Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 5 : § 5.4-6

Chapter 5 : The Fourth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She was the Spouse and the Companion of the Saviour

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)

§ 5. The Nuptial Rite and its Ceremonies

Applying the nuptial ceremonies to the divine Groom and His Bride

 4   Let us take up where we left off and return to the Saviour and the Holy Virgin, His blessed Spouse. My own view is that their wedding day may be understood as involving the whole life of this Prince of Heaven, since in the language of the Holy Spirit, no less is needed to make a good day[1]. When the morning came of this day so longed for, the Saviour had no sooner greeted His mother than He disappeared, leaving her anxiously sorrowing at having lost Him. This was when at the age of twelve He went off secretly so that she would have to seek Him out, and finally He was found in the Temple amidst of the Doctors of the law. Who would be able to describe to us the grief in the heart of this holy lover during the period that her Beloved was missing? Only the Angels know how many tears that she wept, how many sighs she sent up to Heaven, and how she filled her little bedchamber with her sorrowful grieving. 

Everything she saw of her Beloved served to renew her pain, everything she heard tell of Him pierced her heart, and the continual memory which she had of past joys served only to increase the sadness within her and which was consuming her. Sometimes she would address herself to the Eternal Father, humbly begging Him to return her dear Spouse to her, in case perchance He had transported Him up to Heaven, inasmuch as it was impossible for her to live any longer without seeing Him again. Sometimes she would turn towards her absent love and say to Him :  My dearest Spouse, my eternal good, the unique consolation of thy poor afflicted Bride, where art thou? Who hath hidden thee away, the treasure of my soul? Who is feeding thee, thou who art the Father of the poor? Where dost thou take thy rest at night, and where dost thou spend thy time during the day? Who hath taken away my content and who hath desired the happiness of possessing thee? After that, she called upon all the Angels in Heaven to help her find Him who was the lodestar of her desire, the object of her affections, her good, her heart, her life, her all. 

Now if I were once to begin describing how she embraced and caressed Him once she had found Him, and the tender gestures which her soul’s Beloved gave her in return, I know that I could go on forever. These are, however, private matters and consequently let us avoid going any further in trying to understand their secrets.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. II Peter iii. 8.

 5   When she had found her beloved, she promised that she would in future take great care of Him and would never leave Him. When considered as the life of the Saviour, the rest of this day was mostly employed in adorning this Spouse of His with all sorts of graces and gifts from the glorious Holy Spirit. Certain learned Doctors (whom we have previously quoted) have said that He came down from Heaven more on account of the holy Virgin than for all the rest of mankind taken together. If this is true, then it would necessarily follow that He would apply himself in a most particular way to making her perfectly beautiful and lovable in a way beyond the power of words to describe. Otherwise, how would the more than thirty years they spent together have been spent? What would have been the purpose and benefit of so many speeches, so many lessons, so many examples and so many miracles? We need only remember what was said in Part I[1] of this work concerning the daily progress and advancement she made in virtue, and the graces that she received unceasingly from Heaven. There would be sufficient of all these to allow us to conclude that the Angels would be altogether lost in wonder at the excellent qualities and great splendours of this peerless Princess.

Footnotes

[1] Chap. 7.

 6   I realise, however, that it is getting late and it is now time to hitch the horses to the carriage of love which has been prepared and we can then follow it to the dwelling of the Bride and Groom. This is how I am describing the noble city of Jerusalem, along with the Bishop Synesius[1], Saint John Damascene[2], Saint Bridget[3], Hugh of Saint Victor[4] and many others, who taught that this city was the place of birth of the glorious Virgin. 

Hurry, ye Blessed Spirits, and make haste to see the true Solomon who is going to make His royal entry into the capital of His lands, and who is about to bring to fulfilment that for which you have longed for so earnestly. If ever there were a reason for you to leave Heaven, here you now have it, since you are to make up the Court of your Prince and to demonstrate on this happy occasion the love that you bear to the Spouse and His Bride. You understand well enough, most noble intelligences, that the Royal Carriage which is to convey them is none other than their own love and the ardent desire that they have to conclude this divine marriage for the benefit of posterity; the hall where the wedding feast will be celebrated is Mount Sion and the nuptial chamber is Calvary. You must be aware that these chaste lovers are waiting impatiently for the time when they can be together on high and how long this day seems to them, delaying the consummation of their happiness. Quickly, therefore, take up your torches and sing out the Epithalamium that the Great King David prepared for you long ago. 

I am told that we can now hear them filling the air with their hymn of praise for the Spouse and His Bride. They begin, most properly, with the Spouse, for to Him all honour belongs. I pray that everyone will now be silent so that we can all hear the sound of their beautiful voices and music.

Footnotes

[1] Hymno 9.

[2] Orat. 1 de Nativit., et lib. IV de Fide, c. 15.

[3] Lib. V Revelat., c. 13.

[4] Serm. 65.

👑       👑       👑

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