Chapter 11 : The Tenth 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).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020) |
§ 3. The admirable privileges of her sacred body
The second privilege
3 The Holy Apostles and those following the cortège finally arrived in the valley of Gethsemani where the Saviour’s sweat had become as drops of blood. There a sepulchre had been prepared for the Holy Virgin and they placed their sweet burden on a stand specially prepared for the purpose. Once this had been done, there was no-one, from the highest to the least, who did not want to plant a last kiss and shed a final tear on the body. This last encounter caused the weeping to break out again and the sobbing grew louder as the realization dawned they would not see her again whom they had loved so dearly. They would all have been happy to stay there for the rest of their lives but finally the time came to withdraw and to place the body in the sepulchre. Once this had been done, they retraced their steps towards Jerusalem unable to speak of anything except their praises for the Holy Virgin, their memories of the extraordinary example she had left them and the unparalleled favours God had given her and, through her, to the whole world. Perhaps they shared the sentiments of what Andrew of Crete wrote in the first funeral Oration that he left for the blessed Virgin:
What a wonder it is for us to behold her laid within this little coffin who once bore in her womb the God of the universe who could not be contained by any other place in that universe! What a wonder it is that she, who cradled in her arms the very Lord who takes His repose over the Cherubim, is now herself cradled in the coffin’s narrow embrace! What a wonder it is that the Holy Angels should have come down in such numbers to honour the passing on of this Holy Lady, just as once they honoured the incarnation within her of the King of heaven and earth!
4 While they continue with their heartfelt lamentations and take their leave quite overcome with sorrow, let us now move forward and prostrate ourselves in heart and mind before this holy sepulchre. We shall not have to wait long before witnessing miracles being worked by God, revealing the second privilege granted to Mary’s sacred body. St John Damascene[1], along with the above-mentioned Fathers, attest to what may be found in venerable tradition:
As soon as the news of the blessed Virgin’s death started to spread through the city of Jerusalem, countless people made their way to the sepulchre. The devotion that had brought them there was rewarded by the Saviour with the way His venerable Mother helped each one with her favours. With just one touch of her sacred tomb, as before of her body, sight was restored to the blind, the lame were able to walk, the deaf to hear, and those suffering from any manner of sickness were healed in the body; and sinners immediately felt moved to repentance for their faults and were totally cleansed of their sins. In short, no-one came away from there without a favour received through the intercession of her whom God wished to honour in her body.
The same St John Damascene gives examples but we do not have the time to reproduce them here.
Footnotes
[1] Orat. 2 cit.
The third privilege
5 The third privilege is the incorruption[1] or incorruptibility of this holy body, worthy Tabernacle of God and true Ark of the Covenant crafted from incorruptible wood. I mean that her body was incorruptible only by grace and privilege, because by nature it was a body like ours and subject to the same limitations.
Besides, says St John Damascene[2], how could it be suggested that corruption could set in where life itself had made its abode?
That would have been contrary to all law and reason, being quite unfitting for this body of the God-bearer[3], which is the expression used by this Saint. Andrew of Jerusalem, a man of exceptional merit, holiness and learning, does not hold back from saying[4] that:
the flesh of Mary suffered no more corruption after her death than it suffered adverse effects from the conception to the delivery of the Word Incarnate.
St Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople[5], addresses her on this point as follows:
Thy spirit liveth on and enjoyeth the fruits of blessed eternity; and despite the laws of the sepulchre, thy flesh hath not seen corruption.
St Augustine devotes a large part of the beautiful Sermon he composed on the Assumption of the Virgin[6] to proving this truth. Here is a short excerpt:
We do not deny that she underwent death like everyone else, but the question is whether the prerogative she enjoyed of being the Temple of God would permit her to be held prisoner by this very death, subjecting her to its enslavement like everyone else, reducing her to dust and making her food for worms. We know that her Son our Saviour did not suffer the consequences of Adam’s condemnation in any way that would be improper for His divine person. In the same way, we have learned from Christian teaching to accord the same privilege to His Mother, whose holiness and grace were such that she alone merited to become the abode for God when he came down on earth. Have we perchance forgotten that she has an omnipotent Son, who said of Himself[7]: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth ? If it pleased Him to preserve the purity and integrity of His Mother when she conceived Him, why would He take care of her in the same way after her death, preventing the putrefying processes with which death would afflict her body? He who was able to preserve the seal of her virginity when He was born of her, would He not have the power or the will to preserve her from corruption after her death? It is a question here of honour for the Son and for His Mother, granted that the flesh of Jesus is that of Mary and He has a legitimate desire for this flesh to be honoured not only in His own person but also in that of His Mother. It is entirely reasonable for His throne and His nuptial couch to be where He is, and for such a precious treasure not to decay in the earth but to be preserved with the greatest care in Heaven. I would never propose this if I did not have an entirely different conception of this sacred body from my own which has nothing that can exempt it from corruption under the general law. With regard to Mary’s body, however, not only was it the repository of the most exceptional graces from God that had ever been seen on earth, we also have His own unequivocal promise that where He was, there also should His servants and ministers be[8]. Now, if this favour is promised to those who minister to Him, what are to say of her who fed Him, served Him and gave her help to Him until His death? If she is not near to where He is, where is she to dwell? If He cares so much for his friends that not a hair of their head shall perish, if He preserved the three children in the fiery furnace so that no hurt was in them, and Daniel in the lions’ den, how could He be forgetful of His Mother on whom He had bestowed graces and favours incomparably greater?
There you have a small excerpt from this inspired passage of the great Prelate of Africa.
Footnotes
[1] Freedom from physical corruption or decay. [OED] Cf. I Cor. xv. 42. with its references to corruption and incorruption. incorruptio: freedom from putrefaction and decay, imperishability: a (w. ref. to body, esp. of saint, or shroud); b (w. ref. to general resurrection). [DMLBS]
[2] Ibid.
[3] The French text has corps porte-Dieu, which seems to derive from the Latin Deipara and the Greek θεοτόκος, meaning God-bearer.
[4] Orat. de Dormitione Virg.
[5] In Homil. de Dormitione Virg.
[6] T. IX operum ipsius.
[7] Matth. xxviii. 18.
[8] Joann. xii. 26.
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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.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
© Peter Bloor 2024
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