The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 4 : § 2. 6-7

Chapter 4 : The Third 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).

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

§ 2. The Holy Virgin is called the Daughter of the Eternal Father. Her second title:

The close relationship she has as Spouse of His Son

 6   If we were to want now a deeper understanding of the unfathomable love the Eternal Father has towards His only daughter because of this special union she has with Him, of the tender caresses He has given her, of the extraordinary graces He has poured into her blessed soul; if we were to try and grasp with our feeble intellects the reciprocal love and respect she returned to such a Father, the gratitude for so many blessings received and which she kept and pondered unceasingly in her heart, then would that not be for us a foolhardy undertaking full of presumption? Let us acknowledge in all honesty that there are some secrets that God allows us to approach only so that we may revere them. Let us recognize that the Holy Spouse herself diverts our curiosity, saying[1]: My secret to myself, my secret to myself; let there be no prying here, for these letters are sealed and these mysteries are concealed from other people.

 7   Notwithstanding what I have just written, it is true that God has deigned to favour us with a revelation in this matter and I do not believe I shall infringe any law of secrecy if I draw attention to some details revealed one day to the Blessed Saint Bridget by this same Spouse. My intention is at various points in this study to make use of what I have discovered from reading the excellent book of her Revelations. It would accordingly give me considerable satisfaction for the judicious and serious-minded Reader to appreciate the worth of her book and to be aware that it has been read and re-read several times, both during the Saint’s lifetime and after her death; and that it has been frequently examined by very learned Cardinals and well-informed Prelates.  These include Cardinal de Torquemada, noted for his great authority and profound learning, who praised her book in the highest terms. All this should satisfy those who have doubts about her book which was, moreover, highly esteemed and recommended by the assembled Prelates at the Council of Constance, given an honourable mention by Pope Boniface IX, endorsed in the Bull of St Bridget’s canonisation and in the confirmation of this same Bull by Martin V. The Revelations contain statements made by the Holy Angel to the Blessed Widow Bridget concerning the great and excellent qualities of the MOTHER OF GOD[2]. A comparison is made between the love of Abraham, Father of the faithful, towards his dear son Isaac; and the love of the Father of all creatures and of the Word incarnate towards His beloved Daughter, the glorious Virgin.

The Holy Angel states that Abraham loved his son even before he was conceived, as soon as he received the promise of his birth; God loved His Daughter from all eternity with a love that surpassed by far what he had for all other creatures. Abraham had no idea that his love for God should be known to all his posterity, i.e., to the whole world, through this son of his; God, however, knew very well it would be through His beloved Daughter that His infinite love would be shown forth to all the ages to come. Abraham understood clearly enough that his son, although born from a holy and legitimate marriage, would come into the world against a background of questioning; it was quite contrary case with God who drew particular satisfaction from the holiness and purity of the immaculate conception of His only-begotten Son in this Daughter of His, and of the children by grace and by adoption who were to proceed from both. Abraham was not unaware of the fact that his own substance that he communicated to his Son must be separate from him; but God understood perfectly that the flesh His Son drew from Mary would never be separate from His divinity, and that His Son’s divinity was inseparable from His own. Abraham knew well that the body Isaac took from him would one day return to dust and ashes; but God knew that His holy Daughter’s body would be exempt from corruption, just like the body of His own Son. Abraham prepared a tent for his son before he was conceived; God willed Himself to be the tent and dwelling of His peerless Daughter. Abraham made provision of wheat, wine and oil, fruits of the ancient blessing, before Isaac’s birth; God, before the conception of His Daughter most sweet, provided a triple blessing which was very different: He gave Himself, the oil and principle of all holiness; He gave His Son, who is the bread and meat of Angels; and He gave the Holy Ghost, who is the wine that gladdens the heart of man.

It seems to me there is nothing to add to these sublime reflections. Let us move on to the third way that Mary has a close relationship with the Father.

Footnotes

[1] Isai. xxiv. 16. 

[2] In sermone Angelico, c. 3.

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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