Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 3 : § 1.14-16

Chapter 3 : Trust in the Mother of God – a second feature of the gratitude we owe

[Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré’s Triple Crown of the Holy Mother of God (1643 French edition).]

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac (Poggi, 2020)

§ 1. The first sign of trust : not undertaking anything except with the Holy Mother’s help and guidance

St Hyacinth

 14   St Hyacinth, after receiving the religious habit from the hands of St Dominic, was sent by him into Poland which was the country of his birth. He set off on his journey with the blessing of Pope Honorius III and wise words of advice from St Dominic himself. 

What Dominic most wanted to instil in his heart was the importance of keeping very close to the Queen of Heaven, never undertaking anything except with her holy guidance and always considering her as his anchorage point and as the guiding star for all his journeys. The Saint profited so greatly from this advice that it is not possible to say how much he advanced the Glory of God in those lands. She promised him that there was nothing he might ask from her beloved Son that he would not obtain through her intercession. He would recall this promise in all his necessities and this enabled him to bring about so many conversions in the cities towns he visited that they almost ceased to be recognisable. He caused numerous Churches and Monasteries to be built; he established the Dominican Order at various places throughout Poland; and he worked more than eight hundred miracles which the Dominican Severin of Kraków recorded in four volumes used at his canonisation. In short, by working tirelessly night and day to rescue those who had gone astray and to fortify those who were on the right path, he won a multitude of souls for God and a crown of immortal glory for himself.     

St Francis Xavier

 15   St Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the East, took due account of the importance of what he had been called upon to do and placed himself entirely in the hands of the most sacred Virgin whom he loved with a tender affection. After God Himself, he offered her all his labours and implored her to accompany him with her favours and blessings.

He would frequently be seen in the Church of Our Lady in Goa, in Malacca or in Cochin, kneeling before the altar of the Holy Virgin and entrusting her with the affairs of this new Christendom. His greatest satisfaction was to go into Church and spend the night in loving colloquy with the Queen of Heaven. Whilst teaching Christian doctrine, whenever he had finished explaining one of the commandments of God or of the Church, he would tell his audience to kneel down so that they could obtain through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin the grace of being able to keep the Commandments. In short, she blessed his labours to such effect that in the space of the ten years he spent in this new world he baptised with his own hands more than six hundred thousand souls; he worked countless miracles; he restored faith and the practice of religion in many places where it had withered away; and he carried the faith into eight kingdoms where it had never been preached before. What I particularly want to mention is that it was through the special help of this incomparable Mother that, despite all the efforts of hell and the demons to thwart his plans, he made his entry into the great and beautiful kingdom of Japan on the very day of her triumphant Assumption and his labours had such a happy outcome that the Japanese Church became one of the most fervent in the whole of Christendom.

 

Gonçalo da Silveira

 16   When the Blessed Martyr Gonçalo da Silveira learned that he was to be sent on a mission to Ethiopia and that divine providence had chosen him to restore this vineyard which had once been watered with the blood of the Blessed Apostle St Matthew, he applied himself before anything else to win the favour and graces of the Empress of Heaven, convinced that with her help nothing would be impossible for him to achieve.

With this in mind, he started to meditate upon the qualities of her Greatness and he devoted one hour each day to this for the whole of the voyage. In order that the thoughts and feelings inspired in him by God during these prayers would not be restricted to himself alone, for the first thirteen days of the journey he assembled everyone on board the ship and spoke to them of her praiseworthy qualities and of the way she was to be honoured and served. He obtained permission from the ship’s captain for the Litany of Loreto to be sung solemnly every evening and he did everything he could to promote her honour amongst those on board. The Holy Virgin, wishing to show how pleased she was by his zeal, so arranged things that it was on the Purification that they saw land for the first time. After passing through a terrible storm which lasted several hours, they were finally able to make out on the coast of Mozambique the Church called Nossa Senhora de Baluarte[1] which served not only as a landmark for them but also as a favourable portent. As soon as they reached land, Gonçalo took off his shoes and walked barefoot to offer his prayers and devotions to the most sacred Virgin in Nossa Senhora de Baluarte. He was so transported in prayer and meditation that he remained several days in the Church without leaving and it required one of the officers from the crew to come and take him back on board the ship otherwise he would have stayed longer.

