The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 42-44

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.

The Holy Virgin saw God several times in her life

 42   Glory is born of consummate grace[1], neither more nor less than a bud blossoms forth from a rose flower. Now, the grace of the MOTHER OF GOD being already consummate from that moment on (as we have already acknowledged), was it not reasonable for God, who still held her in a state which was passible and mortal, to reveal to her if only briefly the object of her eternal love and the fruit of her trials still to come, when this was only to encourage her to bear them with composure?

Footnotes

[1] consummate : see e.g., Summa: III. Q27. A5.

 43   Finally, one of the most powerful proofs used by the Doctors to show Mary was granted the favour of seeing God on earth in plain sight and with the veil drawn back is derived from her title of Lady and Queen of the Universe.  The learned Gerson[1] reinforces this proof by making use of the teaching of St Dionysius concerning the Orders of the Celestial Hierarchy wherein he says that the higher Powers and Virtues contain to an eminent degree the perfections of the lower orders. From this, Doctor Gerson argues that :

if a higher order of created spirit can enjoy a higher level of beatitude thanks to its presence in a lower order, then there seems no reason why this same privilege would be refused to the Queen and Empress of the world.

Albert the Great established that in the case of things which are properly ordered (as are all the things of God), to the extent that one is higher than another, then the higher enjoys in a more perfect degree the powers of the lower. This also holds true with regard to those areas of knowledge and aptitude which pertain to it; and the operations which result are made more noble. From this principle, he concludes :

Through a very special grace and a most singular favour, Our Lady had a perfect knowledge and understanding not only of corporeal and spiritual substances but also of the most holy Trinity, with no intermediary. She knew and understood creatures in God and in themselves – this is what we in the schools call morning knowledge and evening knowledge[2] – in short, she enjoyed every favour befitting the quality of her status.

Another faithful servant of Mary, St Bernardine of Siena[3], explains :

She had seven kinds of clear and distinct knowledge, namely : of God, of pure spirits, of spirits conjoined with bodies, of material things, of those things to be shunned, of those things to embrace, and of the associated means and rules – all this in right of her sovereignty. But in a firm and bold manner he says elsewhere that she knew all of the above things through a superabundance of grace communicated to her from on high so as to enlighten her understanding. When we take into account the incomparable levels of her knowledge and the heights of her contemplation, we can with complete assurance call her full of grace. In this respect she surpasses St Paul who was caught up to the third heaven[4]; in fact, if there were assembled together as many Pauls as there are creatures, they would never reach the heights of the Virgin’s knowledge[5], for although Paul was indeed a vessel of election[6], Mary was the vessel of Divinity.

Footnotes

[1]  Super Magnificat, Alphab. 83, lit. E.

[2]  Cf. Summa Th. I. Q58. A6

[3]  T. II, Serm. 51, art. 1, c. 2.

[4]  II Cor. xii. 2.

[5]  T. IV, Serm. 36, p. 3.

[6]  Acts ix. 15.

 44   Those are the superb and courageous remarks of St Bernardine. Here is what I have gathered from His words and those who have spoken before him.

The MOTHER OF GOD received all these favours and gifts of knowledge in consideration of her Royalty and her supreme power over all the creatures subject to God. She was given her title and power from the very beginning of her life and therefore reason requires that God would have made it possible for her to see from that moment onwards the extent of her domain. According to the teaching of the Doctors, God did the very same thing when right from the beginning He subjected all creatures to Adam and when He infused the souls of the Holy Angels with the purest images of all that was encompassed in their ministry and their power. We need to remember, however, that the almost infinite disparity between the mother and the servants is also reflected in their levels of knowledge. This disparity is revealed in a marvellous way by the utmost clarity of the view she had in God of all the creatures in her domain – but not of God with regard to Himself – and by the way she was thenceforth moved to love Him with her whole heart and soul, for God set more store by her love than by that of all other creatures together.

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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