The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 31-32

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

How opposition to the Immaculate Conception caused its glory to increase

 31   In my wish to avoid any confusion and to complete the discussion we began about the Feast of the Conception, I have passed over several memorable things which would enable us to see that through the centuries the Church’s judgement concerning the purity of this same Conception has not changed – which is what I proposed at the outset. So to pick up where we left off, I was saying that nearly eleven hundred years had passed and not one person could be found from these distant times who had spoken against the honour of the most pure Conception. In fact the opposite was the case since in every century those most renowned for their holiness and their teaching had lent their authority to it and St Anselm had been the first to go against it openly – although he more than made amends for doing so, as I explained earlier. This great servant of God and His Mother, who was Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of England, lived towards the end of the eleventh century, around the year 1080. The celebration of the immaculate Conception at this time was winning acceptance in countries throughout the whole of Christendom and the effect of this novelty was to arouse the curiosity of certain Doctors who decided in good faith that the time had come for a discussion of the subject. There was no shortage at this time of great men who came forward to counter what others were saying about the holiness of Mary’s Conception.

 32   It should be noted that in these first centuries when doubts began to be expressed openly regarding this celebration, those who are reported to have been the most passionate in their disavowal were amongst the most zealous and the most ardent of the Holy Virgin’s servants. I say reported to have been, because I need to investigate later in the discussion whether everything said of them is worthy of credence. They included in the twelfth century two Abbots distinguished for their teaching and devotion, one was Rupert[1] and the other was St Bernard[2]. In the thirteenth century, we have Alexander of Hales, master of St Thomas; and St Albert the Great whose influence over the other minds in his time was so great that the weight of his authority convinced the first University in the world (I am referring to the one in Paris and the venerable Sorbonne, alma mater of the finest minds) to issue a decree[3] in opposition to the immaculate Conception – even though others are of the opinion that they were induced to do this by St Bernard. Soon after this came St Thomas, the Angelic Doctor who owed all that he was to the MOTHER OF GOD, no more nor less than Albert the Great his master and St Bonaventure owed the wondrous sweetness, understanding and love they had for the Virgin. In the fifteenth century we have St Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence. I shall make no mention of the others who came after approval for the Feast issued forth from the Chair of St Peter like a flash of lightning. As far as the above-mentioned names are concerned, people may find their opposition surprising but I would say that even if it is true that they held this opinion (about which I am by no means certain), they were true children of the Church and also of Our Lady. As such, they would prefer to follow rather than to anticipate the Church in Rome. I am moreover persuaded that all this was led and directed by the Blessed MOTHER OF GOD. She is the Mother of gentleness and the enemy of all that is malign; she understood moreover that her Son willed that the truth should be absolutely clear in His Church. Accordingly, she permitted these attacks on the part of her own children for they arose from good-hearted intentions. Indeed, they would help to ensure the truth would eventually come to have pride of place and there would be no question of God taking offence at their opposition. It is also possible that she permitted this so that the question could be more fully examined when her best friends in a certain sense took the opposing side against her. This was to ensure that they would be won over by the truth which would then be placed beyond doubt for posterity. 

Footnotes

[1] Lib. I in Cant., in illud : Meliora sunt ubera tua vino.

[2] Epist. citata ad Lugdun., et alibi.

[3] Albertus, in III, dist. 3, q. 1, art. 2.

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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