Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 13 : §3.11-15

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)

§ 3. How the Holy Virgin prepares her children for the surprise and uncertainty of death 

Blessed James of Bevagna. Blessed Elsa and Fr Andrew Noorth

 11   The favour granted to blessed James of Bevagna of the Order of Saint Dominic was in many ways comparable.  

Eight days before his death the Holy Virgin appeared to him[1], accompanied by St George and St Dominic, inviting him to share in the joy of her triumphant Assumption. He surrendered his soul on that very day and the glorious Virgin, along with the same two Saints, came to visit him and lead him up to Heaven.  

She granted the same grace to blessed Elsa, of whom I spoke earlier[2], and to Fr Andrew Noorth – who were both members of the Dominican Order.

Footnotes

[1] Michael Pius, de Viris illustribus S. Dominici.

[2] Chap. 7, § 6.

Alexander Orsini, Cardinal

 12   Not many years ago the whole of Italy and indeed the whole of the Church felt saddened at the death of the saintly Prince and Cardinal Alexander Orsini[1], known for his promotion of holiness and being himself like a mirror of every virtue. He was a key figure in the Congregation of the Jesuit College in Rome, being always foremost in spiritual exercises and especially in use of the discipline which he applied routinely until blood was drawn. Not content with that, he personally instituted a Congregation of the Virgin following in the example of the Roman one in Bracciano, where the official residence of the Dukes of Orsini is located. 

He found himself there on the eve of the Assumption in the year 1626 and, after delivering a rousing sermon of encouragement to the members of the Confraternity, he administered the discipline to the point of drawing blood, whereupon he fell ill. He received a summons from the most glorious Virgin to appear in Heaven on the octave of her triumphant Assumption, which is the 22nd of August. On that day he departed from this mortal world but left a sense of undying sadness amongst all his subjects and all good people that they had lost such a good master and such an outstanding model of virtue, whom they saw taken away from them when he was only thirty three years old. 

Footnotes

[1] Plura de eo Cornel. a Lap., in I ep. D. Joann., in fine.

 13   When considering this favour and its timing, I should like to draw attention (as I have done before) to the fact that the Mother of goodness seems to have taken pleasure in calling from this world some of her dearest servants when one of her feasts is being celebrated. We may presume that this is to enable them to share in the heavenly joy of such occasions. Here are some noteworthy examples:

    • on the feast of the Assumption, the following souls exchanged their mortal life in this valley of tears for an immortal and blessed life in heaven : St Helena[1], Mother of the Emperor Constantine; St Pulcheria[2], sister of the Emperor Theodosius the younger; St Radegund[3], Queen of France ; Henri VII[4], Emperor; John I[5], King of Portugal; St Stephen[6], King of Hungary; St Bernard[7], beloved son of the Virgin; St Hyacinth[8], Dominican friar; St Louis[9], Bishop of Toulouse and a Franciscan ; Blessed Philip Benizi, founder of the order of Servites of the Virgin[10]; Ribera[11], Stanislaus Kostka[12], and Jean Berkmans[13], all three of whom were Jesuits. 

    • on the solemnity of the Purification: St Ephrem[14], Deacon of the church in Edessa, Syria. 

    • on the feast of the ineffable mystery of the Annunciation: St Catherine[15], daughter of St Bridget.

    • amidst rejoicing on earth and in heaven, on the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin : St Nicolas[16], St Ambrose[17], St Leocadia[18].

    • on the day of the Visitation: St Bernardino Realino[19]; 

    • on the day of the Presentation[20]: François de la Tour; 

    • on the day of Our Lady of the Snow[21]: Sebastian Barradas 

and many others that escape my memory for the moment, whose wondrous devotion towards the Queen of Angels has richly adorned so many of the discussions in this work.  

Footnotes

[1] 18 August.

[2] 15 August.

[3] 13 August.

[4] 15 August.

[5] 15 August.

[6] 1 August.

[7] 20 August.

[8] 16 August.

[9] 19 August.

[10] 22 August.

[11] 21 August.

[12] 15 August.

[13] 14 August.

[14] 1 Febr.

[15] 21 March.

[16] 6 Decemb.

[17] 7 Decemb.

[18] 9 Decemb.

[19] 2 July.

[20] 2 February.

[21] 5 August.

 14   I have a few words now to say about the benefits enjoyed by those who enrol in Confraternities of the Blessed Virgin.

Some thirty-six years ago, a man from Aragon, who had a son enrolled with the children of Our Lady called Bartholomew Vergara, decided to take his son with him to the army of Philip II, King of Spain, to which he was attached by virtue of being His Majesty's surgeon. Whilst they were in Saragossa, the young man was struck down by an illness from which he would not recover. He was taken to Madrid where he suffered from a severe fluxion on the eve of the feast of St Michael. While dining with his father and four of his sisters, he declared that he would have much to accomplish that night. 

Everybody finally retired for the night and the young man, after initially falling asleep, awoke with a violent fit of coughing which caused his father to wake up. He hurried to the bedside of his son and asked him how he was feeling. 

“Like a person who is going to die,” replied Bartholomew. “Dear father, I beg you not to be distressed since I have learned this from the MOTHER OF GOD herself who has said that this will happen soon – but not before I have made use of the weapons available to a Christian approaching his end; and in this regard, I ask you to lend me your assistance.”

The father did did not know quite what to make of this and replied that it could be sorted out in the morning.

“In the morning?” ask the sick young man. “There will be no tomorrow for me.”

With that he insisted that his Confessor should be summoned, Fr Gaspar Petrosa.  This was quickly done but before he arrived, Bartholomew suffered from three slight heart attacks in his father’s presence. Eventually he recovered, regained his composure, made his confession and then asked for the last Rites. At this point something strange happened. All the servants had become emotionally distraught but a lady who lived nearby had arrived and went to fetch the priest who turned up shortly afterwards. Then a young man whom no one recognised carefully prepared the altar, lit the candles and made ready everything that would be needed for the administration of the last Rites. When the sick man had received the sacred Viaticum, his father took his pulse and said there seemed to be no need to hurry about receiving Extreme Unction; but Bartholomew was so insistent that the priest felt obliged to comply with his request. Feeling himself now fortified, he took hold of a statue of Our Lady which he was wont to caress and, holding it in his hands, he addressed numerous beautiful colloquies to his beloved Mother; until finally, as the sickness took hold of him, he lost his power of speech and in less than an hour his life came to an end. 

 15   How do these examples strike you, dear reader? Are they not wonderful signs of the peerless love shown by this dear Mother?  But what do you find more striking in these her favours : the sweetness of dying such a death or the honour of receiving this grace through her intercession? Oh! How these blessed children of hers proceed to sing in happiness along with David[1]: I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord and of our Father. Perhaps it is too much to desire such an end. For my part, I can tell you that my passionate desire is to received into the bosom of the Mother of fair love, no matter what way she chooses to bring about this end result.

Footnotes

[1] Psal. CXXI. 1.

[Translator’s note: Readers may be interested to learn that Fr François Poiré, author of this work, died on the 25th of November 1637. This is within the Octave of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary (21st November). In the Byzantine Rite, it is called “The Entrance of the Our All-Holy Lady, the Mother of God, into the Temple.” It is ranked as one of the Twelve Great Feasts, most of which are kept with both a Forefeast and Afterfeast, broadly the equivalent of a Vigil and Octave in the traditional Roman Rite. For more, see: Liturgical Notes on the Presentation of the Virgin Mary & The Liturgical Year (Guéranger) at p 307]

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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