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
§ 12. She is the Crown of all the Saints
The Blessed Virgin is the joy of the Saints
7 If the Blessed Virgin is the Crown of the Saints through being their honour and their glory, she is no less so for being a cause of sweet rejoicing for them. This is what the blessed Martyr Methodius[1] was getting at when he called her our ineffable joy; what Saint Gregory of Nazianzus[2] had in mind when he called her the source of happiness for men; when Saint Ephrem[3] said she was the source of refreshment for Saints and the most wondrous adornment of the celestial Hierarchies; when Saint Ildephonsus wrote that she was the ineffable reward of the Blessed, adding that those amongst God’s people who have taken her most sincerely as their Mother think about her unceasingly, without yet having the joy of seeing her; and when Saint Bonaventure[4] called her the solace, the joy and the sovereign good of Heaven’s subjects, after God Himself.
This is what prompted Saint Ildephonsus[5], SaintAnselm[6], Sophronius[7], Peter Damien[8], Saint Bernard and many others to say[9]:
On the day of the Assumption when the glorious Virgin entered Heaven, the whole of Paradise was filled with joy. This spirit of unparalleled rejoicing entered into the Church Militant, which commemorates each year the solemnity of this day. It was then that the Saviour of the world set His tabernacle in the heart of the Sun[10], showing Himself to all those of His household as more filled with joy and happiness than the Spouse in His nuptial chamber. It was then that Heaven welcomed a new star, and a sweet recrudescence of inexplicable happiness
This is what led Saint Bonaventure[11] to say that:
Not the least privileges of the MOTHER OF GOD is that, after her beloved Son and after the most August Trinity, she is the cause of the greatest rejoicing for the Blessed in Heaven.
The pious Caesarius[12] was moved to say that:
amongst creatures, there is none comparable in holiness, in worthiness and excellence to Mary; in the same way, of all the delights that the Saints enjoy in Heaven – after those derived from God Himself – there is nothing that approaches the joy they feel at the sight and presence of the Queen of Angels.
Finally, the learned Francis Mayron, known in his day as Doctor Illuminatus, stated that[13]:
The morning Star promised in the second chapter of the Apocalypse[14] is nothing else than the sight of the most blessed face of the Holy Virgin.
Footnotes
[1] Orat. in Hypapante.
[2] Tragoed. de Christo patiente.
[3] Orat. de Laudibus Virg.
[4] Lib. de Virginitate Mariæ.
[5] Ildefons., Serm. 2 de Assumpt.
[6]S. Anselmus, de Excellentia Virg., c. 8.
[7] In Cantico : Te Matrem Dei laudamus.
[8] Damianus, Serm. de Assumpt.
[9] In Litaniis.
[10] Ps. XVIII. 6.
[11] Speculi B. Virg., c. 16.
[12] Lib. VII Exempl., c. 1.
[13] Serm. de Creatione animæ Virginis.
[14] Apoc. ii. 28.
8 To hear the prophet Isaiah[1] speaking, you would say that he came from Paradise to describe the magnificence of God’s house; in this respect, the most powerful and the most attractive statement he makes is the following: Those eyes shall look up on the king in his triumph and in his perfect beauty. In the sixth chapter of Numbers, God Himself prescribes for Aaron and his children the formula with which they are to bless the people and He finds no formula more pleasing than the following: The Lord shew His face to thee, and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn His countenance to thee, and give thee peace[2]. As if to reinforce this idea, when the same prophet Isaiah is chasing the wicked who profane the holiest places, he finds nothing more fitting to say than this: May the wicked one depart! May he never be admitted to look up on the glorious face of God[3].
In truth, the sight of this adorable face is what constitutes Paradise; it is in this that the Saints find the fulfilment of their yearnings, and the more they contemplate this face, the more the desire to contemplate it increases. I would declare that this represents for the Saints their ultimate felicity and it is so intense that if one drop of it could fall into hell, it would immediately create a Paradise. It is as though our great God, after having given everything, gave Himself and yet wanted to show outside of Himself a sign of His greatness. He placed in the midst of heaven two dazzling gemstones: two faces so perfect – I mean those of the Word’s Sacred Humanity and of the Blessed Virgin – so that the sight of these two faces might transport the Blessed out of themselves and cause their souls to forget every other created beauty.
Footnotes
[1] His eyes shall see the king in his beauty: Isaiah xxxiii. 17.
[2] Num. vi. 25-26.
[3] Isaiah lix. 2.
9 King Louis XI[1] sought the Infanta Joana, Princess of Portugal, as a wife for his son Charles, the Dauphin. When they brought the portrait of the Infanta and unveiled it before the King, he genuflected on both knees, adoring the infinite majesty of God who had so honoured his days as to produce such a perfect image of His sovereign beauty. For my part, I knew an honourable Lord who, having seen the painting of the Annunciation in Florence, would frequently say afterwards that one of the things that for him would make hell utterly intolerable was the thought that he would be forever deprived of the sight of her whose painting alone had won over his heart. Now, if the portrait of a mortal creature, or rather of mortal beauty, can have such power over our minds and hearts, what would be the effect of the original, whose beauty would be beyond the ability of all the painters in the world to portray, even in the slightest detail? It is quite something to say to someone that he will never get to look upon the face of God; it is the only pronouncement which has within it everything that can plunge a soul into the depths of regret and despair. In my case, I confess that I do not know how I would react if I were the poor wretch struck by such a judgement. I do not even want to receive the lesser penalty by being told that: Never ever wilt thou see the sweet face of the MOTHER OF GOD. If ever I were told this, I would hate my life as much as hell itself, and there would be nothing whatsoever that could wipe away my tears or console me in my sobbing. My heart would be given over to unceasing sighs, and I would exile myself into the remotest depths of some dark cave, there to offer in sacrifice the remainder of my days in grief and sadness.
Footnotes
[1] Vasconcellus, in Joann.
👑 👑 👑
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
No comments:
Post a Comment