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).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020) |
How she is the honour of earth and of Heaven
§ 12. She is the Crown of all the Saints
The Crown’s two principal meanings
2 Now, in order to approach this subject in a way that it deserves, I should like us to note at the outset that throughout history the Crown has been used principally to signify two things: namely, honour and jubilation. With regard to the first of these, I am referring to what is written in the fifth chapter of the book of Lamentations by Jeremiah[1], where the King Josiah is called the Crown on the head of Israel, and similarly in other places where it is said[2], for example, that wisdom and experience are the Crown of old men, that children are the Crown of their fathers, and that fathers in a reciprocal way are the Crown of their children[3]; that a diligent woman is a Crown to her husband[4], and that worthy people will be like so many crowns and adornments in the hands of God[5].
With regard to the second signification (jubilation), I see a connection with the crowns of gold used to adorn the front of Temple when Judas Machabeus celebrated with unparalleled solemnity the dedication of the new altar that he had erected[6]; and generally with all the crowns used in ancient times during the games and festivals, whether public or private. I wanted to make this clear at the beginning before launching our discussion in which I aim to show that by this double title the MOTHER OF GOD is called the Crown of all the Saints, forasmuch as she is both the honour of all of them and the jubilation of the Holy City.
Footnotes
[1] The crown is fallen from our head: Lam. v. 16.
[2] Much experience is the crown of old men. Ecclus. xxv. 8.
[3] Children's children are the crown of old men: and the glory of children are their fathers. Prov. xvii. 6.
[4] A diligent woman is a crown to her husband: Prov. xii. 4.
[5] And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Isai. lxii. 3.
[6] See 1 Machab. iv. 57 and 2 Machab. x. 2.
The Holy Virgin is the Honour of Heaven and the Saints
3 I am proclaiming that she is their honour and in saying this I am following the Saviour by whom she was called the glory of the Angels and of all the Saints, as we learn from the revelations of Saint Bridget.
The Angel who was teaching this blessed widow revealed to her one day how God, after casting down to hell the apostate spirits, and after confirming in grace and glory the others who had persevered in His service, revealed to the latter certain wonders in the mirror of His divine face. He showed them the principle and the sovereign essence of all things, from whom they derived wisdom, intellectual discernment, strength and all the other good qualities they possessed. He promised them, moreover, that the seats left empty by the rebels’ disobedience would one day be filled through the obedience of men. After this, He brought to their attention a throne which was higher than theirs by an almost infinite distance: so high, in fact, that it seemed to them almost impossible any other could be closer to the throne of His Majesty than this one. At the same time, He explained to them that this seat had been prepared for the blessed Mother of the Word Incarnate. They noticed on this very throne there was a Crown so dazzling that, after the King of Kings who is the honour and glory of Heaven, there was nothing from which Paradise received more splendour and beauty than from this Crown and from her on whose head it was to be placed. This was so truly the case that they understood the glory coming back to God for having created them, when compared with that which He received from this noble creature, was nothing more than a little spark in comparison with the Sun. This made them feel such great joy that the delight they took in the memory of their own creation was made to fade away in comparison.
4 On another occasion, the same Angel showed the Saint the throne of God surrounded by crowns,
amongst which there were three from which His Majesty seemed to receive greater honour and satisfaction than all the rest. The first was power – with which He had created the Angels in a state of grace and beauty, from which they fell through their own fault. The second was goodness – with which He had produced man in a state of innocence, from which he fell through his disobedience and through the wiles of Satan. Even though in both cases the end had been the glory of God and they had fallen away from the path leading to the end for which they had been destined, she understood quite clearly that their disgrace took nothing away from the luminous splendour either of God’s power or His goodness. Even though this splendour might seem to have suffered thereby, she understood that the third Crown, which was the infinite wisdom with which God had prepared the blessed Virgin to rebuild what had been ruined by others, shone with such resplendent brightness as to be able to restore what had been lost.
5 These crowns bring to mind the memory of a fourth that was shown to the same Saint[1], if indeed it was another rather than one represented more distinctly.