As soon as they reached the Kingdom of Monomotapa[2], his first concern was to invite a goodly number of people to petition the glorious Virgin to help facilitate their entry and dispose the heart of the King to receive and benefit from the good news of eternal salvation he was bringing. It was truly a pleasing sight for the Blessed Spirits and for all those who could see him near a little clump of palm trees beneath the royal city imploring the help of the Holy Mother, kneeling as he prayed the beads of his Rosary before an image of the Virgin he had hung from one of the trees. In the end, his heartfelt and earnest prayers together with the intercession of the Blessed Virgin culminated with the King receiving Holy Baptism along with three hundred of the chief men in his court, as I have explained elsewhere[3]. 

The supreme high point of his happiness came when he gained his martyr’s crown and by his merits paved the way for the Kaffir peoples to receive the Gospel by means of the care and toil of several labourers in the Lord’s vineyard who were later sent and for whom the gates of this kingdom had been opened by the shedding of Gonçalo’s blood.

Footnotes

[1] Nossa Senhora de Baluarte : Our Lady (of) the Rampart or Bulwark.

[2] The Monomotama Kingdom or Empire (15th-17th century). From Mwene meaning "Lord" and Mutapa meaning "conquered land". Located in what is modern-day Mozambique, Botswana, Malawi, and Zambia.

[3] Part III, ch. 6, § 4.

👑   👑   👑

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 

Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 3 : § 1.10-13

Chapter 3 : Trust in the Mother of God – a second feature of the gratitude we owe

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)

§ 1. The first sign of trust : not undertaking anything except with the Holy Mother’s help and guidance

Those who devote themselves to works of piety

 10   Those who devote themselves to works of piety achieve success in proportion to how much they have commended them to their holy Mother. Here is an example of recent memory which is most edifying in the way it reveals the effects of grace.  

Friar Francis of the Child Jesus was a member of the Discalced Carmelites who departed this world in Madrid on the 26th of December 1604 with a great reputation for holiness. In his cell was an image of Our Lady which he honoured with a very special devotion. On days when he had to go out to deal with some matter of importance in the service of God, before setting off he would take the figure of the devil and hold his head beneath the feet of Our Lady whilst he uttered the following prayer to her  : 

“Most sacred Virgin and powerful MOTHER OF GOD, keep a watchful eye on this mangy dog (this was what he usually called him) for fear he escapes and causes trouble amongst the fallen young women who are trying to amend their lives.” 

Helping these women was one of his main works of piety and he had found that his prayer was extremely effective in ensuring the efforts of the old enemy came to nought. If it so happened that he forgot to take this preventive spiritual action, he could tell by the degree of success he achieved as well as by certain signs amongst the girls themselves whom he would find out of sorts and suffering from distress. When he noticed this, he would say to his companion: 

“We must have forgotten to ensure the mangy dog was tied up; that’s why he’s turned up here spewing his poison.”

After returning to the monastery and finding this was just as he had said, he avenged himself on his foe by thrusting him several times under the feet of the Blessed Virgin.   

The military

 11   Many great Captains and valiant conquerors have had recourse to her who is the Commander of Heaven’s armies. They have sought her help in their campaigns and they have all considered themselves fortunate to be able to fight under her colours. We have already spoken earlier about Emperors such as Constantine, Heraclius, Maurice and Justinian – along with the happy outcomes they experienced in battle when she was close by their side.

Henry, Infante of Portugal and son of John I, was a Prince blessed with piety no less than with courage and valour. He was guided by a divine inspiration to travel eastwards and discover new lands. He first set sail in the year 1410 and under the guidance of the Queen of Heaven he followed the coast of Africa. In the space of some fifty years, (he died in the year 1460) he made successful discoveries each day, reaching the Cape of the Unicorn[1]. He did not forget to show his gratitude towards her who was guiding his travels and he built a beautiful Church dedicated to her adjoining the port of Lisbon. Since his time, the royal standards of Portugal have been carried to India – with a noteworthy advancement of the Christian religion. The zeal shown by King Manuel has also worked wonders and all this happened under the same guidance provided by the MOTHER OF GOD. He made known the part she had played when he enlarged the Church built by the Infante Henry, making it one of the most magnificent in the entire kingdom of Portugal. He also encouraged Religious Orders to provide spiritual help and support for those disembarking at this port and for those embarking on voyages overseas.

Footnotes

[1] Possibly Ras Nouadhibou (Cabo Blanco or “white headland”): on the coast of Mauretania/Western Sahara.

