The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 7 : § 1.1

Chapter 7 : The Sixth Star or Splendour in 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)

That she is peerless in her graces and merits

The King-Prophet was concerned that some people might focus too much on the Spouse’s external qualities which we have just described. Accordingly, he wisely invites them to contemplate the perfections of her soul, telling them[1] that all he has described from the outside is nothing compared to her precious interior qualities; for it is in her soul that are found all her glory, that is to say: all the beauty, the noblesse[2] and the perfection of the King’s daughter.

In truth, says St Andrew of Jerusalem[3], we would be wrong to dwell always on the portal, since we have been invited to enter further with the Mother of the Word, and to proceed as far as the Sanctuary of her sacred Heart where we may contemplate the miracles of grace that God has performed.

For if the outside we have been contemplating thus far is so beautiful, what will the beauty be like inside? I believe there is no-one who would not understand the difficulty in presuming to speak of the grace of the MOTHER OF GOD, or the need I have of the same grace to bring this undertaking to a worthy conclusion. This is why, in order to proceed in a methodical way, I shall begin by showing this grace when it first appeared, that is to say at the first sanctification of the MOTHER OF GOD. I shall then proceed to discuss its development and progress, before finally we come to admire it in its perfection at the end of her life. It will not be out of place in the course of our discussion to cast an eye over the graces freely bestowed by God on her as additional gifts to ennoble her soul, with the result that she would not be wanting in any sort of perfection

Footnotes

[1] All the glory of the king's daughter is within in golden borders.Ps. xliv. 14.

[2] 1.a. ?c1225–The quality of being noble in birth or rank, or in character or mind. 1710: Had he had a Nobless of Soul.., what might he not have done? Complete OED.

[3] Orat. 1 de Dormit. B. Virg.

§ 1. On the excellence of the first sanctification of the MOTHER OF GOD

 1   Granted that the Holy Virgin was sanctified at the instant of her conception, as will be explained more fully in the next chapter, we shall focus here on the grace she received at this point. The Doctors make it quite plain that she surpassed in grace the greatest of the Saints and even the noblest of the heavenly Spirits. This is the teaching, for example, of the Martyr Methodius[1], of Cardinal Peter Damian[2], of St Bernard[3], of St Bonaventure[4], of St Bernardino of Siena[5], of St Antoninus[6], of Albertus Magnus[7] and of many others. My understanding is that the grace here spoken of is what we call consummate[8] grace, that is to say, the grace they possessed at the hour of their death, or to put it more clearly, the day of their perfection[9]. To establish this truth, I find nothing more uplifting than the remarkable words of David who saw it in the spirit in Psalm LXXXVI. This understanding is confirmed by St Athanasius[10], St Augustine[11], St Ildephonsus[12], St Hesychius[13], St Germanus of Constantinople[14], Nicetas[15] and St Bernard[16]. I would say that of greater weight than these is the common voice of the Church which everywhere chants this Psalm in honour of the Virgin. In our own day, pulpits echo to the sound of excerpts from this divine poem.

Here is how the Holy Ghost’s cantor chants the opening of this sacred Canticle: The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains[17]. St Gregory has left a commentary on a passage from Isaiah[18] which is very similar to words of the Psalm and which says that God will place the mountain of the house of the Lord on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills. St Gregory says[19]:

 

This mountain is the glorious Virgin who, by the height to which she has been raised in her election, surpasses all God’s elect. To speak truly, we must accept that she is like an extraordinarily high mountain because to accomplish the conception of the Eternal Word, it was necessary for her to raise the summit of her merits higher than all the choirs of Angels.

St Bernardino[20], meditating on these same words of Isaiah, argues that:

in terms of merit, the Virgin soars higher than the highest mountain peaks, seeing that the height attained by her graces exceeds that of even the most beautiful souls, that the extent of her merits is such that she can embrace all these souls, and that the strength of her election is such that there is none comparable amongst all the rest of the Saints. 

 

The blessed St John Damascene[21] had the same idea when, in the course of a sermon on the birth of the Holy Virgin he said :

Today beginneth the salvation of the world. O ye mountains rejoice, which is to say ye souls raised by the height of your contemplation; for we can already discern the summit of the holy mountain which surpasseth every other and which is incomparably exalted above all the hills in the world. I am speaking of the Holy Virgin who seeth beneath her men and Angels, no matter how highly they have been lifted up.

Now, lest it should seem that David said these things just in passing and with a different overall meaning in mind, I want to make it clear that this was the mystical sense of the whole Canticle. In fact, the number of verses will give you an idea of how many reasons there are to confirm his proposition : that the Holy Virgin, from the moment of her Immaculate Conception, has surpassed in grace and merits the greatest Saints in the world and the foremost of the Heavenly Spirits.

Footnotes

[1] Orat. de Hypapante.

[2] Serm. de Nativit. B. Virg.

[3] Serm. de Aquæ ductu. 

[4] Speculi B. Virg., c. 3, 6, 7.

[5] Serm. 4 in Salve.

[6] IV p., tit. XV, c. 16, § 2.

[7] Super Missus.

[8] consummate: I.1. 1447–1832. Completed, perfected, fully accomplished. II.4. a1527–Of a thing: complete, finished. Now archaic and rare. II.5.a. a1530–Of a thing, esp. a quality or state: of the highest degree; absolute, total; supreme. Complete OED. From from summus "highest."

[9] perfection. See 8. early 13c., perfeccioun, "consummate state or form, that degree of excellence which leaves nothing to be desired," from Old French perfection "perfection, completeness" (12c.), from Latin perfectionem (nominative perfectio) "a finishing, completing, perfection," noun of action from past-participle stem of perficere "to accomplish, finish, complete"

[10] Epist. ad Marcellinum. 

[11] Serm. 13 de Tempore.

[12] Serm. 5 de Assumpt. et apud eumdem S. Ambros.

[13] Homil. 1 de Deipara.

[14] Orat. de Adorat. Zonæ B. Virg.

[15] Lib. III Thesauri, c.1.

[16] Lib. III Thesauri, c.1.

[17] Ps. LXXXVI. 1.

[18] Isa. ii. 2.

[19] In primum Regum, lib. I, c. 1.

[20] T. III, Serm. 3.

[21] Orat. 1 de Nativit. B. Virg.

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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