The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 10 : § 3.1-2

Chapter 10 : The Ninth Star or Splendour of 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 is the Queen of virtues

§ 3. The Holy Virgin possessed to an exceptional degree all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, together with the Beatitudes

 1   The infinite charity of our heavenly Father was not satisfied with having given us the virtues to steer us towards moral and honourable actions through our own choice, using our own free will helped by His operating grace. He went further and generously gave us the gifts of the Holy Spirit by which we submit ourselves to the inspirations coming to us from the Holy Spirit. Now, just as there are vessels at sea which are not only driven forward by the strokes of their oars but also make use of favourable winds, so too our hearts are driven forward by two forces, being propelled not only by the movement of right reason and by virtuous habits but also and more effectively by the power of the Holy Spirit which fills the sails in our hearts enabling us to make the great voyage to the port of perfection.

This extra help is given us for two main reasons. The first arises from the fact that we encounter a great many difficulties which can prove too much for our virtue alone to overcome. Consider how in the performance of tragedies, for example, the deus ex machina will appear quite out of the blue when there is no other way of resolving the drama’s imbroglio save by an intervention from the gods above. In the same way we can find ourselves in situations where our virtue is wanting in courage or strength and we need extraordinary help to get us out of our difficulties.

The second reason arises from the fact that God who is master of His graces will gaze with beneficence on someone and decide to help him make progress towards a higher degree of holiness. In such a case, He does not hold back the movement of the Holy Spirit and this allows the person to advance at a very different rate than were he relying on the ordinary virtues alone. It is the opinion of several Doctors very well-versed in spiritual direction that the norm for ordinary men is to be ruled by the virtues and by the interior principle of reason with the benefit of prevenient grace. The norm, however, for Saints and those signally devoted to the service of God is to be led by the gifts of the Holy Spirit who, with the help of these gifts, enables them in very little time to perform wonders of virtue.

Concerning this, we should also note that in our souls reason has certain intellectual faculties which help to put us on the path to goodness, these being the virtues. In the same way, it is reasonable that the Holy Spirit should have His own equivalent to these, namely those dispositions that are interior, permanent and habitual, serving as a point of entry for Him so that He is able to move us in an extraordinary manner. These dispositions are none other than the gifts of the same Holy Spirit whose actual motions are in this context called Spirits by the Prophet Isaiah[1], inasmuch as they are like winds that fill our sails and like instruments used by the Holy Spirit to help us in the works we perform through His inspiration. These gifts are seven in number, namely: the gift of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord. The Holy Spirit has to use them to fill our whole soul with all His powers, in the same way as He did when He filled the whole house where the Apostles were sitting. This means that there is no faculty within us not provided with the disposition necessary to receive these movements.

Footnotes

[1] Isai. xi. 2-3.

 2    Let us move on from habits to the actions that proceed from them[1], since they are not all cast from the same mould and they do not all have the same value or the same name. If they are ordinary and common as is the case with most who are at the beginning of their progress, being in the midst of sinful inclinations or wanting in fervour, we can give them the general name acts of virtue. There are others who progress beyond this showing joy and contentment ; we see this in those who, having vanquished their vices and bad habits, walk on the path of virtue just as if they were crossing a beautiful meadow. We can call these fruits of the Holy Spirit forasmuch as they attained their maturity and sweetness. They bring the contentment and satisfaction we expect from a tree that we planted and cultivated with care that finally bears fruit pleasing to the eye and to the taste. Note that we do not call them simply fruits but we say they are fruits of the Holy Spirit. This is because He, like a fount of love and sweetness, pours into our souls the joy and satisfaction that is found in performing good works. This helps us to lose our taste for the delights of sensual pleasures and to make us understand through experience that we have a heart capable of savouring sweetness and pleasure in things different from those we have in common with beasts.

Now, although strictly speaking there are as many fruits of the Holy Spirit as there are good works performed with joy and satisfaction, St Paul the Apostle mentions twelve of them[2]: charity, joy, peace, patience, longanimity, goodness, benignity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity; We can suppose these were represented by the fruits on the tree of life[3], each ripening in divers times according to the twelve months of the year. The reason for this is that all the other fruits can be linked to these, or these ones seem sufficient to maintain man in a state of repose, tranquillity and joy, whether He looks towards God, to himself or whether he turns to what is around or beneath him. For when there is something from God and from himself together, charity fixes it and keeps it attached to the sovereign good, whence flow necessarily joy, the second fruit of the Holy Spirit, and peace, which is the third, coming to the help of joy to establish and stabilize it. Patience enables him to withstand calmly and in a recollected way the trials and tribulations of life. Longanimity takes away the languor experienced when people are frustrated in obtaining what they seek. These five fruits help to fortify a person’s sense of tranquillity, confident that it cannot be troubled or altered. 

