The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 13 : § 6.1-2

Chapter 13 : The Twelfth 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

§ 6. She is the Paradise of delights

 1    We learn from the great Saint Gregory:

The righteous and the friends of God form here on earth a beautiful orchard: 

⮞ the Cedars are those great souls who remain ever constant in their love of heavenly things, ever fresh in their conscience and uncorrupted by desires for temporal and earthly pleasures;
⮞ the Hawthorn bushes, which in Judea are particularly beautiful and have an extraordinary fragrance, are those who work to win souls for God, pricking their hearts and consciences with a salutary sense of compunction and bringing joy to them through the sweet fragrance of virtue; 
⮞ the Myrtles are those who comfort the afflicted in their tribulations with the true spirit of compassion; 
⮞ the tall Firs are those who in their corruptible bodies focus on the contemplation of eternal things; 
⮞ the Elms are those members of the laity who give their support and help to the servants of God, who in exchange supply them with the sweet wine of their reasoning and their holy teaching; finally, 

⮞ the Box bushes are those who, although they do not grow so high and do not bear great fruit, maintain nevertheless the verdancy of right belief received with Faith at baptism.

I am aware that Hugh of Saint Victor takes this idea further still by giving a mystical signification to all the parts of these trees and bushes. According to him,

The root represents faith; the trunk – hope; the branches – charity; the sap – right intention;  the bark – external protection; the leaves – good example; the flowers – a reputation for sweetness and holiness;  and the fruits – holy actions.

 2    For one creature on her own to make up an entire orchard, forming an earthly Paradise and a Paradise of delights – this was something that could be achieved only by the MOTHER OF GOD. This is not simply a fancy of my own, for the Holy Fathers before me have honoured her with this beautiful title. St James in his Liturgy, and after him the Blessed Proclus, Patriarch of Constantinople, named her a spiritual Paradise in the speech he delivered at the Council of Ephesus; St Gregory Thaumaturgus called her a rational Paradise[1] and a Paradise of Incorruption[2]; Hesychius called her a Paradise of Immortality[3]; St Ephrem, a Paradise of delights and of every sort of joy[4]. St Andrew of Jerusalem[5], St John Damascene[6], St Bernard[7], St Bonaventure[8] and many other authors have said as much. Here is an excerpt from the moving words of the learned Abbot Rupert in his fourth book on the Canticle of Canticles:

The Paradise that Moses speaks of was the old, earthly Paradise; but the one that I am discussing is the new, heavenly Paradise. The same Master who laid out the one also produced the other; but in the one He placed the man who had been formed from the slime of the earth, but in the other He placed a Man who from the beginning had been near Him, with Him and in Him. From the earth of the former were created and made all the trees that served to embellish it, including the Tree of Life which was placed right in the middle of the others. From the latter were drawn all the plants bearing graces and virtues, including the true fruit of life, namely the Saviour of our souls. From the former flowed the river which was divided into four branches; from the latter flows the river which the Psalmist spoke of when he said: The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful[9]; a river which, undivided, communicates with all the Earth through the channels of the four Gospels. The old Paradise was unable to keep him who cultivated it, and Adam was unable to retain his Paradise; for this reason, it was necessary for God to make a new Paradise with a new fruit of life for the benefit of him who through disobedience had lost it. 

Footnotes

[1] Orat. 3 de Annuntiat.

[2] Orat. 2.

[3] Orat. 2 de S. Deipara.

[4]Orat. de Deipara.

[5] Orat. de Annuntiat.

[6] Serm. 2 de Dormit. B. Virg.

[7] Serm. de Nativit. B. Virg.

[8] Speculi B. Virg., c. 12, etc.

[9] Ps. XLV. 5.

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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 2025