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).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020) |
§ 6. The fourth Legion of the enemies of God and the Holy Virgin : Blasphemers
1 Readers who have a devotion to the MOTHER OF GOD will have had enough by now of so many blasphemies and will be keen to defend her honour. They need to show patience, however, since the blessed Evangelist and faithful guardian of the Virgin has something further to say upon this matter. In order to give strength and encouragement to the children of God and of the Virgin, here is part of the vision he was shown by way of a warning when he was on the island of Patmos.
He saw a terrifying beast of prodigious size coming up out of the sea; his body was like that of a leopard; his feet were as the feet of a bear and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; he had seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon each of his heads names of blasphemy; and it was a dreadful thing. says St John[1], to hear the blasphemies which this beast hurled in a thundering voice against God, against the Tabernacle of God and generally against all those that dwell in heaven.
I am aware that St Irenaeus[2], and after him the majority of Holy Writers[3] interpreting this text, have understood this beast with all its cruel characteristics to refer to the Antichrist who will indeed behave like a monster of rage and fury. I am also aware that the venerable Bede[4] and a number of other commentators have argued that this frightful figure should be understood rather as representing the wicked considered as a community, drawn from different backgrounds and places to rally in a union of malignity and hatred towards God. Whichever interpretation is preferred, we will always have the same St John to support the idea that there may be several Antichrists and the numerous heads and tongues pouring forth blasphemies will therefore represent the creatures and minions of the Antichrist, Satan’s foremost instrument and Commander-in-chief of the blasphemers who received in the depths of hell an infernal baptism, so to speak, in all wickedness.
Footnotes
[1] And he opened his mouth unto blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. Apoc. xiii. 6.
[2] Lib. II adversus Hæreses, c. 28.
[3] Rupertus, Haimo, etc., in c. 13 Apoc.
[4] Id idem Apoc., c. 1, c. 2.
2 We should have no difficulty in agreeing with this since Holy scripture teaches that, without speaking of the Devils (who seem to be wickedness and blasphemy in themselves rather than purveyors of wickedness and blasphemies), hell has never produced a monster comparable to this wretched Antichrist, who will have served an apprenticeship in every sort of vice. We need to note, however, that he is not alone but leads an army of countless criminals and he is the head of this accursed horde who use their tongues for bitter attacks against God and to spew the poison of their sacrilegious words against Heaven. Among this number are all those whom St John saw represented by the proud heads of the infernal leopard; they see their task as infecting the very air with the blasphemies they pour forth against God, against His Tabernacle and against all that is holy in Heaven. We have in fact already encountered the most abominable amongst them in the bands of sorcerers and heretics, but there are others besides them who without being of their number have souls which are just as black, hearts just as toxic and tongues just as twisted with blasphemy. This is why I have placed them in their own, separate legion. We shall soon be seeing how they are vanquished by the all powerful warrior Queen.
3 I do not know whether I should take up my pen in zeal and indignation or rather lament the disaster into which these victims of confusion have fallen. The very worst of their misfortunes is that they should have attacked God and His Tabernacle, which is none other than the Blessed Virgin. How pitiful they are that they did not seek the protection of this heavenly shelter that God prepared for them, as he says in the words of his prophet Isaiah[1]: And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a security and covert from the whirlwind, and from rain. How pitiful they are for not having sought refuge inside this divine shelter which He erected, says David[2], so as to protect and defend them in the day of evils. They are even more pitiful for having attacked with such insolence and bitterness her who is called by St Athanasius[3] and St Andrew of Candia[4] the Tabernacle of God; by St John Chrysostom the sanctuary prepared for the divine Word; by St John Damascene God’s tent with a rational soul from which emerged the source of life, sent down on earth to overcome death which was ravaging the whole human race. They are most pitiful for having taken such great pains to profane the divine Tabernacle sanctified by God Himself, as St Thomas[5] remarks, following the prophet David[6]; and Blessed George, Archbishop of Nicomedia[7], writes that:
They spared no effort in their wicked urge to cast down the refuge to which they should have had recourse in their necessities, to destroy the shelter that God himself had constructed in order to replace our own which had fallen.
Is this not to have lost every human feeling, to be an enemy of oneself, and to have gaily conspired to bring about one’s own ruin? These spiritual furies would be forgiven by the enemies of the name Christian or by those who, in despair have abandoned and fled from the fold of Jesus Christ; but what pardon can servants of the Faith and children of the Church expect when they cause arms to be taken up against them by that very Church which has received so many oaths of fidelity, so frequently repeated, to defend the honour of her Mediatrix? From whom can they seek any grace after offending the Mother of the Prince who gives grace? What hope can they have of reconciliation when they seek to overturn the gate of salvation and launch outrageous attacks upon the Mother of mercy? I will set out their blasphemies later[8] when we discuss the victories she has won over those blaspheming her name.
Footnotes
[1] Isaiah iv. 6.
[2] For he hath hidden me in his tabernacle; in the day of evils, he hath protected me in the secret place of his tabernacle. Ps. XXVI. 5.
[3] Serm. de Deipara.
[4] Orat. de Annuntiat.
[5] III p., q. 27, art. 2.
[6] the most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle. Psal. XLV. 5.
[7] Orat. de Oblatione Deiparæ.
[8] Chap. 20.
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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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