Concerning all around him, meaning his neighbours, the next four gifts cause the soul to open up and to blossom. Goodness takes over the heart and leads it to wish nothing but good things for others and the removal of all sadness and bitterness. Benignity leads him to as generous as he can. Faith or fidelity is ever-present in his speech, giving him an innocence and candour in all his dealings with others. 

As for those powers which, as God once said to Cain[4], shall be under him, they will all be contained and controlled by the last three fruits. Modesty impedes all indecency in exterior movements; continency halts interior movements in their beginnings; chastity rejoices in the peace and sweet purity that continence or the particular grace of God have produced. 

Through all this it may be seen that the Holy Spirit, by means of these twelve fruits, floods the soul with a peaceful serenity, driving away all the dank shades of fog and cloud that would fill it with their darkness.

Footnotes

[1] S. Th., I-II, q. 59 et 60.

[2] Galat. v. 22-23.

[3] Apoc. xxii. 2.

[4] the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it. Gen. iv. 7.

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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

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 10 : § 2.4-6

Chapter 10 : The Ninth Star or Splendour of 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 is the Queen of virtues

§ 2. It was reasonable for the MOTHER OF GOD to be also the Mother of Virtues

 4   This is the only reason that made St Bonaventure say[1]:

She is with good reason called Mary, that is to say Enlightener, since she enlightens the whole world through the shining example of her incomparable virtue.

This idea prompted a beautiful and noble thought in the mind of the Blesse Saint Hildegard, who said that:

 

the Virgin was the precious gemstone from which the divine Word drew forth all the virtues – just as at the beginning of the world He had drawn all creatures out of chaos.

It is for this reason that St Gregory Thaumaturgus decided to call her[2] the perfect example for pious souls. In short, it is the reason that impelled the pious Idiota to call her[3] the Idea and the model for the moral life, that is, for the life of virtue. The Idea is in fact the image or portrait on which we fix our thoughts when we want to do something in a considered or creative way. Do you want to know what Mary is? In truth, Mary is a Virgin full of humility and modesty, inspirational through her acts of love and her other virtues. She is not just that but she is the actual Idea and model for these very virtues and for all the others that I have not mentioned. If the idea we have, or more accurately that God has of perfect humility could take on a body and interact with us, try to picture how she would look at others and speak to them; how she would walk, what she would be like in her manner, her bearing and her actions; what opinion she would have of herself, and what honour she would show towards those with whom she had dealings, and so on. Let us try to do the same with regard to charity and then in a similar way with obedience, purity, piety, modesty and all the other maidens from Heaven.  Spend a moment now giving thoughtful consideration to all their associated actions and behaviour. You will have to acknowledge that the Holy Virgin, being the Idea of all the virtues, did not conduct herself in any way differently when she was here on earth than the Virtues would have done were they to have taken on the form of virgins.

Footnotes

[1] Speculi B. Virg., c. 3.

[2] Orat. 2 in Annuntiat.

[3] Contempl. de B. Virg., c. 1.

 5    How wonderful it would be to look upon this holy family of virtues under the guidance of their mother charity and to see them so arrayed in our midst! But what is the point of wishing for that when we already have a model who is all the more perfect for being the MOTHER OF GOD herself in person? Those noble habits we have mentioned, all of them being virtues, would be unable to do anything more than she has done to set before us an admirable representation of virtue. I will refer now to St Ambrose[1] who does not want us to have any other idea than this.  For us to aspire to

the most perfect virtues, he is happy for us to have the example of the Holy Virgin before us:

Focus your thoughts on this, he says, and make use of the image we have of the virginity of the MOTHER OF GOD and her life, for it is a complete picture of every virtue and it will repay study throughout your whole life. Therein you will find doughty features of exceptional holiness; you will learn what you need to correct or to shun and what you must embrace. Now, having a good teacher is a great help to those seeking the courage to learn and improve; but you could not wish for a more noble or perfect teacher than the MOTHER OF GOD. Those are the words of this great Archbishop and Saint.

Footnotes

[1] Lib. II de Virginibus.

 6    To all this I would add only three things, but they are extremely important. The first is that when God chose the Holy Virgin to be mother of His Son, He was obliged to raise her in holiness to such a degree that the incomparable virtues discernible in Our Lord might be attributed to the education He received from His Mother – at least during that private time in His life, before He was recognized as Son of God. This seems altogether reasonable to me seeing that the Saviour received no formal training and therefore the honour of inculcating His exceptional virtues must go to His most holy Mother and to the glorious Saint Joseph.

 

Secondly, although the examples in the life of our Redeemer far surpass those of his Mother, we can nevertheless truthfully say that Our Lady had one advantage over her Son in that she was first to raise the standard of the evangelical virtues, which were not then known. Her Son later put the finishing touches to them, giving them a new form and making them altogether divine by reason of the person from which they took their origin.

