Chapter 3 : The Second 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).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020) |
That from the beginning of the world she was announced by the Prophets and represented by ancient figures
In the previous chapter I presented the Holy Virgin as a trial design by God when considered in relation to the Saviour, who was Himself the first actual masterpiece in the world. In comparison with the rest of creation, however, it cannot be denied that Mary was the second masterpiece by God who produced a thousand preparatory sketches, as will be seen in the following discussion.
§ 1. That it pertains to the Greatness and Excellence of the MOTHER OF GOD that she was announced and prefigured a long time before her arrival in the world
1 I say once more that everything excellent needs time, study and testing. Things which do not really matter are produced in a hurry and on the first whim of the craftsman. The earth produces certain flowers that last only for one day, as though in a spirit of playfulness: they germinate, they shoot, they put forth buds and they open in one night. The great trees, on the contrary, that need to withstand wind and frost, proceed very slowly and thrust deep roots into the earth.
Imperfect animals may result from a single, chance encounter between different kinds; but the more perfect they are, the more they need time and application. That which is made as a fleeting fantasy comes from an impetuous spirit; but that which is made for eternity is frequently revised and subject to criticism before it receives a full and favourable reception. I fully understand that God needs neither time nor the use of trial and error, but it is important for our sake that He shows gentleness in governing our unruly spirits; in accommodating Himself to them, that He presents things to us a little bit at a time; that He shows us sketches before the works are completed, using physical matter perceptible to the senses; that He helps us to apprehend things spiritual and invisible. Much of this will depend on the excellence and rarity of things, and on their being promised a long time in advance before their accomplishment. Without God's help, we are so badly constituted that we would regard things unfavourably.
The majesty of the King of glory, says St Jerome[1], required that He be announced and foretold several centuries before His coming. The Prophetic Oracles, with all the authority of the Old Testament, owed Him this respect and this honour.
2 Are you astonished, asks Sophronius[2], that so many minds apply themselves to making known the Dignities and Splendours of the MOTHER OF GOD? Remember that all the earth can do to honour her is less than the praise she receives in heaven, where no effort is spared in honouring her merits and making them more visible. Divine and angelic voices have been employed to this end, as well as the predictions of the Prophets and the mysterious figures of the Patriarchs. The Evangelists have made her known, blessed Spirits have greeted her, in fact the whole world has been involved.
The Holy Spirit made Predictions of her through the Prophets, says St Ildephonsus[3], revealed her through oracles, made her known through figures, promised her by what preceded her and fulfilled her by what followed.
In a Sermon for the Assumption[4], he affirms that all the predictions of the Prophets and the enigmas in scripture have their culmination in her.
Do not imagine, says St Bernard[5], this Lady is a work resulting from mere chance, or that she was chosen fortuitously. She was chosen from eternity and prepared by God alone; since then, she was kept safe by Angels, pre-figured by the ancient Fathers and promised by the Prophets.
Elsewhere[6], he maintains that:
one of the principal favours God granted to His people was that the Holy Virgin was promised to them a long time before her birth and that her descent was from Him.
St Andrew of Crete[7] agrees with this great servant of the Virgin, calling her the Adornment of the Prophets and the infallible subject of God’s sacred Oracles. In the Revelations of St Bridget[8], the Angel calls Mary the joy and consolation of the Prophets, to whom God very frequently presented her as a desirable object to mitigate the distress and suffering of their spirits when faced with the continual evils menacing the people to whom they were preaching. George, Archbishop of Nicomedia, was a very precise and careful writer who said this about what he had learned of the MOTHER OF GOD[9]:
These three score valiant ones who guard the bed of Solomon[10] are none other than the Patriarchs, the Prophets and the rest of the great personages of antiquity. Through all time, they have their gaze fixed on the Holy Virgin, who is the true nuptial couch of the Word incarnate.
3 For a third time, St Bernard considers carefully this valiant woman, whom Solomon sought so ardently. He remarks[11] that when this great and wise Prince asked where she might be found[12], he did not speak from despair of ever meeting her, for he had before his eyes. He spoke in this way to make people feel a sense of great expectancy for this Lady, and to make them understand that she must of necessity come from afar and from the uttermost ends of the earth. This means that she would have to be a premeditated work, prepared and expected over a long period of time.
Do you not see, says this great Saint, how Mary comes from afar, since Moses the great Lawgiver of the Hebrews, saw her such a long time before she came into the world? For he saw her in the burning bush[13] which was on fire but not burned to ashes. He understood how it was the duty of this Holy Virgin to be in the midst of the flames of Divinity without suffering offence or injury; and to conceive without burning with concupiscence. Notice nearby his brother Aaron whose rod puts forth buds and then soon after bears leaves, flowers and then fruits, with no preceding corruption. This is a true symbol of Her who, suffering no change to her chastity, bore the unique flower of the field and the true living fruit. Admire Gedeon’s fleece drenched with a miraculous dew and at the same time picture Him of whom David said He would come down with no noise like rain upon the fleece, and as showers falling gently upon the changing earth.[14] Consider the marvellous news which stunned the Prophet Jeremias as he contemplated a woman compassing a man,[15] because of the fulness of wisdom with which he was filled from then on.
This holy Doctor proceeds to cast much more light on these ideas; for my purposes, it is enough to have touched on them since I must shortly discuss the majority of them again.
Footnotes
[1] In c. 29 Isaiæ.
[2] Serm. de Assumpt.
[3] Lib. de Virginitate Mariæ.
[4] Serm. 1..
[5] Serm. 2 in Missus.
[6] Serm. in Signum magnum.
[7] Serm. de Annuntiat.
[8] In Serm. Angel., c. 9.
[9] Orat. de Oblatione Deiparæ in templo.
[10] Cant. iii. 7-8.
[11] Homil. 2 in Missus.
[12] Prov. 31.
[13] Exod. 3.
[14] Ps. LXXI. 6
[15] For the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A WOMAN SHALL COMPASS A MAN. Jerem xxxi. 22.
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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.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
© Peter Bloor 2024
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