Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 4 : § 3.8-9

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)

§ 3. The sweetness, the graces and the honour that the Holy Virgin received for all the things she did caring for little Jesus

The honour received by the Holy Virgin when she was bringing up the Saviour

 8   The honour she received from bringing up the Saviour was no less than the sweetness and the merits we mentioned above. If her beloved Son. who faithfully rewarded people for their good works, did not allow the world to be forget the name of Martha, whom He loved for the charity she showed to Him; if He promised Mary Magdalene. in return for the oil that she poured onto His feet, that her name would be known wherever the Holy Gospel was preached[1]; if He granted so many favours[2] to all those who followed Him, some of whom with the shadow of their body[3] others with their handkerchiefs[4], healed all sorts of sicknesses, then to what height of honour must He not have raised her who formed Him with her blood, who nourished Him with her milk, and who raised Him tenderly with care and love beyond the power of words to describe? It would be superfluous for me to say more about this, since the fame of this Lady has spread to all corners of the world and there is no place under heaven where they do not sing: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck[5]. 

I would like to echo the words of Saint Augustine who says:

Let us wonder, let us rejoice, let us love, let us praise, let us adore and let us show our thanks[6]. 

Let us wonder at how the Sovereign Majesty came down from on high, at how a mere creature is lifted up to the honour of feeding and teaching God, at how deep are the secrets and mysteries in the union of these two, and how abundant are the fruits which we have gathered from them. 

Let us rejoice with the Son who has found such a worthy Mother, and with the Mother who has raised such a noble Son. 

Let us love with a tender love the nursling of the Virgin most chaste, and her who fed the divine Infant. 

Let us praise to the utmost of our powers Him who scaled down His greatness, making His own the needs of a tiny infant; and let us praise her who amongst all women was chosen to serve in so many ways the Son of the Monarch of the Heavens. 

Let us adore that which we are not worthy to comprehend, and that which the Seraphim adore along with us. 

Let us show our thanks to Him who, so that we might be filled with His glory, has deigned to be fed like a little child, and to her who out of millions of women was found worthy to give Him His first food.

Footnotes

[1] Amen I say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done, shall be told for a memory of her. Matt. xxvi. 13.

[2] Basilius Seleuciæ Episc., Serm.de Annuntiat.

[3] that when Peter came, his shadow at the least, might overshadow any of them, and they might be delivered from their infirmities. Acts v. 15.

[4] So that even there were brought from his [Paul’s] body to the sick, handkerchiefs and aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the wicked spirits went out of them. Acts xix. 12.

[5] Luke: xi. 27.

[6] Serm. 35 de Sanctis : Admiremur, gratulemur, amemus, laudemus, adoremus, gratias illi agamus, etc.

 9   I am happy to conclude with the words of the Holy Abbot Rupert[1]:

We shall ever rejoice in her and with her, in the memory of how she fed Him with food from her breasts; we shall praise forever the God of Heaven, Him who conferred on her the favour of wanting her for His nursing Mother; the feeling of intoxication that we experience in contemplating what she did will surpass all the sensible delights symbolised in this life by wine; in short, all those souls loving righteousness will love her, thank her and bless her for ever and ever.

Footnotes

[1] Lib. I in Cantica.

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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