The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 7 : § 2.11

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

§ 2. The increase of grace in the Holy Virgin

The progress made by the Holy Virgin from the moment of the Divine Word’s Conception

 11   Moving now to the second stage, the first thing we encounter is the incomprehensible Conception of the Divine Word in Mary’s holy womb and the Saints have wonderful things to say about this. St Jerome[1], among others, received a great grace when he compared this event to the forty-second encampment of the people of Israel next to the river Jordan.

The holy Doctor explains how the mystery in this figure was accomplished. The Saviour of the world made various encampments among the ancient Patriarchs and finally halted near to the sacred Jordan river, namely the glorious Virgin[2]; for she was herself like a swollen river overflowing with graces from the Holy Ghost on every side.

According to the eloquent words of St Eucher[3], if Mary was at that point (or rather previously) full of grace, who could imagine what an abundance of grace she received when God was conceived within her?

At the visitation of the blessed Virgin, says the Venerable Bede[4], her cousin Elizabeth was filled with a light so extraordinary that she herself was filled with amazement. What then are we to think of the Sun from which this dazzling brightness proceeded?

No-one should be in any doubt, says Sophronius[5], that long before the Virgin conceived the Divine Word, she was incomparably more holy than everyone else under heaven. It was, in fact, entirely reasonable that she would be prepared in this way since she was the one from whom God was to take the flesh destined to be united to His very person. At that happy moment when the substantial grace from Heaven came down to her, and when the power of the Most High overshadowed her, she became more precious than the very graces she had received, she was raised to a greater height than the highest, and she became more beautiful than holiness. She was made so glorious by virtue of her merits that henceforth all the works she performed were heavenly and divine.

I realize that it is almost impossible to say anything that comes near to what happened to Mary. In order that our hearts may have some appreciation of the grace she received at this point, I shall nevertheless put before you the thoughts of three great Doctors. The first is the author of the Glossa Ordinaria that has always been revered by the Church. Here is what he says about the words found in the first chapter of St Matthew’s Gospel:

After the Holy Virgin had conceived and born the Divine Word, Joseph knew her not[6]. These words mean that Joseph in some sense did not recognize the most sacred Virgin his Spouse from that moment on. This was because her divine face now shone with a splendour that dazzled the eyes and he was filled with a certain trembling which was at the same time intermingled with sweetness and reverence.

The second is St Bernardino of Siena[7] who puts forward a view worthy of a fuller consideration elsewhere[8], for he says:

By the one action whereby she gave her assent to the Angel’s invitation, the Holy Virgin earned more merit than all the martyrs together at the times of their greatest suffering, than the Confessors in their painful labours and all the Virgins in the victories they won defending their chastity : in short, than all the Saints in Heaven amid their continual practice of virtue. 

If this action alone was so elevated and valued at such a high price, who will be able to describe the merit of that grace which was then granted to her? The third Doctor is the holy Archbishop of Florence[9] who declared that he felt a strong inclination to believe

that at this moment the grace of the Virgin was such that she merited a clear sight of God and of the mystery unfolding within her, even if this was like a flash of lightning and did not last long.

We shall have more to say on this in the following chapter. Even though all the Angels should set their sights on understanding the sublimity of this grace, they will never succeed. Their pleasure is at the same time our own in finding that the merits of her whom they honour are so sublime that we do not have the means to attain such an understanding.

Footnotes

[1] Epist. ad Fabiolam de 42 mansionibus. See also Num. xxxiii.

[2] Cf Matt. i. 17.

[3] Ad Evang. feriæ IV Dominicæ IV Advent.

[4] Homil. de Visitatione.

[5] Serm. de Assumpt. ad Paulam et Eustoch.

[6] Matt. I. 24-25.

[7] T. II, Serm. 51, art. 3, c. 1.

[8] Tract. II, c. 2.

[9] S. Antoninus, IV p., tit. XV, c. 17, § 1.

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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