The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 1 : § 1. 5-6

Chapter 1 : On the title of the Mother of God, true source of all the great Dignities of the glorious Virgin

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

 § 1.  On the excellence of the title MOTHER OF GOD

 5   Following the two writers cited above, St Andrew of Jerusalem, Archbishop of Crete/Candia, apostrophizes the Blessed Virgin in these terms:

May God keep thee safe, Temple of the Saviour, throne of life incorruptible, chariot of the blazing Sun, the only earth suitable for growing the wheat whereby we are nourished, sacred leaven for all of Adam’s race to taste and making the dough rise which becometh the true bread for our souls; ark of honour where God dwelt and where glory itself was sanctified; vessel of gold[1] containing Him who maketh sweet manna and who draweth honey from rock[2] for an ungrateful people; spiritual mirror of holy contemplation,[3] whom the Prophets inspired from heaven have set as a figure in the descent of God on earth.

He says more in another text. Here are his words:

Holy Lady, thou art the incomprehensible secret of the divine economy, whom the angels desire unceasingly to contemplate; thou art the admirable dwelling-place God chose for His descent; thou art that desirable plot of earth which made Him to come down from heaven, and which opened for Him a way amongst us; thou art the treasure of that mystery hidden through all the ages; thou art the living book wherein the Word of the Eternal Father was written by finger of the Holy Ghost; the authentic instrument of the covenant made between God and men; the august chariot laden with a thousand million that you in triumph led on high and presented to God; mount Sion, where the Lord takes His ease; the pillar of fire[4] which guideth not the captive Israelites with a perishable light but which illumineth the true Israelite on his way to the promised land; the virgin soil from which the second Adam was formed. Thou art sweet and comely as Jerusalem,[5] the fragrance of thy robes surpasseth the delights of Mount Lebanon. Thou art the box of precious ointment which never loses its fragrance, the oil of holy anointing, the never-fading flower, the purple cloth woven on high, the royal vestment, the imperial diadem, the throne of God, the gate of heaven, the Queen of the universe, the cup overflowing with divine wisdom, the surgery for healing and restoring life, the ever-flowing fount of holy examples.  

Finally, he concludes:

Words fail me and my ideas are too weak for me to follow the ardent longings of my soul. 

Nevertheless, immediately after saying this he rediscovers his courage as follows:

 

What can I say to thee, most Holy Virgin MOTHER OF GOD? Thou alone art capable of Wisdom who subsisteth in Himself and who giveth life to all others. O Blessed Virgin, origin of our life and the life of the living! Thou art the link uniting us indissolubly to God! O kingdom firmly established on the glory and the power of Him who dwelleth within thee! O sacred bastion for the defence of Christians, and divine sanctuary for all those who withdraw from the world in search of thee!

 

Footnotes

[1] Exod. xvi. 33-34.

[2] Ps. LXXX. 17 And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock.

[3] For she is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness. [Wisdom vii. 26]

[4] Exod. xiii.

[5] Cant. vi. iii.

 6   St Epiphanius[6]  is no less enraptured than this great Bishop of Candia whom we have just heard.

Hail, honour of the virtues, divine lantern containing a light that never goeth out and which is brighter than the Sun; mystical ark of glory, precious vessel of gold where thou keepest safe the manna come down from heaven; inexhaustible fount of sweetness, spiritual sea wherein was found what is truly the world’s pearl; resplendent sky, thou dost enclose Him whom the sky cannot contain; throne of God, more dazzling than that of the Cherubim; cloud shaped like a pillar, who holdest within thee the same God who guided the Israelites through the wilderness; root of glory, heaven, temple and seat of Divinity.

There is a work entitled Sermon on the Assumption of the Virgin, dedicated to St Paula and her daughter St Eustochium.  Along with several serious-minded authors, I attribute this sermon to Sophronius; but for nearly a thousand years it was associated with St Jerome, as appears in the writings of St Idelfonsus on the same subject. Ildefonsus, however, admits at the start of his eloquent piece that he was little versed in the Latin tongue. He cannot therefore claim with any authority that it was written by Jerome. Sophronius, who was a close friend of St Jerome, echoes the Spouse in Canticles[7] when he calls Mary: 

 

the enclosed orchard, the fragrant plot, the garden abundant in beautiful flowers spreading fragrance over all the earth; so strongly enclosed that no enemy would know how to gain entry; the fountain signed with the seal of the most holy Trinity, whence springs the fountain of life and light.

 

Footnotes

[6] Orat. de Sanct. Deipara.

[7] Vere hortus deliciarum, in quo consita sunt universa florum genera, et odoramenta virtutum, sicque conclusus ut nesciat violari, neque corrumpi ullius insidiarum fraudibus, fons signatus sigillo totius Trinitatis, ex quo fons vitæ manat, in cujus lumine omne videmus lumen.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >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. 

© Peter Bloor 2024