Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 14 : Conclusion

Chapter 14 : Conclusion of this Work

Concluding 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)

To the MOTHER OF GOD 

 1   O peerless Virgin and Mother, honour of earth and Heaven, in seeking how to address thee at the conclusion of this work, I cannot find more pleasing words than those spoken by thy faithful servants. Permit me, therefore, thou who art the joy of our faith and our souls, the object of our love and our praises, to make my own the words of St Ildephonsus[1] who said:

All my wishes would come true if I could praise thee as thou deservest to be praised, love thee as much as it is possible to love thee and serve thee as completely as thou couldst desire in a creature such as I am.

But where am I going with this? What is it I am trying to say and where is the language of my love leading me? I need to correct myself here, however, since the blessed Virgin allows such language to the great Saints and it is more fitting for such words of love and praise to come from their mouths rather than from my own. I prefer therefore to say what thy great ancestor David once said after he had sung the praises of thy beloved Son and His eternal Kingdom[2]: The praises of David, the son of Jesse, are ended[3]. Whether by these words he wanted to say that he was ready to die after having brought his work to completion, or he was openly admitting that he had run out of words and ideas[4] so that he despaired of being able to do justice to the Majesty of his subject, it seems it is as though he saw this same feeling in the depths of my own heart. 

Even though I admit that speaking of thy Great Splendours has proved to be very challenging for me and I must often have sounded like someone stammering, I take great pride in having made the attempt; and there is nothing so consoling for me as to see the heights of thy glory are such that not only little pygmies like me but also the greatest giants and loftiest intellects in the universe cannot even approach the footstool of thy greatness. When I say that now I have finished this little work there is nothing keeping me alive other than thy commandment, which is for me the same as God’s, then thou must know I am saying only what I feel in my heart; for after completing this work, I can see the great difference between actually contemplating thee in Heavenly magnificence and my work here below which may have distorted things so they are scarcely recognisable. Since, however, thou art not unaware of why I began this undertaking, I feel able to speak to thee now in the words of thy beloved servant St Andrew of Candia[5]: 

I confess before Heaven and earth that what I have said of thy greatness is as nothing in comparison with the sublime reality; and that my little offering hath for its source thine own goodness, for this is what inspired me with the will and desire to render this small service to thee, supplying my mind with thoughts and ideas, and guiding my hand and my pen in the way I wrote what I did.

For my part, I declare that I am indebted to thee now in a completely new way which I wish to make known to all : that if perchance in what I have written there is something which pleaseth thee and which may serve to make thee loved and honoured, then to thee alone (after God) be the glory; and as for those whose hearts are moved thereby to cherish thee more and more, let theirs be the joy of singing thy praises in Heaven for ever and ever.

 

Footnotes

[1] De Virginitate Mariæ, c. 1.

[2] Ps. LXXI. 20.

[3] are ended is the Douay-Rheims translation of the Vulgate’s defecerunt and this is also the sense preferred in Fillion’s translation and commentary. Fr Poiré, uses a French verb suggesting the sense of to run out, be wanting.

[4] Ita Apollinaris in Paraphrasi.

[5] Homil. 2 de Dormitione S. Deiparæ.

 2   Finally, dear Prince of Heaven, most worthy Son of such a Mother and the glory of the Holy City : please grant this my last request since I have borrowed it from someone whose heart thou didst love so greatly, and do thou grant that I may speak now to thee with the words of thy great servant St Augustine[1]:

If what I have written of Thy Mother represents the truth, then it is to Thee above all others that I owe thanks since without Thee it would not have been possible to write in a way befitting the subject; and I humbly beseech Thee to accept the good intentions of my work and make it acceptable to those professing to love Thee. If, on the contrary, I have failed in my duties, then I crave Thy pardon as Thou art my Lord and my God, to whom be all honour and glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD

AND HIS MOST IMMACULATE MOTHER

Footnotes

[1] Serm. de Assumpt.

THE END

© Peter Bloor 2026 

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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.