The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 5 : § 5. 5

Chapter 5 : The Fourth 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)

§ 5. How the whole Trinity was present at these divine espousals in an ineffable manner 

 5   If anyone were to press me to go further and to provide a list of reasons explaining how these three divine persons are found in a very special manner within the blessed Virgin, I would always be able to pray in aid what I stated at the outset : this special manner cannot be put into words. 

Nevertheless, if it were necessary to say something on this subject, then I am confident I would not be found wanting since I would follow what the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of His Father, taught us when He said[1]: Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and following on from this, that the Holy Ghost is in both of them, and they are both in the Holy Ghost? 

I am quite certain that I shall not be deviating from the rule of Faith when I say with St Hilary[2]:

I believe the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father by unity in nature, by power in operation, by equality in honour, and by order in generation; I believe all of this as it applies to the Holy Ghost in virtue of the origin He takes in proceeding from the Father and the Son.

I will also certainly agree with the same St Hilary[3] when he says:

that the fullness of the Divinity which is found in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost is the reason that the Father is in the Son and the Holy Ghost, the Son is in the Father and the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost is in the Father and the Son, and that the whole nature and substance which is in one of the persons is entirely, equally and perfectly in the other persons without difference, without distinction, and without division; each of the persons being thus completely inseparable from the others, they are equally as inseparable from the divine nature  and the nature of the persons.

With the Angelic Doctor[4], I will go further and say:

these divine persons are in each other by reason of the divine essence which they communicate to each other and from which they are all equally inseparable; by reason of the relations between the persons, without which they cannot continue to be nor even be understood; and by reason of the origin that they take from each other, from whom they proceed; in such a way that each remains in essence united to the other in a perfect identity of nature.

I will say with St Ambrose[5] that:

the admirable work of the Incarnation was accomplished by the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost working together; all three persons are found in the sacred womb of the blessed Virgin, forming and shaping a Man-God, the wonder of earth and Heaven; and yet it was the Son alone who became incarnate, He alone was clothed with human nature, to which He joined and united Himself in substance and as final cause. 

This is what St Augustine once said[6], making use of a rough and ready similitude:

when someone plays the lute or a similar musical instrument, there are three essential things required: the musician’s skill, the plucking he does with his hand and the strings of the instrument; but the sound that actually captivates the ear is produced not by the musician’s skill nor by his hand, but by the strings alone. 

Thus it is, says the learned Cardinal Bellarmine, when two Lords are dressing the King for some solemn occasion, and the King for his part helps in the process, then even though all three help in the task, it is the King alone who wears the royal robe.

This is the miracle that God has worked, and that He alone could perform, so that He would be recognized and adored in the holy Virgin as though in the Temple and in the most noble Sanctuary that he could have chosen after the one in which is found the Divinity in person with all its fullness; for here is our blessed Saviour and Redeemer, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory and honour for ever and ever.

Footnotes

[1] John xiv. 10.

[2] Lib. IX de Trinit.

[3] Lib. III de Trinit. 

[4] I parte, q. 12, art. 5.

[5] Lib. III de Spiritu Sancto, c. 2.

[6] Lib. de Eccles. dogmat., circa principium.

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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