The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 2 : § 2. 2

Chapter 2: The First Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

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)

§ 2. That our Lord Jesus Christ is, by His eternal predestination, the First-born of every creature

First title by which the Saviour is Firstborn of every creature

 2   I want to say in the first place that He is called the Firstborn of every creature and the Beginning of the ways of God, that is to say of the actions or plans of God, inasmuch as He is the masterpiece and the rarest, most excellent and accomplished of anything produced by His divine handiwork. I am persuaded of this by the words used in Hebrew as well as in Greek at this point in Scripture. Thus, Job[1] calls Him Behemoth, the beginning of the works of God. Whether he means by Behemoth the Elephant, as some think, or the Whale as others prefer, or in fact the first Angel as St Gregory[2] interprets the word, he actually means to say that the Elephant is greater than all the animals on earth, the Whale greater than all those who swim in the water, and Lucifer is the most excellent of God’s works according to nature. It is in this same sense that St Ambrose[3] recognises the Saviour as the Firstborn of every creature and the Beginning of the ways of God, for He is the noblest and most elevated of His designs.

Here is what St Anselm says:

He is called the Firstborn of every creature because, just as the Firstborn is the first and most considerable among several brothers, in the same way the Saviour occupies the first rank in terms of dignity among all the works of God, as being destined to sit on the throne of glory in the midst of the Principalities.[4]

St Paul made this plain when he said that the Saviour had within Him the fulness of the divinity[5]: for at this word every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.[6] This Firstborn of every creature is He who, according to St Paul[7], in all things and everywhere has primacy. He is the Holy of Holies, says St Jerome[8] following the King-Prophet[9], whom God has magnified over all things. He is the high mountain raised in the midst of a myriad of others, says the same author;[10] the mountain to which the Prophet Isaiah summons all the nations, the mountain where David shed tears seeking help from on high. It is the sea as source for all the rivers, says St Bernard[11], and a source for all the Blessings we enjoy: health for the body, purity of soul,  righteousness of the will, knowledge, eloquence, everything. This is the one whom God has anointed, says David[12], above all the Prophets and all the Priests in the world. He is the most perfectly beautiful, beauty itself, the object of rapture in heaven and on earth.  Ask the chaste Spouse and she will speak of miracles, She finds Him so perfect and so handsome from head to foot. She likens Him to the cedar in the woods of Lebanon, the orange tree among the fruit trees, the roe deer amidst the wild animals of the countryside, the lily among flowers, the Cyprus grape among fruits, gold among metals, the sun among stars – in short, He is everything that is most pleasing, chosen before thousands. St Bernard was contemplating Him one day and could not contain his joy, speaking the following words:

Around the Beloved you will see thousands of thousands and millions of millions; but ultimately none of them can come even near to His perfections : there is only one Beloved in the world, a first who has no second, the Phoenix who is unique in his kind.[13]

Consider the myriad of all God’s works: how many stars you will see in the sky, how many plants on earth, how many birds in the air, how many fishes in the sea, how many animals in the forests, how many thousands of men, how many millions of Angels! How many Patriarchs, Prophets, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins! But in the order of hypostatic union, there is only one Jesus Christ, unique in the bosom of His Mother and unique in the bosom of His Father, the Angel of great counsel[14], the singular Prophet[16], the one Master[16], the Apostle par excellence[17], the Martyr without paragon[18], the peerless Lamb[19], exemplar and guide for Virgins.

Footnotes

[1] Cap.10.

[2] Lib. XXXIII Moral., c. 28.

[3] Lib. de Interpellatione Job.

[4] In c. 1 ad Coloss.  And you are filled in him, who is the head of all principality and power: Coloss. ii. 10.

[5] For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporeally; Coloss. ii. 9.

[6] That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: Philipp. ii. 10.

[7] And he is before all, and by him all things consist. Coloss. I. 17.

[8] Epist. ad Suniam et Fretellam.

[9] Psal. CXXXVII.  2. I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to thy name. For thy mercy, and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy holy name above all. 

[10] Lib. XII in Ezech., c. 14. Cf. the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of mountains, and high above the hills: Micah iv. 1.

[11] Serm. 13 in Cant.

[12] Psal. XLIV. God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

[13] Serm. 21 in Cant.

[14] καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελoς /and his name is called the Messenger of great counsel. SEPTUAGINT Isai. ix. 6 (Septuagint).    

[15] Deuter. xxviii..

[16] Matth. xxiii.  10 Neither be ye called masters; for one is your master, Christ.

[17] Hebr. iii. 1. the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus:

[18] Tim. vi.

[19] Apoc. xiv.

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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