Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 9 : § 1.1-2

Chapter 9 : Devotion – an eighth 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)

Having considered Honour in the previous Chapter, let us now proceed to Devotion, since they are like sisters-german who both have God for their Father and the virtue of Religion for their mother. We shall be looking at some of the best examples approved by the Church and comonly practised by the servants of the Holy Virgin.

According to St Athanasius[1], we may see an examples of devotion in the gifts which the daughters of Tyre, referred to by the Prophet David[2] and prefiguring the Christian people, bring with them when they do reverence and offer their service to her who is the peerless Spouse. 

Those who fail in this duty, says the pious St Bonaventure[3], have good reason to believe they are acting against their conscience and incurring the Holy Virgin’s disapproval.

 

Footnotes

[1] Serm. de Annuntiat.

[2] And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea, all the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance. Ps. XLIV. 13.

[3] In Speculo.

§ 1. First sign of devotion : saying Masses or having Masses said in honour of the Holy Virgin

 1   I am beginning with the Sacrifice of the Mass for this is the most noble and most elevated act of religion that we have ; and although strictly speaking, as the Holy Council of Trent declares[1], 

It would not be permitted to offer the Sacrifice to anyone other than God, nevertheless it is permitted to use the Mass in order to thank His Divine Majesty for the favours He has granted to Saints, especially to the Queen of Saints, and to implore them to act as our intercessors. 

We can all imagine the satisfaction the Holy Virgin receives from this sort of devotion granted that, within the treasure of the Saviour’s infinite merits, we have nothing more excellent nor more worthy of being offered to God in gratitude for all His benefits nor anything in which He is more glorified. This is why this devotion is today so highly esteemed throughout the Church since as soon as a decision is made to begin any undertaking or to offer thanksgiving to the MOTHER OF GOD for a benefit received, the Altars are laden with votive gifts and Masses of the Virgin are said. In certain places (throughout the whole of Spain for example), this holy custom is so highly regarded that Masses for the dead are often changed into Masses of the Immaculate Conception. Countless persons specify in their Will and Testament– some as many as 500, others 1000 – Masses for the Immaculate Conception, praying that they will be said at the earliest opportunity for the repose of their souls. As I have said more than once, we are now in the time when God wishes to honour His Holy Mother in every way, although it must be said this devotion within the Church is actually quite ancient, as the writings of the Saints and histories attest. I will leave it to readers to study the authors[2] who have compiled this information, limiting myself to one example which will  to demonstrate the faith we must all have in the incomparable love and tenderness of the MOTHER OF GOD.

Footnotes

[1] Sess. XXII, c. 3.

[2] S. Anton., IV p., tit. XV, c. 2, § 1 ; Cæsarius, tit. VII, c. 4 ; Vincentius Bellov., lib. III, c. 113.

 2   Cæsarius, a most pious monk in the Cistercian Order, calls upon God at the beginning of his work to witness that he writes about nothing which he has not seen with his own eyes or which he has not learned from people whose word is worthy of belief. He declares that he heard what I am now going to relate from one Jean de Xaintes, a trustworthy eye-witness of what happened.

When the Albigensian heresy was at its height, two churchmen were travelling to the Duchy of Burgundy and came across a deserted chapel. They decided to celebrate Holy Mass for the MOTHER OF GOD in this Chapel since they had with them everything they needed to do so. They had not yet finished the Mass when they were surprised by the heretics who threw themselves upon the priest in a frenzy. They dragged him out of the Church and subjected him to all manner of abuse and ill treatment, finally cutting out his tongue and leaving him for dead. All that his companion could do was to take him to Cluny and commend him to the care and prayers of the monks there, who considered him to be a glorious Confessor of Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother and took as much (or even more) care of him than if he had been one of their own. 

On the night before the Epiphany as the monks were preparing to say Matins, the priest called the monk who had been appointed to wait upon him and asked him earnestly to take him to the Church. He was led to an altar of the Holy Virgin where he commended himself to her with all his heart and she did not delay for very long in coming to console him. No sooner had he uttered his prayer than he saw her before him and heard her tell him that, since he had lost his tongue for the honour of her Son and also for her sake, she was bringing him another so that henceforth he might proclaim the wonders of Son and Mother. She then placed her hand in his mouth and restored to him the tongue and speech which had been taken from him. The reason was indeed that the tongue had been taken out in the first place for the honour he was offering to his benefactress. He then began to sing the Ave Maria, repeating it so many times and with a voice so loud and strong that the monks who were in the choir heard it. They all ran to see him and were witnesses of the miracle, making acts of thanksgiving to the Queen of Goodness. 

This same tongue was later seen by all, and notably by Jean de Xaintes whom I mentioned earlier. There was a little red line visible where the tongue had been restored. The priest was later received as a monk in the noble Monastery of Cluny where he ended his days in the service of God, singing the praises of His most holy Mother.

 

© 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.