Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 8 : § 1.33-34

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)

THE HONOUR SHOWN SINCE ANCIENT TIMES TO IMAGES OF THE HOLY VIRGINITY

 33   If we retrace history back from the time of these two great men, we find that this sort of devotion in the Church is in fact very ancient. Examples include the image of the Virgin which spoke to St Mercurius the Martyr and ordered him to execute Julian the Apostate (as we discussed elsewhere[1]); the image of her discovered by St Alexis in the city of Edessa in Syria; the one which led to the conversion of St Mary of Egypt in Jerusalem; the one which shed oil from the hand in Sozopolis and many other instances recorded in history. Then there is the holy custom preserved in the city of Constantinople where each year the image of Our Lady painted by St Luke was carried to the chapel of the Imperial Palace on the Thursday before Easter and kept there until the second feast of Easter, on which day it was solemnly returned to the Monastery of the Guide[2]. Another example is the Holy Custom which St Dominic instituted amongst his friars from the beginning of his Order, namely that they should all have her image in their Oratories. I must not omit to mention what is recorded by Saint Antoninus in his history[3], namely that: 

In former times the image of the Crucifix was found at the bottom of Churches, as may still be seen today in Santa Maria Maggiore and in Santa Maria in Trastevere. The image of the MOTHER OF GOD holding her son in her arms is found at the high altar so that, according to this devout Archbishop, the priest with this sight in front of him would have an idea of what it means to follow the example of this Lady in causing God to come down from Heaven simply through the utterance of words.

We should not leave aside what everyone can read in the Roman Pontifical[4] concerning the blessing of images. It provides that the Bishop who blesses other images without his mitre and with a single prayer followed by sprinkling of holy water, has to employ much more ceremony in the case of the Holy Virgin. He is to wear a mitre and make use of incense as well as several Antiphons, Psalms and Prayers. Even if we had no other argument for the esteem and reverence the Church has always shown in such cases, this one alone would be sufficient. 

Footnotes

[1] Part I, ch. 12, § 5 ; Part II, ch. 9, § 9.

[2] The Monastery of Panagia Hodegetria (or Hodegon Hodegetria) was located east of Hagia Sophia, famous for its hagiasma (sacred spring) and the icon of the Virgin Hodegetria.

[3] IV p., tit. XV, c. 22, § 3.

[4] See “The Blessing of an Image of the Virgin Mary (1595 & 1961)” at the New Liturgical Movement (2013).

 34   I have always been impressed by the way in which persons distinguished not only for nobility but also for holiness contrived to render her every sort of honour. Using the examples they have left us, I am going to illustrate the practice of honouring images of the MOTHER OF GOD.

St Elizabeth, daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary, (whom we mentioned a little earlier) displayed right from the cradle an exceptional piety towards the MOTHER OF GOD which she showed in a thousand different ways, but especially in honouring her holy images out of love of her. She possessed several little statues of the Virgin which she bequeathed to her daughter Sophie  who treasured them as being amongst the best things in her inheritance. She gave one of them as a present to the Sisters of a convent in Vilvoorde which was later called Our Lady of Consolation, by reason of the great miracles performed there and the consolation both physical and spiritual received by everyone who visited this holy site. She gave three others to Mathilda, sister of Duke Henry her husband, all of which became famous for the wonders God worked through them. Later, Mathilda left one to ’s-Gravenzande, an ancient city in Holland not far from the Monastery of Loudun which she had built; one to the Carmelite Church in Harlem; and the third to Hainault, where countless miracles have been performed. A selection of these has been compiled by the learned Justus Lipsius[1], one of the foremost men of our age.

St Hedwig, Duchess of Poland who died in the year 1243, always kept with her a small statue of the Virgin[2]. This was impossible to take out of her hands after she had died and what happened twenty-five years after her death is no less remarkable. When her tomb was opened, they found the three fingers holding the statue intact and her brain, moreover, as fresh as if she had just passed away. Besides this, a certain oil seeped from her head and gave off a fragrant odour which made known just how pleasing her devotion had been to the MOTHER OF GOD[3].

Louis the Fair was a true heir of the piety of his father, the Great Charlemagne, and never travelled without an image of Our Lady which served him as a faithful companion and frequently provided him with the best support and conversation he could have wished for. Whenever he found himself lost in the countryside, he would kneel down before this image and spend some time in prayer and meditation. I have shown elsewhere[4] how through a miraculous encounter Our Lady wished to keep this image so that she might place it in one of her Churches.

When the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV[5] returned to Bavaria (where he was King) he kept an image of the Virgin close to his person. At the end of his journey, he gave it as an act of thanksgiving to the Abbey at Ettal which he had built in the middle of the woods and dedicated to the MOTHER OF GOD.

 

Godfrey of Bouillon was the victorious King of Palestine[6] who received the Cross from God by the hand of an Angel as a sign of his victories and a promise of his success in battle. He placed his entire army under the protection of the Virgin whom he would invoke in every battle and whose image he kept in his lodgings, honoured as Queen and Empress.

St Edward, Archbishop of Canterbury and a student of theology, always had in front of him a little statue of Our Lady at whose feet were engraved the mysteries of the life and passion of the Saviour.

Inácio de Azevedo set off with thirty-nine other Jesuits on the 15th of August in the year 1570. He was armed with an image of the Queen of Martyrs which the Calvinists who put him to death along with his companions were unable to remove from his hands. He was thrown into the sea along with this image which was said to be the cause of a great miracle which then occurred. Unlike the others, his body did not sink but, with his arms in the form of a cross, it was carried over the waves until it disappeared from view and these cruel wretches lost sight of him.

Blessed Balthazar Alvarez was never without an image of the Virgin.

Fr Bernard Colnago S.J. left behind in Italy a memory of the odour of his sanctity along with that of his extraordinary simplicity. He kept with him a little statue of Our Lady by means of which he obtained anything he wanted from Heaven. How many times did he caress this statue and speak with a wondrous openness, no more no less than if he were actually speaking to her whom it represented! One day he was given a flask of balm and in a transport of affection he poured it on the face of the statue which he would then call his black Madonna. 

We read of the celebrated Cardinal Baronius that he always had an image of Our Lady hanging over his heart, of which he appointed her guardian and protectress.

Footnotes

[1] Lipsius, Virg. Hal., c. 2, § 3.

[2] In ejus Vita apud Surium.

[3] Krantzius, lib. I. Metropolis, c. 10 ; Canisius, de B. Virg., lib. V, c. 22, etc.

[4] Part I, ch. 12.  § 5 [79].

[5] Krantzius et Canisius, loc. cit.

[6] Guillel. Tyrius, in Bello sacro.

© 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.