The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 13 : § 2.3-4

Chapter 13 : The Eleventh 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)

How she is the honour of earth and of Heaven

§ 2. She is the pearl of beautiful souls and the gemstone beyond price

The correspondence between various precious stones and the Blessed Virgin

 3   If I had set out to explore the depths of nature in search of the unique qualities of all the precious stones honed and perfected with such indescribable care, I am confident that none would be found which did not reflect in some way the most sacred Virgin. I would show that she is the priceless diamond originating in the Divinity’s goldmine of most precious designs; she is a diamond because of her gleaming purity, her dazzling chastity, and her resplendent sinlessness. I would show that she is the beautiful sapphire of God’s throne, in which He revealed himself to Moses and the ancients of the people[1]. She is like the crystal of the firmament in which the Prophet Ezechiel saw Him[2]. She is the flaming carbuncle[3] of substantial fire seen in Isaiah‘s vision of God’s altar[4]. I will say with Job[5] that the topaz of Ethiopia with its gold cannot bear comparison with her; that like the opal, the bright splendour of her life, indeed of each of her actions, is enhanced by the wondrous colours of all the virtues. She is like the emerald, in that the more the eye seeks to penetrate the depths of her perfections, the deeper she seems to become, stretching almost to infinity. She is like the dazzling fire opal[6], for she has conceived from the rays of the divine Sun a second Sun – God made man. She is the precious stone known as a pantarbe[7], but having much greater powers of attraction than the stone described by Ctesias[8] in his writings about India, which was able to draw up from the watery depths seventy-seven precious stones that a merchant from Bactria had lost: for the holy Virgin has drawn up from the depths of the abyss countless souls who had been lost through their sins. 

She is more perfect than what has been called the eighth wonder of the world which belonged to the Emperor Rudolph II[9]. This is a table top containing all sorts of precious stones which have been so skilfully arranged that there are no apparent joints showing. The stones show in a simple manner images of all that is most beautiful in the world. Now, if it is true, as is maintained by the Lapidaries of old, that precious stones represent in substance the essences of the noblest influences in Heaven, or, as Socrates is reported by Plato to have said, precious fragments of the eternal rocks in Paradise, who could deny that she who is formed completely of heavenly graces would not have to a supreme degree the perfection and properties of all the precious stones? If as the worthy Tobias said[10] and as Saint John saw[11], the Saints and the elect of God are the precious stones with which the heavenly Jerusalem is built, just how precious should we consider her to be who, after her Son, has the noblest place in this building, and who in herself alone has more graces and more glory than all the other Saints? Is she not truly the holy Tabernacle of God, to which the same St John gives as a foundation twelve stones of inestimable value, that is to say twelve principal virtues or fundamental graces on which has been built the greatness of her glory? Where would I find an account explaining for me the application of each one of these stones?

Footnotes

[1] Exod. xxiv. 10.

[2] Ezech. i. 22.

[3] carbuncle or escarbuncle: A large precious stone of a red or fiery colour: in early use of unsettled identity, as a ruby, garnet, spinel, etc.; (also) a mythical gem said to give out light in the dark. [OED 1a]

[4] Possibly a reference to Isaiah vi. 6.

[5] Job xxviii. 17 & 19..

[6] Also called a girasol, a variety of opal which reflects a reddish glow in a bright sunlight.

[7] A mythical precious stone with magical properties, esp. resistance to fire and the capacity to attract gold and other materials.

[8] Ctesias of Cnidus: a Greek physician and historian of the 5th century B.C.

[9] Boet., lib. II de Gemmis, c. 203. Cf. The table in pietre dure for the Emperor, by Karla Langedijk (1998).

[10] Tob. xiii. 21.

[11] Apoc. xxi. 19-20.

 4   It is wonderful to discover what the ancients have written about the powers of precious stones – authors such as Pliny, Dioscorides, Albertus Magnus and others. They say for example that true jasper is a most powerful help against evil spells and the powers of darkness; diamond, against poison; topaz, against fire and hot temper; jacinth[1], against the plague, which is why it is normally worn over the heart; carnelian puts terror into the hearts of wild animals, stopping them in their tracks; emerald confers eloquence and wealth, preserving chastity with such zeal that it splinters into pieces when sins of impurity are committed. Turquoise experiences and shares all the passions and misfortunes of the one wearing it. 

Cardinalatial ring with sapphire.
Pope Leo XII (1825).
[Heleashard, CC BY-SA 4.0]

Sapphire confers piety, holiness and justice, and for this reason it was once called the holy stone.  Without it an oracle could not speak and sacrifices, in order to be more pleasing, had to be offered jars of sapphire, or at least the sacrificing Priest had to wear a sapphire on his finger. Even today it is the stone of our Pontiff, and the Sovereign Father when he creates a new Cardinal, is accustomed to send him a sapphire to communicate holiness to him, as befitting his office. 

There are, I have to say, hundreds of other such beautiful and praiseworthy properties associated with these stones, but modern jewellers seem unhappy to pass on these traditions and have consigned them to the rank of fables. For my part. however, I would strongly agree with an ancient writer cited by Origen[2], that we should not be surprised that these beautiful properties are no more to be seen in our own day, because they were in fact shadowy pre-figurations which faded away when the clear light of truth that they symbolise made its appearance, namely the true perfection of the Saviour and of His most worthy Mother. For in them they find their real and true fulfilment, as it is easy enough for each of us to confirm when studying the account of the virtues and perfections that I have just written and which I shall cover later.

Footnotes

[1] jacinth: Among the ancients, a gem of a blue colour, probably sapphire. (b) In modern use, a reddish-orange gem, a variety of zircon; also applied to varieties of topaz and garnet. (= hyacinth).

[2] Lib. II in Job.

👑       👑       👑

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 2025