Chapter 7 : The Sixth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD
She rules and guides the Church
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) |
§ 4. The care that the Holy Virgin has for all the Orders in the Church
Her care for Confessors
6 The army of Holy Confessors is greater in extent than all the others in Holy Sion. Because the soldiers of Christ who belong to this noble fighting force are so numerous, it is divided into various regiments which are themselves composed of various companies. Amongst them you will find a great number of holy Prelates who have brought honour to their pastoral office with their eminent virtue and especially through their limitless patience in the great works that they perform to look after their flocks. You will also find great Princes who, in the midst of the riches and pleasures of life at court, learned how to reject all that is passing and to focus on those values which are enduring and eternal. You would lose count of the various members of Religious Orders who attained the heights through mortification of their bodies and through their renunciation of all things in order to follow Jesus Christ, stripped of all worldly attachments. You will find great numbers of anchorites who, in order to have greater freedom to contemplate God and Heavenly things, withdrew themselves from the company and society of men. You will find countless lay people who have been faithful to God and have made great progress, some at court or in government, others in the corridors of power, some running public affairs, some promoting works of piety – some in this way and some way in that. All these people come within the jurisdiction of the MOTHER OF GOD, all receive the benefit of her graces and favours, and there is not one among them who would not say that, after God, he is indebted to her for the eternal happiness he will enjoy. I will have more to say later on how this affects Princes and Prelates. As far as the members of Religious Orders are concerned, I have already shown elsewhere[1] that she has taken all the Orders under her special protection. In Part III, we shall be considering the care she devotes to those whom God has chosen to be saved by this manner of life or to be raised up to some special degree of holiness. We would be doing an injustice to people in other modes of life if we thought her maternal love did not embrace them too or that there might be a solitary soul whom she has not touched through the effects of her kind heart.
Footnotes
[1] Part I, ch. 12.
Her care for Virgins and married women
7 One of her titles is Virgin of Virgins and this recalls the observation made by St John Damascene who said[1]:
She is a plant most fruitful in virginity and through her the beauty of this angelic virtue is spread all over the world.
This corresponds in a most marvellous manner to what the great St Jerome wrote to his dear spiritual daughter Eustochium[2]:
Since the time when a Virgin conceived and brought forth the King of Virgins, who bears on his shoulders the marks of His pre-eminent status, the gift of virginity has been granted more liberally to the world, especially among the female sex; and the Son of the Virgin chose here below a retinue of Angels Incarnate just as on high he had heavenly Angels for His entourage.
Not all women enjoy the blessing that St Catherine of Alexandria received through the Blessed Virgin, being visibly married to the Spouse of beautiful souls, and receiving from Him a golden ring in token of His faith and troth. It is nevertheless true that there is not one amongst them who was not, thanks to the holy Virgin, taken in and put forward for service to the King her Son and who did not eventually merit the honour of being received on His nuptial couch.
It is she, according to the eloquent words of Saint Ambrose[3], who welcomes Virgins at the end of life, who presents them to their heavenly Spouse, and who sings hymns of joy when they are introduced into the privy chamber of the Prince of glory.
She it is who plants these lilies everywhere and who causes them to grow in monasteries, in private houses, in cities, in the countryside, and who leads them finally to marital union. She it is who gave courage the following women to live with their husbands no more nor less than as with men without bodies, or with Angels from Paradise : Saints Daria, Basilissa, Pulcheria, Cunegunda, Delphina, Ægique, Stamberg, Bertha and many others. It is she who delivered the following women from places and situations so wicked that they were like the dens of iniquity and the fleshpots of Babylon : Saints Theodora, Antonia, Euphrasia, Glaphyra and others who had found themselves led to such places only to see the honour of their modesty tarnished. It is she who through means inspired from Heaven preserved from the enemies of chastity virgins such as Saints Flavia, Domitilla, Seraphia, Denise, Susanna, Anastasia, Euphemia, Agnes, Emerentiana, Lucy and thousands of others. It is she who awarded two crowns to Saints Thecla, Felicula, Potenciana, Valerie, Agatha, Anatolia, Pelagia – adding to the lilies of virginity the crimson roses of martyrdom. It is she who inspired several Virgins whom we find in history preferred for their bodies to be disfigured rather than their souls to be corrupted. To sum up : she it is who in a thousand different ways preserved the honour of these lilies for the love of Him who is most worthily called the Lily of the valleys[4], and who is most pleased by the fragrant purity of these lilies.
Footnotes
[1] Cap. 5.
[2] Epist. 22. See St. Eustochium Julia in Catholic Encyclopedia.
[3] Lib. II de Virginib.
[4] Cant. ii. 1.
8 The Church has no hesitation in giving to the female sex the glory of being called the devout sex and I believe that all women, whether virgins, married, widows, or of whatever state or condition, can have recourse to her as to one who is the honour of this sex, each one according to her rank and her merit: indeed, as she is the Queen of all Saints, I hold it as beyond question that her care extends to the limits of the world and as far as the rays of the sun reach. Wherever there are children of the Church, there she will have her audiences and her opportunities to teach and help. All that she does is for the good of the Saviour’s subjects, whom she is anxious to guide on their way to taking possession of the happiness which awaits them on high in Heaven.
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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 Virgin of Tenderness. >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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