She saw the MOTHER OF GOD wearing a dress made of cloth of gold more resplendent than the Sun, over which she wore a great blue mantle studded with stars. Her hair flowed loosely over her shoulders and on her head she wore an imperial crown with seven beautiful lilies, interspersed with as many precious stones. St John the Baptist, who was near the holy widow, explained to her that the cloth of gold represented the Virgin’s fervent charity; the blue mantle showed how highly she esteemed celestial things, and the scorn she had for perishable things; the seven lilies represented her humility, her filial fear of the Lord, her obedience, her patience, her constancy, her gentleness and her merciful heart; the seven precious stones represented the power of the excellent qualities conferred on her; the virtues and qualities of all creatures that she possessed in a pre-eminent manner; her incomparable purity, rendering her uniquely beloved of the King of Heaven, a source of wonder to men and Angels, and a source of fear and dread to demons; her unparalleled beauty, with which God is continually glorified on high, and which causes the Blessed to rejoice unceasingly; her marvellous wisdom, which gives no less light to the Saints than the Sun does to precious stones when penetrated by its rays; her incomparable strength which can overwhelm in an instant everything seeking to oppose her plans, and can raise up anything that she judges worthy of honour; her incredible brightness, a source of light spreading throughout the length and breath of paradise; in short, the very plenitude of joy, which fills her blessed soul to overflowing, pouring into the hearts of all the friends of God.
Is it not therefore with good reason that the great patriarch of Constantinople calls her the Crown of Grace and the Diadem of beauty[1]?
Footnotes
[1] Lib. I Revel., c. 31.
[2] S. Germanus, Orat. de Nativit. B. Virg.
6 But who could worthily portray the splendour and the glory that all Heaven receives from this masterpiece of glory? You would have to be an eyewitness to be able to say anything; and I even think that sheer wonderment would cause anyone who had this happy experience to be lost for words. No – the Crown studied with precious stones does not give more graciousness to the Royal head than the Virgin gives honour and beauty to each of the blessed. No – the Sun is nothing to the stars in comparison with what the Queen of Heaven is to the Saints. No – the Moon is not more glorious when pursuing its course through the stars on a clear and peaceful night than the MOTHER OF GOD is seen to be worthy of wonder and full of majesty in the midst of the Saints, who are like as many precious stones on her Royal Crown. Yes – the Saints are like so many precious stones set in the crown of the Queen of Heaven.
If the blessed Simeon Salus, at the moment when his soul was about to leave his body, was invited by an Angel to go and receive from God not one crown but as many crowns as the number of souls he had set on the path to eternal salvation, what must we not then believe would be the case with the MOTHER OF GOD who opened up Paradise for all those whom the Saviour had redeemed with His precious blood? The holy Abbot Rupert hits the mark when he applies[1] to the Mother of all the children of salvation the words of the Spouse in the Canticles: Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come: thou shalt be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards[2]. According to this great man’s judgement, it is as though He were saying to her:
The Kingdoms of this world are like so many mountains, but mountains that have served as dens and lairs for lions and leopards, meaning for the demons and powers of the world who yield nothing in their pride and rapacious cruelty to these animals who devour their prey alive. Nevertheless, it is from the summit of these mountains that thy Crown is going to be enriched, for in proportion to the belief they will have in Him whom thou hast born within thy sacred womb, they will be changed into precious stones and into true heavenly diamonds. Their conversion will be thy Crown, in such a way that thou wilt be in Heaven the Queen of Saints, and on earth, the Queen of all the kingdoms of the world; and wherever they sing of the King of glory, thy most beloved Son, what David sang[3] of Him: that He hath been crowned with glory and honour; and hath been set over the works of His Majesty’s hands, they will also proclaim that thou art the Mother and the Spouse of this crownéd King, and in consequence the Queen of Heaven and of all the Kingdoms subject thereto. In acknowledgement of this, Kings and Emperors will lay their crowns at thy feet, and will consecrate to thee their palaces, their realms and their Empires, ceasing by this means to be what they previously were: namely dens and lairs for lions and leopards.
Footnotes
[1] Lib. III in Cant.
[2] Cant. iv. 8.
[3] Ps. VIII. 6-7.
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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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