Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 9 : § 10.2-6

Chapter 9 The Eighth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She commands the Church’s armies

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)

§ 10. The fourth victory of the MOTHER OF GOD : defeating the Blasphemers, enemies of her Son and His followers

 2   In the year 1588[1], a dissolute lecher seduced a poor Indian woman and was spending the night with her. Through thunder and lightning, however, accompanied by rain and hailstones, Heaven showed its disapproval, demanding an end to this sinful behaviour. The woman promptly responded in a prudent and proper manner, urging the old rake to seek help from the MOTHER OF GOD. Despite the violence of the storm around them which seemed to be sounding a warning, this wretched profligate mocked the woman for her fear, telling her that it was ridiculous to believe in help from Mary. He had scarcely finished uttering these blasphemous words when Heaven unleashed its last avenging stroke, hurling down from the clouds a fatal bolt of lightning which struck the wretch and threw him four or five feet from the bed. His distraught companion jumped out of bed and, thinking he was only suffering from shock, went over to him. Finding that that some straw and wood near the man’s body had caught fire, she decided to try and pull him by his feet out of the room but the flames prevented her and she found herself trapped. The only thing she could do was to shout out "Fire!" and call for help. Neighbours came quickly to her assistance and they found the man stretched out on the ground with his mouth open, showing all his teeth which had been broken and his tongue (which had been the main instrument of his blasphemy) torn from its roots. They tried to carry him out of the building but whatever they took hold of seemed to stick in their hands. From all that they had see and heard, they learned how rash and dangerous it is to go against the MOTHER OF GOD.

Footnotes

[1] Franciscus Bencius, in Annalibus Peruanis ejus anni.

 3   It is of course beneficial to learn from others’ mistakes but it is terrible when people find their own sins serve as an example to others. This was the case in an Italian township near the city of Genoa in the year 1198, as is recorded by the faithful English chronicler[1] who says: 

A number of the inhabitants in this town were found to be possessed by devils; this had a great impact upon everybody and large numbers came from the surrounding district to see these people who were behaving in such a strange way, doing and saying the most extraordinary things. Help was sent for, including requests to members of various Religious orders. The best response came from the Abbot of Lucy of the Cistercian Order whose persistence forced these evil spirits to leave the bodies they had entered. He was especially keen to discover the reason for their appearance in this particular town and he learned from the chief amongst these spirits that they were the legion which the Saviour had cast out and had permitted to go into swine[2]. From that time onwards, their power had been limited to tormenting those who blasphemed against the Holy Virgin; as there were numerous such blasphemers in this town, that was why they had appeared there.

Footnotes

[1] Rogerius ab Hovedem, part. II Annal. in Richardo primo, an. 1198.

[2] Mark v. 11-13.

 4   I cannot and must not pass over in silence what pious tradition says happened over three hundred years ago in the noble city of Avignon. 

In the street of Our Lady of Hope, not far from St Didier Square, there is a chapel of the same name with an ancient painting which represents the incident I am about to describe. There was in the same place an image of the Virgin, which can still be seen today through a wooden trellis. The image is called Our Lady of Hope and the people of Avignon, who have always had a great devotion to the MOTHER OF GOD, showed her great veneration at this location. There was a shop opposite where some men were playing cards; one of them lost all his money and left in a furious temper, shouting out blasphemies (although I have been unable to find out exactly what he said). He picked up a stone and threw it at the image of Our Lady, hitting her beneath her breast and the mark can still be seen on the image today. Suddenly, blood started to pour from the wound and the wretched man, totally distraught and as though out of his mind, was at that very instant struck by Heaven and his whole body was disfigured. He later appeared in court, was condemned to death and to make honourable reparation to the Virgin whom he had insulted. He was duly taken back to the scene of his crime but his heart had so changed and he felt such contrition for what he had done that he knelt before the image in order to offer sincere reparation in honour of the MOTHER OF GOD. His sobs and weeping so touched the Blessed Virgin that she was moved to clemency and, to show that she was completely satisfied by his repentance, she restored his body to full health.

 5   The Patriarch Sophronius, in a book he called The Spiritual Meadow[1], relates a story which confirms what I have just said, namely that the MOTHER OF GOD even in her punishments does not forget her natural gentleness.

In the city of Heliopolis in Phoenicia, there was a man who enjoyed entertaining people with stories he would make up about the MOTHER OF GOD, interspersing his jokes with a number of blasphemies. One night, the Holy Virgin appeared to him saying:

“Cajanus, (for such was his name), in what way have I wronged thee or deserve to be treated like this by thee in the presence of so many people?

Far from taking note of this warning, the man was actually worse the next day. The tender-hearted Virgin warned him again as she had done on the previous day and urged him not to bring misfortune upon himself by making people laugh in this way. This warning had no more effect than the first one but she gave him a third opportunity. This too had no effect and on the fourth day, whilst he was resting at noon, he saw in his sleep this same Lady who was now angry and she seemed to do no more than touched the heel of his foot with her hand. When he awoke, however, he found that he had not been dreaming and that his feet had been cut and in this way he was prevented from returning to resume his blasphemies. From that moment onwards, he became a Preacher who spoke of the wondrous qualities of this gentle Lady Magistrate, telling everyone who came to see him about what had befallen him.

Footnotes

[1] Ch 47. Spiritual Meadow : Pratum Spirituale: generally attributed to Johannes Moschus (550-619), who was accompanied in his travels by Sophronius. See The Spiritual Meadow (Cistercian Publications), a 1992 English translation by John Wortley.

 6   In addition to these historical examples of punishments administered to people who blasphemed the MOTHER OF GOD, I have two more from our own day which were witnessed by the inhabitants of two entire towns, proving that blasphemers can pay a high price for such insults and mockery. 

This account is based upon what was told me by an honourable and virtuous man who learned of it at the very place where it happened and who knew personally the man who features in this story. The incident took place on the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady in the year 16O4 or 16O5, (he could not say precisely in which of these years it took place). A man from the town of Trignac (in Limousin) called John but known to all as the Cellarer because of his trade, had gone to sell wine and other goods to a Chapel called Our Lady of Bessière (which was about a league and a half away from his town). John, who was a Huguenot, saw a peasant saying his prayers in front of two images in the Chapel, one of which was old and the other had been placed there quite recently. In a mocking tone, John asked him which of the two would be more favourable to his requests, the old one or the younger one. The peasant replied simply that it would be much better if he were to join him in the veneration of Our Lady, whom these images represented, rather than making such mocking comments.

“Venerate her?” said the Huguenot; “I would sooner God or the devil burn my whole house down.”

No sooner had he uttered these words than, clear and sunny though the day had been, a terrible storm suddenly arose with thunder and lightning so terrible that everyone fled to seek shelter. At that same moment, (as people later remembered), a flaming torch was seen coming through the centre of the blasphemer’s town; it went through the door of the his house and burned the building to the ground along with all its contents; this was seen by more than five hundred people. The wretched man died shortly afterwards in a desperate state, having lost all his wealth and fallen into extreme poverty and misery. This punishment caused the conversion of a goodly number of persons away from their false and heretical religion, as is known by the inhabitants of this region.

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The Virgin of Tenderness. >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