Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 8 : § 1.18-21

Chapter 8 : Honour – a seventh 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)

LIGHTING CANDLES AND LAMPS 

 18   The holy custom of lighting candles and lamps in front of images and altars of the Holy Virgin is respected at various places throughout Christendom and when we search for its beginnings, we need look no further than the Church. I have shown elsewhere in this work[1] how they practised this custom in the city of Constantinople, especially during the lifetime of St Pulcheria. I am grateful for the next example to the memory of a holy Religious called John who is mentioned in the Spiritual Meadow of the Patriarch Sophronius[2] and whose example was quoted at the Second Council of Nicea[3].     

This saintly old man lived in a cave some ten leagues distant from Jerusalem and each time he left the cave – either to praise God in his solitude (imitating the Great Saint Anthony), or to travel to Jerusalem and offer his adoration in the holy places, or to make his way to Mount Sinai for meditation, or to visit the tombs of the Holy Martyrs which he honoured with a special devotion – it was his custom to light a candle in front of the image of the glorious Virgin which was deep inside his cave and which he regarded as a precious treasure and his consolation. Whenever he took leave of the holy Virgin, he would ask her to take care of his candle and the strange thing is that sometimes he would be away for six whole weeks, sometimes for three, four or even six months; but always on his return he would find his candle burning and at the same height that he had left it. The Holy Virgin gave him to understand by this ongoing miracle just how pleasing she found his devotion, accompanied as it was by a childlike simplicity and an exceptional level of trust.

  

Footnotes

[1] Pt III, Ch 8.

[2] Chap. 180. A Greek book generally attributed to John Moschus written in the late sixth to early seventh century. The text is composed of anecdotes from the travels of John during his travels with Sophronius. See Pratum Spirituale (p149, English Translation by Cistercian Publications 1992).

[3] Act. 9.

BURNING INCENSE AND FRAGRANCES

 19   Other people burn incense and other fragrances before her images and her altars, honouring her in this way with a most ancient and praiseworthy ceremony. We can never cease to wonder at the exceptional devotion of St Gerard, Bishop of Csanád, the first Prelate and Martyr of Hungary.  St Stephen (the King) had truly found in him just what he was looking for, namely a zealous servant of the Queen of Heaven if ever there was one. 

Amongst other signs showing his remarkable affection for her, he built a Church  in which he chose a Chapel[1] which he dedicated to the same Virgin. Here they would sing every Saturday the Office of nine lessons, as on the feast of the Assumption. On other days, he would go there twice in procession with his clergy, after Matins and after Vespers, followed by people in the congregation of the Church. What I find even more striking is the practice he introduced of ensuring that two elderly men kept watch day and night before the altar of the Virgin, with replacements available to cover for their absence. Their job was to ensure that the silver censer he had had made was always topped up with incense and fragrance.    

Footnotes

[1] In ejus Vita apud Surium, 24 Septemb.

PRESENTING HER WITH CROWNS AND FLOWERS 

 20   There are other people who honour her by crowning her images with garlands and chaplets of flowers. I explained earlier in this work[1] the value this religious practice had for a stubborn-minded Turk and I will have more to say on the Crown of the Holy Virgin in the next Chapter. 

Footnotes

[1] Part III, ch. 7.

 21   In fact, there are a thousand other ways of showing this exterior worship but my aim has not been to leave nothing unsaid but only to cover in passing what I find most worthy of comment.

Well worth mentioning in this respect is the devout Confessor from Rouen, Richard de Saint-Laurent, who lived around four hundred years ago. This Doctor produced some forty reasons which oblige us to honour and serve the glorious Virgin and clearly explained how she faithfully and caringly serves us with all that is within her. He then went on to teach us in detail how we must consecrate to her service all the powers of our soul and all the parts of our bodies, so that we can say with the Royal Prophet[1]: Bless the Mother of my Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless her holy name.

Those who are interested should read what else he has said on this subject. I am going to conclude our discussion now with the beautiful lesson that the Blessed Virgin gave one day to St Bridget[2], so that all might understand how external actions are to accompany the worship that we offer her. She tells her that there are four sorts of people by whom she is honoured and served.  

The first are those who, in the service and honour they offer her, wish only to please her; and who, moreover, have such a complete trust in her that they throw themselves into her arms, entrusting the care and guidance of all their affairs to her loving Providence. The actions of those having this disposition, she told her, are no less pleasing to me than a glass of Malmsey wine would be to someone who is very thirsty.

The second are those who, out of the fear they have of eternal punishment for their sins, have recourse unto me and try in various ways to keep themselves in my good graces. With these, I change their hearts little by little, replacing the servile fear which possesses them with a spirit of love and true filial fear. I slowly make myself known to them as far as I can, leading them to serve me from considerations that are purer and more elevated.

The third are those who court me for the sake of some worldly advancement or some temporal prosperity. Since their souls are in this respect quite debased and they are content with very little, normally I grant their request but pay them in their debased currency until they raise their hearts and their minds to a higher level.

The last are those who whilst abusing my goodness and helpfulness in order to continue 

more freely in their disordered ways do not cease to offer me their meagre services. These people may properly be said to resemble someone who offers a Prince a fine golden vase containing a foul-smelling drink or something taken from a dung-heap, with a view to stirring his heart.

Let everyone gaze deeply into his heart and decide which of the above groups is the one in which he finds himself; and if in his life or in his intentions he does not find sufficient purity, let him strive to rise higher and make himself worthy of those favours which the Holy Virgin commonly distributes to those who serve and honour her in the rectitude and integrity of their hearts.

Footnotes

[1] Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name. Ps. CII. 1

[2] Revel., lib. VI, c. 37.

© Peter Bloor 2025 

👑   👑   👑

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.