The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 7 : § 2. 7-8

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

Our Lady received a continuous flow of merits

 7   When it comes to the care and effort on Mary’s part, I will be brief and say quite simply in words to be pondered at the reader's leisure that she earned merits and consequently grew in grace without pause or interruption all the days of her life. She did this in such a way that, with her actions following on from each other, she increased at least twofold her graces and merits with each of her holy soul’s undertakings[1]. I say at least because, following the principle established earlier, pious belief could easily have her exceeding even that, and this in fact turns out to be the case. If I am called upon to list the reasons why I say this, I would start by calling on readers to acknowledge a goodly number of serious-minded authors who do not even exclude the hours Mary spent in sleep. Amongst these are St Ambrose[2], Albert the Great[3], St Antoninus[4], St Bernardino of Siena[5], Fr Rupert[6] and several others[7]. Someone wrote that St Basil lived the most of all men and that his days were full, as the Psalmist says[8]; and that he practised virtue for the whole of his life, which is the true life of a man. It is possible we might find several who lived longer than him but few if any who lived more fully. 

Now, if ever it could be said of a mere creature that her days were full and that every moment of her life was put to a holy purpose, then this would have to be said of the Holy Virgin; even including the little sleep she allowed to her human nature, her life was dedicated to the continual practice of virtue. Let us remember, moreover, that the Holy Fathers urge us not to deny this Lady any favour, especially in terms of grace, that might be in keeping not only with her state and condition as Mother but with the greatness and magnificence of her Son. This being so, what would be more fitting and would show forth more clearly the unparalleled love of God in this regard than this continual redoubling of graces, and the extraordinary care she took to collect them all and to turn them to her benefit as far it was possible for her?

Footnotes

[1] Ita Suar., t. II, in III p., disp. XVII de sect. 2.

[2] Lib. II de Virg.

[3] Lib. de B. Virg., c. 176, 177, 178.

[4] IV p., tit. XV, c. 20, § 6.

[5] T. II, Serm. 51.

[6] Lib. V in Cant.

[7] Dionys. Carthus., in illud Cant. 5 : Ego dormio, etc.

[8] Cf. One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Ps. XXVI. 4.

 8   Thirdly, we must not forget the astonishing things that several estimable authors have written about the progress made by certain saints. From these I conclude that the Virgin co-operated with God’s grace in a way that was so much higher than anyone else that it is quite beyond the comprehension of our minds. For my part, I am easily persuaded that there was never any soul whose every action was adapted to receive the whole extent of God’s grace than Mary’s privileged soul. There are, however, some things which might make us uneasy about accepting what has just been said. We experience an almost continual difficulty in the practice of virtue, and this comes from : the attacks we suffer as a result of our bad habits and inclinations to vice, the raging emotions caused by concupiscence, and the surprise assaults and violence of our invisible enemies who assail us through deceptions, lay ambushes for us and never leave us in peace. 

None of the above, however, should be considered as applying to the MOTHER OF GOD, for there was nothing in her of the resistance our depraved nature habitually sets in the way of the practice of virtue. Concerning attacks from without, it is written that the scourge of God, [1] referring to the temptations of evil spirits, shall not come near thy dwelling. I shall cover this subject later.[2] As for interior rebellion, all the movements of Mary’s body and soul were so perfectly subject to her reason (as I shall show later[3]) that she never experienced anything in the least untoward. She showed more gentleness in herself and a greater inclination to virtue than the most sensual show in their natural actions and in satisfying their disordered appetites.

Footnotes

[1] There shall no evil come to thee: nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling / Non accedet ad te malum, et flagellum non appropinquabit tabernaculo tuo. Ps. XC. 10.

[2] Tract. II, c. 9, § 7. 

[3] Cap. sequenti.

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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