Thirdly, we may note that the virtues of the Saviour were of divine origin and were manifested in exceptional circumstances. This being so, we cannot deny that as such they had a more visible and striking impact than those of the Virgin.  We can however note, whilst observing what is due in honour and respect, that Mary’s virtues had a certain sweetness and were better adapted to our nature and abilities than the examples of her Son. If this seems somewhat audacious, I should say that I am following what the Blessed Saint Anselm said :

Mary provided us with models of virtue which were in a certain fashion more gentle and more on a human level than those of her Son.

For even though there is a great difference between the amount of light from the Sun and that from the moon, we find the latter is in a certain way more pleasing since it is easier on the eye than the former. In the same way, we perceive the virtues of the Lord as being less accessible to us because of their refulgent splendour and the close link they have to their divine origin. It is easier for us to pluck up the courage to approach the virtues of Our Lady because we find she is just like one of us. We can therefore become more familiar with her virtues because they seem more achievable and more on our scale. This takes nothing away from the honour we owe to the King of virtues because ultimately everything comes back to Him as the source of all virtues. In fact, far from losing anything by making a Mother so great, He actually receives in return all her gratitude along with our own and the love of them both for as long she shall bear the title MOTHER OF GOD, Mother of virtues and Mother of the King of virtues.

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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

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 10 : § 2.1-3

Chapter 10 : The Ninth Star or Splendour of 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 is the Queen of virtues

§ 2. It was reasonable for the MOTHER OF GOD to be also the Mother of Virtues

 1   Of several reasons that I could bring forward, I will choose only two and I shall present them without detailed comment. I take them from two offices of the Blessed Virgin which are so sublime that it would be impossible for her to be worthy of their words unless she were outstanding in all the virtues. The first is her title MOTHER OF GOD, which is the final end as well as being the starting point for all her great dignities and qualities. St Justin Martyr says of this[1]: 

It would be contrary to reason for God to choose for His Son a mother whose virtues were merely common and ordinary; the woman he chose would have to excel in these above all others.

In truth, was it not entirely fitting that the nuptial couch of the heavenly Spouse should be strewn with all the flowers from the garden of virtues and scented with the sweetest fragrances from Paradise? This is the tender thought of the pious Cardinal Peter Damian which appears in a Sermon on the Assumption, when he commented on the following words from chapter three of the Canticles : Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer? Here is what he says:

Astonished by this wonder never before seen, the Angels remark firstly that she goeth up by the desert, which is nothing other than the whole extent of the world, where men frequently live like beasts and where their Prince, who is the Devil, exercises his power over them. This world is truly like a desert for the virtues, forced to withdraw into Heaven by reason of the bad treatment they receive on earth. In the second place, they are astonished to see her progress upwards, whereas the others fall and nearly all of them drift downwards. Only the Mother of God rises from virtue to virtue until she attains plenitude. The main wonder, however, is to see how she rises, for she goeth up... as a pillar of smoke,  straight, fine and aromatical : straight upwards, through her elevating conversation; fine through her refined contemplation, and aromatical from the pleasing fragrance of her exceptional virtues, by means of which she draws the whole world after her. The Angels go further, saying this smoke has the aroma of myrrh and frankincense, that is to say, piety and chastity. These are the two virtues which thoroughly penetrated and filled her within and without, for her body was entirely given over to chastity and her soul was preserved by piety; both of them made her a worthy MOTHER OF GOD. Lest it might be supposed she did not have any other virtues, the Angels add immediately that the smoke was of aromatical spices...and of all the powders of the perfumer, inasmuch as there was not a single virtue that she did not possess in the highest degree. They say, moreover, that these spices have been pulverized so that they give off a more pleasing fragrance. In the case of the Holy Virgin, her virtues are not soft and delicate, never having been put to the test; on the contrary, they are strong, having been tried and tested by much tribulation. If you want to know when exactly her holy soul was scented with every kind of beautiful fragrance, they will say it was when the virtues came together,  preparing her and adorning her with perfumes so that she might be the nuptial couch of the divine Spouse.

Footnotes

[1] Lib. Quæstionum, responsione ad quæst. 136.

 2   If only there were someone capable of describing the sweet fragrance spread by these noble maidens when they came down together from Heaven into Mary’s blessed soul, so that with their perfumed garments and their jars of scent they might prepare the mysterious couch for the King of Glory! For in order to draw Him down to earth from Heaven, earth needed to be transformed into Heaven by means of aromas such as these. Who is there capable of describing the musk and ambergris that the Prince of Heaven brought with Him when He came down in person to take up His abode in the glorious Virgin! Just as there is nothing in the universe that can equal Him, neither is there anything that comes near to these divine odours. This causes me to think that if before this time the virtues of the Virgin were all heroic, from now on they were nothing less than celestial; if formerly they caused Heaven and earth to rejoice, now they send them into rapture; if in the years preceding this happy moment they were angelic by virtue of Mary’s everyday colloquies with the Angels, after the covenant she entered with God they became altogether divine. Now, if we do not wish to be lacking in the respect we owe her, we must be mindful of the following : just as someone who has for a long time been handling musk retains the odour thereof, and just as iron placed in a fire emerges red hot, so it is with Mary. She was united in an extraordinary way with the divinity for so long as she bore in her womb the Saviour of the world, and afterwards her actions were mysteriously redolent of the divine. Similarly, she emerged from this furnace of love with her heart on fire. 

