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 François 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 hundreds of preparatory sketches, as will be seen in the following discussions.
§ 4. On certain living and animated figures that have represented the MOTHER OF GOD, beginning with Eve, Sara and Rebecca.
Second Figure : Sara
Sara means Lady. Sara calls herself Abraham’s sister in order to save his life
3 Sara comes after her mother and, according to St John Chrysostom[1] and St Bonaventure[2], she represents for us the MOTHER OF GOD. I shall focus on four parallels, the first of which is hidden in the name of Sara, which means Lady. I shall however say nothing here because this name deserves an entire discussion to itself. This will be found at the end of the second Treatise[3]. St Bonaventure opines that the name Sara also means coal which he links to the ardour of the charity of the MOTHER OF GOD. He adds:
Blessed coal, whence came forth the flame altogether heavenly and divine which is none other than Jesus Christ.
The second parallel is the one that the same St Bonaventure drew from chapter xx of Genesis where it says that Abraham, when entering Gerara with his wife Sara, insisted that she should say she was his sister. She could actually say this without lying because , as Scripture makes clear, she was his cousin and thus his sister according to the Hebrew way of speaking. By this means she would save Abraham’s life. The Holy Doctor applies this idea to the Holy Virgin, saying to her in the name of all her faithful children[4]:
Holy Lady, who art like a Sara to us, we humbly beg thee to say that thou art our sister; forasmuch as only in this way may we hope to be made welcome before God and to guarantee the salvation and safety and of our lives and our souls. We pray thou wilt make no difficulty about our request to be favoured by thy protection, so that the Egyptians, which is to say the Demons, will be afraid to give thee offence; so that the Holy Angels may be our close allies and support us in our necessities; and so that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost may show pity and compassion towards us.
Footnotes
[1] Homil. 49 in Gen.
[2] Speculi B. Virg., c. 6 et 13.
[3] Cap. 13.
[4] Speculi, c. 6.
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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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