The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 27-28

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 origin of the Feast of the Conception in France

 27   Now, through their Norman kinsmen the French were aware of what had happened but God, who had long cherished their kingdom most tenderly, provided them with their own reason for honouring His Mother so as to follow the others. It seems this came to pass around the same time because St Anselm recounts the details in the same place. 

A French priest, he says, made his way out of his parish with a most sinful thought in his heart. He committed adultery in a neighbouring village and then started his journey home by boat on the river Seine. He was alone and began to recite the office of Our Lady as was his wont each day, for he had a special devotion towards the holy Virgin. He had scarcely begun when a band of demons attacked him. They capsized his boat, hurled him into the depths of the river and tore his soul from his body. They had been tormenting him brutally for some three days when the MOTHER OF GOD arrived on the scene. Through her intercession, she had already obtained the suspension of the poor man’s particular judgement and now she confronted the demons, demanding why they hade made so bold as to mistreat her servant. They replied that he had been seized while performing deeds worthy of death. The Mother of mercy replied that if this man’s soul belonged as of right to the person for whom he was performing deeds at the time of being seized, then it belonged unquestionably to her because he was reciting her Office when he was taken. After these few words from Mary, the devils disappeared and the MOTHER OF GOD remained, mistress of the field, along with the angels who accompanied her. Having delivered the prisoner from the eternal death he had deserved and having restored him to earthly life, she warned him in future to avoid such actions which were so displeasing to her, to keep the solemnity each year of the Feast of her Conception and to use his best endeavours to persuade others to do the same. When she had finished speaking, the Angels took him by the hands and raised him to his feet. The holy Mother of goodness made a passage for him in the middle of the river, so that the water was a wall on his right hand on his left[1]. Once he arrived safe and sound on the riverbank, she disappeared from view. This man did not know what he should say to Mary who had delivered him from his terrible fate; neither did he know what he should do in her honour. In the end, he resolved to withdraw to a small hermitage where every year, on the feast day of the Conception, he did everything in his power to honour the MOTHER OF GOD and to persuade all his visitors to the do the same.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. Exod. xiv. 22.

The origin of the Feast of the Conception in Spain

 28   I have held back until now from speaking of Spain because I was unsure as to when the event described by Bernardino de' Busti actually took place. He was a celebrated Doctor of the Order of St Francis and mentions the event in the text he composed for the Office of the Immaculate Conception which was approved by Pope Sixtus IV, as I shall show below. He recounts[1] how there was once in Toledo a Bishop called Gondisalve (or Goudisau) who had a most tender affection for the MOTHER OF GOD, so much so that she appeared to him every time he celebrated the holy Mass. It came to pass that, as he was preparing to say Mass on the very Feast day of her Conception, she came to him carrying a beautiful white chasuble and said to him : 

Be it known to thee, my son, that I was conceived without original sin; and I command thee, moreover, to spare no effort in ensuring the solemnity of my Feast is kept.

The Saint threw himself into this undertaking so ardently that he soon won over all Spain to this devotion, for which he composed an excellent Treatise. From this, we may conjecture that the event he recounts occurred before the year 800, at a time when the Goths still held Spain. During this period, Gaul of Narbonne maintained regular contact with Spain, as appears from the synodal acts which attest that the Bishops of the Gaulish province attended the Council of Toledo with the Prelates from Spain. When the Saracens occupied the country around the year 800, this flow of communication came to an end and after this time it would therefore have been difficult for Goudisau to have maintained the contact he previously had with the Spanish Prelates. If perchance I am mistaken in my present conjecture or in any I others I have mentioned, let me make clear that I am more than happy to give way to anyone with evidence for better suggestions

Footnotes

[1] Epist. cit.

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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