The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 3 : § 2. 7-8

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).

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.

§ 2. On three inanimate figures used to represent the MOTHER OF GOD, namely the burning bush of Moses, Aaron’s rod and Gedeon’s Fleece

Third Figure : Gedeon’s Fleece

 7   The third figure is Gedeon’s Fleece, which is applied to the Virgin Mother by St Ambrose[1], St Jerome[2], St Ephrem[3], St Methodius[4], St Ildephonsus[5], St Bernard[6], St Cassiodorus[7], St Bonaventure[8] and several others.  Holy Church,  the pillar and ground of the truth[9], does not leave this matter in any doubt, since she chants in express terms: When thou wast born ineffably of the Virgin, the Scriptures were fulfilled. As dew upon Gedeon’s Fleece, thou camest down to save mankind.[10] 

For a better understanding of the links and parallels between this miraculous Fleece and the Blessed Virgin, it is useful to recall what is written in the sixth chapter of Judges. There it says that God chose Gedeon while he was working after the harvest and called on him to defeat the Madianites. God had already worked a miracle that was sufficient to prove the truth of his promise: with just the touch of this valiant captain’s rod, the offerings of a sacrifice caught fire  and were consumed. Gedeon called together his troops but was not satisfied with the miracle that God had worked but asked for another: he asked specifically for the Fleece he had laid out on the ground to be bathed with dew on the first night, but for the ground to remain dry; but on the second night, for the fleece to remain dry and the ground to be bathed with dew. God agreed and it came to pass in the way Gedeon had requested.

Footnotes

[1] Serm. 13 de Nativit. Domini.

[2] In Epitaphio S. Paulæ.

[3] Serm. de B. Virg.

[4] Orat. in Hipapante.

[5] Serm. 3 de Assumpt.

[6] Serm. in Signum magnum ; Serm. 2 in Salve ; Serm. 3 Nativit. B. Mariæ.

[7] In Psal. LXXI.

[8] In Laude B. Virg.

[9] 1 Tim. iii. 15.

[10] See 1st Vespers of the Purification, Antiphon. See also: Ps. LXXVI. 6

 8   The Holy Fathers recognize this Fleece as one of the most expressive figures of the MOTHER OF GOD, true image of sweetness and humanity, sacred repository[1] of meekness, of purity and innocence, destined to be dyed scarlet and serve as the Royal robe for the Saviour’s humanity.

It is most apt, says St Ambrose[2], for the Virgin to be compared with the Fleece, from which have been produced robes of salvation for all the nations of the earth; Fleece from whose womb has come forth the most pure Lamb clothed with wool, that is to say with His Mother’s flesh, serving as a covering to keep warm and to heal the wounds of everyone.    

The Fleece, says St Peter Chrysologus[3], although attached to the body, does not experience the passions and changes of the body. Similarly, although the Virgin had like us a mortal body subject to corruption, she was completely free of the vices which the body normally attracts to itself. This is why the heavenly dew came down to her virginal womb as though falling on a white and spotless Fleece; and why the whole divinity, received in our flesh and   one day fixed to the tree of the Cross, would rain down the waters of salvation on all the earth.[4] 

Gedeon’s Fleece was firstly impregnated with the heavenly dew, whilst the earth remained dry, in accordance with its name[5] [6]. Similarly, the whole world was suffering from a drought through lack of grace, but it was the Virgin who was first to receive it because she alone had drawn it down from heaven. Note how, after the Fleece had received the dew, on the next day the whole earth experienced this heavenly sweetness. St Bernard’s explanation is quite apposite[7]:

It was reasonable that the Holy Virgin should receive virtue raining down from heaven and the fulness of the divinity before we could ourselves be bathed in the waters; we, I say, who are but a dry and barren land.[8]     

We can appreciate a subtle reference here to the prophecy of King David when he said: He shall come down like rain upon the fleece; and as showers falling gently upon the earth.[9]  This corresponds to the divine Word which, like showers of rain freely given by God and placed in reserve for the benefit of His inheritance, drop down gently into the blessed womb of the glorious Virgin, without the sound of any human involvement.  Afterwards, however, this same rain was to spread through the mouths of preachers, not with this peaceful silence, but by being noised abroad in words and to the sound of miracles. This was like rainwater falling on rooftops and from there pouring down in streams through gutters and pipes. The preachers were like clouds carrying this sought after rain; it was opportune for them to remember the commandment they had received to declare in the presence of all that which had been spoken in the ear and to preached on the housetops what had been heard in the chambers.[10]

This is what they had the good fortune to achieve with such success that the whole of the earth resounded with their holy preaching. Gedeon did not stop at that but, through divine inspiration, he took his bedewed fleece and wringing it filled a vessel with the dew.[11] 

This was to teach us, says St Bernard[12], the admirable design of the wisdom and goodness of God. He filled the Fleece with dew before pouring a single drop on to the earth. In the same way, willing to redeem men, He firstly encloses within the sacred Virgin the whole price of our redemption.

You can see, therefore, that it was most fitting for this miracle Gedeon saw to be a sign that the people of God would be delivered from the oppression of the Madianites, just as the descent of the divine Word was an incontestable witness to the deliverance of the world from Satan’s tyranny.

Footnotes

[1] dépouille: 1. hide, skin. 2. mortal remains. 3. spoils of war. 4. fruits of the harvest. Dictionnaire de l’Académie française, 1re édition (1694)

[2] Serm. 13 de Nativit.

[3] Serm. 143.

[4] Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him. Isai. xlv. 8.

[5] See, for example:  and let the dry land appear / et appareat arida. Gen. i. 9.

[6] Hieron. in Epitaphio S. Paulæ.

[7] Serm. 2 in Missus.

[8] For thee my soul hath thirsted; for thee my flesh, O how many ways! In a desert land, and where there is no way, and no water: Ps. LXII. 2-3.

[9] Ps. LXXI. 6.

[10] That which you have spoken in the ear in the chambers, shall be preached on the housetops. Luc. Xii. 3. 

[11] Judges vi. 38.

[12] Serm. in Nativit. Mariæ.

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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