The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 40-41

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 fifth proof, based on the opinion of those who hold that the Blessed Virgin saw God face to face at the moment of her Conception.

 40   He later says the same thing in a different way[1] but just as effectively and compellingly. After showing that the glorious Virgin is called the Dawn of the day[2] in Sacred Scripture, he adds : 

It is certainly with good reason, O Holy Lady, that thou dost bear this title since thou dost show forth its attributes; for the Sun of Justice who is to be born of thee announces His rising when the first light bringeth the dawn of day, and so with His light He doth bathe thee with an abundance of delightful rays.

Why should we make difficulties when it comes to honouring the MOTHER OF GOD when we have before us the great Saints who invite us to do so. St Bernard speaks of the clarity of daybreak and could this not be the morning knowledge[3] about which so many theologians speak, following St Augustine, and which is nothing other than the very clear sight of creatures in God? I do not wish, however, to twist the words of these Doctors nor to force them to be read as meaning this favour was granted to the Blessed Virgin at the moment of her Conception. It seems to me, nevertheless, that it is simple enough to interpret them in this way through reason, since it was in this very instant more than any other that Our Lady was the beautiful dawning of the longed for day. Holy Church in all her images does not represent her Conception to us otherwise than under the sign of the mysterious woman clothed with the rays of the Sun, who did not omit to send out His first flashes of lightning, as I mentioned a little earlier, when He when He suffused her on every side with his light.

Footnotes

[1] Serm. de verbis Apoc. : Mulier amicta sole.

[2] E.g., Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising [aurora consurgens], fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?  Cant. vi. 9. 

[3] cognitio matutina in Summa Th. I. Q58. A6

The Holy Virgin saw God several times in her life

 41   A second reason is that this break of day associated with the Holy Virgin was the beginning of our happiness and the cause of public rejoicing throughout the Universe. The Holy Trinity was affected by the Feast through the essential part it played, as shown earlier; the Holy Angels reacted too since they foresaw a beginning to the restoration of their thrones. The whole of our own world, if it had not lost its senses, would have perceived this daybreak as the beginning of its well-being. At least those good souls in the Limbo of the Fathers did not fail to rejoice on hearing the news. 

With regard to the Virgin, this was the moment of her first coronation; later, she received a second crown with the Conception of the divine Word and a third one at the moment of her glorification. It is entirely reasonable that she should participate most advantageously in the common rejoicing. She also one day gave St Bridget to understand that: 

at the instant of her first sanctification when her blessed soul was united to her body, she was overwhelmed by such an abundance of joy that she herself was unable to explain it.

Why should we not be permitted to say that this bliss said to be inexplicable is an example of what the great Apostle was referring to when he wrote that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man?[1] 

Footnotes

[1] But, as it is written: That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him. I Cor. ii. 9. 

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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