 

Those faced with pressing problems 

 12   Those faced with various pressing problems have no safer place of resort than the altars of the glorious Virgin. I have already provided numerous instances elsewhere in this work and I shall therefore mention only one example here : that of the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II.

He was struggling to deal with civil war caused by the treacherous rebellions of Alexios Branas. In 1187 he ordered a public procession through the streets of Constantinople with the image of the Holy Virgin which was usually kept in the Church of the Panaghia Hodegetria, (Our Lady the All-holy Guide or who shows the Way), built formerly outside the city walls by the Empress Pulcheria. His wish was to invoke Our Lady’s help and protection through this public prayer and she duly obliged. The traitor was defeated and put to death by Conrad Duke of Monserrat and the same weapon which brought death to him restored life to the Emperor Isaac, rescuing him from the fearful condition which had been troubling him.

 13   Consider those hearts filled with manly courage and ablaze with zeal for serving God who, scorning their own lives and all worldly things, went out to conquer new worlds not for the sake of their reputation or to make themselves appear great on earth, but to extend the frontiers of the Kingdom of God. Who will believe that they thought they could make much progress if their heavenly Mother did not show them the way and help them in all their undertakings? Leaving aside others whom I could mention by the hundred, I shall mention here only St Hyacinth, who was a most wondrous adornment of the order of St Dominic; St Francis Xavier, whom the Holy See confirmed in his glorious title of Apostle which the common consent of people had already conferred on him; and the Blessed Martyr Gonçalo da Silveira – the last two being members of the Society of Jesus.

👑   👑   👑

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 

Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 3 : § 1.6-9

Chapter 3 : Trust in the Mother of God – a second feature of the gratitude we owe

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)

§ 1. The first sign of trust : not undertaking anything except with the Holy Mother’s help and guidance

Those with big decisions to make about their life 

 6   Those who have big decisions to make about their life address themselves to their Holy Mother but with a confidence altogether different from those men in ancient times who consulted the goddess who presided at crossroads and forks in the road. I have provided examples elsewhere when I was describing the wondrous care shown by the Virgin in bringing her children safely to their abode. These should be sufficient without the need for me to present others now but I will cite the case of Eliezer, Abraham’s chief steward who had been sent to find a wife for his young master Isaac[1]. He was eventually successful near the fountain of Nachor and those who find themselves troubled with the sort of anxiety he faced before meeting Rebecca could do worse than imitate his beautiful prayer. Let them only say with him in complete confidence : 

O Lord God of Heaven, come to my assistance and show mercy unto thy servant. Behold, I stand before the true fountain of sweetness and source of Heaven’s grace, the Mother of thine only begotten Son; I ask thee through her merits and the credit she has with thy Majesty that it will be please thee to show me the best way forward to promote thy glory and lead me to mine own salvation. I wait upon thine infinite goodness through the intercession of her to whom thou canst refuse nothing.  

Footnotes

[1] Gen. xxiv.

Those engaged in life’s daily battles

 7   Lovers of virtue enter the lists only after they have obtained the favour of the Queen of Virtues and it is by means of her help that they are given hope of winning the prize.

Blessed Aloysius Gonzaga S.J. came to the conclusion that without this assistance he found it impossible to grow in virtue ; but once fortified by her help he was filled with confidence when it came to achieving his goals especially with regard to humility since he had particularly set his sights on this and was determined to succeed at all costs. 

Contemplatives

 8   Contemplatives and those given over to prayer make a beeline for their holy Mother and apply themselves to obtaining her favour so that they will be permitted to enter into a colloquy with God.

St Bernard and St Anselm both used to give this advice and those who followed it, such as St Elzéar Count of Ariano and several others, never found the door of Heaven’s graces closed to them. 

Those who counsel others

 9   Those who wish to give sound advice to others make sure to consult first with Heaven’s Oracle, the Mother of uncreated Wisdom.

This was the practice of Blessed St Catherine of Sweden, daughter of St Bridget and a great imitator of her virtues.All manner of people would come to seek her wise advice and she invariably turned to the Holy Virgin with an Ave Maria, asking what response she would give. In response, she used to receive such an abundance of heavenly wisdom that through her good advice many people were saved from great dangers and delivered from terrible temptations.

