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).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020) |
She is singularly blessed
§ 2. The Holy Virgin was singularly blessed among women
The third Blessing of the Mother of God was that she received all the favours granted to women.
12 In his book De virginibus velandis ("On the veiling of virgins"), Tertullian makes the pertinent point that the Angel said in his greeting not that Mary was blessed among virgins but that she was blessed among women. This was so that she might understand how she benefited in a general way from all the blessings proper to the female sex.
Women may be divided into three classes : virgins, widows and wives. These are represented in the Gospel[1] by the different types of earth with different levels of fertility, bringing forth fruit some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold[2]. Just as they differ in goodness and in their yield, they also differ in the quality of fruit they produce, for the divine ploughman has given different blessings to each of them. Each of them has sufficient to make them contented with their lot, but that does not mean they do not have different levels.
The Sacred Scriptures bear witness that virginity gives rise to a threefold blessing, namely : incorruption of the flesh, freedom in body and spirit, and colloquy with the Angels. According to the author of Wisdom[3], incorruption bringeth near to God, so that in St John’s account in the Apocalypse[4], the Lamb’s retinue of companions who follow Him is composed of these beautiful virgins, spotless and undefiled. Freedom of body and spirit, so highly prized by St Paul[5] in this life, provides virgins with the means to devote their whole heart to Him who is the rightful owner. Colloquy with the Angels delivers them from the cares and sorrows which frequently afflict others, and leads to a favourable welcome in Heaven.
Even widowhood has its own benefits which are mentioned in Scripture : time for attending to prayer, mortification of the body and doing good works. The first of these is represented by Anna the prophetess[6] who departed not from the temple, applying herself night and day to the practice of continual prayer. The second is illustrated by the case of St Judith who wore haircloth upon her loins all the days of her life, except the sabbaths, and new moons, and the feasts of the house of Israel[7]. The third is shown in the example provided by the widow of Sarephta who fed Elias and looked after him with such charity. The first blessing not only allows them to accept their widowhood but compensates them for the loss of their husbands with great benefits, giving them God Himself for their Spouse. The second serves to protect them from the memories of past pleasures. The third renders their lives useful through love they are able to show to their neighbour, setting an example to the world.
Marriage too is not without its blessing for, according to St Augustine[8], it conjoins fruitfulness with the Sacrament. Fidelity joined with mutual affection eases the yoke of their state, smooths over any friction between the parties, and enables them to share together the burden of their state. Fruitfulness serves as a bond of mutual affection and raises within them the sweet hope of immortality. The Sacrament tempers their ardour and supplies them with all the graces necessary to fulfil their commitments in a worthy manner.
Footnotes
[1] Matt. xiii. 8.
[2] S. Jerome, on this passage (lib. 1, contra Jovin), and S. Athanasius (Epist. ad Ammon.), and others assign the hundredfold fruit to virgins; the sixtyfold to widows; the thirtyfold to those who live in honest and holy wedlock.
[3] Wisdom. vi. 20.
[4] Apoc. xiv. 1-5.
[5] Cf. the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. I Cor. vii. 34.
[6] Luke ii. 37.
[7] Jud. viii. 6.
[8] Lib. de Nuptiis.
13 At this point, I can say with Solomon[1] that if many daughters have gathered together riches, the Holy Virgin hath surpassed them all. For who can describe the extent to which she possessed incorruption, first fruit of virginity? Or the freedom of heart and body she experienced in her life, whether during the sixteen years she dwelt in the Temple, or in the thirty-four years she had with her Son, or during the remainder of her life, until her blessed decease? Who will convey to us the sweetness of the conversation she regularly had with the Angels? A conversation no-one should find unusual since she was on such familiar terms with the King of Angels. In short, who can do justice to the Church’s powerful praise of Mary when she calls her Virgo singularis[2] ("Virgin all excelling")? From whom shall we learn how perfectly she enjoyed all the privileges of widows, of prayer so continual that it was not interrupted even by the little sleep she allowed herself; so fervent that she put to shame the ecstasies of the Seraphim; so filled with heavenly sweetness that you would have said she was already dwelling in Heaven; of bodily mortification so extreme that St Ambrose[3] declared it surpassed human strength to endure; of practising good works, of comforting the afflicted, of helping the needy, of giving instruction to the Masters and Doctors of the world, (as we saw earlier in another context[4])? Finally, since she gathered the roses of marriage without being pricked by the thorns, who will set forth how she benefited, to a degree greater than all other creatures, from the goods proper to the marital state : fidelity, issue, and all the most excellent benefits of the Sacrament, albeit without the Sacrament, since it had not yet been instituted?
These are the mysterious prerogatives which make her appear everywhere as uniquely blessed among women :
- among Virgins, incomparably more blessed than the Agnes's, the Agathas, the Cecilias, and however many more may be found;
- among widows, more blessed than the Bridgets, the Catherines, the Elizabeths and other similar mirrors of holiness;
- among the married women, more blessed than the Clotildes, the Radegunds, the Blanches, the Jeannes and other such wondrous women of the Court, dazzling luminaries of virtue and piety;
– all for the glory of the Spouse of these beautiful souls, for the honour of the female sex and for the consolation of the Church’s children, who are all children of the Queen of blessings.
Footnotes
[1] Prov. xxxi. 29.
[2] See, e.g., Ave Maris Stella, 9th cent.
[3] Lib. II de Virginibus.
[4] Cap. 3, § 3 ; cap. 6, § 3 ; cap. 7, § 5.
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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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