Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 6 : § 2.6-7

Chapter 6 : The Fifth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Goodness of the MOTHER OF GOD

She is a true model of generosity towards her children

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)

§ 2. The generosity of the MOTHER OF GOD towards her children when it comes to good fortune and bodily good 

She obtains Baptism and life for them

 6   Perhaps you will tell me it serves little purpose obtaining these children if they do not receive baptism and life. You must not believe that the MOTHER OF GOD would ever refuse such favours when requested by those who place their trust in her. Eustathius was a most learned writer and worthy of credence when he recounts in his life of Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople, that: 

This great servant of God was dismissed from his position towards the end of the rule of the Emperor Justinian, around the year 564. He made his way to Amasia, capital of Pontus in Asia. His fame soon spread far and wide and a certain man called Androgius was moved to seek him out, along with his wife. They asked him to pray to God that the infant she was carrying would be borne alive and would not be like the others who had all died shortly after delivery. The Saint anointed both of them with a miraculous oil which had come from the Holy Cross and with another that had come from the image of our Lady of Sozopolis (which has been mentioned earlier). He ordered them to call their first son Peter and their second John, promising they both would survive in accordance with the wishes they had expressed. This came to pass exactly as the Saint had foretold.  

What I am now going to relate is even more remarkable and I learned it from Justus Lipsius, someone whom even the heretics would not dare to suspect of lying. He took everything that he wrote very seriously, giving precise details.   

In the year 1428, he says[1], it came to pass in a village called Saint-Hilaire, not far from Cambrai, that a woman called Firmine, wife of Stephen Morel, was delivered of a stillborn infant. She was greatly distressed by this for he had not received Holy Baptism. Despite her anxious feelings, she still felt a quiet confidence that Notre-Dame-de-Hault, whose church she was in the habit of visiting every year, would be able to help her in her affliction. After a fortnight had passed, she told her parents to go into the garden where her stillborn baby had been buried, telling them she had a firm hope that he would be found alive. Eventually, just to keep her happy, they went into the garden and they found a little baby with rosy cheeks and just one scratch where the earth had pressed against the  skin. They carried the baby into the neighbouring village called Vertenguel and took him to the priest. He saw the baby’s nose was bleeding and also saw him open his eyes and his mouth several times. Accordingly, he baptised the little infant in the sight of more than seventy witnesses. The baby went on to live for another five hours and then peacefully departed this world.

Footnotes

[1] In D. II Virg. Hallensi.

She helps them recover and preserve their health 

 7   Perhaps you are seeking health? Truth to tell, this is indeed essential for the majority of our actions and I am well aware that the ancients always gave it pride of place amongst those things which constitute our bodily good. The MOTHER OF GOD holds our health in the palm of her hand and I shall give only one example of this, but it is remarkable in all the circumstances.  

James, Margrave of Baden[1], was a German Prince and a Lutheran who converted to the Catholic faith. He was once wounded in the arm by a musket ball in the course of a tumult in the city of Cologne. Being in imminent danger of death, he swore a vow that if he were to recover, he would personally take a beautiful present to Our Lady of Loreto. As soon as he had said these words, he began to improve and the wound was healed, but he had lost the use of his arm. This first favour he had received gave him cause to hope for a second and he felt a secret confidence within his soul that she who had begun the work of healing would not leave it incomplete. Encouraged by this powerful feeling, he made his way to Loreto to fulfil his vow and to offer his thanks to the MOTHER OF GOD. He made a rich donation to the Holy Chapel and actually spent two whole days there in thanksgiving. On Christmas night (which was the third day after his arrival), he went back to his lodgings and shortly after midnight he saw in a dream the Queen of Heaven clad in white. She urged him not to lose heart and then taking him by the arm which had been injured she healed it so that it was just like his other, good arm. At that point, he awoke and he started moving his arm, stretching it out and doing various things with it until finally he decided it was completely healed. He could scarcely wait for the following day to dawn so that he could show this miracle that had been worked in his person and make his way to Our Lady Loreto to offer thanksgiving. This miracle has been duly attested and is kept in the archives of the Holy Chapel. 

Not content with what he had done by way of thanksgiving, he determined to go and share the wonderful news with his Holiness Pope Gregory XIII, a man of remarkable merit, who received him with a fulsome welcome. He then returned to his own country where it became apparent to all that he had received even greater favour in his soul than in his body. This was because he started to perform miracles for the conversion of his subjects. At this point, however, he met his death – not without a well-founded suspicion that the enemies of God’s glory had to taken steps to hasten his end.

At this point, if I were able to guess your questions then I would have sought to provide you with answers. Whilst you are thinking about this, we shall now move on to consider the most important of the graces that she routinely distributes to her children. 

Footnotes

[1] Turselinus, lib. V Lauret., c. 6.

.👑   👑   👑

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