The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 9 : § 3.10-12

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

§ 3. The Holy Virgin is uniquely blessed among the just and the friends of God

 10   The Jerusalem Paraphrast[1] prompts a beautiful thought about this, for instead of the words as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched[2], he says : as the Tabernacle of the covenant which thou hast pitched in my name, and around which thou hast arranged the Tents of Israel[3]. In fact the just and the friends of God may truly be seen as so many Tents and pavilions cherished of the Lord and whom He keeps under His protection. These Tents give joy to heaven and earth, with Angels all around bringing consolation and encouragement to those within. Now in the middle of them all is a Tent which is uniquely blessed, a dwelling altogether heavenly, a pavilion which is quite peerless – in a word, a divine Tabernacle which which has been put up to maintain the covenant between God and men. It is no invention of mine to see this divine Tabernacle as a figure symbolizing the most sacred MOTHER OF GOD. This reading has the support of St Athanasius[4], St John Chrysostom[5], St John Damascene[6], St Augustine[7], St Andrew of Candia[8], George of Nicomedia[9], and of several other serious writers[10].  They all saw this as a figure symbolizing in an excellent manner the Holy Virgin.  The interconnections between them persuade us not only of their points of similarity but of the extent to which the blessings of the MOTHER OF GOD were far in excess of all the other Just – which is the point I have been making.

Footnotes

[1] paraphrast : a person who paraphrases or makes a paraphrase, apparently referring here to the writer(s) of the Jerusalem Targum. Targum refers to each of several Aramaic paraphrases of the various divisions of the Old Testament, made after the Babylonian captivity.

[2] Num. xxiv. 6.

[3] Num. ii..

[4] Serm. de S. Deipara.  

[5] Orat. de Annuntiat.

[6] Orat. 1 de Nativit.

[7] Serm. de Assumpt.

[8] Orat. 1 de Annuntiat.

[9] Orat. de Oblatione Virg.

[10] S. Ildefons., Serm. 7 de Assumpt., etc,

 11   Let us now move on to consider firstly the materials used in the Tabernacle of the covenant. It incorporated a wooden structure made of rare and precious Setim, an incorruptible wood reputed to last forever.  All the other tents were made only from skins or from branches which after a day or two’s use were recycled as firewood. I have no intention here of following several heretics in saying that the Holy Virgin had a body different in nature to our own, for I know full well that this is an error condemned by the Church. I have no difficulty, however, in maintaining the following : the Holy Virgin was indeed a daughter of Adam like us, but not of Adam the sinner, meaning that she did not take from him a sinful flesh like we did. She was a daughter of Adam the Just, from whom she took a flesh that was completely pure and holy, in the words of St Basil[1]. This is because she did not feature in God’s ideas (as I shall show elsewhere[2]) until after He brought in the plan for redemption after the first man’s sin. Accordingly, it cannot be said that she was affected by the general curse pronounced on all his descendants. On the contrary, we have to accept that she partook of the grace of his reconciliation without being harmed by his fall from grace. She received, moreover, every sort of benefit both in the flesh and in the spirit by means of the new Adam, with whom she was to be the Redemptrix of our race.

Footnotes

[1] Lib. de Humana Christi generatione.

[2] Tract. II, c. 2.

 12   Let us continue secondly to the decoration and embellishment of the old Tabernacle where we can say quite simply that no effort or expense was spared. The boards were gilded all over, there were silver vessels and others of purest gold. The covering was a rich veil of violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen. There were also curtains of goat’s hair reaching to the ground, and over all these a cover of rams' skins dyed red, and over that again another cover of violet coloured skins. There is nothing more to add once it is explained that God Himself put together this design, piece by piece. 

Similarly, there is nothing more to say once we note that the Holy Virgin is a work of God modelled on the idea He had of His own Son, the Word incarnate. In this way, she is as much in His image and likeness as it is possible for a simple creature to be. She was to have with Him a quite specific role in the general plan God had conceived for the state of grace and glory. Once this is recognized, there is no longer need to seek an explanation for the care He took to adorn and enrich this creature so unique in all her perfections. We should leave the judgement to Him who was able to make her so great and so magnificent.

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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