Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 9 : § 3.4-7

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)

§ 3. The first army of the enemies of God and the Holy Virgin : the Demons

 4   To ask what reason the MOTHER OF GOD has for hating Satan with an irreconcilable hatred, is to ignore the infinite obligations she has towards God whom the evil one opposes with all his might; it is to fail in recognising her title as Mother of God’s children, whom the evil one tries to cut off in every way from the roads leading to Heaven; it is to forget the commission and the power that she received to frustrate all his plans and to fight him unto death. 

If anyone asks, moreover, what it is that poisoned and enraged the serpent against the Holy Virgin, you should remember the hatred he has borne within him from the very beginning of the world, not only directed towards men’s Redeemer but also towards her who was revealed to him as being the Saviour’s Spouse and His Mother. Add to this that she was granted privileges of nature, grace and glory so far elevated above those which he had lost, that the sight of this peerless beauty is a source of undying irritation and anger, filling him with a furious determination to remove her from sight. But what really made him blaze with fury and spite was what God himself said to him, namely that she would frustrate his plans in every way and that she would crush his head1. His experience of the truth of this prophecy has played no small part in firing up his Hatred more and more.

 5   In your opinion, do we not have reason to believe a proud spirit when in his extreme confusion he is forced to confess the losses that he suffers because of his enemy? How many times have we heard such a spirit raging in despair because of the wrongs and the affronts that he says she inflicted on him? How many times has he filled the air with screams and shouts because he does not have a way of avenging himself on her whom he feels did him so many wrongs? Around one hundred and thirty-six years years ago[1], the majority of the religious sisters of the monastery of la Chesnaye, near Cambrai, were found to be possessed by evil spirits because of an old witch who had brought this evil upon them. The whole world would be astonished at the unheard of things they did, for they could be seen flying through the air like birds, climbing trees and balancing on branches like weasels, uncovering secrets long hidden and performing hundreds of other actions weird and disturbing. Those who had the opportunity to listen to them report that there was nothing more wonderful to hear than the the evil spirits complaining through the mouths of the possessed women about the harms they were suffering at the hands of Mary, the Mother of mercy. Every day she would rescue countless souls from those whom they had trapped in their snares.

Footnotes

[1] Christianus Massæus, Chron., lib. X ; Joannes Molinetus Vallencenensis, in Chronico Belgii.

 6   In connexion with this, nothing can be compared with what all the biographers[1 of St Dominic have written concerning the confession which this great servant of God extracted from the sworn enemy of the Holy Virgin through the mouth of an Albigensian heretic tormented as a consequence of his blasphemies by 15,000 demons who had entered into possession of his body.

He was taken to the city of Carcassone to be exorcised. He was asked to identify whom the spirits feared most out of all those in heaven, and who should be loved, honoured and glorified with the most affection by men. After refusing a thousand times to answer through diabolical obstinacy, finally an answer was given when St Dominic saw the MOTHER OF GOD accompanied by more than a hundred Angels. She touched the possessed man with a golden rod she held in her hand and commanded the rebellious spirits to obey St Dominic in the shame of their defeat and for the greater glory of God. After writhing in frightful spasms and showing their fury with hundreds of screams and contortions, this is how they replied:

“Thou art our foe, causing our ruin and our confusion! Why hast thou come down from heaven to torment us? Are we not being forced by thee, who art the Advocate of sinners and the sure path to paradise, to uncover a truth which is greatly prejudicial to us? Listen, ye Christians, listen to what we are forced to confess: this MOTHER OF GOD who is here present, hath all the power she needeth to free her servants from our hands. It is she who doth bring all our schemes to nought just as the sun doth dissipate the clouds, and she it is who confoundeth our undertakings. We confess, under duress, that no one persevering in her service hath ever been damned with us. One single sigh of hers in the presence of the most holy Trinity hath more effects than all the prayers of all the other Saints. She on her own filleth us with more dread and terror than the rest of Heaven together; and it is impossible for us to win anything over her faithful servants. Know ye that through the efficacy of her prayers several Christians have been saved against all odds even at the hour of death, and if this little Mary[2] (as he scornfully called her), had not overturned our plans, already we would have destroyed the Church by now, and tearing out the faith of all her Orders.

This is a witness deposition worthy of being preserved in the archives of all the Churches of the world, to the glory of God and His holy Mother, for the advancement of souls and for the confounding of Hell.

 

Footnotes

[1] Cap. 45.

[2] Pratum Spirituale is generally attributed to Johannes Moschus (550-619) who was accompanied in his travels by Sophronius. For a 1992 English translation by John Wortley, see The Spiritual Meadow (Cistercian Publications) pp27-28/155.

[3] The French text has Mariette.

 7   How many times has the evil one let it be known that in a certain sense he fears this holy Lady much more than God Himself? It is not that her power is greater than God’s – it would be a blasphemy to say that – but inasmuch as God does not normally deviate from a course of action He has chosen in human affairs, whether in the order of nature or of grace; accordingly, the evil spirits are able to study His principles of action and accustomed mode of operation so as to use measures based on what they predict should happen. The behaviour of the MOTHER OF GOD, however, is based upon love and mercy; this means they have never been able to establish principles on which they could base their plans with any degree of confidence. Just when they are confident that their schemes are going to succeed to their satisfaction, the Virgin’s opposition alone overturns their plans and projects, destroying what they had carefully constructed. Who will therefore be surprised to learn how full of rage and fury these wretches are, and how they can scarcely bear to hear the name of her who always has her eye upon them, who exposes all their secret plots and who catches them everywhere?

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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