Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 9 : § 9.1-5

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)

§ 9. The third victory of the MOTHER OF GOD : defeating the Heretics, enemies of her Son and His followers

 1   There is unanimity amongst the Holy Fathers who recognise that she was specially chosen by God to combat and eliminate heresy. Thirteen hundred years ago, St Athanasius[1] called her the destroyer of all heresies; in the homily that he wrote against the wicked Nestorius, St Cyril of Alexandria calls her the sceptre of right belief against heresies; Sophronius[2], St Bernard[3] and the Abbot Rupert[4] are of one mind in the way they praise her, saying that she alone brought down all heresies. They could confidently say this because Holy Church herself sings that she alone has crushed all heresies[5].

Footnotes

[1] Serm. de S. Deipara.

[2] Serm. de Assumpt.

[3] Serm. in Signum Magnum.

[4] Lib. I in Cant.

[5] Cf. cunctarum haeresum interemptrix / the destroyer of all heresies : Pascendi Dominici Gregis, VII. 58. (1907)

 2   Notwithstanding this agreement amongst the Holy Fathers, I suspect there will be a number of punctilious minds troubled at the idea of this glorious title being given specially to the Virgin but only exceptionally to other individuals. They will be thinking of the exceptional achievements of a large number of invincible warriors who have contributed their meditations, their writings, their labours, their blood and even their lives for the defence of religion and the elimination of heretical innovations. Have you forgotten, they will ask, the incomparable zeal of Saint Athanasius in pursuing the Arians and discrediting them everywhere? His unwavering patience in suffering the attacks and insults they hurled against him? Do all his efforts and the long continual martyrdom that he suffered count for nothing? What about the learned writings of St Irenaeus, of Tertullian and of St Epiphanius – were they all for nothing? Are you saying then that all the work St Hilary did against the Arians was for nothing? And that it was for nothing that St Jerome expended so much effort against Jovinianus, Vigilantius and many others? And when St Augustine went to such great lengths to combat the Donatists the Manichæans, the Pelagians and such like enemies of the truth, it was all for nothing? This would surely mean we would be discounting the victories and erasing the memory of so many learned writers and valiant warriors who supported the cause of God and of the Church at the expense of all the comforts and pleasures that life could offer them.

 

Let me reassure those who are troubled by such thoughts that there is no difficulty here since when we demonstrate how the glory is due uniquely to Mary, they will see the honour those Saints have deserved is not diminished and nothing is taken away from their noble achievements.

 3   This may perhaps be the result of the fact that God chose her at the beginning of the world to combat the ancient serpent and his spiritual descendants, setting the children of God against the seed of this wretch, namely the wicked and notably the heretics – whom all the Fathers of the Church call the brood of Satan[1]? When an army returns in triumph from the field of battle, picture the officers and ordinary soldiers laden with the spoils of victory. All of them played a part in the victory and some of them in particular may have stood out for their valour, yet the General is always said to be the one who won the battle. The Holy Virgin is the commander of God’s armies and was specially chosen by His Majesty to combat the heretics who are enemies of the Church. Even though countless Holy Prelates, Doctors and members of Religious orders have performed wonders when it comes to confronting and confounding heresy, and even though their personal triumphs cannot be taken away from them, the glory is uniquely attributed to the MOTHER OF GOD, for they were fighting under her colours, it was she who recruited them to this mission, who repaid their loyalty and devotion with thousands of graces and favours and who instilled in them the courage they needed to overcome their enemies.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. Progenies viperarum ; Ye brood of vipers, in Matt. iii. 7.

 4   Might it not be connected with the fact that her beloved son was chiefly sent into the world so that, in the words of St John, he might destroy the works of the devil[1]? And since this same Son armed and equipped her with what she needed to attack and defeat heresy (as we explained earlier with regard to the demons), her Son’s glory would become hers and the victory would be a triumph for them both.

Footnotes

[1] He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil. I John iii. 8.

 5   Might it not be connected with what was said by St Bernardine of Siena[1]: Because the Blessed Virgin conceived the truth of God, who is substantial truth, the first truth and the source of all others, must she not for this reason be called the Mother of all truth, and (in consequence) the extirpator of all falsehood?

Footnotes

[1] T II, conc. 51, art. 3, c. 4.

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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