 3   It must be said, however, that this is not the only reason for calling her the Queen of virtues. For being a model of these very virtues goes hand in hand with her status as MOTHER OF GOD. St Ambrose refers to Wisdom incarnate the words in the eighth chapter of Proverbs which I mentioned earlier (The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways), saying :

The word ways here refers to the virtues, and he adds[1] that the Saviour was with very good reason called the beginning of the ways of God, inasmuch as the prerogative of the great virtues was reserved for Him. 

It is on the Church’s own authority and with the support of several learned Doctors that we earlier applied[2] the same passage to the MOTHER OF GOD. Now, her most honoured Son caused her to share in an undivided manner the right of primogeniture He enjoyed over and before all creatures. Accordingly, it follows that she was entitled to the same prerogative with regard to these excellent virtues, but always in the due proportion that must be maintained between the one and the other. This prerogative does not only entail a higher degree of virtue but mastery, serving as a model for others. If this were not so, perhaps someone can explain what St Bernard meant when he addressed the following words to Mary[3]?

May the Lord preserve thee, inventress of the virtues and knowledge of the sacred sciences. These titles I give thee, he adds, for just as the Sun outshineth all other luminaries in the firmament of heaven through the prerogative of His brightness, so too dost thou surpass all creatures, after thy Son, through the splendour of thy knowledge and thy virtue.

The same Saint expresses this in another way when he shows that Mary received directly from God her knowledge and practice of the virtues to a higher degree than others. Here is how he addresses her in the third Homily he wrote on the Angel Gabriel’s message : 

O Virgin most prudent and pious, who taught thee that virginity was pleasing to God? Where in the law, in a requirement of justice or in the Old Testament didst thou find commandments or counsel obliging thee to live in the flesh spiritually and to lead the life of an angel on earth? Where didst thou read that Virgins will sing a new canticle, and where didst thou learn it was a sign of courage replete with honour and merit to deny oneself for the kingdom of heaven! For this thou hadst no commandment, nor counsel nor example; it was only an interior unction that inspired these and many other things in thee, forasmuch as the Word of God had been thy Teacher before He was thy Son and He had filled thy mind with His knowledge before vesting Himself in thy flesh.

Could anyone speak more clearly in favour of this paragon of virtues? Now, although St Bernard is speaking only of virginity, reason would require us to say the same about her other outstanding virtues, especially about those which are beyond the ancient law, such as exceptional humility, her voluntary poverty, her unceasing prayer and many, many others we discussed earlier[4].

Footnotes

[1] Lib. I de Fide, c. 7.

[2] Cap. 2. § 3. 2.

[3] Serm. in Salve.

[4] Cap. 3 in figuris B. Virg.

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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

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 10 : § 1.3-6

Chapter 10 : The Ninth Star or Splendour of 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 is the Queen of virtues

We have spoken of grace and there is no better time to discuss the virtues of the Holy Virgin than now for virtues are, as it were, the daughters of grace. I have no intention of going too deeply into this subject or of discussing in detail each of her extraordinary virtues. It would in fact require an entire book to satisfy readers, not just by writing of what there is, nor of what can be said but passing beyond these. For the time being, I am happy to say a few general words about the excellence of her virtues. Those looking for greater detail will find them touched on in various discussions and, specifically, in the last Treatise where there is a Chapter on Imitation.

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD has in truth been the Queen of Virtues

 3   Enough of enigmas, let us say plainly and simply that the holy soul of the glorious Virgin had every virtue that she was capable of having. By this, I mean she had the theological virtues, the moral virtues, and the acquired and infused virtues – whether those which are such by nature or simply by accident. In short, she was not wanting in anything that might ennoble a heart that was altogether heavenly. I do not intend to present proof, since the only ones who doubt it are the impious, and I have no wish to debate with them.

 

I will say, moreover, that:

    • she possessed these virtues in the highest and most excellent degree possible for a simple creature;

    • her acts resulting therefrom were the noblest fruit of virtue ever seen, after those of her Son;

    • they were accompanied by everything necessary to make them perfectly pleasing to God; and

    • they were conceived through the co-operation of motives which were the most sublime and worthy of God ever to emerge from a created being.

 4   If called upon here to provide proof, I would firstly make use of the apposite words of St Gregory of Nyssa which, although spoken in a different context, address this point just as I should wish:

Just as we see that a fire burns with a clearer and cleaner flame when it takes hold of wood that is suitably dry, so that it rises straight upwards in the centre; so too we see that the Holy Spirit, having found a beautiful soul and a generous heart like Mary’s, more sublime than all the hearts in the world, works miracles of virtue therein and raises this heart in a mysterious manner to the very heights of perfection. 

