The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 7 : § 5. 1-2

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)

§ 5. On the other graces of the Holy Virgin, especially the free graces

 1   I am using the term free graces to apply to those graces that are not conferred mainly for the particular sanctification of the recipient but which have as their first and particular aim the well-being and progress of others. Even though, strictly speaking, the Holy Virgin did not possess them, she was not any the less holy for all that. Now these are ornaments most in keeping with the excellence of the MOTHER OF GOD, used by His favour and especial tenderness to reward His best friends. It is scarcely to be thought that the Mother of Grace would be deprived of them; on the contrary, we are forced to acknowledge that they shone within her to a degree proportionate to the way her title overshadowed that of all other saints. I am well aware that St Paul[1] teaches that God has distributed these favours in such a way that in very few people are they found all together, but to one is given the spirit of prophecy, to another the gift of working miracles, this one has spoken in diverse tongues, that one has an understanding of Scripture, and so on. However, when it comes to the MOTHER OF GOD, we must clear our thoughts of any division for her case is specially privileged : being everywhere, taking everything before everyone else and sharing with no-one. This is what all the Saints declare, this is what reason requires and this is in keeping with the ordinance of the Father.

All the graces radiate from Mary, says St Bonaventure[2], as from someone whose heart has the capacity to receive them all : this why we can give her the name Grace[3].

Among the Tabernacles of Grace, there is none greater nor more excellent than Mary’s, says St Andrew of Jerusalem[4].

St Peter Damian[5] says she is the maison de plaisance (a place of rest and recreation) for His Majesty; enriched and adorned with every imaginable grace.

I have no hesitation in saying that she had the right to all the graces of God, says St Bernardin[6], since fountains of grace poured from her heart as though from an Ocean of Divinity. 

Consequently, say St Bernard, Albert the Great and several others, just as at the world’s beginning God gave the name of Maris (sea) to the great mass of waters, in the same way He gave to the mass of all the graces the name of Mary.

 

Footnotes

[1] I Cor. xii.

[2] In Psalterio.

[3] Speculi B. Virg., c. 13.

[4] Serm. 1 de Dormiente B. Virg.

[5] Serm. de Assumpt.

[6]T. I, Serm. 61.

 2   Let us consider some examples, beginning with the gift of prophecy. The opinion of several ancient Fathers is that the Prophetess referred to in Isaiah[1] is none other than the Blessed Virgin. This is the teaching of St Basil[2], St Cyril[3], St Gregory Nazianzus[4], St Gregory of Nyssa[5], St Epiphanius[6], St Jerome[7] and many others. Amongst the records of the Holy Ghost’s gifts of prophecy, the only example of such a gift to Mary is Magnificat which she sings after greeting her cousin St Elizabeth[8]. St Ambrose takes and develops this example by explaining that insofar as she who pronounced this Canticle surpassed all those who had received the gift of prophecy, to the same extent the gift she received was of greater excellence than theirs. The learned Fr Rupert[9] calls her on this occasion the Prophets’ Prophetess because it was for her merit that the Prophets were inspired of God and because she served as focal point for all the Prophets.

Footnotes

[1] And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Isai. viii. 3.

[2] In verba Isaiæ citata.

[3] Lib. I, in Isaiam.

[4] Orat. 42.

[5] Lib. de testimoniis ex Veteri Testamento contra Judæos, c. de Nativit. Christi.

[6] Hæresi 78..

[7] In locum Isaiæ citatum.

[8] Luc. 1.

[9] Lib I in Cant.

👑       👑       👑

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