One such was a young widow, the daughter of a Roman Lady of quality, who was being troubled by an unclean spirit every night. Not daring to breathe a word of her suffering to a living soul, she finally found the courage to share her problem with St Catherine, asking if she could give her any helpful advice. The Saint, having prayed to the glorious Virgin, advised the woman to observe an octave of prayer in the Church of Holy Cross; she was to go there with her mother, dressed simply and barefoot, reciting each day the Pater and Ave seven times before the Crucifix. The young lady, accompanied by her mother, carried out this advice to the letter. When the eighth day arrived, the devil appeared to her in the same way he had before but this time he was complaining and cursing Bridget’s daughter whose advice had meant that all his plans had been thwarted and the evil designs he had upon her had been frustrated.

👑   👑   👑

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 

Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 3 : § 1.1-5

Chapter 3 : Trust in the Mother of God – a second feature of the gratitude we owe

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)

I began this discussion of the gratitude we owe to the Holy Virgin on account of her great dignities and privileges with the high esteem in which we must hold her. This esteem properly corresponds to Faith and is the foundation for all the holy affections of our heart towards the Virgin. I am minded to continue with the theological virtues and accordingly we now come to Trust. Strictly speaking, Trust (or Hope) when considered as a divine virtue is like Faith and Charity for it has God as its first and principal object, in whom it seeks its joyful fulfilment and from whom it expects the necessary help to obtain this. 

Just as below this sovereign good, however, we hope for certain others which may serve as a means to attain thereto, so too we are permitted to seek the same favours through the intercession of friends of God who takes pleasure in honouring them by obliging us and in obliging us by honouring them. Notwithstanding that we may have recourse to them, God Himself remains always our final end and the first principle of all our hope. Now, since of all the friends of God the most sacred Virgin holds the highest position not only in power but also in the credit she enjoys, reason would require us to conclude we can have a very special trust in her. Here we see the wondrous generosity of Heaven at work, receiving by way of the gratitude we owe for various gifts acts of thanksgiving from which we will obtain new benefits. The result is that whenever we offer acts of gratitude, they always have the effect of increasing the graces we receive – as will be shown later in this discussion 

§ 1. The first sign of trust : not undertaking anything except with the Holy Mother’s help and guidance

 1   The first effect produced by this trust in the souls of the Virgin’s children is that they never undertake anything important without calling upon her to oversee it and help events turn out favourably. In ancient times when a pagan darkness hung over the earth, the Moon was invoked by all sorts of people : by hunters, under the name of Diana; by travellers, as Hegemone[1]; by Poets, as Hymnia[2]; by Sages, as  Aristobula[3]; by Virgins, as Parthenia[4]; and by pregnant women, as Lucina[5].  In the same way, now that Heaven has banished the infidel darkness with the light of truth, hardly any people can be found (no matter how little knowledge they have of the MOTHER OF GOD) who do not have recourse to her in all their undertakings and who do not think these would turn out very badly without her care and guidance.

Footnotes

[1] Hegemone : from Ancient Greek: Ἡγεμόνη  the feminine form of ἡγεμών, ‘leader, guide.’

[2] Hymnia : an epithet of the Greek goddess Artemis. Cf. Polyhymnia, the Muse of sacred poetry. 

[3] Aristobula : ἀριστόβουλος, best-advising.

[4] Parthenia: from παρθένος, (parthenos) meaning virgin.

[5] Lucina: a title given to Juno and Diana as goddesses of childbirth, linking them to the light (lux, lucis) of the moon.

Travellers

 2   Many travellers take the view that the success of their journey and the safety of those left behind depend on having chosen the Holy Virgin for their Guide and for the Protectress of their homes. The Patriarch Sophronius provides a thought-provoking example in the book entitled The Spiritual Meadow[1].    

There was once in Alexandria a very pious man whose house was a meeting point for the poor and especially for mendicants of Religious Orders. He had a wife similar in outlook to himself and just as charitable. She had great humility and lived a life of abstinence, fasting every day. Her husband was a merchant by trade and this led him to plan a journey one day to Constantinople. Just before he left, his wife said to him: 

“Dear husband, to whom wilt thou commend and entrust us in thine absence?”

“To the MOTHER OF GOD,” replied to the merchant, “she will take good care of you.”

