She is the source of eternal happiness for her chosen children
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) |
§ 3. She is in a special way the principle of eternal happiness for her children
1 I know of no better way to demonstrate this than by making use of the order of predestination and its four constituent elements or actions mentioned by St Paul (which we considered a little earlier). I aim to show that the Holy Virgin is the principle of the election, vocation, justification and glorification of her children in a particular manner. From this it will become clear that she is in a very special way the principle of eternal happiness for her children.
2 If we start with election, we can note that God in the choice He made of the Elect was moved by the sufferings and merits of His beloved Son. This being the case, what problem can there be in saying that when He foresaw the most Sacred Virgin’s sufferings and merits united to those of His Son, He was moved in a similar way – but proportionately to a much lesser degree? Developing this idea, who could make any objection if I were to say that God foresaw the tender feelings that she was one day to have towards a number of the Elect, and at that moment (in order to please her) He made a particular choice of them as of a special group, being the creatures of the Mother of His Son?
For my part, I am not obliging anyone to accept my view but at the same time I see nothing to prevent zealous servants of the Holy Virgin from agreeing to this idea – which is no less beneficial to Him who grants this favour than to her who receives it. To whom, after all, does all the glory of the Saints redound except to Him from whom they have received it, for whom they possess it and in witness to the greatness of whom they wish to rejoice in it? Could the Eternal Father please His Son in consideration of His merits with anything that would make Him more grateful than these favours granted to His most dear Mother for the love of Him? What more pleasing reward could there be for all His labours than to see that she received the first and principal benefits from them? We know that God granted to the Holy Virgin graces and favours of a much higher order, such as being the MOTHER OF GOD, of being the Mediatrix of the world and the Queen of the universe. Have we any reason to suppose that God would have refused this favour which is much less than those which I have just mentioned? We know that by virtue of her role and status as both Queen Mother and Queen Regnant all the subjects of her Son and Spouse are at the same time rightfully her own; but am I not permitted to say reason nevertheless requires that she should have her own retinue and Court, distinct from her Son’s? But where have such as these ever been put in place, allocating particular Officers and servants to a Queen, without her having any choice in their selection, or at least without knowing that they were acceptable and pleasing to her? Either I am going too far in this regard, or reason is in fact on my side, for everything works herein to the honour of the MOTHER OF GOD and to the eternal happiness of the chosen band whose happy lot it is to have received the special favour of our incomparable Princess.
O blessed company, thus singularly beloved of Heaven! How happy to be united so closely with the Mother of all the Elect! To each of these we say; mayest thou spare neither effort nor labour to magnify the honour of her to whom thou art indebted in so many ways; and since thou art destined to be in the Choir which will sing blessings to her throughout eternity, mayest thou start forthwith to praise her unceasingly, to make her known here below and to recruit for her as many servants as thou canst here on Earth.
3 As for vocation and justification, which are properly those actions which assure our election (following the words of the Apostle St Peter[1]), In the remainder of Part III we shall be mainly showing how the Holy Virgin’s children benefit from her love for them. Let us now focus for a moment on a passage from Scripture which by the common consent of all Christian people is applied to her. It comes from Chapter 24 in Ecclesiasticus where she speaks in the following manner : Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle, and he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect[2]. We do not have to go too much further to learn that the Elect of God are compared in Sacred Scriptures to grains of wheat. The Teacher who was sent down to us from heaven says this clearly in the parable of the wheat and the cockle[3] where the goodman of the house concludes with these words : Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn : meaning gather the Elect into heaven. Was this not a regular subject in the preaching of the holy Precursor[4], as shown in the following words : Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire ? Indeed, if the Redeemer of men was in His own words the true grain of wheat falling into the ground to die, and by germination bringing forth justification in this way, then does not reason itself require that His Elect, who ought to be modelled upon Him, should be like so many grains of wheat and that they should also die after their fashion, to germinate and to grow unto life eternal? But alas! How many dangers there are for these poor grains among so many others, falling on stony ground, eaten up by the birds of the air, choked amongst thorns and who live without bearing fruit. They need the loving care of the wondrous Lady who attends to their salvation and who through her intervention places them on good ground, bringing rains to water them, snow and sunshine according to the season, and making them put down deep roots so as to be able to resist harm caused by the weather!
Footnotes
[1] Wherefore, brethren, labour the more, that by good works you may make sure your calling and election. 2 Pet. I. 10. The Douay-Rheims uses the word calling to translate the Vulgate’s vocatio(nem): which can mean a calling, or an invitation (to a meal or banquet) (Lewis & Short).
[2] Ecclesiasticus. xxiv. 12-13.
[3] Matt. xiii. 24-30.
[4] Matt. iii.12.
4 Assuredly someone will want to know about these roots that the Holy Virgin makes available to her most dear children. In short, they are nothing other than the means enabling them to attain salvation, and a help in the fulfilment of their predestination. If a more detailed response to this question is required, then it is not unreasonable that she herself should provide one. Here is what she says (as recorded later in the text referred to above[1]): I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. These are four safe and assured roots which she plants deep in the hearts of her devoted children, setting them immutably on the path to their eternal happiness; and they are four signs that she leaves to instil in them a confident hope of attaining this happiness.
Footnotes
[1] Ecclesiasticus. xxiv. 24.
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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
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