Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 7 : § 6.10-12

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 

St John Damascene

 10   St John Damascene had dedicated himself from a very early age to serving the Blessed Virgin, but it is difficult to say just how much the love he bore her was increased by her outstanding generosity as shown in the following account which is taken from the celebrated writer of his life : John, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Everyone knows that he was called Damascene because he was born in Damascus, in Syria. He came from one of the best families in Damascus and was very carefully raised and instructed in all the fields of knowledge by an Italian monk called Cosmas. 

He acquired such a reputation for his learning and kind nature that the Prince of the Saracens in Damascus appointed him as chief of his council, after he had refused the office several times. Whilst John grew in his estimation every day, it came to pass that the Emperor Leo, known as the Isaurian, declared open war against icons in the year 716. This iconoclastic persecution was a bloody affair, for everywhere icons and images were vandalised, torn out of Churches, tossed into fires and treated scandalously in a multitude of ways.  

These outrages horrified John and so inflamed his heart that he felt moved to contact all his friends and acquaintances, calling on them to stand firmly against the iconoclasts. He wrote three books in defence of holy images which were so well reasoned, being filled with doctrine and testimony from antiquity, that they infuriated the Emperor who became desperate for revenge and resolved to kill John at all costs. It is often the case that as is the master, so is the servant[1], and Leo had in his service a skilful forger who would write all sorts of counterfeit letters for his master’s nefarious purposes. Leo hatched a plan involving a letter purporting to be written by John inviting the Emperor to make a surprise attack upon the city of Damascus, revealing to him ways in which he could be successful in this enterprise. Leo had managed to obtain a note written by John which he gave to his forger who was able to produce such a perfect counterfeit that even John’s closest friends would have been deceived by it. The Emperor duly sent the forged letter to the Prince of the Saracens, under the pretext of showing that he preferred his friendship and was the mortal enemy of all traitors and treachery. The Saracen found it difficult to think ill of John whose loyalty he had never questioned, but the evidence here was very strong and it was a very delicate matter. He summoned John and showed him the letter he had received from the Emperor, reproaching him in terms that can be easily imagined in such a case. 

The witness of innocence however is extremely powerful – even against the darkest calumnies. John’s face did not alter and he admitted that his handwriting could not have been imitated more effectively. He said that he did not know the author of this deception, as he would be able to show if His Excellency would but grant him a little time to clear his name of this calumny. The Saracen was afraid of upsetting the Emperor and also keen to continue his rule. Accordingly, without more ado, he gave an order to cut off John’s hand and display it on a pole in a public place. John, who would have been willing to offer his life, made no difficulty in stretching out his hand for the executioner. He asked the Saracen, as night had fallen, to allow him to take the hand that had been cut off and to keep it by way of consolation. The Saracen would have needed a heart of stone to deny this just request.    

As soon as they had returned his hand, he withdrew to his chamber and prostrated himself before an image of the Holy Virgin, with his arm stretched out on the ground towards the hand which had been cut off. He addressed the Queen of Heaven in the following manner:

“Dear Lady and most immaculate Mother, I know thou art aware of what hath happened to thy poor servant and the reason for the ill will of the iniquitous Iconoclast towards me. I place my trust in thee to help me, and just as things that are impossible with men are possible with God[2] who became incarnate in thee, so too there is no request so difficult that thou canst not grant it. I pray thou wilt not look upon me unfavourably if I ask thee to return the use of my hand so that I can publish abroad thine excellent qualities and those of thy beloved Son, and so that I can defend holy icons with more courage than ever.”

He had scarcely finished this little prayer when he drifted into a gentle slumber and suddenly he saw the Holy Virgin appear. Her face was truly like that of a Mother as she took his severed hand and replaced it on his wrist, saying only the following words : 

“There – thy request hath been granted; only do thou remember that henceforth this hand is to be that of a writer who writes quickly.”

It was quite impossible for John to hold back from immediately sharing with his servants news of these miracles wrought by God and the Holy Virgin. Soon the whole household was filled with rejoicing and thanksgiving. The following day the news reached the ears of the Prince of the Saracens who began to fear that they had cut off the hand of one of John’s servants instead of his own. He summoned John to his presence but he could see a miracle had happened because of the red mark left where the Holy Virgin had joined the hand back onto his wrist. He now saw clearly the malice of the heretical Emperor and the innocence of John, his advisor, whom he restored to his former offices with the promise of greater favours to follow. John offered his humble thanks but asked that he might be allowed to use the rest of his days in the service of the King of Heaven. The Saracen finally agreed to this and John, after giving all he had to the poor, proceeded to visit the Holy Places in Jerusalem before taking the religious habit in the Monastery of St Sabas. His learned writings are wonders that have served the whole of posterity as a witness to the fidelity of his promises and the multiplication of the favours he received from the Mother of goodness.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. Matt. x. 24-25.

[2] Luke xviii. 27.

A painter who was devoted to the Virgin 

 11   At this point I should like to include an example of the Holy Virgin’s gratitude which was recorded by the learned and pious Prelate, Vincent of Beauvais[1]. 

There was once a Flemish painter with a great affection for the MOTHER OF GOD to whom he had dedicated his artist’s brush and his labours. Just as he loved this Princess with all his heart, so too he had an undying hatred for the greatest of her enemies, namely Satan. In fact, whenever he came to depict her enemy, he made him so dark and ugly that the Devil could not bear to see himself portrayed so hideously. He threatened the painter more than once that he would take away his reason and finally he found the time and opportunity to do so.  

The painter was on the top of high scaffolding so that he could paint the vaulted ceiling of a Church of Our Lady. He was applying himself diligently to a portrait of the Virgin which had turned out very successfully and he now turned his attention to her enemy whom he placed crushed beneath the feet of the Queen of Angels, giving free rein to his imagination as he depicted his ugly disfigurement to the best of his ability. The evil one seethed with rage at this and shook the scaffolding so violently that everything started to collapse to the ground. The painter was taken completely by surprise and it was through a movement of trust rather than any natural movement that he raised his joined hands on high and begged for the help of her in honour of whom he was working.  

A strange thing then happened, for at that very moment the arms in the painted image of the Virgin reached out and held him safely until help arrived, demonstrating how no one ever offers a service to her without soon experiencing the incomparably sweet graces and favours of her loving gratitude.  

Footnotes

[1] Speculi, lib. VII, c. 104.

Blessed John Capistrano

 12   I shall be speaking in Part IV[1] about Blessed John Capistrano, a member of the Franciscan Observants, (who was beatified by Pope Gregory XV on the 10th of September 1622) and his remarkable devotion to the Holy Virgin. The Holy Mother wanted to make him known to everyone, renewing through him what she had previously done in the same place for one of her dear children, the blessed St Bernardine.  

He was preaching in the middle of a large square in the city of L’Aquila, which is in the Kingdom of Naples, and whilst focusing on the great qualities of the Holy Virgin he cited those beautiful words from chapter 12 of the Apocalypse[2]: And a great sign appeared in heaven. At this point, all those who were listening to the sermon saw in the sky above a most beautiful star which radiated light upon him, making his face shine with a wondrous splendour and his heart glow with a fire altogether divine. John was so absorbed in describing the marvellous qualities of the Empress of Heaven that he would never have noticed any of this if the reaction of all the people present had not caused him to look up so that he could see along with the others this signal mark of her favour.  

I cannot pass over in silence what befell him on the next day. As he set off to take part in the procedures for the canonisation of Blessed St Bernardine, this same star appeared again and accompanied him all the way to Rome. 

Footnotes

[1] Chap. 9, § 6.

[2] Apoc. xii. 1.

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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