His wife would in fact soon learn the truth of this since her husband had not been gone for long when the devil, envious of all the good that was being done in this household, persuaded a domestic servant (who was staying there alone with his mistress and a little girl aged about six), to kill them both, ransack the house and then flee with whatever he could carry. Determined to carry out this horrific plan he went into the kitchen, armed himself with a large knife and was then going to make his way straight to the bedroom where he knew that his mistress had retired with the little girl. But a strange thing happened! He had no sooner set foot outside the kitchen than the Holy Virgin struck him with sudden blindness so that he was unable to go to the bedroom or even return to the kitchen. He shouted out for his mistress but she told him to come and find her if he wanted her. He continued to insist that she should leave her bedroom and come to him but she held firm. The poor wretch, seeing now that his plan was not going to succeed and would in fact be discovered, plunged the knife he was carrying into his chest and at the same time uttered a great cry. This made the mistress come to see what had happened and, lifting her arms up to the heavens, she quickly ran to get help. Officers of the court arrived and the wretched servant was interrogated. By the grace of God he had enough life left in him to enable him to confess everything that had happened. This made all those present make a point of blessing God and of esteeming more highly than ever before the protection offered by His most holy Mother.  

Footnotes

[1] Ch. 75. A Greek book generally attributed to John Moschus written in the late sixth to early seventh century. The text is composed of anecdotes from the travels of John during his travels with Sophronius. See Pratum Spirituale (English Translation by Cistercian Publications 1992).

Men of letters

 3   Men of letters frequently entrust their studies to her and summon her aid to deal with problems and difficulties they encounter in their work. 

We find evidence of this in what is recounted about St Edmund Archbishop of Canterbury. He had been invited by his mother (recently deceased) to abandon his study of Geometry and apply himself to Theology. He did this with a determination matched only by his diligence, but his studies were always carried out under the direction of the Blessed Virgin whose image he had continually before him whilst he was studying. Shortly afterwards, he began to deliver his lectures which not only met with an extraordinary reception but brought forth wondrous fruit in the way all his listeners were moved to change their way of life. From time to time, however, his dear Mother and Teacher provided signs of her satisfaction with his devotion. One night, for example, he fell asleep whilst he was reading the Bible and the candle he was using fell onto the pages. He woke up and immediately expected to find that the book had been damaged or lost but no sooner had he snuffed out the candle than he saw that the book had not been damaged at all. On another night, a rat caused the Saint's light to go out as he was waking up from his first sleep and he was upset by this ; but no sooner had he confided his distress to the Holy Virgin than she sent an Angel to him to relight it and to prove that his trust, in small as well as in big matters, would never be disappointed.

The Annals of our Society bear witness that Dr Francis Suarez undertook the study of Theology under the patronage of the MOTHER OF GOD and that he frequently had recourse to her when faced with doubts or difficulties. I think there is no need for me to explain how much he gained from this, since even the newest students in theology are aware of the reputation for sound teaching he acquired amongst even the most learned Doctors.

I have known of men who, before undertaking a particular course of public action when they were obliged to provide proof of their competence and qualifications, never failed to promise some particular devotion to the Holy Virgin so that she might lend a helping hand and bring about a successful outcome.

 4   For as long as the name Christian lasts and there are members of the faithful to keep it going, the memory of the great Church Historian, the celebrated Cardinal Baronius, will live on in their hearts. 

Around the year 1560, the first infamous volumes of the Centuriators of Magdeburg[1] began to appear from the depths of the abyss. These books looked fine on the outside and even bore the somewhat specious title of Ecclesiastical History but in reality they were nothing more than an inversion of history, a hotchpotch of deceptions and calumnies, a mishmash of all the old heresies – spewing out blasphemies against God, against the Virgin and against the Saints. Blessed Philip Neri, inflamed with zeal for the House of God which he saw being abused and insulted by this wicked pantomime, immediately resolved to construct a bastion for the defence of the Church and to vanquish these errors. With this in mind, out of all those in his holy Congregation whom he judged capable of implementing his plan he chose the young Cesare Baronius who was at that time only twenty-one. He commissioned him to stand alone against this ramshackle band who had resolved to construct the Tower of Babel, to storm Heaven and to bring about the collapse of the Church, which Saint Paul calls the pillar and ground of truth[2]. In order to help develop his knowledge and skill, he ordered him from that date onwards to give a lecture on Ecclesiastical History every afternoon in the Church of the Oratory in Rome. This was a practice which he continued for the space of twenty-five whole years during which he covered the history from beginning to end seven times over, following the succession of the centuries in chronological order. He then set to work on his Annals and took this remarkable project right up to the 12th century A.D. 