I would point to the heights her grace ascended, as shown above, and I would describe the harmonious accord of this grace with charity, serving her royal soul as an interior principle from which heroic actions and divine virtues sprang up continually. I would repeat what has been said concerning the most particular protection received from God, and of the repeated knockings at the door of this holy Temple with the call to perform acts of holiness worthy of His Majesty dwelling therein. I would say to you that everything in her was holy and, unaffected by any of those impediments to virtue which the rest of us experience to our great disadvantage, she made incredibly quick progress in the acquisition of virtue, becoming swifter and stronger as a result of her previous actions. I would show how all the habits of virtue and holiness infused in her soul from the beginning, having all been excellent and continually increased by their own effects, were incapable of producing actions which were common and base but were directly engaged in performing works worthy of their pedigree. 

It seems to me that these and other considerations would be capable of persuading anyone of the incomparable value of the virtues of the MOTHER OF GOD. I am however, content to continue now with what has been said by a number of authoritative and worthy Doctors.

 5   The first of these is the humble Idiota[1], who writes as follows[2]:

Most glorious Virgin, thou art all fair and there is no stain in thee; thou art all fair through the perfect beauty of thy graces and virtues; thou art all fair in thine own Conception, since thou wast made just to be the temple of the Most high; thou art all fair in the Conception of the divine Word, the splendour of the glory of the Father. In thee may be found as much beauty as virtue and, furthermore, after thy most blessed Son thou hast been granted these with more perfection than any other creature. There never was anyone like unto thee and there never will be any who come close to thee. All the virtues, both those belonging to the contemplative life and those proper to the active life, are present together in thee so as to make of thee a cause of wonder and astonishment to all creatures. Those virtues serving the active life have purified thy will and the others have enlightened thine understanding with a light to which we may not aspire.

 

Thou art not lacking the purity of the Angels, nor the patience of the Martyrs, nor the abstinence of the Confessors, nor the innocence and humility of the Virgins; in short, thou hast gained the glory of all the virtues, O most glorious Virgin; what is still more, thou hast not possessed them in a mediocre way but in thee they attain their plenitude and their perfection. Above and beyond all this, so that thou mayest be brought to completion, there have been added all the natural qualities, all the spiritual graces and all the heavenly gifts that can raise a soul to the highest point of honour before God. The difference between thy contemplations and ecstasies, on the one hand, and the thoughts of other people may be likened to the difference between the delight of one who drinks a delicious wine that he sought out and the reaction of someone who has only the scent of its bouquet.

 

Footnotes

[1] A nom de plume, possibly used by Raymundus Jordanus (10th cent.)

[2] Contempl. de B. Virg., c. 2.

 6   St Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, follows Albertus Magnus on this point and remarks perceptively that

there never were virtues like unto those of the MOTHER OF GOD for, being between those of the Blessed and those still on their journey here below, they had all the perfections of both. Like the denizens of Heaven, they no longer feared opposition or change; and like those of the people in the Church militant they were still able to merit favours and rewards.

Eutychianus, Patriarch of Constantinople, lived at  the beginning of the sixth century. He composed a Prayer on the remarkable repentance of the Theophilus (of whom I shall speak later[1]). If you count his words, he said less but if you weigh them carefully, I am sure you will find the balance tips in his favour:

The MOTHER OF GOD, being altogether holy and most venerable, merits every honour and praise. For she alone is chaste, she alone is pure, she alone is free from any stain of body and soul, she alone trusts with hope in the Lord, and she alone has all the other virtues.

St John Damascene[2] says the same after him, and St Gregory of Neocaesarea[3] a long time before them both. It seems to me these great men could go no further and the human mind could not raise the merit of the Holy Virgin’s virtues any higher than to repeat what the Sacred Scriptures say of God : that He alone is good, He alone just, He alone immortal and so on with regard to His other attributes. On this subject, I invite you to be patient and wait for the second Treatise[4] where I aim to show, God willing, how and why we can attribute to the Virgin Mother that which belongs to God alone.

Footnotes

[1] Tract. II, c. 9, § 8.

[2] Orat. 2 de Nativit. Virg.

[3] Orat. 1 de Annuntiat.

[4] Cap. 5, § 6.

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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

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 10 : § 1.1-2

Chapter 10 : The Ninth Star or Splendour of 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 is the Queen of virtues

We have spoken of grace and there is no better time to discuss the virtues of the Holy Virgin than now for virtues are, as it were, the daughters of grace. I have no intention of going too deeply into this subject or of discussing in detail each of her extraordinary virtues. It would in fact require an entire book to satisfy readers, not just by writing of what there is, nor of what can be said but passing beyond these. For the time being, I am happy to say a few general words about the excellence of her virtues. Those looking for greater detail will find them touched on in various discussions and, specifically, in the last Treatise where there is a Chapter on Imitation.

