Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 7 : § 2.3-7

Chapter 7 : The Sixth 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 Gratitude of the MOTHER OF GOD towards the great Nations

Italy

 3   Italy had fallen into a wretched state when the glorious Virgin made known that she had not forgotten the services she had received from this country.  

The Arians had been laying waste to the country for more than sixty years, notably Theodoric and Totila, Kings of the Goths. Theodoric had inflicted great misery everywhere: he had brought about the death of Pope John I through starvation; he had tyrannically arrogated to himself the installation of Roman Pontiffs; and he had hastened the death of several noteworthy persons, such as Symmachus and Severinus Boethius, who were far above the average in their gifts they enjoyed. Totila was spreading death and carnage everywhere when the Mother of mercy, filled with pity as she gazed upon the country, caused the Arians to be cast out by means of Narses, her faithful servant.

According to a Evagrius[1], Nicephorus[2], Paul the Deacon[3] and several other reputable authorities, the Holy Mother had a close rapport with one of the Emperor Justinian’s generals. She would often appear to him when he had asked for her help in his battles, herself giving the signal when the fighting should begin. One of the best examples of the remarkable care she showed took place in the year 553. The general had attacked King Totila in Tuscany and after surrounding his army he destroyed it completely as a fighting force. After this victory, Italy began to breathe once more the fresh air of the freedom she had been missing for so long.

 

Footnotes

[1] Lib. IV, c. 26. 

[2] Lib. VII Hist., c. 13.

[3] Lib. de Gestis Longobardorum, c. 3.

France

 4   I do not know if France had ever been in greater danger than during the time of Charles the VII, known as the Victorious[1]. This Prince was the lawful claimant to the throne of France after the death of his father Charles VI. He found, however, that the King of England had already claimed the throne and that the majority of French, along with the Queen his mother and the Duke of Burgundy (the most powerful Princes of the blood Royal) had been conspiring with the English against him and were opposed to him taking possession of his crown. The King’s father had before dying not only taken away his hope of succeeding to his Estates, but had moreover banished him from his kingdom through a decree issued by the Chamber of Peers (sitting as a tribunal). The English King had established his presence in Paris and in all the French provinces up to the river Loire. The young Prince, with the support of a small number of French nobles and gentlemen, had withdrawn to Bourges and from there he was trying to retain those provinces beyond the Loire whose loyalty was still in doubt because of the presence nearby of the English. These mockingly referred to Charles as the King of Bourges. Did Heaven ever send its help more fittingly to a kingdom in trouble than in the case of poor France which was on the verge of having to learn English?  On this occasion divine Providence did indeed come to the rescue of France, and she who was commander-in-chief of the heavenly armies showed clearly how she supported the fleur-de-lis and how she had not forgotten all the services she had received daily from this Kingdom.   

The means she chose to ensure the young King would retain his crown by putting his enemies to flight had more to do with the laws of divine wisdom than with any merely human prudence. It pertains to God alone (and to those in whom His spirit works) to choose the weak things of the world to confound the strong[2], and in this case divine wisdom made use of a young village girl only 18 or 19 years old, giving her weapons and placing her at the head of an army of true and faithful Frenchmen. I am speaking of the valiant Joan of Arc (who has come to be known as the Maid of Orleans) who was born in the parish of Saint-Rémy between Domrémy and Vancouleurs. 

Footnotes

[1] Gaguinus, in Carolo VII ; Æneas Sylvius Europæ, c. 43 ; S. Anton., III p., c. 9, etc.

[2] 1 Cor. i. 27.

 5   When I say that all this came about thanks to a favour granted by the MOTHER OF GOD, I am not speaking from memory and neither am I attributing to her the glory of something in which she played no part.

I am quite aware that before this warrior Maid received from Heaven the command to equip herself with the armour and arms of a man and to go and present herself to the King, she had already received a revelation that Charlemagne and St Louis were praying to God for her and for the deliverance of Orleans. I am not dismissing the well-founded belief dear to French hearts that St Michael the Archangel, to whom Joan had a strong devotion, was the one who explained to her the glorious mission she was being called to carry out. It is for this reason that he has been regarded as a special protector of France and indeed there is a strong probability, as some have said, that it was in recognition of this signal favour that Louis XI, the son of Charles, instituted the order of St Michael some years later, namely in the year 1469. I would ask readers to remember, however, that this girl from a very tender age had been nursed and cared for by the Holy Virgin who had made her all that she was to become. Anyone not finding her in her father’s house or tending to her sheep, would be sure to find her praying to God and the Holy Virgin in a little Chapel not far from Vancouleurs called Notre-Dame de Bermont. It was here that Joan shared the tenderest feelings of her heart with the MOTHER OF GOD and where she in turn received from the peerless Virgin graces and favours altogether out of the ordinary. As it was in this same little Chapel that Joan received her commission from Heaven, there is no reason to suppose that it was anyone other than the Virgin of Virgins (whose shrine this is) who chose this Maid and who sent holy Michael the Archangel to announce her message to Joan.  