He realized that his was a gargantuan enterprise and since he had a low estimation of himself and his abilities, he would not contemplate starting work without the benefit of heavenly guidance and assistance. In order to offer himself the best chance of completing the work, he gave himself entirely into the arms of the Mother of Knowledge and the Protectress of the Church, telling her plainly that without her he would not be able to take one step nor pen one letter on paper. He refers to this at the beginning of each of the twelve volumes that he has bequeathed us and he frequently reiterates it at various points throughout the course of his History.

The learned Henri Spondanus, Bishop of Pamiers, produced a fine abridgement of the Annals of Baronius. In the résumé he wrote of his life, he states that certain letters may be discerned almost six hundred times in the Annals and in certain other writings by his hand which make up the following words showing his tender devotion : Cesare, servant of Mary ; servant of Mary, Cesare.

Footnotes

[1] Entitled "Ecclesiastica Historia . . . . . secundum singulas centurias . . . . . per aliquot studiosos et pios viros in Urbe Magdeburgicâ" (i.e. “A History of the Church . . . . . according to centuries, . . . . done at Magdeburg by some learned and pious men”). It was the work of a group of Lutheran scholars who had gathered at Magdeburg.

[2] 1 Tim. Iii. 15.

 5   The outcome was such as to show that the Queen of Heaven had not only approved of her faithful servant’s work but had herself inspired blessed St Philip with his plan and supplied Cesare with the best pieces of information he used in his books. Who has ever shown more light and learning on the Apostolic Traditions and the various customs at the time Jesus Christ was on earth? Who has provided more enlightenment and more solid information regarding the sacred councils? Who has refuted heresies more powerfully? Who has established more solidly the dogmas and truths of our faith? Who has portrayed with more glory and majesty the face of the Roman Church? Who has recorded more faithfully the heroic actions of the Saints in all the Orders of the Church Militant? Who has discovered more beautiful secrets from venerable antiquity? Who has written of holy things more devoutly, more soberly, more methodically, or more judiciously than he did? Who was ever blessed with greater resilience to face such a long and punishing workload? Who is there that, surrounded by every sort of estimable book, lived to a ripe old age enjoying these most pleasing fruits in a spirit of peace and with continual good health? Which works since the time of the Apostles have been received with more universal applause from all sorts of people than his? Which writings have been more profitable for the public, whether to  bring back those who have strayed into error, to support in their faith those on the right path, or to expand the frontiers of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ? In how many different ways have they been abridged and included in other works?  Into how many languages have they  been translated? What background and learning have the translators had who produced their versions? 

Francesco Panigarola (Panicarola), Bishop of Asti and a mind most highly esteemed in his day, introduced them to Italy; Markus Fugger, Baron of Kirberg and Imperial Councillor, introduced them to Germans in their mother tongue; Stanislaus Czarnków, Archbishop of Gniezno and Metropolitan of the Kingdom of Poland, was responsible for enabling the Polish to read his works; in short, the French, the Spanish and several other nationalities came to enjoy the fruit of his work through translations made by men of their own nation who were no less distinguished for their learning than noteworthy for their outstanding piety and for the affection they felt for the public good. This is a very clear sign of the extensive blessing that Heaven granted not only to the author but also to his writings through the mediation of her whom he had chosen to be his Guide and his Governess in such a praiseworthy undertaking.

👑   👑   👑

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 

Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 2 : § 2.1-3

Chapter 2 : The high esteem in which the Mother of God is to be held – the first motive for showing our gratitude

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. Giving thanks to our Holy Mother : practice and effects

The first effect 

 1   If you are one of those who up until now has shared the commonly held view about the Greatness of this incomparable Princess, consider first of all whether you have been perhaps lacking in faith. Consider how you might not have been doing justice to her merits and how your position goes against the judgement of the Saints and even of God Himself who would not have been pleased with the way you honour her so little whom He honours so greatly. On hearing the fine tributes given to her by Catholic Doctors as well as the wonders they preach about her, perhaps you were one of those who secretly said in their hearts that these writers went too far and their praises were simply oratorical exaggerations; or perhaps you agreed with those who declared these were merely the childish devotions of people in bygone eras. Like them, you may accept that the Virgin is great in dignity, in holiness, and in the esteem with which is regarded by the Omnipotent, being indeed the MOTHER OF GOD – but you feel that we should be wary of going beyond this and great care should be taken since she is but a mere creature; attributing all manner of excellence to her goes beyond the bounds of reason and risks forgetting that glory and honour that are due to God alone. 

