Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 4 : § 2.4-7

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)

§ 2. The second sign of love: frequent interactions with her and always remembering her 

 4   Who would be able to describe the ardent feelings in the heart of the Jesuit Alphonsus Rodriguez when, transported with love for the most sacred Virgin, he said to her:

“My dear Mother, I love thee more than thou dost love me;” 

and the Mother of love replied to him :  

“My dear Alphonsus, thou art mistaken, for no one apart from my Son hath ever surpassed me in love. The love in thy heart is but a tiny spark compared to the furnace of love I have in my heart.”

What confidence on the one side and what generosity on the other! What confidence within his filial heart, erupting in cascades of love! What generosity within ther maternal heart which does not find such liberty of expression presumptuous! What gentleness and tenderness in these loving colloquies! Does this not bear out the observation made by St John Damascene[1], that :

he who makes his memory and his understanding a display case, or rather an oratory devoted to the glorious Virgin, enjoys indescribable peace and perfect contentment without intermission? 

What else was this good and faithful servant of the Virgin doing when (without mentioning the usual ways he would remember her as his dear Mother) he never failed to greet her each hour of the day with an Ave Maria and a Salve Regina, so that she would remember to ask her most dear Son to pray for him? All those who know what communication can offer will have to admit there are subtle things which can be truly savoured but not actually explained in words; and there may be associated benefits which deserve to be sought out with every possible care. If friendship may be likened to a paintbrush which can portray on our hearts the vices or the virtues of our friends, as well as their other feelings – then how will those who are devoted to the sacred Virgin not fail to gain from the interactions they have with her since she leaves on their souls the brushstrokes of her most excellent virtues and of her most divine qualities? 

Footnotes

[1] Orat. 1 Damasc. de B. Virg.

 5   A special word of mention is due to the saintly John Berchmans, one of the Angels in the Society of Jesus, since out of the many virtues which adorned his crown like so many precious gemstones, it was the tenderness of his affection for the most sacred Virgin and the way he kept her continually in mind that stand out above the others[1].

He was quite happy for people to know that he professed a singular devotion towards her not because he wanted to demonstrate his piety but so that he would be able to speak more freely about it in his various encounters with people. The evening before his death, he said to one of his brethren that the principal and most powerful means he had found for obtaining protection for himself had been his love and devotion towards the Holy Virgin whom he normally addressed in a manner full of trust and confidence as his good Mother. Here is an example of how he would speak (as recorded in his memoirs): 

“Dearest Mistress and Governess of my progress in virtue, in my health and in my studies ; sweet Virgin Mary, thou art truly my good Mother!”

In his personal conversation he would always seek an opportunity to speak about her and her eminent virtues. In the Roman College there was a small Chapel dedicated to Our Lady which he would visit so frequently that it recalls the story about St Bernardine and a similar image on one of the gates of the city of Siena, as I explained elsewhere[2]. Please listen now to the way he expressed his feelings of affection when talking of this glorious Princess.  

“If I love Mary, he said, I am assured of my salvation and of my final perseverance; apart from that, I shall also obtain from God all that I would wish and I shall in a sense be omnipotent.”

Footnotes

[1] Vitæ ipsius, part. II.

[2] Part III, ch. 4, § 2.

 6   In all the little things he wrote concerning his devotion, there is nothing which occurs so frequently as the references to faithful love and service of the Holy Virgin. 

He often used to say that we all need a safe refuge to which we may confidently have recourse in our necessities, especially in those which arrive quickly or take us by surprise; and that the best refuges are the wounds of Our Lord and the sacred mantle or the bosom of His holy Mother. He was asked one day which remedies he used when he found himself  in a state of distress or tribulation: 

“Here are the four remedies I use,” he replied: “prayer, keeping busy, patience and Mary's maternal embrace[1].” 

He prayed his rosary every day but with such concentration that often he would not notice people passing him or greeting him.  He had compiled texts from various authors praising the Holy Virgin And he made use of these but especially when he was meditating on her twelve principal virtues whilst saying the little chaplet which normally goes by the name of the Twelve Stars. He was in the habit of reciting nine times each day: Beata viscera Mariæ Virginis quæ portaverunt æterni Patris Filium[2], genuflecting each time he prayed these words in honour of the nine months that she bore the only begotten son of God in her sacred womb. 

Footnotes

[1] The French text refers to Mary’s bosom and her lap.

[2] Blessed is the womb of the Virgin Mary, that bore the son of the everlasting Father.

 7   The most favourable time he had in the whole year for letting his heart go was when studies had finished and were followed by a period of recreation for those engaged in them.

The greater part of his day was taken up with reciting the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin and the Litany of Loreto; he would also engage in colloquies with her, or discuss her incomparable merits with other people – and these formed his main activities. If he came across people who were particularly devoted to Our Lady, his great pleasure was to invite them to enter the lists and see who could give her the greatest praises and the most honourable titles. On such occasions, what was there that he could not find to say? When the others had run out of ideas or had grown tired, he would continue with such extraordinary energy and with such a great abundance of ideas that he eventually ran out of time rather than material. He would go to sleep at night time like a good soldier of the Virgin with his rosary to hand; and towards the end of his life he would wear it around his neck. He would fast every Saturday and always add some extra mortification to the fast; this also happened to be the day he was born and the day when he entered the Society of Jesus. He had sworn a vow to defend and uphold forever her Immaculate Conception even should the Church forbear to pronounce on this question; and he also vowed that the first book he would write would be on this subject, saying that he already had the plan and that he had been carefully noting anything that could be of use written in the books of the Holy Fathers and other authors whom he studied. When he wanted to obtain something from Our Lady for himself or for another, he would write it down on a piece of paper along with some little vow that he undertook to discharge as soon as he could: for example, to recite the rosary in her honour or to say some other prayers. After this he would attach the paper to the image of the Virgin and he would then begin his prayer – which normally resulted in the granting of what he had requested. Finally, in order to avoid going into endless details of other devotions, I will conclude with the very words found written in some of the memoirs that he has left us:  

“I shall never be at rest until I have the tender love of my most gentle Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.”  

 8   Do you see, dear reader, how busy love is and how wondrous its ingenious ideas are? But if there is pleasure to be had simply from reading or hearing tales about them, there is much more to be had from actually developing them and experiencing them. 

How happy are those souls whom God has favoured by granting them a share in such holy and devout feelings! May they dwell for ever in the bosom of the Mother of fair love and there may they be sheltered from all the dread misfortunes by which our life is assailed in this valley of tears.

© 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.