The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 29-30

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 opposition of St Bernard to this solemnity and its subsequent history around the world

 29   In this way the devotion gained a foothold almost everywhere, but notably in France on account of the special veneration shown there for the MOTHER OF GOD throughout history. Already, the principal Churches were celebrating the Feast of the Conception with great solemnity when around the year 1130 God allowed one of the Holy Virgin’s great favourites to raise objections. This was the pious St Bernard who wrote a letter with great ardour to the Church in Lyon which enjoyed primatial status among the Gauls. In this he remonstrated with the noble Clergy for undertaking to celebrate the solemnity of this Feast without the approval of the Holy See. I do not actually know what effect St Bernard’s remonstration had but I can tell you that the devotion of the Christian faithful grew so much that Pope Sixtus IV, anxious to remove any future scruple about celebrating this same Feast and desirous moreover of declaring unambiguously the thinking of the Church, issued a Bull in the year 1476. In it he exhorted all the Faithful to celebrate the Feast from that date onward and made a most liberal grant of Indulgences from the Church’s treasury to all who celebrated the solemnity. 

Now there were some who placed a particular interpretation on the Papal Bull’s wording and taught that it referred to the sanctification of the MOTHER OF GOD not at the moment of her conception but soon afterwards. To remove any doubts, the Pope used his Apostolic authority again and issued a third Bull[1] (for the second had been purely pastoral in scope) in which he pronounced the sentence of excommunication against all those who in future would give such an interpretation to the word Conception. Some time later, this same Pope confirmed two Offices of the immaculate Conception, and granted beautiful indulgences to those using them. One of the Offices was composed by  Léonard de Nogueroles and the other by Bernardino de' Busti (mentioned above), as appears from the Bulls issued to this effect. As a result of an excessive number of similar Offices, Pope Pius V found it necessary to recall the ancient custom and order the exclusive use in Church of the Office of the Nativity of Our Lady, but substituting the word Conception for Nativity.

It would be a waste of effort, in my opinion, to seek to demonstrate how God blessed the holy intentions of this good Pope since experience shows the esteem throughout the world for this Feast continues to grow daily more and more. In fact, all over Christendom in our own day it is one of the greatest Feasts of the whole year.

Footnotes

[1] Extat in fasciculo Minorum.

The origin of the Feast of the Conception in Spain

 30   There may be some who feel I have dwelled too long on this subject, but I would urge them to consider I did so in the belief that it offers the strongest proof of what we have been discussing. If the Church did not hold that the Conception of the MOTHER OF GOD was immaculate, she would never have undertaken to celebrate it with such rejoicing but, as St Ildephonsus once said[1], she would have called instead for tears to be wept on this day, and for it to be overshadowed in darkness. In the minds of several serious-minded doctors and holy personages, this is a powerful argument for proving through the Feast of the Nativity the sanctification of the Holy Virgin in her mother’s womb. This appears in the writings of St Ildephonsus[2], St Bernard[3], Albert the Great[4], St Thomas[5], St Bonaventure[6] and numerous others whose authority is respected and whose argument is compelling. As far as others are concerned, I might say in passing that I do not know what effect this Feast had on the impious heresiarch Luther but he expressed himself in words that were far from ambiguous saying that there were no feasts he loathed more than Corpus Christi and the Conception of Our Lady. This could scarcely be further from the view of the pious St Anselm[7] who declared unequivocally that this Feast takes precedence over all others since all the other feasts took their origin from it.

Footnotes

[1] Lib. de Virginitate Mariæ.

[2] Lib. de Virginitate Mariæ.

[3] Episl. 137 ad Canonic. Lugdun.

[4] In III, dist. 3, quibus adde Alensem, Richardum, Gabrielem, Capreolum, Paludanum, Gregorium, etc., ibidem.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] 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