Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 9 : § 3.1-3

Chapter 9 : The Eighth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Goodness of the MOTHER OF GOD

She is the strong and valiant defender of 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. How the Holy Virgin protects her children from the assaults of their invisible enemies  

 1   In truth, poor man in the midst of all the dangers which we face at every moment is like a little paper boat borne along by the waves and buffeted by wind and rain. But what will become of man when we realise that all the dangers we have mentioned up until now are like mere images of evil when compared with the assaults of the invisible enemies of his salvation?  St Paul saw this very clearly when he said[1]: Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Our struggle is not for corruptible and perishable things but for heavenly and eternal goods. He calls them the rulers of the world by reason of the remarkable perfections with which they are naturally endowed, their incomparable strength and the victories they gained over the foremost men in the world symbolised by the tall cedars of Lebanon[2] they cut down to the ground, and over the greater part of the universe which they have brought under their subjection. He calls them Princes of darkness[3] for there is no trick or cunning, surprise or deception not known to them. Their principal ruse involves throwing us into confusion and blinding our intellects. He calls them spirits of wickedness inasmuch as they are so consumed by ill will that they seem to have no nature other than unadulterated wickedness and their distinguishing characteristics are hatred, spite, venom and cruelty. Because of this, our greatest misfortune is that these are spirits of wickedness whose meetings are invisible, whose machinations cannot be heard, whose tricks are secret, whose plans are hidden, and whose ruses may become apparent to us only when they have been completed. He concludes that in this combat it is not a question of any temporal interest but rather of ensuring or losing irremediably our eternal salvation. Who could actually imagine the stratagems they might use to take us by surprise, the forces they might deploy to defeat us and the various resources they could bring into play in order to overcome us? They use enchantments to capture the external faculties of our souls, they take over our bodies and use them as if they were the sources of animation, they lay multitudes of snares and ambushes for us in our lives; they attack us by making use of temptations, illusions, anxieties and persistent harassment. To sum up, their true name according to the response a demon gave to Blessed Jordan, Master General of the Order of Preachers, is Mille Artes[4], for they know more tricks and ways of trapping us than there are grains of sand on the seashore. What then are the chances that foolish sheep could protect themselves against the claws of these roaring lions, or that men weak in spirit could avoid falling into the snares of these ancient predators? It is quite clear that only help from Heaven is capable of delivering us from their clutches and defending us against their ravenous fury. If we have access to this divine assistance, and especially if the Holy Virgin who crushes the head of the ancient serpent deigns to take us under her protection, we have no reason to fear either the lies and tricks or the furious assaults of this predatory beast.

Footnotes

[1] Ephes. vi. 12.

[2] I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons: and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast them headlong into the fire.  Jeremias (Jeremiah) xxii. 7. 

[3] Principes… tenebrarum harum: which is rendered as principalities…of this darkness in the Douay-Rheims translation. 

[4] (masters of) a thousand arts.

The Holy Virgin counteracts their curses 

 2   The MOTHER OF GOD understands how to counteract evil enchantments and spells. She has given proof a thousand times over of her ability to dissipate them, as I have shown elsewhere[1].  I remember what happened in the year 1608 to a young man from Termignon in Savoy, called Pierre Pillat[2]. 

He had been struck by a curse on the 26th of November and had been experiencing the violent effects of a supernatural spirit right up until the 17th of January of the following year. On that day, Jacques Pillat (Pierre’s father), went to the Church of Notre-Dame de Charmes in Savoy in fulfilment of a vow he had made, in order to pray for the healing of his son. You will perhaps like to compare on the one hand the incomparable kind heartedness of the Mother of mercy and on the other her wondrous power, for no sooner had the father knelt down before the image of the Virgin, tearfully imploring her to show pity for his poor afflicted son, than the young man began to speak. He had not spoken a word since the first day of the curse because Satan had taken away his power of speech so that he did not have the means of describing what he was enduring. At this same instant, the son felt himself completely healed and free from the curse. The first words he uttered were Jesus and Mary. After giving them thanks for his deliverance, he cried out to the witch who had put the curse on him : 

“Wretched firebrand from hell! How many torments have you forced me to endure?”

Various relatives hastened to see this miracle with their own eyes and everyone clearly understood that Pierre had recovered his health at the very same moment that his father was asking the Virgin to intercede on his behalf. 

Footnotes

[1] Part II, ch. 9, § 8.

[2] Jacob. Bernard., D. Virg. Charmensis, c. 11.

She chases them out of human bodies 

 3   She has no less power when it pleases her to chase them out of bodies they have possessed. The books[1] are full of examples showing her power in this connection. Here is one taken from the history[2] of Notre-Dame de Hault (Our Lady of Hal). 

There was once in the city of Lille in Flanders a young woman called Catherine Busie who had been possessed by several evil spirits from the age of eighteen. It is not possible to describe what she had to endure thereafter for often even five or six strong men were unable to hold her down. Father Sylvester, a Capuchin made use of the Church’s ritual for exorcisms and cast out seven demons who a little while previously had been vomiting things out of this poor girl’s mouth, such as needles, sulphur, silver coins, a six inch nail, and other similar objects of sorcery. At the same time, the possessed girl’s voice addressed a man who was present in the company, saying: 

“So you’re here, then? I know very well where you’ve come from and what you’ve brought from that beautiful Lady in Montaigu[3].”

Everyone present looked at the man and, through divine inspiration, the exorcist asked him to come forward and explain what was being said. He confessed he had made a journey to Montaigu and brought back a splinter of the famous oak. The priest asked him to hand over a small piece which he then quickly placed into the girl’s mouth, telling her to swallow it. The demons immediately came up into the girl’s throat, screaming and shouting that the wood was tormenting and burning them and that they could not stand it any longer. Whilst exiting the girl’s body which they had promised to do, they declared that Our Lady of Montaigu was forcing them to leave. The first two, (because there were three of them), broke a pane in one of the Church’s windows whilst the third one ripped a great nail out of the wall and threw it against the window but without breaking it. Whilst he was making his exit and in spite of himself, he proclaimed the great qualities of the Holy Virgin whose presence he could suffer no more.  

Footnotes

[1] Lauret., Hist., lib, II. c. 7 ; lib. III, c. 37 ; lib. IV, c. 9 ; D. Virg. Montisserati, mirac. 45, 150, 162, 235, 373.

[2] Lipsius, B. Virg. Aspricol., c. 12.

[3] Notre-Dame de Montaigu, known today as the Basilica of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel (Belgium).

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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