Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 7 : § 6.6-9

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)

§ 6. On God’s Gratitude towards certain Prelates and other persons 

Peter Damian

 6   The word Chaplain calls to mind something which happened after the death of Blessed Peter Damian, Cardinal and Bishop of Ostia[1]. 

This saintly man was returning to Rome from Ravenna where he had been sent by the Pope when he was suddenly taken by a fever in a monastery of the Blessed Virgin. The MOTHER OF GOD had arranged things in this way so that she might finally[2] receive him in her house and thank him for his services to her, especially for the learned and devout things that he had written, as events were to show. Sometime after this, he appeared in a dream to a monk who had once been Abbot of the Monastery of St Gregory of Rimini and a former disciple of Peter Damien. The monk saw he was holding his Crozier, wearing his Episcopal robes and seated in the midst of a group of Bishops whom he was instructing. Suddenly, the Holy Prelate fixed his eyes upon him, and addressing the Bishops he said: 

“Look at this monk ; I once loved him and helped him in various ways, yet since I came to this place he has never taken the trouble to come and visit me, and neither have several others whom I once helped out with particular favours.”

The poor man threw himself on the ground and apologised as best he could, saying that after he had left them, they had been unable to find out where he went. 

“Are you trying to tell me,” replied the holy Bishop, “that you were unaware that I live in the House of the Queen of Heaven and that I have the honour of being her Chamberlain?”

At the word Chamberlain, the monk woke up but it was not for long because sleep overcame him once more and then the Holy Cardinal appeared to him again, but this time with a more severe expression on his face, saying to him: 

“Did I not tell you to come and visit me in the House of the Queen of Heaven? How is it you have set so little store by my words?”

He then touched the monk behind his ear with the end of his crozier. This made him fall to the ground because he felt as though he had been struck with a spear or a bolt from a crossbow. In fact, his cheek and throat became so swollen that he thought he was going to die from the blow. After praying to the Blessed Peter Damien for his assistance, however, he was immediately healed. He recounted this story to the Abbot of the Monastery and to his fellow monks, all of whom resolved that henceforth they would visit the tomb of the servant of the MOTHER OF GOD. 

Footnotes

[1] In Vita ipsius per Joannem Monachum, ejus discipulum.

[2] “On his return from Ravenna, he was seized with fever near Faenza. He lay ill for a week at the monastery of Santa Maria degl'Angeli, now Santa Maria Vecchia. On the night preceding the feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch, he ordered the office of the feast to be recited and at the end of the Lauds he died. He was at once buried in the monastery church.” Source: Cath. Encyclopedia.

Boniface VIII

 7   Amongst the Sovereign Pontiffs of the Church who stand out for the way they served the most glorious Virgin, Pope Boniface VIII (who died in 1303) deserves special mention. His life and his death are filled with signs of his devotion to her but I shall mention here just one small example. In this we can see that the Saint wanted to enjoy after his death the special protection of the Holy Virgin he had aimed to merit throughout his life.  

He left instructions that he was to be buried wrapped in an alb on which all the principal mysteries of the Blessed Virgin’s life were depicted in a beautiful work of silk embroidered with gold thread. The Blessed Virgin showed how pleased she was with this mark of his affection by preserving the remains of her dear servant for more than three hundred years with no sign of corruption, apart from at the tip of his nose. This was witnessed when his tomb was opened in the year 1606. 

Blessed Brynolf

 8   Fourteen years after the death of this great Pope, Blessed Brynolf, Bishop of Skara in Sweden, died. The Blessed widow St Bridget was praying before his tomb one day when she received the following revelation[1]:  

The glorious Virgin appeared to her and told her that this Bishop had been one of her best and most faithful servants. It was no wonder his body gave off such a pleasant odour since his soul had been fragrant with every sort of virtue. She saw how the Holy Virgin prayed to her beloved Son that the body of her servant should be placed in a more honourable location. This indeed happened sometime after and confirmed the truth of this revelation.

 

Footnotes

[1] Revel. S. Brigittæ, lib. II, c. 30, et Lib. Extravag., c. 108.

St Francis de Sales

 9   One of the most illustrious Predates whose devotion shone brightly in our own century is the pious Francis de Sales, Bishop and Prince of Geneva. He has featured in the writings of a great many authors and he was noted for the wondrous tenderness he showed towards the glorious Virgin.  

Over a period of forty years, he never once omitted to say his daily Rosary, despite his heavy and pressing duties. The Holy Virgin, who had fostered his gentle and pleasant nature which won over the hearts of everyone he met, blessed all his undertakings and showered him with new favours and graces every day. She delivered him from a vexatious temptation to despair which troubled him for a long time and from a jaundiced condition he suffered when seeing the state to which despair was reducing him. She took him under her special protection on the day that he was consecrated Bishop, which was the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin in the year 1602, . Time was to show how this was to result in the continual favours he received from her generous hands right up until the end of his life.    

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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