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD has in truth been the Queen of Virtues

 1   The Abbot Theodore, whom the ancients called the Studite because he was head of the Stoudios  Monastery, lived at the beginning of the ninth century during the time of the iconoclast Emperors, by whom he was badly treated. He was, in my judgement, wonderfully inspired when he said that:

Anyone considering the barrenness of St Anne to have been a curse would be in serious error, granted that it was in fact the sign of an exceptional mystery. 

Before this, St Peter Chrysologus had put forward the same idea using his customary eloquence. Here is what he said[1]: 

This sterility was not a curse but was in fact mystical, since the fruit she was to bear was only delayed and this means that the sacred womb of St Ann was closed only for a time. Reason itself required that things would be arranged well in advance for all the virtues to be introduced and for them to have enough years to grow to maturity. This mother would have to equal, or rather surpass, the most fruitful of women since she was to have an altogether unique daughter, in whom and with whom were born all the virtues together.

This sterility was accordingly a thousand times felicitous since it was preparing for the world a fruit such as Mary, the glorious Virgin, destined by God from all eternity to be the Queen of the Virtues  and, in the words of St John Damascene[2], the treasure-house of all holiness.

Footnotes

[1] Homil. 4 in Missus. 

[2] Gen. xxii.

 2   The Doctors make use of various images to illustrate this. The holy Pope Innocent III[1], following the lead of the Spouse in the Canticles, likens Mary to an army set in battle array and terrible in aspect to all the enemies of God. The General of this army is none other than God Himself, with charity as Second-in-command; faith and hope lead the cavalry, formed of infused habits. The moral virtues make up the infantry under the leadership of prudence and the gifts of the Holy Spirit form the reserve. St Epiphanius[2], Hesychius[3], St Jerome[4], Abbot Rupert[5], Honorius[6], Alanus[7] (known as the Universal Doctor in his day), the learned William (the Little) and many more authors were inspired by the same Spouse in the Canticles[8] to compare Mary to a beautiful and luxurious garden. Sophronius may speak for them all[9]: 

All that could be found in her was purity, simplicity, grace, truth, mercy and justice. We would be fully justified in calling her a garden of delight wherein may be found all sorts of beautiful flowers and all the most pleasing plants of the virtues. A garden which is enclosed in such a way that it cannot be entered in attacks with scaling ladders nor s taken by surprise in stealthy attacks by enemies.

Venantius Fortunatus was the noble Bishop of Poitiers and also a most excellent Poet who lived in the sixth century. He wrote of Mary in the following verses[10]:

Thine honoured name all ages will declare;

Our voices too will gratefully confess

Their wonder at His work who did thee bless

With greatness, making thee beyond compare.

Thou art a precious treasure-store so rare,

A peerless beauty bathed in grace divine

Whose dazzling virtue truly doth outshine

All other souls – the fayrest of the fayre.

Of comely flow’rs thou art the flow’r most sweet,

More lily white, more red than reddest rose;

Thine earth-born shoot for Heaven blooms and grows,

Thus Heav’n and earth with thy scent are replete.

It now falls to the heavenly Spouse who opened this discussion to guide us around the plots and flowerbeds of the garden, pointing out the exquisite flowers of all the virtues that He Himself planted in these places specially set aside. 

How pleasing it would be to see here the red and white roses symbolizing the fruitfulness and the virginity of the Holy Virgin! How satisfying to look upon the carnation of her charity, the peony of her constancy, the violet of her meekness, the lily of her innocence, the sunflower of her prayer, the tulip of her resignation! Then, continuing with the words of the divine Gardener[11]: the cypress of her purity, the spikenard of her love, the saffron of her heavenly wisdom, the sweet cane of her humility, the cinnamon of her contemplative spirit, the myrrh of her mortification, and the aloe of her life’s integrity and her good example – for this is how the learned Alcuin sums up everything : in short, all the angelic flowers and virtues growing in every season in this exquisite spot, thanks to the beneficence pouring down from Heaven.

 

Footnotes

[1] Serm. 2 de Assumpt.

[2] Serm. de Laudib. Virg.

[3] Orat. 2 de Deipara.

[4] Lib. II contra Jovin.

[5] Lib. IV in Cant.

[6] In locum citat. Cant.

[7] In locum citat. Cant.

[8] Cap. 4.

[9] Serm. de Assumpt.

[10] Lib. I de Part. Virg.

[11] Cant. 4.

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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

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 9 : § 5.1-2

Chapter 9 : The Eighth 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)

She is singularly blessed

§ 5. On the source of all these blessings

 1   St Bernard discovers[1] this source and points it out to us when he explains the welcome St Elizabeth gave to her cousin, the MOTHER OF GOD, with her prophetic words : Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 

Thou art truly blessed among women, says this holy Doctor, and the fruit of thy womb is blessed among all of creation. But the fruit of thy womb is not blessed as a result of thy blessings but because He Himself is uniquely blessed and thou truly hast the better part proportionately in His favours and blessings, more than all other persons.

