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
§ 3. The Holy Virgin is uniquely blessed among the just and the friends of God
2 There was once a learned interpreter of the Canticle of Canticles who lived around four hundred years ago. He was called William[1] and was nicknamed Little (according to some because of his humility). In the preface to his work, he recalls that King David the Prophet frequently invites the world, addressed as the earth, to sing canticles in praise of God. William draws a thoughtful distinction between three sorts of “earth” in this context.
There is one, he says, singing what we can call the old Canticle, another which must be given the name of the new Canticle, and a third which is properly referred to as the singular Canticle. The first is that of creation; the Prophet summons all the earth to sing this Canticle, meaning all rational creatures, Angels and men together, since they share equally in this benefit. The second Canticle is that of the Redemption and those invited to join in are all who have been redeemed from the earth, and these consist only of men. The third is that of the holy motherhood and conception of the divine Word. This can be sung only by an earth which is a thousand times blessed and which bore within it and then brought forth the divine Word, meaning that this earth is the glorious Virgin MOTHER OF GOD : a Virgin who, whilst in the hill country of Judea, sings her Canticle of thanksgiving alone and to one side. A Virgin who was properly pre-figured by the promised land, according to the teaching of St Augustine[2], St Bernard[3], George of Nicomedia[4] and a number of others.
Now, it is so clear from the Sacred Scriptures that the just and the friends of God are represented by good earth that there is no need for me to labour the point here. In fact, God frequently compares Himself in the Old Testament to a sower, as does the Saviour in the New Testament. His grace and His teaching are represented by good seed, and the desire He has for the salvation and perfection of souls are represented by the diligent care and the pains taken to cultivate the earth. There is, however, among this great multitude and types of earth, one that is uniquely cherished by God and altogether uniquely blessed : the most sacred and most immaculate Virgin. This will be revealed through the connection she has to the promised land once granted by God and guaranteed to His chosen people by promises that He frequently repeated.
Footnotes
[1] Possibly William of Saint-Thierry (1085-1148), Abbot of Saint-Thierry. Author of Expositio super Cantica canticorum.
[2] Serm. 100 de Tempore.
[3] Serm. 3 in Salve.
[4] Orat. de Presentat. B. Virg.
3 The first advantage enjoyed by the promised land is its situation, something which Moses did not omit to mention in his Canticle[1] and neither did the prophet Isaiah[2]. They both referred to the land’s elevation and the learned Bishop of Avila[3] explains that :
the land is elevated not only in relation to the neighbouring countries but also with regard to everything in our hemisphere, for it is in the middle of inhabited regions of the earth and if a straight line is drawn from this land, it will show that it is higher than those to the East, to the West, to the North and to the South – that is to say, higher than all the other lands.
It is here that we encounter the first blessing of her who, prefigured by the promised land, is our spiritual land and who at the moment she was created could be seen far above the highest mountains, as David was telling us earlier. She was at the very peak and summit of the most extraordinary holiness. From that high vantage point, as close to God as it is permitted for a mere creature to be,
she sees beneath her the very greatest Saints who appear like so many tiny insects because of the enormous distance between them. This is what St John Damascene said a little earlier (in § 3. 1).
Footnotes
[1] Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thy inheritance, in thy most firm habitation which thou hast made, O Lord. Exod. xv. 17. Cf. He set him upon high land. Deut. xiii.13.
[2] Fructus terræ sublimis. the fruit of the earth shall be high. Isai. iv. 2.
[3] In locum cit. Exodi. Possibly referring to the work of Alphonsus Tostatus [Alonso Tostado] (1400-1455), Bp. of Avila and exegete.
4 The second advantage of the promised land consists in how it benefits from celestial influence, from the favourable aspect of the Sun and the stars, and above all from the unceasing care shown by the Creator of the stars and the Moderator of Heaven’s tenderness. The great lawgiver Moses explained to the people of God this privilege of the land that had been prepared for them. He spoke in these these terms[1]: For the land, which thou goest to possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence thou camest out, where, when the seed is sown, waters are brought in to water it after the manner of gardens. But it is a land of hills and plains, expecting rain from heaven. And the Lord thy God doth always visit it, and his eyes are on it from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof. Is there any better and more efficacious way of representing how God pours down blessings incessantly from Heaven upon the glorious MOTHER OF GOD? Or of the tender care that God devoted to her in His providence, more loving than a father? Never did this loving providence take greater pleasure from caring for any creature than it took in looking after this beautiful soul. God gazed upon her unceasingly and she for her part fixed her eyes upon Him unwaveringly, so that she could say in a special way what is written in the Canticle of love : My heart is wholly my Beloved’s and He thinks only of me[2]. St Bernardine of Siena[3] sums it all up successfully when he shows how the Virgin’s only thought was of God and her sole occupation was focussed on love and consideration of the sovereign good.
Her eyes, he says, saw nothing except the beauty and perfections of her Spouse, the King of glory. Her ears, closed to everything else, were always ready to hear speak of Him. She had no taste for any other food nor sense of any other odour than His fragrance. Her sole pleasure was to fold God in her arms and to hold Him tightly, enveloping Him with all her affection
In short, there was no greater attraction between a compass-needle and the Pole Star, between iron and a magnet or between the Sun and a sunflower than that which existed between God and the most sacred heart of Mary. This relationship was the living source of the blessings that poured down unceasingly upon her.
Footnotes
[1] Deut. xi. 10-12.
[2] Cf. My beloved to me, and I to him: Cant. ii. 16. and I to my beloved, and my beloved to me: Cant. vi. 2.
[3] T. II, Serm. 52, art. 2, c. 3.
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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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