Chapter 11 The Tenth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD
She is an Advocate for men and Mediatrix between them and her Son
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) |
§ 5. The Power of our Mediatrix that comes from her own merits
4 What will happen if we make a threefold assault by adding the blood of Jesus to the milk of Mary, meaning that we fall upon the mercy of the Father with the wounds of the Son and the breasts of the Mother? Here is what Arnold of Chartres[1] has to say:
Man can make his case before God with confidence when he has the Son for his mediator with the Father and the Mother for his Mediatrix with the Son; the Son will adduce the evidence of His wounds, especially the opening in His sacred side, and the Mother will show the breasts with which she fed the Saviour. With these reasons arguing for clemency and these signs calling for mercy, there is no need to fear about the decision.
Here is the brief but cogent prayer of Pope Saint Innocent III:
Lord, we beseech thee that the most glorious Virgin Mary, thy most worthy Mother, mayest intercede with thee on our behalf, recalling that her most holy soul was grievously pierced by the sword of sorrow at the hour of thy passion and death.
Here is another prayer from the glorious St Francis:
Holy MOTHER OF GOD, gentle and beautiful Mother, we implore thee to pray for us to thy beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ who was delivered unto death, so that by His generous mercy and clemency and in virtue of His most holy Incarnation and Death, we may obtain forgiveness for our sins.
Footnotes
[1] Tract. de Laudibus Virg.
5 It seems to me that the Saints go beyond what I have just been saying and, on top of the prayers, the tears and the memories of how the Saviour was nursed at the breast of His Mother, they add a certain maternal power so absolute that it is not possible to go against it. The Blessed St Theresa of Jesus, Foundress of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, said:
She had learned through her own experience that Our Lord was readily disposed to grant the prayers of the glorious St Joseph, forasmuch as during His mortal life He was subject to him.
Now if that is true, as seems to be the case, and if the power of the most sacred Virgin is incomparably greater than this, how great must the authority then be that her beloved Son has retained for her on high? I use the word authority in the sense of a certain right which is deeply engrained in nature and which cannot be represented better than by using this word. I am in fact quite convinced that the glorious martyr Methodius[1] was speaking of this when he addressed her in the following terms:
Most Holy Lady, who doth surpass all others in gentleness and from whose glorious title of Mother cometh the power to speak freely unto thy Son: most humbly do we implore thee to be heed our requests.
I have no doubt whatsoever that this same power was the foundation for the prayers of the Holy Angels whom St Bridget[2] saw kneeling before the MOTHER OF GOD, saying to her:
Dear Lady, most Blessed among all the world’s women: there is nothing that thou canst not obtain for us since, whenever thou dost express a wish, it is no sooner said than done.
The devout Cardinal Peter Damian[3] said this using words so blunt and so powerful that those of weak or fastidious intellect cannot bear to hear them. Here is what he said:
Most Holy Virgin, how could the supreme Power, who took flesh from thee, ever choose to go against thine own power? For thou dost go unto the golden altar of our reconciliation not only as our supplicant but also having the power to command, and not as a handmaid but as the Lady of the household.
Although some may find a degree of exaggeration in these words, they must nevertheless be understood as bearing the meaning that I have just mentioned, namely: that the title of Mother confers upon her a level of ascendancy over all the Blessed Spirits in a way that means her prayer is reinforced and takes on the authority of a special power which has its roots in nature, is elevated by grace and reaches its high point in the glory which she presently enjoys.
Footnotes
[1] Orat. in Hypapante.
[2] Revelat., lib. IV, c. 74.
[3] Serm. 1 de Nativ.
6 The learned and holy Archbishop of Florence offers a discerning explanation in the following terms:
The prayer of other Saints has for its basis nothing that they provide themselves but only the mercy of God. In the case of the Virgin, however, she has for foundation and support the grace of God, natural law and the justice of the Gospel. Reason obliges the Son not only to listen to His Mother but also to give effect to her just decisions. The Saviour’s own command communicated to us by his Apostle[1], is explicit about this.
Accordingly, the prayer uttered by the Holy Virgin was truly excellent not only because it partook of the nature of a command but also because it could not be turned down, as is illustrated by the words Solomon once spoke to his beloved mother Bethsabee: My mother, ask: for I must not turn away thy face[2]. These words demonstrate clearly enough that He paid heed to the prayer she uttered here on earth; but who will believe that, now she is Queen of Heaven, her prayer will have any less power than when she dwelt amongst us as a fellow traveller? One of this Mother’s little children, the pious Abbot Rupert Rupert, speaks well on this point:
Great Mediatrix for men[3], Mother most chaste and most pure of the divine Word: I ask thee to accept a request from me. I recall how Jacob, that valiant champion who had the courage to wrestle for the space of an entire night with the Angel whom Scripture calls the Lord[4]; I for my part also have a strong wish, by means of prayer, to wrestle with the God-man thy Son; but I dare not undertake this without the protection of thine armour and without the help of thy weapons; only let thy power come unto mine aid, and I shall not be put in fear by the Lord’s strength.
Most Holy Virgin, may it be granted unto me to make the same request; and since we learn from thy faithful servant, the Abbot Guerric[5]:
we must first seek to be embraced in thy good graces, before we can seek those of thy Son.
Please grant unto us thy favours so that, if combat proves necessary, we shall not refuse to enter into the lists – even were this to cost us as much as it did Jacob[6], through weakening the sinew of the thigh and the death (without recourse) of sense feeling; please arm us with weapons for the combat, give courage to us in our weakness, help us in our infirmity and, if thou dost see us in danger of being cast down to the ground, support us with thy strength – and then let the trophies of our victories be hung from thine altars.
Footnotes
[1] Consider John ii. 1-12, & John xix. 26-27.
[2] III Kings (I Kings) ii. 20.
[3] Prologo in Cant.
[4] And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved. Gen. xxxii. 25. Phanuel : from the Hebrew, meaning face of God.
[5] Serm. 2 de Assumpt. : Officiis matris captanda est gratia filii.
[6] And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank: Gen. xxxii. 25. Cf. Equivalent verse in Septuagint : and he touched the broad part of his thigh, and the broad part of Jacob's thigh was benumbed in his wrestling with him. The Fillion commentary notes that the Hebrew word ischion (translated here as nervum /sinew) refers to the bony cavity in where the head of the femur sits (cf. reference to a dislocation in KJV translation). After this injury, Jacob halted on his foot (verse 31), for which Fillion has he was lame in one leg.
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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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