Chapter 13 : The Twelfth 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) |
How she is the honour of earth and of Heaven
§ 11. She is the triumphal chariot of God’s glory
3 We need only open the book of the Prophet Ezechiel to learn there that what we have just been considering was the triumphal Carriage or Chariot of God’s glory[1]. Although it may be described there in greater detail than anywhere else, anyone who cares to examine the Sacred Scriptures, especially Psalms LXVII[2] and LXXVI[3], the first chapter of the Canticle of Canticles[4], the third in Habacuc[5] and several other places, will find that God is often represented as a great Emperor marching in pomp and triumph after scattering His enemies. Immediately after He had won the remarkable victory over Pharaoh, King of Egypt, by engulfing him in the waters of the Red Sea, He revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai His triumphal chariot. He ordered him to use this as a template and to make a copy which would be kept in the Sanctuary, as we read in chapter xxv of Exodus.
The Ark of the Covenant represented the Chariot of God’s glory and triumph, according to the opinion of the holy Doctors. It is also easy to demonstrate this, however, firstly by the figure of the Ark which was borne on four golden spheres as on four wheels, accompanied by Cherubim, as by the foremost Captains and the principal instruments of God’s conquest, bearing the tokens of the victory He had gained, and the arms of the victorious Princes, and honoured above all by the Majesty of the Victor seated upon the Propitiatory, no more or less than as on the throne of ivory[6].
A second way of demonstrating this may be found in the first chapter of Paralipomenon[7], where it is said that King Solomon placed Cherubim in the Temple, making a likeness of the chariot with four wheels to recall the Ark of the Covenant which was formerly kept in the Tabernacle of Moses. This being the case, I may say with great confidence that there is nothing we can more fittingly call the Chariot of His glory and of his triumphs than the most glorious Virgin. If we wish to follow the thinking of the great Thaumaturgus whom I cited right at the beginning, she alone merited to bear the King of glory incarnate, the unique Victor over the world and the infernal powers. If we need to pursue this idea, we will find that she has always been the principal instrument of the victories gained by the great Conqueror from Heaven, as I intend to show more fully in Part II of this work. Another reason which convinces me that she deserves more than any other to be called the Chariot of God’s glory is that among all creatures there is none who carried forward God’s glory more than she did and none who extended the Empire of His Majesty more than she did. This is so truly the case that Saint Bernardine of Siena8 cut right to the chase when he said:
If we were to gather together all the tribute that God’s glory receives from His creatures, we would see that what is offered to Him in the actions and excellent qualities of Mary adds up to more than everything He gets from all the others together.
Footnotes
[1] Ezech. i.
[2] The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of them that rejoice: Ps. LXVII. 18.
[3] The voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Ps. LXXVI. 19.
[4] To my company of horsemen. . . have I likened thee. Cant. i. 8.
[5] Who will ride upon thy horses: and thy chariots are salvation. Habac. iii. 8.
[6] See, e.g., 3 Kings (1 Kings) x. 18.
[7] And for the altar of incense, he gave the purest gold: and to make the likeness of the chariot of the cherubims spreading their wings, and covering the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 1 Paralipomenon (1 Chronicles): xxviii. 18.
[8] T. I, Serm. 61, art. 6, c. 4.
The four wheels of the mysterious Chariot
4 To proceed further in our exploration of the details of this mystical chariot, I will start by saying that the four wheels represent the swift and continual movement with which the soul of the blessed Virgin was carried forward to actions promoting the glory of God. This recalls what the ancient Democritus taught: that God was a spirit enclosed within a circle of fire, showing by this that the divine nature is in a state of perpetual motion with holy actions. I might equally claim that the wheels represent the principal gifts of the Holy Spirit, carrying her with unparalleled speed to every act of charity and devotion. Concerning these wheels, Saint Ambrose said that[1]:
they were within each other to show that among the Saints (and we can say this applies to the glorious Virgin) all the actions were of the same measure. The blessed life she enjoys at present was already enclosed within the virtuous life that she led on earth.
All the wheels went forward equally under the control of the Cherubim and of the interior spirit which moved them. They all advance without ever going backwards or to the side, to show how the holy Virgin never halted or allowed herself to be distracted in the slightest. She always continued forwards with good speed towards the heavenly Jerusalem, from the moment she received the first movement of the Holy Spirit and of divine Grace, which was like the spirit which vivified her blessed soul. The wheels incorporated Hyacinths[2] or Chrysalites[3], symbolising how the actions of this Virgin most pure were heavenly and illuminated by the golden rays of a charity most sublime. All around the wheels were eyes, like so many carbuncles[4], true symbols of the vigilance and circumspection which she showed in all things.
Footnotes
[1] Lib. III de Virg.
[2] Ancient name of a precious stone of a blue colour, probably the sapphire.
[3] A name formerly given to several different gems of a green colour, such as zircon, tourmaline & topaz.
[4] A large precious stone of a red or fiery colour.
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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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