If this is your position, then you can be sure that your problem comes from a failure to recognise that the foundation of all her Greatness is her status as the MOTHER OF GOD. Accordingly, you need to correct your understanding so that henceforth it is firmly based upon the truth. In natural philosophy, once we have identified the accurate definition of something, we can then make a correct judgement about its properties and qualities. In the same way, once your mind is able to appreciate in the way it truly should the inestimable dignity of the MOTHER OF GOD, you will realise and be able to declare openly that, just as it would be a blasphemy to give to a creature that which belongs to God alone, so too it is a sacrilege to deny this incomparable Lady any perfection amongst those which are below God Himself. 

I feel confident that, once you have asked pardon for your past shortcomings, your heart and tongue will be united with  all the Saints in rapture, uttering with but slight modification the words which in Ecclesiasticus[1] were once spoken of the Greatness of God Himself : Blessing the Mother of God, exalt her as much as you can: for she is above all praise. When you exalt her put forth all your strength, and be not weary: for you can never go far enough, and you will never come close to offering the honour and glory that she merits.

Footnotes

[1] Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xliii. 33-34.

The second effect 

 2   Secondly, this very esteem for her greatness will condemn irreverence – daughter of one of the sisters of infidelity – and by this I am referring to a bad habit, or something which may result from a loose and lifeless grasp of what we believe. From this it follows that in speaking or praying to the Holy Virgin we show scant respect, which may be worse the more frequently we have dealings with her at various times during the day. It is said that to find out how well a man is spiritually united with God you need only look at how he conducts himself in the least of his devotions and the care that he takes of various little duties as they arise during the day, even when subject to interruptions. If he carries these out diligently and with a devout heart, then this is a certain sign that he is living in the actual presence and love of God. In the same way I am telling you that we can appreciate the esteem in which someone holds the incomparable Virgin and the love he bears for her by the respect and feelings of affection with which he offers her in tribute the little services that he has promised. St Epiphanius writes of himself that one day he scaled the ladder of Faith and sacred Scripture up into Paradise and there he was transported into rapture by the way the denizens of Heaven honoured our glorious Princess. I dare to hope that if we had experienced something like this, our own colloquies with her would henceforth be quite different and we would be forced to imitate, with a propriety both interior and exterior, the respect held up as an example for us by the Blessed Spirits.      

The third effect 

 3   Finally, this gratitude to our Holy Mother will produce within us a great love and esteem for everything which concerns her service, and it will make us feel honoured to be included amongst the lowliest of her servants; we shall find more glory in the least title of her household than in any of the great dignities that are pursued by others with such ambition; we shall value being servants more highly than being high and mighty Lords over others; in short, we shall hold it a greater honour to serve in her Chapel or at her Altar than to have the privilege of entering the privy chamber of the greatest Monarch in the world. This is something we shall understand in an incomparably clearer way when the bright day of Eternity dawns for each of us and sweeps away the darkness in our lives. Our new, lived reality will then reveal wondrous secrets which we would never have discovered through our speculation. 

I will have more to say about this in Chapter 8 where I intend to deal more fully with the issues of gratitude and honour.

[End of Chapter 2]

👑   👑   👑

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 

Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 2 : § 1.7-8

Chapter 2 : The high esteem in which the Mother of God is to be held – the first motive for showing our gratitude

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)

§ 1. The high esteem in which the Saints and God Himself hold the most sacred Virgin 

 1   These perfections have been shown as flowing from the inestimable Greatness of the Queen of Angels and they have all been supported by writings of Holy Doctors in Parts I-III. Readers will not have failed to note, however, that there is a perfection which is much higher than these and which the Doctors take as the principal and essential basis for the esteem due to this great Lady. Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God[1], the Prince of the Apostles said to Jesus Christ and with these words he believed he had said everything. In the same way, do you want to understand in a few words everything that can be conceived about the greatness and sublimity of the glorious Virgin? Simply say to her: Thou art Mary, the Mother of the living God. This dignity of being Mother is the just measure and matrix[2] of all her great dignities and privileges. Once this is perceived, you will see it is impossible to go any higher since you will have arrived by this means at the throne of the Divinity. As the Blessed Methodius[3] says: 

You will see her processing alongside God under one and the same imperial canopy by reason of the privilege she enjoys of her maternal relationship with Him. 

