The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 7 : § 1.4-5

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

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

 4   In the third place, the prophet says that when God favoured Mary with this incomparable grace, he was mindful of Rahab and of Babylon,[1] and he beheld the foreigners of Phoenicia, of Ethiopia and elsewhere[2], people who from all regions were to have recourse to her. He means by this to say that God considered her as a place of safety and common refuge for all sinners who, having separated themselves from His Majesty, needed to have recourse to the Virgin. This would enable them to return to Him and to present themselves to Mary in her capacity as Mother of all God’s children, co-operating in the work of their salvation with Him who considered her to be the Lady and Mistress of all His possessions.

Consequently, says St Bonaventure[3], for this role she needed to be privileged with such an abundance of grace to enable her to channel it generously to meet everyone’s needs.

St Sophronius[4], followed by St Peter Chrysologus, St Bernard and many others, note quite appositely that:

on this occasion she was called and greeted as full of grace, for while others received grace partially and on successive occasions, Mary was inundated at once with the fulness of grace.

This way of speaking shows plainly enough that St Sophronius is referring here to Mary’s first sanctification. St Bonaventure himself draws a distinction between three sorts of grace : the first is proper to our Lord Jesus Christ, the second is adapted to Our Lady and the third is common to all the Saints. The first he calls superabundant by merit, inasmuch as the Saviour must be the first source of grace, flowing sufficiently for everyone’s needs. The second he calls grace by prerogative, inasmuch as this grace had to be above all others, being reserved for her who was privileged to be a secondary source of grace, and whose Maternal breasts would be full of sweetness. The third he calls sufficient grace, but without any implication that this grace cannot be at the same time efficacious. Those who have this grace are in a situation different to that of the Mother of God since they do not operate as universal causes. According to right reason, therefore, they are to be satisfied with a level of grace which is sufficient for them as individuals and in their performance of whatever office they might have been given as particular members of the Church. What would you expect? For it must be admitted that those in this third group, in whatever order or at whatever level they may be found, are in the end only servants. The Virgin Mary, however, is Mother and Lady; as such she does not need to share with them but is entitled to have all that she might want, however much that might be and without any limitation of favour. We need not, however, rush any further into this discussion here because in a timely way we have come to this very subject.

 5   David proceeds further on the question of Mary’s grace and gives the most natural and efficacious of all explanations when he says : Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her?[5] "This man and that man" is an example of the idiomatic use of repetition for emphasis in Hebrew : the man without peer or rival. 

St Augustine says[6] this line refers to the man who was before us and who was made after us.

St John Damascene[7] says it refers to the man who is both creator and creature, mortal and immortal, visible and invisible, finite and infinite : that is to say, the man who is eternal in the bosom of His Father, whilst at the same time He comes forth temporally from the womb of His Mother. It is the man who is on high the King of glory whilst here below He assays our weaknesses; the man who is seated in Heaven on the throne of His Majesty whilst at the same time He hangs on the Cross; the man who is adored by the Angels while being insulted by men; the man who judges those who condemn Him, who prepares for life those who send Him to His death and who has made designs for a new world while the old seems to wish for its end. This is the God who suffers and the man who is impassible, the man who is God and the God who is man; the man who is in God and the God who is in the man.

It is the man - and the man who is born of the Virgin. This is the great word and one which takes all. For as she was predestined to be MOTHER OF GOD, all was due to Mary; and that she should be full of grace was quite in keeping with her status. All the rivers run into the sea, says the Sage, yet the sea doth not overflow.[8] In the same way, every grace is received into the soul of Mary but her dignity as MOTHER OF GOD contains them all.

Peter Damian[9] says to his listeners: Remember that I am speaking here of Mary, whom the generous-hearted Lord expressly chose for His dwelling, so that He might show her His tender love in every way imaginable. He who made all good things nevertheless willed to make her the best of all - for she was to be His Sanctuary, His propitiatory[10], His place of recreation[11], and His chosen abode.

Are you really astonished that she is full of grace, asks St Gregory Thaumaturgus[12],since she has within her a treasure which is nothing less than all the graces in the world!

 

Footnotes

[1] I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me. Ps. LXXXVI. 4.

[2] Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there. Ibid.

[3] Cap. 3 Speculi B. Virg.

[4] Serm. de Assumpt.

[5] Ps. LXXXVI. 5.

[6] In Psal. 86.

[7] Orat. 1 de Dormit. B. Virg.

[8] Ecclesiastes i. 7.

[9] Serm. de Annuntiat.

[10] Mercy-seat, Vide Exod. xxv.

[11] lieu de plaisance: Il n’a d’usage qu’en ces phrases, Lieu de plaisance, maison de plaisance, qui se disent d’une maison qu’on a à la campagne pour s’y aller divertir quelquefois, & qui n’est d’ailleurs d’aucun revenu. Il a une maison de plaisance à deux lieuës d’icy, où il se va divertir pendant les vacances. ce n’estoit qu’un lieu de plaisance, & il en a fait une terre. [Dictionnaire de l’Académie française, 1re édition (1694)]

[12] Serm. 1 de Annuntiat.

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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