Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 7 : § 3.4-6

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)

§ 3. The gratitude of the MOTHER OF GOD to cities especially dedicated to her 

Loreto

 4   Those who have even a minimal knowledge concerning Our Lady of Loreto (and is there anyone who has not heard of this place?) will not find it surprising that the Holy Virgin should have taken particular care of it.

  

She showed this in a special way when Pope Leo X was at the helm of the Church. Selim[1], Emperor of the Turks and son of Mahomet, had come to believe nothing was beyond his powers and in his pride threatened to seize the treasures of this holy Chapel which had never previously been violated. He dispatched to Italy a large fleet of pirates who, having rampaged through Esclavonia and Apulia, landed at Porto Recanati where they put everything to the fire and  sword. Whilst they were making their way unhindered towards Loreto, they came to realise very soon that although this place had little defence humanly speaking, it was nevertheless protected by Heaven. The mere sight of the Church in Loreto struck such fear into their hearts that they were unable to proceed any further and were forced to retrace their steps and take to their ships. Selim himself, the author of this sacrilegious undertaking, was soon called upon to pay for it since he died shortly afterwards of a cancer which represented for him the beginning in this life of torments which will never leave him.

 

Footnotes

[1] Turselinus, Lib. II Hist. Lauret., c. 19..

Paris

 5    Paris, the jewel in the French crown, the home of our Kings and beloved of the Virgin (as I have shown elsewhere[1]), 

was given clear proof in the year 887 that the devotion shown by the city to the Queen of Heaven was most pleasing to her[2]. The Holy Mother delivered the city in a miraculous manner through the intercession of St Germain and St Genevieve, the two great Protectors and Patrons of this noble city. 

Footnotes

[1] Part I, ch. 12, § 5.

[2] Baron., an. 887.

Le Puy

 6   The glorious Virgin has been served devoutly by the city of Le Puy-en-Velay for almost fourteen hundred years. It seems in fact that little can be added to what Pope Leo IX said in a Brief addressed to Stephen de Mercœur, Bishop of Puy, on whom he was conferring the archiepiscopal pallium. The Bull (written on tree bark) has been preserved and is still venerated in the city's Church of Notre-Dame. It says that out of all the Churches dedicated to the Holy Virgin, the one in Puy is the most frequented, the most honoured and most beloved of the French faithful. If we put to one side the favours this Church has received from Heaven in gratitude for people’s devotion, we shall see quite clearly that the Virgin, her Patron and Protectress, has been keeping a watchful eye on the city day and night. Where indeed shall we find another city attacked so many times and yet always protected as this one was? Where is there any other that boasts a record over such a long time of not having experienced either the vicious assaults of heretics or the violent attacks by Barbarian which troubled so much of France? 

I accept that when the Saracens poured into France – flooding Languedoc, Provence, Aquitaine and many other regions of France – they entered Le Puy, since many cities and towns had been left defenceless (humanly speaking). It should, however, be pointed out that they showed such respect for the Church of the Holy Virgin that there is no evidence that they treated it in an offensive or insulting manner – which could scarcely be said of any other Church. Indeed, we discover that the western Saracens, once they learned of the wonders that were performed in this Church for those who invoked the Virgin, came in large numbers to ask for help against the tempests and hailstorms with which they were greatly troubled. Finding that their petitions had been answered, they sent many beautiful gifts in gratitude to this Church, a custom which continued for several years. 

There is a prophecy which can be read in this city’s truly ancient Church which we hope may continue to come true until the end of the world. It may be summed up in the following lines:  

This City thou dost see surrounds a site most holy,

The Queen of Angels doth protect and guard it wholly;

This means they laugh to scorn all efforts of their foes 

By reason of the help the Queen doth here dispose. 

.👑   👑   👑

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