Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 4 : § 6.1-4

Chapter 4 : Love – a third feature of the gratitude we owe the Mother of God

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)

§ 6. The sixth sign of love: loving for love of her all those who belong to her, whether through family, marriage, or election ; wherein special mention is made of St Joachim, St Anne and St Joseph 

 1   It is not without reason that Love has been  compared to oil since it shares certain of its properties, one being that it does not stay confined to the person loved but, like oil, it easily spreads to anyone or anything adjoining. Daily experience shows us that for the love of our friends we feel positively disposed towards certain persons about whom we might otherwise be completely indifferent. I have no intention of saying this about the parents and friends of the MOTHER OF GOD since they have in themselves qualities which make them loved and honoured for their own sake; but what I do want to say is that the connection they have with her gives them something extra and it is altogether fitting that those who cherish the Holy Virgin should grow in the affection they feel towards them.

 2   I would place in this rank those who have loved and honoured her most tenderly, through their writings or in other ways, and to whom she has shown a reciprocal love. I do not intend to provide details here since elsewhere in this work we have followed discussion of the great dignities and privileges of the MOTHER OF GOD with accounts of the honour these souls have given her, the love they have felt for her and the favours they have been granted by her royal hand. Secondly, I would mention those men and women who honoured her during her lifetime and who were blessed with her friendship and conversation, such as the Blessed Archangel Gabriel  (her Paranymph[1]), the Holy Apostles and Disciples of Our Lord, St Mary Magdalene, Saint Martha and the other holy women  who kept company with through her times of adversity. I include in this number with even greater reason those whom God honoured by making them close to her through ties of blood such as St Zachary, St Elizabeth, St John the Baptist, St Mary (the wife of Cleophas), St James the Less (her son), Salome with her two children, St James the Greater and St John the Evangelist who was able to claim her for his Mother through the pleasing services that he rendered to the most sacred Virgin as her faithful chamberlain and her son by adoption.

Footnotes

[1] Paranymph: Bridesman. In the Middle Ages, a nobleman charged with escorting the bride from her father’s house to that of her spouse.

 3   Out of all the names, however, I feel a most special affection for St Joachim and St Ann, her parents, and for Blessed St Joseph, her most worthy spouse. I feel duty-bound to indicate briefly some particular reasons we have for honouring them. 

Our obligation to honour St Joachim and St Anne

 4   There is a reference to the philosopher Protarchus in Aristotle[1] stating that the stones used to build Temples and their altars are to be considered fortunate because of the honour they receive through being employed in the service of God. This good fortune can scarcely to be appreciated by dead stones forasmuch as they are destitute of feeling; but this is not the case with living stones such as St Joachim and St Anne who had the honour of playing a part in the construction of the august Temple of Wisdom incarnate – that Temple which was to be none other than the glorious Virgin. Apart from the fact that the happiness they enjoy is inexplicable, the actual feelings they have are the high point and perfection of their joy. Would you not agree that they were prefigured by those great and costly stones that Scripture says[2] were laid as foundations for the ancient Temple of Solomon? For they were indeed great and precious in all the qualities that can elevate a person  before God or before men.

Footnotes

[1] Lib. II Phys., text. 59.

[2] And the king commanded, that they should bring great stones, costly stones, for the foundation of the temple. 3 Kings (1 Kings) v.17. 

© Peter Bloor 2025 

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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.

He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting. Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 30-31.