 6   I would also ask readers to consider carefully the words written by a fine poet who produced a work on the wars with the English in seven volumes. In the sixth volume, here is how he presents the words of St Michael the Archangel to the Shepherdess[1]: 

That fairest lily who in truth is earth’s delight

And Heaven’s dearest love – she doth abhor the sight

When Venus and her son do temptingly allure 

Poor souls whom she so chaste would keep all free and pure;

That Mother of the Lord, resplendent in His sight,

Hath sent me down to thee from Heaven’s highest height

That her command to thee forsooth I might convey;

Hear now the Queen’s own words which thou art to obey:

Thy spindle set aside, take up a warrior’s arms,

For they will help to save our France from foreign harms;

In shining armour clad, ‘tis time thy sword to wield

For now our Royal Charles must thou protect and shield. 

God’s will (and Mary’s too) is thou a war shalt wage

Delivering the French from foreign pride and rage,

Preserving from their hands thy nation’s Royal Crown

And winning for our Queen both love and great renown.

Footnotes

[1] The French text presents a verse translation of a Latin original by Humbert de Montmoret which may be found at Histoire de Jeanne d’Arc (1612) under Hubertus Momoretana. (Guerres des Anglais). My translation seeks to mirror the French verse in imagery, metre and rhyming scheme.

 7   Finally, readers may like to consider why the French troops would be marching under a banner showing the image of the Saviour of the world holding a white lily in his hand, with the words Jesus and Mary on either side. Was this not to show how, after Jesus (to whom all the Empires and Kingdoms on earth belong), the glorious Virgin, commander-in-chief of God’s armies and special protectress of France, had the better part in this campaign?   

It was accordingly under these favourable auspices that Joan, this valiant warrior Maid, was led in 1429 by Sir Robert de Vaudicourt (Lord of Vancouleurs) into the presence of Charles VII who was then at Chinon. After various enquiries concerning her commission and her virginity, the King ordered her to be given arms and allocated a horse. She asked him for a sword which was in the Church of Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois buried behind the altar with the remains of a certain knight (whose name is not recorded), which no one knew was there. The King despatched emissaries who found there was indeed a sword there, marked with three crosses (although others say with three fleurs-de-lis) and covered in rust. The sword was presented to the Maid and, as she was looking at it, the rust fell away – to the great astonishment of the King on all those present. The Maid returned the sword to its sheath on her belt and made use of it throughout the course of the war. The King then provided her with all the troops he could muster and she set off straight for Orleans which was being besieged by the English. She forced a passage through their lines and gave refreshment and encouragement to those being besieged before finally forcing the English to pull back, abandoning all their siege towers (which numbered some sixty). They were compelled to undergo the shame of lifting their siege, after being beaten in various skirmishes where they lost a fair number of their courageous soldiers and captains.  

The news of the victory won on this day brought heart back to the King and all good Frenchmen. As a result nobles flocked to join the colours with fresh troops who soon made up a large and powerful army. The English were astonished at what had happened and, fearing this might be the first sign of a forced retreat from France, did everything within their power to defend their position. The Maid, however, having asked for the King’s permission to to press home the advantage gained from their victories, succeeded in restoring to his realm the greater number of cities and towns in Champagne and Picardy. She urged him to have himself crowned in Reims and when the ceremony duly took place it was she who insisted on holding the French standard. 

Sometime after this, Charles, increasingly blessed by more and more graces and favours from Heaven, was welcomed into his dear city of Paris. This was where in 1431 Henry, King of England, had been crowned King of France in the Church of Notre-Dame. After that, having won back from the English Guyenne, Normandy and the other Provinces that they had been occupying, the French pressed them so forcefully that they were sent back across the Channel to mind their business in England as before the start of their foreign adventure. In this we can see how by the hands of the glorious Virgin, France was delivered from the importunate ambitions of their neighbours and Charles was restored to the peaceful possession of his Estates.

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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