The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 6 : § 2.1

Chapter 6 : The Fifth 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. Concerning her Gracefulness and physical Beauty

 1   I am familiar with the words of Solomon who says that charm is deceitful and exterior beauty is vain[1]; and with the opinion of the Philosopher-Theologian Severinus Boethius[2] who declares that beauty passes more quickly than the Springtime rose. 

These considerations very nearly persuaded me to abandon the discussion of the physical beauty and the exterior Gracefulness of the MOTHER OF GOD. I recalled, however, that her Spouse is more than happy to esteem these qualities in her, calling her all fair and spotless[3].  Richard of St Victor[4] explains this means:

 

with a beautiful face, a beautiful body and an even more beautiful mind, terrifying to the Princes of darkness.[5]

I recalled the words of Hugh of St Victor[6] who said :

this praise is worthy of credit forasmuch as He who gives it is not liable to err for He is the Author of all beauty and the Judge of all truth; this is no small matter since He is proud of His love for her whom He made uniquely loveable and He is glorified in being loved by her to whom He Himself has given His love.

I am put in mind of what an ancient Panegyrist[7] wrote:

God is wont to prepare a beautiful dwelling for great souls, seeing that they work more effectively in beautiful bodies. Exterior charm and grace add lustre and sparkle to interior virtue.

Finally, I firmly believe that if the Holy Fathers (as some claim) had set so little store by these qualities and did not think they would help virtue to flourish, they would never have esteemed them so highly.

St John Damascene[8] in fact calls the Holy Virgin in this respect the gracefulness of human nature. George, Archbishop of Nicomedia[9], exclaims:

Thou art the most beautiful and pleasing among all beautiful women! Holy Virgin, thou art the incomparable ornament of all beauty! 

Richard of St Victor[10] praises her by saying that her face is altogether angelic, as well as her soul. St Gregory of Nazianzus[11] confirms this and adds that in the matter of beauty she leaves all other creatures in her wake. All the Doctors say as much or go even further. For example, some among them go so far as to say that when her body was reunited with her soul to take up residence in Heaven, it was found to be so beautiful and perfectly proportioned that there was no need to change or modify it in the way others required. It was also judged capable of receiving, as it were, the dower[12] of glory and of being clothed with the robe of immortality.

Footnotes

[1] Fallax gratia, et vana est pulchritudo.  Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain (Douay). Vain are the winning ways, beauty is a snare (Knox). Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain (RSVCE). Prov. xxxi. 30. grātia, ae, f.: acceptableness, agreeableness; charm. 

[2] Lib. III de Consolat. Philosoph.

[3] Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee. Cant. iv. 7. 

[4] Lib. II de Emmanuele.

[5] Cf. Fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array. Cant. vi. 9.

[6] Serm. de Assumpt. Virg., t. II.

[7] Latinus Pacatus in Panegyr.

[8] Serm. 1 de Nativit. B. Virg.

[9] Serm. de Oblat. B. Virg.

[10] Conc. 26 in Cant.

[11] Tragoed. de Christo patiente.

[12] Fr. text has douaires, Ce que le mary[sic] donne à sa femme, en faveur du mariage, pour en joüir aprés sa mort. The bride brings with her a dowry (la dot), the groom endows the bride with a dower or dowage (le douaire); whence dowager (douairière) as applied to a widow and dower-house.

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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