The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 3. 18

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

§ 3. That the Holy Fathers say that the MOTHER OF GOD was incapable of sin, and how this is to be understood

The third principle, namely the external protection provided by God

 18   That is not the end of the story. We still have to consider the forces earmarked for the defence of this fortress, namely the external protection God provides. This is the third strength of our fortress, rendering it impregnable to the assaults of sin. Sacred Scripture tells[1] how King Solomon entrusted the protection of the bed where he took his repose to threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel, all having swords at their sides and partisans[2] in their hand. According to the opinion of the learned Rupert, this bed is none other than the Blessed MOTHER OF GOD, where the true King of peace reposed for nine whole months. These soldiers so well suited for warfare represent the heavenly host arrayed in battle order around her by God so as to safeguard her from surprise attacks in the night. There can be no doubt that these squadrons were deployed to defend her against any adverse encounters. St Bernard[3] recognized this, saying:

this was so that none might presume to enter the privy chamber of the Prince of Heaven.

St Anselm lends his support and says that it must be held as a certainty that:

through the ministry of the Holy Angels, the Virgin Mother’s body most pure and her soul most innocent have been preserved from all sin, for they were the chamber wherein the King of glory was to have His abode and to be joined to man in the unity of one person.

 

Is it not well known, he asks, that there is a custom observed everywhere that when the Prince wishes to go somewhere, his guards go before him to carry out an inspection of the place and to guard the approach roads for the duration of his visit?

The great King Himself says the same to the Holy Virgin under the figure of Jerusalem in the following words of Isaiah[4]: Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the day, and all the night, they shall never hold their peace. Here we can note two ministries performed by  these Blessed guardians, for apart from their duty as soldiers to defend her, they sing heavenly hymns, sustaining the mind of this Princess night and day with holy thoughts and bringing joy to her heart with their divine Canticles. Could this be what the same Spouse wanted to say when He asks in the Canticle of Canticles[5]: What shalt thou see in the Sulamitess but choirs of soldiers[6]? This is as though He were to have said that the royal bodyguard of the Virgin His Spouse was made up of indomitable soldiers and the foremost musical performers of His holy Chapel. What a sweet consonance, O Lord, was achieved between these companies of warriors and these harmonious choirs! How inspiring to see the soldiers’ formations and to hear the voices singing in concert! Or perhaps we should say how pleasing it was to see the winged troops’ orderly manoeuvres as they engaged the enemy to the sounds and rhythms of their voices, singing the praises of the Spouse and His Bride – at the same time as playing by hand their musical instruments! In the last Chapter of the Canticles, there is a reference to lamps of fire[7]. The pious Byzantine Emperor Matthew Cantacuzenus read these words as meaning points of fire[8], explaining this with reference to the Holy Virgin :

surrounded, as he says, by a company of protective spirits shooting flames who never desert her side.

Footnotes

[1] Cant. iii. 7-8. 

[2] A type of spear similar to a halberd used in the 16th and 17th centuries, with a long, triangular, double-edged blade, with two (more rarely one) upturned flukes.

[3] Serm. qui inscribitur : Laus Mariæ.

[4] Cap. lxii. 6.

[5] Cant. vii. 1.  

[6] The French text has choeurs de gendarmerie; the Vulg. has choros castrorum; the Douay-Rheims has companies of camps.

[7] Cant. viii. 6. 

[8] créneaux de feu : crenelles or embrasures (openings) on a parapet allowing defenders to keep watch or fire upon the enemy.

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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