Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 13 : §2.4-6

Chapter 13 : The Twelfth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Goodness of the MOTHER OF GOD

She safeguards her children at the hour of death and provides them with their passport to Heaven

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. How the Holy Virgin fortifies her children against their natural fear of death 

St Fulbert, St Mary of Oignies, St Nicholas of Tolentino & St Elizabeth of Schönau

 4   Take note of the loving care that the Holy Mother  showed when she came to visit blessed St Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres[1], her devoted servant who was dying. 

She comforted him in his great suffering with the milk of her sacred breast. What greater sign of tenderness could be expected from a mother’s loving heart? 

Where will we find a demonstration of love like that which God revealed to St Mary of Oignies, as reported by the devout and learned Cardinal Jacques de Vitry[2]?

God showed her His most blessed Mother seated at the bedside of a holy widow in Villembroc, near Nivelles (in Brabant). This widow had consecrated the virginity of her daughters to the blessed Mother and was now suffering from a terrible fever as her death approached. Our Lady held a fan in her own hand and was using it soothe the widow’s distress.

Where can be found an example of the gentleness she showed at the death of St Nicholas of Tolentino who fully six months before his death received a foretaste of paradise – the sound of Angels singing in harmony that he used to hear every day? At the hour of his death he began to sing joyfully, causing the astonished Friars who heard him to ask why he was doing this.  

“My loving Saviour and Master,” he said, “supported by His most holy Mother and our father St Augustine, has just spoken these words to me : Thou good and faithful servant, enter into thy rest rejoicing in thy Lord.”

 

With these words, he gave up the ghost. 

What more heart-warming reply can be imagined than that which the Holy Mother gave to blessed St Elizabeth[3], the Benedictine Abbess of Schönau in the Diocese of Trêves (Trier)?

This servant of God was at prayer on the occasion of a particular solemnity and was earnestly commending herself to the MOTHER OF GOD, imploring her to come to her aid at the hour of her death so that she might not depart from this world other than in the manner of a true Christian.  

“My dearest daughter,” replied her loving Mother, “fear not, for thy death will be not only 

that of a Christian but of a Saint.”

The truth of these words became apparent when God, that He might be glorified by her death, and that many might be spiritually edified thereby, kept her soul in her body for ten whole days until Good Friday, even though each day people thought she was going to die. During all this time, she suffered everything that a creature could possibly suffer and she was so afflicted by pain that even the most stony-hearted would have been moved to weep through compassion. Despite the extreme suffering she was undergoing, she enjoyed an interior consolation which was incomparably greater. She had received a promise from the glorious Virgin that the sublime vision with which she had been honoured ten days before her death would not be interrupted by anything whatsoever. Finally, her body wracked by grievous pain but her soul bathed in wonderfully sweet graces, she reached Good Friday. On that day, lying on a rough garment of hair cloth which served her in the office of Cross, she commended her spirit into the hands of her Spouse and her Saviour at the same hour as He had commended His own into the hands of His Eternal Father.   

But what can we say about the incredible way God vouchsafes to grant the wishes of his faithful servants? While she was still full of life and health, the Saint had several times prayed that the weather might be fine on the day of her funeral for the benefit of all those attending. Her divine Spouse, who was keen to please her in every way He could, granted this favour following a request from His Mother most amiable. A great number of people of all ages and all backgrounds attended her funeral, attracted from different places by the odour of her sanctity. For three days the weather was so gentle and temperate that it was easy to conclude the Saviour had wanted to granted this favour for His Spouse in celebration of her entry into heaven.

Footnotes

[1] Baron., an. 1018.

[2] In Vita S. Mariæ OEginacencis, lib. II, c. 3. Apud Surium, 16 Julii.

[3] In Vita ipsius ab Eyberto Abb., 18 Junii.

Blessed Bonfils

 5   I spoke at the end of Part I[1] about the incomparable devotion shown by the first seven Fathers of the Servite Order (or the servants of the Blessed Virgin) in promoting the glory of their unique Protectress. It seems therefore appropriate to say a word about the happy way in which they departed this world, in the hope that this will also provide consolation for those who are especially devoted to serving the Mother of fair love. I shall be describing[2] the wondrous feelings she granted them before they died, since there can be no doubt that she was present at this moment and that she personally received their holy souls into her embrace. 

Blessed Bonfils was the first of the seven and the first General of the Order. He departed this life in the year 1261 in an altogether remarkable manner. 

One night, he had assisted at Matins with his friars and after the Divine Office they had all congregated in a particular place according to their holy custom when they heard a voice which said: 

“Bonfils, because thou hast obeyed the word of my beloved Son and for love of Him thou didst abandon everything, thou wilt receive an hundredfold and wilt possess life everlasting.[3]”

No sooner had these words been uttered than the soul of this faithful servant and dear son of the glorious Virgin left his body and flew up into the embrace of his gentle Mother who received him with open arms, giving him from that instant a foretaste of Paradise. The Friars all fell to the ground as in a swoon and then they heard the same voice speaking for a second time, saying: 

“Come unto his aid, ye blessed Saints; hasten to welcome him, ye glorious Spirits, and form a guard of honour for this soul who served me so faithfully during his mortal pilgrimage. And ye, my beloved Servites, take his remains that he hath left you and inter them with the honour they deserve.”

At these words, they took heart and approached the sacred remains of their dear Father. They could immediately appreciate the glory his blessed soul was enjoying in Heaven through the celestial odour of sanctity exuded by his remains and by the wondrous beauty of his countenance on which could be seen extraordinary grace and a smile altogether divine, which enraptured the hearts and feelings of those present.

 

Footnotes

[1] Chap. 12, § 7.

[2] Michael Servita, in Chronico Servorum B. Virg.

[3] And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting. Matt. xix. 29.

Blessed Amadeus of the Amidei

 6   Five years later it was the turn of blessed Amadeus, the second of the seven founders. After a most holy life in which he he laboured greatly in the spirit and in the body, he departed this world just in the way you would imagine an Angel of Heaven would do, were he capable of dying.  

Upon his death, the monastery at Monte Senario[1] where he died was filled with an angelic fragrance which demonstrated just how pleasing he was to God and to the Holy Virgin. At the same time, a light was seen leaving his room and disappearing into the heavens.

Footnotes

[1] Monte Senario is a Servite monastery in the comune of Vaglia, near Florence in Tuscany, in central Italy.

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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 2025