Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 10 : § 1.1

Chapter 10 The Ninth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She is in charge of the Church’s resources and Treasurer of the Saviour’s graces

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)

We have talked enough about war and let us now move on to explore the benefits of peace. According to ancient writers, the sweetest fruit that flows from peace is plenty. We shall be seeing in our discussion the incredible effects of peace within the spiritual Kingdom of the Saviour; and just as the greatness of the King is reflected in the amplitude of his resources, so to the Queen’s greatness will shine forth in the management the King has given her of these resources, meaning the full powers she has regarding the distribution of the graces and favours of her Son.

§ 1. Unrivalled in Greatness and Riches : fifth attribute of the King of glory incarnate

 1   King Solomon was no less a type prefiguring the king of Glory Incarnate in the inestimable riches he amassed than in the other royal qualities which we considered earlier. There are two noteworthy things about his wealth : firstly, it is written[1] that he surpassed all the princes of the earth, not only those who had come before him but also those who were to come after him; secondly, it is written[2] that under his reign gold and silver were just as common in the city of Jerusalem as stones and pebbles. I cannot deny there is a certain amount of exaggeration in these words, but the reader who studies carefully the seven sections which follow, describing the seven veins of gold and silver from which he mined his great riches, will hopefully understand the point I am making.

The first concerns the huge wealth bequeathed to him by his father David. Without drawing on other sources, I will cite here the evidence of Josephus, the famous historian of the Jews, who writes that when this young prince buried his father he wanted to follow the custom of the Kings of the east by sharing with the deceased a portion of the riches he had acquired during his lifetime. Accordingly, he placed a great quantity of gold and silver in various chambers carved out around his father’s tomb. I have not been able to find anyone who can put a value on these riches but the same historian tells us that several centuries later, the city of Jerusalem being under siege by Antiochus the Pious, the High Priest Hyrcanus came to an accommodation with him whereby the payment of a huge sum of money made him lift the siege. Being unable to raise such a sum through normal channels, he was obliged to open one of the chambers of David’s sepulchre from which he withdrew 3000 talents – which is to say 44 million pieces of gold and 550,000 ecus. Several years later, King Herod opened up another chamber which was deeper in the tomb complex and withdrew a seemingly limitless supply of gold. If we assume this sum would have been by no means less than what was taken from the first, then we already have a total of some 1000 million pieces of gold. The historian adds that in neither case did they enter the chambers closest to David’s remains where assuredly the greatest wealth would have been stored. One highly qualified French Doctor[3] calculated that if there had been eight similar chambers, without including what was stored in those closest to David’s remains, there would still be some 4000 million pieces of gold buried with David as a small token of his son’s affection. Even if you do not go so far as that and suppose (for example) that only half as much was buried, try to imagine what a massive quantity of gold and silver Solomon must have found in the Treasury of his father David since, merely to show how he felt in his heart and as a simple gesture of his royal munificence, he buried in the ground such an enormous sum of money.

Footnotes

[1] Wisdom and knowledge are granted to thee: and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and glory, so that none of the kings before thee, nor after thee, shall be like thee.  II Paralip. i.12.

[2] I Paralip. ix. 27.

[3] Petrus Comestor, lib. III Reg., c. 3.

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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