Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 4 : § 1.3 > § 2.1

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)

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

 3   Men are free to think what they will, and some may come to their own conclusions regarding this question. I am simply expressing my own opinion which is that one of the most moving and most powerful motives He might have had for taking on the mantle of a pilgrim was so that He might be nourished, raised and served by this peerless Virgin, and in this way raise her as high as it is possible for a mere creature beneath His own sovereign Majesty. It must follow from this that the innocent attractions of this Virgin Mother are worthy of wonder since they went right up to Heaven and were able to draw the divine Word from the bosom of His Eternal Father, making Him desirous of being nursed against her chaste breasts, being nourished by the milk which Heaven had placed there, of being cradled in her arms, of being fed by her hands, of snuggling against her bosom, and of being altogether indebted to her for His upbringing. The blessed Bishop Proclus spoke as follows at the Council of Ephesus[1]:

Do not imagine that the Son borne by the Virgin in her sacred womb was different from Him who dwelled in the bosom of His Eternal Father from all the eternity, or that the infant cradled in Mary‘s arms was anyone other than Him who walks on the wings of the winds[2]. 

The holy Doctors St Gregory Thaumaturgus and St John Damascene recognise in this a feature of the MOTHER OF GOD so majestic in its greatness that they are altogether astonished.

What is it that I am hearing, and what am I seeing? asks the first of these[3]: a Virgin who wrapped up warmly Him who is clothed with light, a maiden who swaddled Him who formed all creatures, who laid in a manger Him who is seated on the Cherubim throne and is praised by countless thousands of blessed Spirits, who feeds at her breast Him who nourisheth all that hath life. For all these considerations, most holy Virgin, which bind thee in such a special way to the Word incarnate, it must needs be that thy merits surpass all our praise.

The second writer says:

She is more noble than anything in all creation, forasmuch as she furnished the builder of all things with the flesh and the blood which He united to His divinity; she fed Him with her milk, and He kissed her countless times with his little lips; in short, it cannot be denied that there was in her something quite extraordinary, which is why the Eternal Father chose her to be the Mother who would nourish His only begotten Son.

Footnotes

[1] Orat. de Nativit. Domini.

[2] Ps. CIII. 3.

[3] Serm. 1 de Annuntiat.

§ 2. Concerning the care and affection with which the holy Virgin nourished, raised and served her beloved Son

 1   To hear the words of Martha, the charitable hostess of the Saviour, you would say that she is perhaps forgetting the privileged position of her sister Mary, or that she she does not understand how contemplation has, as it were, neither feet for walking, nor hands for working, nor a heart which makes someone bustle around in service of another like her. Saint Bernard[1] came close to the truth, it seems to me, when he said:

In a case such as this, it Mary should have called Martha to help her, rather than Martha trouble Mary.

In fact, if we consider how Martha and Mary are perfectly represented in the blessed MOTHER OF GOD (as was explained elsewhere[2]), we shall find that Mary was truly the one who drew down from Heaven the divine Word and who enabled the union which He made with our nature to be put into practice; but when it came to providing a home for Him, of welcoming Him and looking after Him, she should have called Martha to help her; forasmuch as, in the words of St Bernard:

Mary has no house to offer as a home, no hands to provide service, no feet to help in her tasks and  no body to grow weary through her labours.

It is the task and duty of Martha, whom we shall see busying herself with our Lord in a quiet and holy manner, to breastfeed Him, to rear Him and to serve Him.

Footnotes

[1] Serm. 3 de Assumpt.

[2] Part I, chapter 3, last §.

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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