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).
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| 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]
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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.
The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
© Peter Bloor 2025
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