The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 23-24

Chapter 8 : The Seventh 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)

Mary’s soul was unique in being totally free of any sin

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from original sin

The fourth proof, based upon the authority of the universal Church

 23   We need to observe firstly that although God did not allow this truth to appear with such clarity and to be so widely shared in the Church from the beginning, there were nevertheless holy and irreproachable Doctors in every age who professed the truth publicly and bequeathed it to posterity. This is confirmed by very reputable authors[1] whose testimony may be found throughout the centuries. Anyone looking for the proof may easily find it in their writings.

I should say furthermore that nearly eleven centuries elapsed without a single Doctor (of those whose work has come down to us) holding or teaching the contrary. Regarding certain general statements made by some which could be read as suggesting the Blessed Virgin shared the same lot as others, I shall explain shortly how none of them is in fact prejudicial to our argument. Something which is striking and which adds powerful credence to St Bridget’s revelation is that the first person we find formally questioning the purity of the Virgin’s Conception and teaching the contrary is the glorious St Anselm[2], one of her most faithful and devoted servants. God’s providence, however, now made its appearance in a most particular way. Remember how St Thomas the Apostle originally doubted but later became a witness and preacher of the Lord’s Resurrection after he had learned the truth by seeing and touching the risen Lord, with great benefit to our faith. In the same way, St Anselm allowed himself to be carried away by a doubt which was understandable in his day; but, once he realized that the Church was already celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in a number of places, he not only gave his support to those honouring the Virgin in this way but he also called on the whole world to celebrate this Feast. He did this through a wonderful letter he addressed to the Bishops in England. The letter is relevant for anyone studying the origin and spread of this celebrated Feast and touches on many other matters worthy of note. Accordingly, it merits a fuller discussion.

Footnotes

[1] Coccius, t. I Thesauri, lib. III ; Salazar, lib. de Immaculata Conceptione, c. 42, etc. 

[2] Lib. II Cur Deus homo, c. 26.

The origin of the Feast of the Conception in Italy

 24   Lest those punctilious minds who delight in arguing any matter should be given any reason to reject with disdain what we have been saying about this, before anything else they should be made aware that a goodly number of Doctors[1] worthy of credence take a different view to them. We may note that, before the reformation of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius V and his successors, all the Churches in Spain used to read it in the lessons of the feast of the Conception, as the Order of St Francis still does to this day. Furthermore, the Council held at Canterbury[2] in the year 1320 which was in a position to learn about it found no difficulty in accepting it. 

In his Epistle, St Anselm recounts something memorable which he says happened when King Charles held the sceptre of the French Monarchy. Now he says only that the name of the king was Charles but he does not specify which one. If we study the evidence and the dates we are obliged to say it must have been one of three kings, namely : Charles the Bald, Charles the Fat or Charles the Simple. Now these three reigns taken together cover a period of over sixty years. It follows that the incident St Anselm describes must have occurred between the year 840 when the reign of Charles the Bald began, and the year 892 when the reign of Charles the Simple ended.

St Anselm says that the brother of the King of Hungary (whom he does not however name) was a Cleric by profession but he was forced by pressure from his family to take in marriage a young lady of exceptional beauty. He was in fact wondrously devoted to the MOTHER OF GOD and he recited her Office every day. The day of his marriage arrived and after Mass and the giving of the nuptial blessing, he remembered that he had not discharged his daily duty to the Holy Virgin. With that thought in mind, he sent everyone away and stayed behind alone in the Church. He prostrated himself before the Altar of Our Lady and began to say his hours. When he came to the Antiphon which says[3]: Thou art beautiful, O my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem, the glorious Virgin appeared to him. She was accompanied by two Angels, one holding her right hand, the other her left.

And so, she said to him, since thou dost declare I am beautiful, sweet and comely, why hast thou left me for another? In truth, am I not more beautiful than her for whom thou didst forsake me?

The Prince was at first astonished but regained his composure somewhat and replied :

It is indeed true, my Lady, that thy beauty and wondrous grace surpass anything imaginable. The Angels themselves come nowhere near. Since, however, this wrong hath been done, what way is there to repair it?

If thou hast the courage, responded the Virgin, to leave her for love of whom thou didst abandon me, thou wilt have me for thy spouse in Heaven; and if thou wilt celebrate each year the Feast of my immaculate Conception on the eighth day of December, taking care to encourage others to keep it, I promise thee a beautiful crown in the Kingdom of my Son.

With those words she disappeared and the Prince resolved to take himself off and hide for a time in a neighbouring Monastery. Shortly afterwards, under the guidance of the MOTHER OF GOD, he journeyed to Italy where he was eventually installed as Patriarch of Aquileia.  He never failed each year to celebrate the Feast in accordance with the request he had received. He kept the Feast with great pomp, added the solemnity of an Octave and never omitted to use his energies and influence so as to induce the majority of the Bishops in Italy to follow his example.

Now, in view of this person’s birth and rank, the solemnity of this most extraordinary Feast and the fact that this was taking place under the eyes of Rome, there can be no doubt that it was approved, or at least tolerated by the Holy See and this approval would have encouraged other Churches to do the same. The fame of this Holy Prelate having quickly spread everywhere, it is easy to believe that the faithful in Hungary who had learned what was happening were the first to embrace the new practice. What lends weight to this belief is that through all their history they have shown singular devotion to the service of Our Lady and that they maintain the Feast of the Conception is truly ancient among them. There seems to be a strong case for arguing that the learned Idiota[4] was influenced by what he saw in his day to write his beautiful Meditations wherein he speaks of the Immaculate Conception more explicitly than any of his predecessors, with the aim of stirring hearts everywhere to offer themselves in service to the Queen of Heaven.

Footnotes

[1] Henricus Gand., Bacconus, Thomas de Argentina, Capreolus, Paludanus, omnes in III. dist. 3 ; Gers., Serm. De Conceptione ; Bosius, lib. IX de Signis Ecclesiæ, c. 8 ; Baronius, Notis ad Rom. Mar-tyrolog., 8 Decemb.

[2] Cantatur a Joanne Baccono in quolib., lib. III, q. 13.

[3] Pulchra et decora filia Jerusalem. See None in Little Office. Thou art beautiful, O my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem: terrible as an army set in array. Cant. vi.3.

[4] Nom de plume of Raymundus Jordanus. (14th c.)

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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