There we have the true source, and it would be foolish to seek any other; for this is not only the origin of Mary’s blessings but also the basis of all the blessings in the world. It is the divine spring which was shown of old to the Patriarch Abraham when the Lord swore He would multiply his seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore; and that in his seed would all the nations of the earth be blessed[2].  It is the heavenly source of living water that the great ancestor of the Messiah saw when he sang in his Psalm[3]: And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him.  

The menorah or candlestick in Zach. iv., reconstructed
in the Bible Fillion (1888-1895).

It is the mysterious source that the Prophet Zacharias[4] saw in the  great candlestick all of gold, from which arose seven funnels or branches each bearing a light. The light in the centre was higher and more powerful than the others and it was seated on a reservoir or cup of gold, as though having its own spring. From this came a great abundance of oil which supplied the necessary fuel to the seven lights mentioned above.  According to the interpretation of St Jerome[5] and, as he declares, some of the most learned and best informed Doctors both Hebrew and Christian, this light was none other than the Saviour of the world. Of his fulness we all have received, according to the words of the beloved Disciple[6] and in Him, according to St Paul[7], we have all been blessed with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ. This is Jesus, the worthy fruit of Mary’s womb; Mary, whom He filled more than all others until she was overflowing with the choicest blessings that He brought down from Heaven.

Footnotes

[1] Homil. 4 in Missus. 

[2] Gen. xxii.

[3] Ps. LXXI. 17.

[4] Zach. iv.

[5] In cap. cit. Zachariæ.

[4] John. i. 16.

[5] Eph. i. 3.

 2   Let us end with the words of St Bonaventure, offered in honour of the Blessed Mother and the Blessed fruit of her womb[1]:

Blessed be Jesus, fruit not only of Mary’s womb but also of her spirit and her assent, fruit of wondrous nobility as having come forth from the Royal house of David; more noble still for being delivered from the sacred womb of Mary; most noble for coming from the adorable bosom of the Eternal Father; fruit which is delicious in the beauty of the faith, more delicious still in the scent of hope, and most delicious in the fervour of charity; fruit which is useful for the salvation of the world, more useful still for the numerous children of salvation it has produced, and most useful for the preservation of these precious pledges of eternal life; fruit which is abundant enough for all to be nourished therefrom, more abundant still in fully satisfying their hunger, most abundant in that it is inexhaustible; fruit of humility which vanquishes pride, fruit of charity that fights off envy, fruit of meekness that stifles anger, fruit of diligence that drives away laziness, fruit of generosity that casts out avarice, fruit of temperance that subdues greed, fruit of continence that drives out lust, fruit of life that wipes away old sins and expiates new sins, that heals the wound of original sin, that nourishes the soul, that placates the anger of the Judge, that delivers souls from punishments prepared for them, that fosters contempt for temporal things and desire for those which are eternal, that helps in the attainment of a spiritual life, that increases the ranks in the Church militant, that repairs the damage suffered by those in the Church triumphant, and that leads to partaking in eternal glory.

Blessed be forever the tree which hath borne fruit of such goodness, blessed be the fruit that hath been gathered from a tree of such goodness. Blessed be Jesus, fruit of life and blessed be Mary, tree of life, for as long as we shall say with her who is His Spouse[2]: I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his fruit was sweet to my palate.

Footnotes

[1] Speculi B. Virg., c. 14, 15, 16.

[2] Cant. ii. 3.

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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

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 9 : § 4.1-3

Chapter 9 : The Eighth 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)

She is singularly blessed

§ 4. Mary is uniquely blessed among all creatures

 1   King David the Prophet expresses this point well[1] when he describes how God opens His hand and it is like a fountain of blessings pouring every grace and favour on His creatures. In fact I derive more consolation at the sight of Him in His creatures, following St Hilary (Bishop of Poitiers)[2], St Paschasius (Cardinal Deacon of the Roman Church), St Gregory the Great, St Theophilus (Patriarch of Antioch) and several other ancient Fathers.

There is no place, says the first of these, where God is not and which is not in God. He is in Heaven, He is in the lower world, He is beyond the seas; He is inside, He is outside in such a way that nothing can comprehend Him  and He comprehends everything.

The ineffable greatness of God, says the second[3], penetrates, fills and exceeds the depths of the underworld, the wide expanse of the sea and whole extent of the earth.

Being omnipotent as He is, says the third[4], He thinks in such a way about the general that nothing escapes Him of the particular. He is so attentive to the needs of each and everyone that He provides sufficiently for all. He surrounds the outside in such a way that He does not fail to fill the inside. He rules in such a way over the highest things that His care reaches down to the smallest. He is by nature retiring but He becomes known through His works. The effects he produces reveal Him in such a way that those who see Him want to understand Him. He allows Himself to be seen through His creatures but as through a glass in a dark manner, restricting His light so that He appears only as in flashes of lightning. He raises created understanding so that it draws closer to Him and then He causes it to draw back in fear and trembling, so that it is content to see as best it can what it cannot yet contemplate face to face.

