Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 4 : § 3.1-3

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)

§ 3. The third sign of love: rejoicing in her perfections and feeling her sorrows

 1    St Anselm attributed a wonderful blessing to the heartfelt love of the MOTHER OF GOD, saying that[1]: 

Anyone who has tasted the sweetness of this affection may assuredly hope to have a share in the merits of the Holy Virgin.

This is a blessing or privilege which in my judgement belongs to this third sign more than the others because it takes account of her joys and her sorrows.

Footnotes

[1] De Excellentia Virg., c. 4.

 2   The feeling is like a good tree producing good fruits, the first of which is to remind the Holy Virgin of the satisfaction she derived through the fulfilment of the mysteries of our salvation, recalling the great things God worked in her. This is a secret she shared one day with Saint Mechtilde[1]. When this holy woman said she wanted to offer something pleasing to her, the Mother of gentleness replied : 

“My dear daughter, help me to remember the joy my heart felt when the Son of God emerged from the heart of His Eternal Father, like a Spouse coming from His nuptial couch to enter my womb. Help me to remember also the joy that filled me when this same Spouse, being delivered from my chaste womb, became my Son, a source of sweetness and joy.”

Footnotes

[1] In ejus Vita.

 3   The Glorious Martyr St Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, had a practice of greeting the Holy Virgin seven times daily with the Ave Maria – as though sharing in the seven joys that she experienced while she was still here on earth, namely : the way her heart burst into flower as a result of the Annunciation, the Visitation of her cousin Elizabeth, The Nativity of the Divine Word, the Adoration of the Magi, the Finding of her Son, His glorious Resurrection and His triumphant Ascension. The Holy Virgin, desirous of showing her faithful servant the pleasure she derived from this devotion of his, appeared to him one day and said to him: 

“Thomas, my dear son, I have been wanting to come and tell thee that thy services are pleasing to me and how touched I have been by the way thou wouldst share in my joys. But why is it thou speakest only of the joys I experienced whilst I was living on earth? Dost thou not reckon those I currently experience in Heaven are incomparably greater? Anyone who doth remember these with honour will be sure to receive favours at the hour of his death, for I shall bring such a one the joy of consolation and escort him personally before my Son’s tribunal.”

St Thomas replied that he would willingly perform this duty since she was pleased to accept it, but that since he had insufficient knowledge of the joys that were hers in Heaven, it was not within his power to share them with her. The Holy Virgin replied:

“In order that thou mayest not suffer from ignorance of these joys, thou art to pray in the following manner:

‘I rejoice, most Holy Lady, that beneath the most Holy Trinity there is no simple creature which thou dost not surpass in glory. I rejoice that the garland of thine immaculate virginity surpasses that of all Orders, whether of Angels or of men. I rejoice that the glorious splendours radiating from thy heavenly face light up Holy Sion no more nor less than as a beautiful sun. I rejoice that all the citizens of Heaven recognise and honour thee as the most worthy MOTHER OF GOD. I rejoice at the power thou hast over all the wishes of thy beloved Son, who never turns thee away. I rejoice at the way thou art able to advance all thy faithful servants. I rejoice that thy glory increaseth and will continue to grow throughout the ages; and that the honour thou dost receive in the City of the Blessed will endure throughout eternity.’” 

© 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.