Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 9 : § 3.7-11

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  

She defends us against illusions 

 7   Whenever the Princes of Darkness think to surprise us with their tricks and illusions, the Holy Mother immediately shines a light to show them up for what they are. Cæsarius tell us of a saintly old Priest who understood this very well.

One day he met with a Religious whom he was guiding on the way of perfection and asked her how she was.  

“Very well, thanks be to God,” she replied.

There was something about her response, uttered so confidently, that raised the suspicions of the old Priest. When he asked her to elaborate, he learned that she had been receiving frequent visits from an Angel and that in fact she had earlier received a promise from this Angel that soon he would be giving her a reward for her labours. The wise old Priest was well aware that the Prince of Darkness often transforms himself into an Angel of light and he instructed the Religious that if this spirit returned she was to ask him to show her the Queen of Heaven, her most venerable Mother; if this request were granted, she was kneel down before her and recite the Ave Maria. In due course Satan did not fail to return with an appearance of glory and majesty altogether remarkable and the Religious asked him the question her Confessor had mentioned about their heavenly Mother. Satan in his pride retorted that his presence should be sufficient for her without asking for more, but she remained firm in pressing her request. Lest he might lose his prey, the enemy cynically produced the image of a Lady of outstanding beauty surrounded by rays of light but as soon as the Religious began to recite the Ave, in accordance with her Confessor’s instruction, all signs of glory and greatness disappeared in a puff of smoke.

    

She arms us against temptations 

 8   In this connexion, what happened to St Vincent Ferrer[1] deserves mention here in honour of the Mother of goodness.  

One night whilst at prayer, he was imploring her to take special care of his virginity (which he had consecrated to her, after God) when suddenly he heard a voice which said to him 

“Vincent, my Vincent: thou shouldst know that it is not given to all to be virgins and if up to now thou hast thought thou didst possess this rich gift, I will so ordain matters that henceforth thou wilt no longer have reason to glory in it.”

No one could have been more astonished than young Vincent was on hearing these words. On the one hand, he found it difficult to believe that the Mother of all purity could speak in this manner, disparaging a virtue she had always held up to be so desirable. On the other hand, he feared there might be some mysterious meaning hidden in these words which he had not understood and that through some fault of his own he might have rendered himself unworthy of this precious gift.  Whilst he was agonising in his heart on this issue, the Holy Virgin appeared to him and, having spoken words of encouragement to him, she revealed to him that this voice had come from the father of lies who could not endure the brightness of his chastity any more than his other virtues. She added that he would face further attacks from the Adversary but he needed only to place all his trust in her, after God, and she would never leave his side. These words gave the saintly young man such strength and determination that from that moment onwards he grew so markedly in further that he came to resemble an Angel of Heaven rather than a man living on Earth.

Footnotes

[1] Lib. II Vitæ ipsius, c. 11. Apud Surium, t. II.

She arms us against fear and dread 

 9   If the roaring lion makes us think he is seeking whom he may devour and tries to fill us with panic and terror, the Holy Mother encircles our hearts with a defensive barrier.

The pious Henry Suso was a bright luminary in the Dominican Order in the middle of the 14th century. He had personal experience of this when one day he saw the evil spirit with a hideous face, eyes burning with fury and holding a bow in his hand. He let fly one of his dreadful, flaming arrows against a certain Religious, felling him to the ground and bringing him within an inch of his death. He made as if to do the same to Henry but he simply raised his eyes heavenwards and spoke these sweet words taken from the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin: Nos cum prole pia benedicat Virgo Maria[1]. At that moment, the wretched Adversary disappeared.

Footnotes

[1] May the Virgin Mary with her loving Child bless us: from Matins (Third Nocturn). 

 10   If Satan pursues us with extreme harassment and violence, the Holy Virgin will gather us under her wings and protect us from the claws of this predator[1] from hell.  She demonstrated this to James of the Marches[2], an apostolic man and a most zealous preacher of the Order of St Francis, who filled Italy with his holy life and teaching in the 1460’s.

Sometime before his death he found himself so beaten down and harassed by the continual persecution of demons who tormented him that he became weary of living. In search of deliverance from these anxieties, he made a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Loreto where he hoped to find help and alleviation for his troubles. Whilst he was saying Mass in the Holy Chapel, feeling altogether crushed in his extreme distress, he asked the Mother of mercy not to deny him the help he had received from her on previous occasions and he went on to ask if she would be so good as to put an end to this intense and dangerous struggle. The Mother of gentleness immediately appeared before him and, after greeting him tenderly, announced to him the good news of his deliverance and of the end of all his human sufferings. He obtained the fulfilment of her promise shortly afterwards by means of a most happy death.  

Footnotes

[1] predator: the French text has milan, from the Latin milvus: bird of prey, kite, glede (see. e.g., Leviticus xi. 14.)

[2] 1394 – November 28, 1476.

 11   To sum up, we can truthfully say that the Holy Virgin stands in the midst of her children like a second brazen serpent[1], a sign that God has set up to protect them against the poisonous bites of the fiery[2] serpents from hell. Even when the wretches in this cursed brood distend their vile gullets, rear up their hideous heads, whet their three-pointed tongues, bare their cruel teeth, spew flames from their grizzly gobs, all the time hissing and menacing; even when they fly through the air and then creep towards us, to sting us and bite us – all we need to do is to raise our gaze and look up at this sign of our salvation; for then these burning, horned vipers will be forced back into their wretched holes and hovels, the deadly scourge will cease, and those harmed thereby will be completely healed.  

These are the wondrous results of thy love’s incomparable tenderness towards those who enjoy the blessing of belonging to thee, dearest Mother of Mercy! These are the attributes that render thee so worthy of being loved, served and honoured by men and by Angels. May all of us bless thee and thank thee for the graces and favours we have received through thy loving generosity, and may Heaven and earth sing forever with one accord of thine incomparable splendours! 

Footnotes

[1] Num. xxi. 6-9.

[2] fiery: “They are so called, because they that were bitten by them were burnt with a violent heat.” (Source: Haydock commentary in Douay-Rheims).

[End of Chapter 9]

.👑   👑   👑

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