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).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020) |
How she is the honour of earth and of Heaven
§ 3. She is the true Mirror of divine perfections
Infinity
3 I shall begin with Infinity, as this is a distinction between sovereign being and others. Just as the great Saint Dionysius says[1]:
God is not in the way others might be, but He is an altogether simple being, without any limitation; He comprises in Himself being in all its extent, and possesses it as much as it can be possessed.
From this it follows, says Saint Anselm[2], that all the perfections which are found in Him, are found in an infinite manner.
He is sovereign essence, sovereign life, sovereign reason, sovereign health and salvation, sovereign justice, sovereign wisdom, sovereign truth, sovereign greatness, sovereign beauty, sovereign happiness, sovereign power and sovereign unity. From this it also follows that He contains eminently within Himself all things, to use the language of the Schools, and as the same Saint Dionysus says[3]:
He is the principle or origin, the point of connection and the end of all things.
From this it follows, finally, that He cannot be comprehended other than of and in Himself, and consequently:
our conception of Him is never better than when we represent Him as incomprehensible,
says blessed Saint Cyprian[4]. I have no intention of proposing that the Holy Virgin has in herself or in her own nature any sort of infinity, for this belongs to God alone. Along with the Holy Fathers and the Theologians, I may venture to say that by virtue of her status as MOTHER OF GOD she encloses a term of infinite perfection. This led the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas, to say[5]:
of three things which God in a certain manner cannot make greater than they are, one is the Mother of His Son.
Accordingly, Even though we cannot call her sovereign essence, sovereign wisdom, sovereign goodness, sovereign power, we can make so bold as to say that she is the Mother of sovereign essence, of sovereign goodness, of sovereign wisdom and of sovereign power. We can take this idea further than we have above by saying that she has within herself more perfection than all other creatures, and that everything they have in them that is good maybe found to a higher and more excellent degree in her. In short, this is what led the great Saints to declare without any hesitation that her great qualities and privileges are incomprehensible to all spirits that are limited. With regard to this point, we have already cited earlier[6] the words of Saint Bernardine of Sienna, Saint Bernard, Saint Anselm, Saint Andrew of Jerusalem and Saint Augustine.
Footnotes
[1] Cap. 5 de Divin. nom.
[2] Monologii., c. 15.
[3] De Divin. nom., c. 4.
[4] Lib. quod Idola non sunt Dii.
[5] I p., q. XXV, art. 6 ad 4.
[6] Tract. I, c. 1, § 1 et 2.
Immensity and Dominion
4 The second of God’s attributes is His immensity which is explained by the great Pope Saint Gregory in the following remarkable words[1]:
He is inside and outside, over and beneath all things; over because of His power, under because providing His support; inside through subtlety, outside through greatness. From on high, He governs them and from below He supports them; inside, He penetrates them, outside He encloses them: and yet it should not be thought that He has one part of Himself inside and the other outside, one part on high and the other below; rather, through one and the same individual essence, He encloses them all, being inside each one and at the same time enclosing them, He may be found in all; He governs them in supporting them, and in governing them He supports them.
This Immensity explains how He is in all places through His essence, through His presence, and through His power. From this arises the high dominion that He has over all things, which He wields with total freedom and absolute power. Regarding this, St John heard every creature, which is in heaven, and on the Earth, and under the Earth, and such as are in the sea, cry out with a loud voice: to him that sitteth on the throne, and to the lamb, benediction, and honour, and glory, and power, forever and ever[2]. I have no plan to dwell at length here on this matter as it touches the glorious Virgin. I shall discuss it later, explaining that the Saints declare the extent of Mary’s domain is the same as that of the Saviour's Empire, and by virtue of her status as Queen Mother and Queen Regnant, she has absolute dominion under her spouse throughout the whole extent of His domains.
Footnotes
[1] Lib. II Moral., c. 12.
[2] Apoc. v. 13.
Omnipotence
5 From the two proceeding attributes proceeds God’s Omnipotence, a cause of unimaginable wonder to us. It appears not only in the manner of His actions but in their term or end: for just as simply by willing He makes everything that He wants, in the same way He can produce from nothing all that appears good to Him, inasmuch as because nothingness may be considered infinite, all creatures can be drawn therefrom. This power is equal to the divine essence, capable of participation and imitation in infinite ways; it is no sense less than God’s wisdom, since all that His wisdom might propose can be brought about through His omnipotence.
Someone may ask whether I am really saying that the MOTHER OF GOD is omnipotent. I would answer by asking why not, since great Doctors have said this before me and it suits me to follow them in what they have said. It is true, for example, that the Patriarch Eutchian in the book he wrote about the repentance of Theophilus, St John Damascene[1], Cosmas of Jerusalem[2], Bishop of Mazuma in Palestine and Teacher of the same St John Damascene and several others, when they speak of the help which our Holy Mother gives us in our needs, they call her all-powerful without any hesitation. Saint Anselm clearly says that[3]:
The Omnipotent has raised her thus high, so that all things might be possible for this Lady as they are for Himself.
I understand this must be understood in the way taught by Saint Cyril[4] and Yves Bishop of Chartres[5], namely that she possesses only by Grace that which God has through nature; this not withstanding, it cannot be denied that the privilege she enjoys is most excellent, since it is communicated to her exclusively, as I shall explain at greater length in Part Two[6].
Footnotes
[1] Carm. in Annuntiat.
[2] Hymno VI iisdem plane verbis.
[3] De Excellentia Virg., c. 12.
[4] Lib. VIII Thesauri, c. 2.
[5] Serm. de Nativit. Domini.
[6] Chap. 13.
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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 2025
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