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).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac (Poggi, 2020) |
§ 5. The Gratitude of the Mother of God towards certain Kings, Queens and other Rulers
St Stephen of Hungary (continued)
35 Consider next how the Emperor Henry sought to establish an alliance with Stephen and went so far as to give his sister Gisela in marriage to him. Who can doubt this was a marriage made in Heaven and that the Mother of fair love, ever keen to promote the happiness of these two families, was herself the foundation of this holy friendship, binding the parties together with her love ?
36 Consider too how his country was protected from invasion by its enemies for there can be no doubt this showed the hand of Heaven. It also showed the particular favour of her to whom St Stephen had entrusted his Kingdom and who consequently took it under her protection
After the death of Henry II (known as Henry the Pious), his father-in-law Conrad succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor and gave signs that he wanted to rearrange the political status quo. Thinking that he could conquer Hungary quickly because he would be dealing with an enemy absorbed in his religious devotions, he placed the whole of Germany under arms. St Stephen carefully summoned his Princes, his Bishops and the Grandees of his kingdom to discuss with them how to defend Hungary. In fact everything had already been resolved in Heaven before they met. Stephen had knelt down in prayer before his dear, heavenly Mother, shedding tears as he remonstrated with her that he could not prevent her from delivering into the hands of wild beasts the vine she had but recently planted, but begging her with all his heart not to impute this misfortune to any lack of trust or love for her on his part. If she had decided to punish his failings, he begged her to take this out on him personally rather than allow his subjects to suffer like sheep being led to the slaughterhouse to pay for the fault of their Shepherd.
After the King had finished his prayer, he arose with his face lit up and his heart filled with courage and confidence. Although he immediately issued a call to arms throughout the whole of Hungary, his optimism was not based upon human resources but on help from Heaven in which he had complete confidence. You are now going to hear something very strange : the German Princes and Lords had assembled their forces in readiness for combat when they each received a command coming from the Emperor. They were to command their troops to stand down and allow them to leave. This order was immediately executed. If you wanted to see a man utterly astonished, then it would be the Emperor after he received news of this. At first, he was convinced that his forces had been routed, although he found this difficult to believe. In the end, after he learned what had actually happened, he had no doubts that God had intervened in favour of His servant Stephen and this persuaded him to cancel any plans he might have for disturbing the new Christendom.
37 Let us consider, moreover, how Stephen was visited and tested by God in various ways, be it the long illness which afflicted him for three years before his death; or the loss of his children, especially the gentle Emeric who was a true pearl amongst Princes and beloved by all his subjects ; or the various trials and difficulties he had to face. I feel confident in saying that in all these he was being put to the test by his dear Mother who, in her role as Teacher of her children (as I shall show more clearly in Chapter 10), shows she is ready to chastise them betimes[1] in order to help them progress in virtue. Everything she does, however, is based upon love and in particular a love which is full of gentleness. This means that even when appearing to be strict she cannot help but show her love, as is illustrated in the following story.
During this long illness that I mentioned earlier, four of his leading Courtiers seemed to become possessed by a spirit of madness and made a dreadful resolution to lay hands on his royal person and put an end to his life. The boldest amongst them chose to administer the fatal blow. He came to the bedchamber of the sick King at dusk, aiming to strike him with a sword he had concealed under his cloak. The Blessed Virgin, however, had prepared a quite different death for the King and she caused the wretched Courtier to halt in his tracks, filling him with such fright that the sword fell from his hands making a noise which awoke the King and made him call for his guards. They immediately came running and seized the perfidious wretch who threw himself at the feet of His Majesty, showing such signs of repentance that the magnanimous King granted him pardon on the spot.
Footnotes
[1] Cf., He that spareth the rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him correcteth him betimes. Prov. xiii. 24.
38 Finally, we come to his blessed departure from this world, and we cannot doubt that this was overseen by his dear Mother once we remember that it took place on the feast of her Assumption into Heaven.
This incomparable Prince had received a signal from Heaven when he called together his Princes, his Prelates and the Grandees of his kingdom. Having spoken with them about his successor, he then passed on to them many pieces of good advice and gave his final blessing. Once this had been done, he felt he had unburdened himself of all his cares and, raising his eyes to Heaven, he held a long and loving colloquy with his dear Mother. He commended his kingdom to her and begged her to receive into her hands his poor soul which she had deigned to look after so devotedly. With these final words, the spirit of this great servant of the MOTHER OF GOD departed from its bodily confinement and rose up into the arms of her who was waiting for him, so that she might share with him in Heaven the glory of her triumph.
He died on the 15th of August in the year of Our Lord 1030 but his feast day is observed on the 20th and this, I believe, is because of what happened five days after his death.
He had been buried in the beautiful and magnificent Church that he had built for the Holy Virgin, being laid to rest in a tomb of white marble. I do not know why, but the King his successor ordered the Saint’s tomb to be opened, as well as the coffin which contained his sacred remains. What I do know, however, is that no sooner had this been done than instead of the stench which normally comes from coffins, a sweet fragrance filled the entire Church. The King went to see what could be producing this phenomenon and noticed that the body of the Virgin’s servant was lying in a yellow-coloured fluid, similar to oil or liquid manna but incomparably more pleasant than all the balms of the Orient. Now, because they could not see the ring which he had when he was buried, the King ordered the body to be removed from the coffin so that they could search for it in this mysterious liquid; but then another miracle happened, since the more liquid they drew off in golden jars, the more its level rose within the coffin. The most amazing thing was that when they poured back the liquid into the coffin, there was no more liquid than there was at the beginning.
What have you to say about that, dear reader? Would we ever meet anyone who would reward small services in a manner so noble as this and with a heart so royal?
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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
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