had been able to find; that which would mediate peace between God and man, overcome death and restore life.

What was this grace? asks Saint Andrew of Crete[2]. That which Sara did not receive, which was not granted to Rebecca, which Rachel did not know, and which Anna, mother of Samuel, never merited, no more than did Phenenna[3].

What was this grace? asks Saint Peter Chrysologus[4]. A grace so pre-eminent that the Angel himself who brought the news was astonished thereat, wondering that it was given to one woman alone to find the source of life, or that it was necessary for all men to find it through her mediation.

So what finally was this grace? asks the same writer in another place. That which filled Heaven with glory, which caused God to be seen here on earth, which made it possible for faith to be spread to all nations, which brought death to sin and vice, which brought order to our lives and restored virtuous habits; that which was committed to the Angel and then addressed to the Virgin for the salvation of all ages.

Are you surprised, asks the learned Bishop of Ostia, that no one apart from this holy soul was capable of drawing down God to earth? Look around you, and see where you can find any other. Perhaps you will look among the Angels, but alas, they were not exempt from disorder and betrayal. If you run through the constellations and the stars in the firmament you will see that some fall from their place, others become dark, and others are tainted with blood. If you descend now to the level of fire, to the region of air and the domain of the winds: remember how it was necessary to give faith to him who was taken up in a chariot of fire[5], the Lord is neither in the fire, nor in the storms and whirlwinds[6]. Go down even into the waters, and you will find there the lair of Leviathan, the chief enemy of God. What then shall I say of our own earth, except that it bristles with thorns and thistles as a result of the curse it received in the beginning? From this it is easy to see that neither in Heaven nor on earth was God able to find anywhere an abode more pleasing to Him than the womb of the most chaste Virgin.

There you have the words of this great Cardinal.

Footnotes

[1] Homil. in Missus.

[2] Homil. in Annuntiat.

[3] Elcana (father of Samuel) had two wives, the name of one was Anna, and the name of the other Phenenna. Phenenna had children: but Anna had no children. I Kings i. 2.

[4] Serm. 2 in Annuntiat.

[5] 4th Book of Kings (2 Kings). ii.

[6] 3rd Book of Kings (1 Kings) xix. 11-12.

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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 2025