Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 4 : § 1.1-2

Chapter 4 : The Third Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She was the one who nourished and brought up the divine Word

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)

The nourishment and education of Kings is a matter of such importance that the philosopher Plato conducted research into the most noteworthy customs followed at the Persian court. Amongst these, he was particularly struck by the care they took in allocating the infants of their Kings, and particularly the successor to the Crown, to nurses chosen from amongst the Princesses of the Kingdom, and especially those distinguished for their exceptional qualities. Now, if reason teaches that no care and vigilance should be regarded as too much when it comes to bringing up a man who is to govern others with the power of sovereignty, and if men with no more than their limited prudence have taken so many pains about this, then what qualities would have to be sought in her who was to nourish and teach God? And what can we imagine would emerge from the infinite Providence of the Eternal Father and the love that He had for His only begotten Son when it comes to this choice? Our sole motive in this enquiry is to arrive at a conception in our minds of the Holy Virgin’s sublime splendours. It seems to me that it should be more than sufficient to consider the fact that God chose her uniquely above any other, and that she was the most accomplished in all the perfections that had ever been seen under the Sun. Let us now start our exploration of the subject and I am hopeful that the course of our discussion will demonstrate this in a convincing manner.

§ 1. The excellent qualities of her who nourished and brought up the Word incarnate

 1   The Prophet Jeremiah asked God a question in a spirit of holy ecstasy[1]: O expectation of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble: why wilt thou be a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man turning in to lodge? With this thought in mind, I asked myself: Is this reaction not a sign of the hard-heartedness and coarseness of His own people who, according to the beloved Disciple[2], did not want to know Him; and who in their own towns and country treated Him as a stranger[3]? Is this not to teach us by His own example to turn away from the perishable things of life and to understand that we are strangers and pilgrims on earth[4]?

For nearly twelve hundred years, the world has been wondering at the great courage of the fearless Saint Alexius. Even today it is impossible not to be astonished at his life and I believe this feeling will not abate until the end of the world. It was, in fact, an altogether novel sight: that of a young Lord, who was among the noblest, the wealthiest and the finest in the world’s capital, banished through his own choice from the city of his birth, received later for the love of God in his own house, a pilgrim in his home, a guest of his own family, unrecognised by those nearest to him, a stranger to his father, his mother, and his spouse, begging in the midst of the wealth which could be available to him, an abject outcast from honours in which he alone has no part, the butt of scorn from the riff-raff among servants, housed in a wretched corner of the house which was just like a tiny cell under the lackeys’ quarters.

This is a most exceptional example, I agree, but it would be an offence against all reason to compare it with what happened to the King of glory, who came as a stranger into the world which was the work of His own hands, who chose to beg for His clothing, His food and His lodging, the Monarch of His subjects, the Creator of His creatures, God of men: this sums up everything.

Footnotes

[1] Jeremiah xiv. 8.

[2] He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. John: i. 10-11.

[3] Mark. vi. 1-6; John: iv. 44.

[4] I Peter ii. 11.

 2   Perhaps we should point out at this juncture just how highly He esteemed hospitality. Not only did He recommend it so frequently and in so many different ways[1], promising 

    • to consider such kindness shown to others as being offered to Himself, and to stand surety for those who took in the poor for love of Him; 

    • to ensure their charity would be made known in the fullness of time to the whole world, and to give them a kingdom in Heaven as a reward for their kind-heartedness; 

    • to send Angels disguised as pilgrims, or to come in His own person, to be received by such as Abraham and by numerous other Saints, in both the Old and New Testaments; 

    – not only did He do all this, but He made Himself the recipient of the mercy of His own creatures, staying in the houses that He had made for them, and living on the alms that He had supplied to them. 

O ye souls that have been raised up: tell all peoples of the wondrous examples of love that God hath shown unto us forasmuch as, in order to win Heaven for us, it was not enough for Him to send His ministers who might receive our charitable actions on His behalf, but He chose to come and receive them in person so as to have the means of presenting them to His Eternal Father, and so that He might be better placed to ask for Heaven as a reward for the little acts of kindness He had received from us on earth.

Footnotes

[1] See, e,g., Matt. xxv. 34-40.

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The Virgin of Tenderness. >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