In our own day an optical device has been invented[4] which incorporates refraction and reflection using glass and mirrors, enabling the eye to see different parts of an image with an adjusted perspective which permits a true and more perfect representation. I would invite readers to recall the thoughts concerning the blessed Virgin which may be found throughout Parts I-III of this work and now view them through the optics represented by the words Mary and MOTHER OF GOD. If you contemplate her in majesty and glory, try to conceive the majesty and glory of the MOTHER OF GOD. If you look at her from the perspective of how holy she is, how admirable, how powerful, how good-natured and loving – then try to remember that what you are seeing is the holiness, the power, the goodness, the wonders and the privileges of the MOTHER OF GOD. By seeing things in this way you will find that everything about her causes you to be transported by astonishing ecstasies and raptures of love. Let us take satisfaction from what was said earlier on two occasions[5] and for anything more than that let us worship in silence that which it is better to revere in holy simplicity rather than to analyse with presumptuous curiosity.

Footnotes

[1] Matt. xvi. 16.

[2] matrix : a mould, form, die, etc. (see OED II.6). Etym. From Latin matrix with meaning of mother and by transf. womb, source, origin, cause.

[3] Orat. de Hypapante.

[4] See e.g., La Perspective Curieuse (Curious Perspectives) by Jean-François Niceron (1613-46) who was a French mathematician, Minim friar and painter of anamorphic art.

[5] Part I, ch. 2, & Part II, ch. 3.

 8   Consider how frequently it happens that when people visiting collections in galleries think that they have seen everything and are just on the point of leaving, they suddenly start to see new things and are slowly drawn back to look once more at what they had already seen – but in a new light and with a new perspective. I have found myself in this very position and with the same frame of mind. I felt I had said (at least in general terms) everything I thought was relevant to forming a high estimation of the glorious Virgin but then a certain idea occurred to me which caused me to revisit my thinking. 

It was at that moment, and not before, that I thought I had come across the true rule for understanding the great dignities and privileges of the MOTHER OF GOD. This is how my reasoning went : Since it is only in God’s eyes that a person may in truth be seen as that which he is, and since Eternal Wisdom cannot err when judging the value of things, where might we find a more just and fitting conception of the great dignities and privileges of the MOTHER OF GOD than in the divine understanding, for there may be found the true images and substantial ideas of the works He has produced? The Philosophers and Theologians teach with St Thomas[1] that the truth of each thing cannot be better perceived than in its conformity with the first understanding, which is that of God. Perhaps another comparison will make this clearer : artists maintain that images look better in the mirror than in their own body, and this is why they make use of them in portraits. In the light of this, consider how the understanding of God is the essential mirror of all the works He has created, a mirror in which their perfection appears much more perfectly than in themselves. One consequence of this is the Blessed Spirits look into this mirror rather than elsewhere when they want to form a true judgement of someone. From this it follows that often they make very little of things which we admire to distraction and, conversely, they highly esteem some things which we do not rate very much at all. 

I am well aware that it is not given to us to penetrate the secret of this light inaccessible in a way that would enable us to see things with clarity, but can we not discover some little rays of light coming through an opening somewhere? We can in fact have an idea of the esteem in which God holds people through the work He gives them and the office to which He appoints them. In view of this, are we not forced to agree that, since He judged the most sacred Virgin worthy of being the Mother of His only-begotten Son (the highest dignity that could be communicated to a simple creature), He must have esteemed her more highly than any other creature? What can I say of the honour that He wanted to be shown her as a result of the role and status He gave her and the signs he gave in confirmation of these? Who does not see in this just how highly we are to venerate this beautiful vessel of honour whom He set aside for such an excellent purpose and whom he did not cease to adorn and enrich until he saw her worthy and supremely suited to receive the Eternal Word taking human flesh and nature? Who would not judge but that our thinking and our conceptions are too primitive and coarse to form an idea that even comes close to all this? Accordingly, let us practise what we are obliged to do in several other mysteries of our faith : let us believe in that which we cannot comprehend and, through the esteem in which we hold God, let us value that which He Himself values even though we might not fully understand.

Footnotes

[1] Opusc. XLIV, c. 2, in fine.

  

👑   👑   👑

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