The last writer compares God and the world of men to a pomegranate which contains and preserves a multitude of ruby-like seeds wondrously arranged – even though these little grains are not aware of the surrounding skin that protects them like a wall. St Augustine develops this idea to reveal the greatness of God and the great good He does for His creatures by keeping them in Himself and by their being kept within Him – granted that their whole happiness consists in His keeping them near Himself and in never being far from them. It is in this way that He keeps them safe, that He works with them and in them, that He perfects them and blesses them. It was by this sign that the Patriarch Jacob[5] recognized God when he awoke from the mysterious sleep that had overcome him. From the wondrous effects of divine providence that he had noticed, he judged that God’s Majesty had been present in the place where he had slept.

Footnotes

[1] Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature. Ps. CXLIV. 16.

[2] Lib. I de Trinitat.

[3] Lib. I de Spiritus Sancto, c. 12.

[4] Lib. XVI Moral., c. 5. 

[5] Gen. xxviii..

 2   Now, in order to speak of this more clearly and also to show how far the blessings of the Holy Virgin exceed those of all other creatures, we must first of all remark with St Thomas[1] that there are three ways in which God is in and with His creatures, namely:

    • through His essence which is no less infinite with regard to place than it is to time, as St Fulgentius notes, and it therefore must of necessity be everywhere;

    • through His presence, meaning through the most perfect knowledge He has of all that happens within His State;

    • through His operation, supporting them and leading them to their perfection, in a way the Master sent down from Heaven described when he said[2]: My Father worketh until now; and I work...Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doth, these the Son also doth in like manner. 

The same is to be said of the Holy Ghost, following the rule of Theology teaching that the actions God performs ad extra are performed individually by the three persons of the most holy Trinity.

In the second place, it must be noted that there are three particular ways in which God is found in His rational creature. The first is a special protection with which His Majesty honours the creature as a result of the excellence of its nature and, much more, of its virtue. Thus He said to the Prophet Isaiah[3] His faithful servant : Fear not, for I am with thee. St Augustine[4] and other Fathers speak wonders of this protection to arouse the confidence of the friends of God. The second of these ways is grace, a grace which Solomon prayed for under the name of wisdom when he said[5]: Send, O Lord, wisdom out of thy holy heaven, and from the throne of thy majesty, that she may be with me, and may labour with me. The third way is the extraordinary closeness that He has with His dearest friends. The beneficial effects of this close friendship can be described only by those who have experience of it. The Prophet Baruch speaks of this other ineffable way when he says that He was seen upon earth, and conversed with men[6].  I shall not speak further of this for the time being.

Footnotes

[1] I p., q. 8, art. 9.

[2] John. v. 17 & 19.

[3] Isai. xli.10.

[4] Medit., c. 38.

[5]Wisdonm. ix 

[6] Baruch iii. 38.

 3   When considering the various degrees of presence, close friendship and communication of God with His creatures, upon which they depend for all the blessings they receive and the happiness they enjoy, the pious St Bonaventure places over all of these the glorious Virgin, to whom He speaks as follows[1]:

The Lord is with thee, O Holy Lady : the Lord most powerful is with thee most powerfully, and He hath given all power to thee, being with Him and close to Him. The Lord most wise is with thee most wisely, with thee in whom are found all the treasures of His knowledge and His wisdom which a simple creature is capable of receiving. The Lord in all His richness is most richly with thee, who art the recipient of all the richness of His kindness and His generosity. The Lord most immutable is with thee most immutably, who art the throne of His glory and the triumphal chariot of His Majesty. The Lord most gracious is with thee most graciously, and from thee we graciously receive the sweet and tender Mercies of God. The Lord most just is with thee most justly, and through thee He crushes the head of all His enemies and thine. The Lord most faithful is with thee most faithfully, for with thee He hath made a most firm covenant for the well-being and security of His creatures. The Lord most glorious is with thee most gloriously, and on thee do shine the most brilliant rays of His glory and His greatness. The Lord is with thee, that is, the Father, whose most noble daughter thou art; the Son, whose most wondrous Mother thou art; the Holy Ghost, whose most beloved Spouse thou art; and the entire Trinity most holy, whose most humble handmaid thou art. The Lord is with thee as the Sun with the morning rising, as the flower with its stem, and as the King with His Royal Bride. 

The Lord is with thee, saith the Archangel Gabriel as recorded by the pen of the great St Augustine but in a way more beautiful than I could write. For the Lord is in thy heart and at the same time He is in thy womb; He possesses thy sweet, angelic spirit no less than He fills thy sacred womb.

In this way the blessed Virgin is raised above all that has been created; in this way she surpasses all the ranks in the Church militant and all the Hierarchies in the Church triumphant, going forward to receive immediately from God a unique blessing, with the privilege of being unique in all the blessings she receives. Let us pray we may have the satisfaction of approaching the source of these blessings, there to offer our adoration to the most blessed Jesus, the one true source of all the blessings in the world.

Footnotes

[1] Speculi B. Virg., c. 8, 9, 10, 11.

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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