Chapitre 6 : The Fifth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD
She is the Mother of the world to come and Redeemer of our race
Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020) |
§ 2. The title Mother of the world to come and Co-redemptrix which was given to the Mother and Spouse of the the Saviour
1 It is greatly to the honour of the female sex that some of them have done so much to forward the spread of the Christian religion that they might be described, after God Himself, as the principle instruments used for this purpose. Apart from mentioning the example of St Martha, who has always been called from ancient times the Apostle of Provence and the adjoining regions, it is clear that the public conversion of the greatest empires and the greatest Kingdoms was mostly due to their charity, hard work and their unfailing courage. History has recorded this truth faithfully and shows, for example, how much the Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Prince, owed to having for a mother someone as virtuous, wise and devout as St Helena who provided him with powerful reasons to embrace the religion which Heaven was showing him with so many wonders. It will never be forgotten in France how much is owed to the sweet memory of St Clotilda, one of its first Queens and niece of Gundobad, King of Burgundy. She spoke so powerfully to her husband, the invincible King Clovis, and exhorted him so successfully that in the end he resolved to be baptised a Christian, bringing thereby great advantages to the Church and to the French people. The English will be forever indebted to the wife of their King Ethelbert for his conversion. She was of the Royal House of France and is known to some as Bertha, but I prefer to follow Pope St Gregory, the Apostle of the English, who calls her Adilberge.
Footnotes
[1] Chap. 11.
[2] Isai. ix. 6.
2 May it still be acknowledged to the honour of the most Christian Kingdom of Spain that Hermenegild, the first king of the Goths who publicly embraced the Catholic religion in that country, was moved to do so by his wise and loving wife, Ingund, grand-daughter of Clotaire and daughter of his son Sigebert[1]. The ancient kingdom of the Lombards will in a similar way be indebted to the illustrious House of Bavaria[2] for having given them the valiant Theodelinda, who persuaded King Agilulf to be baptised in the true religion, which he then caused to be preached throughout his lands for the consolation and benefit of souls. I could say just as much about the case of Hungary which owes the beginnings of its conversion to the most noble and most illustrious Gisela[3], wife of St Stephen, King of Hungary and sister of the Emperor Henry II, two Princes worthy of being held in eternal memory.
Footnotes
[1] Baron., an. 585.
[2] Baron., an. 391.
[3] In vita S. Stephani.
3 The sort of glory that we have just been discussing, however, pales in comparison with that which the female sex received from the MOTHER OF GOD, whom all the kingdoms and all the nations of the world must acknowledge as their Co-redemptrix and the inseparable companion of the Saviour in the economy of our salvation.
The pious St Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln[1], was drawn from the ranks of the most Holy Carthusian Order. He declared that the Holy Virgin so raised the honour of her sex that it is not possible to go any higher.
Before him, the Blessed Saint Cyril[2], Archbishop of Jerusalem, said that women have provided satisfaction in a more than abundant manner for the obligation they owe to men as a result of being taken from the side of Adam.
This title of Co-redemptrix and the issues arising from it are of such importance that, rather than simply passing over it, I feel duty-bound to establish its foundation so there is no longer room for any doubt. I do this for the sake of the immortal memory of this Princess and to confound heresies and hell.
Footnotes
[1] In ejus vita, c. 13, 17 Novemb.
[2] Catechesi, 12.
4 In the first place, we should all understand that the Holy Doctors make free use of words expressing this idea and this gives me confidence when I follow their teaching.
Where Eve brought ruin, Mary brought salvation. These are the words of the great Pope St Innocent III[1].
Most holy Lady, says the pious St Bernard[2], by means of thee, heaven hath been populated, hell hath been emptied, and the ruins of the heavenly Jerusalem have been repaired. Elsewhere[3] he goes on: Mary has been made all for all people, and through her most abundant charity they are all of them obliged by and to her. She has made available for all the fountain of her mercy from which all may partake in its plenitude: the captive will obtain deliverance; the sick, their health; the sorrowing, their consolation; sinners, their pardon; the righteous, graces; the Angels, their joy; and the Holy Trinity, Glory. In another place[4] he says: Contemplate with astonishment her who discovered grace, the Mediatrix of salvation, the Co-redemptrix of all the elect.
The Patriarch of Constantinople St Germanus, having given serious consideration to this, says no less. Here are his words[5]:
Most holy Virgin, how can we begin to number the benefits we receive from thee? For no one is saved except through thee, no one is delivered from the evils which afflict him except through thy mediation, and whoever receives any favour or mercy, remains indebted to thee.
Through thee, says the pious St Ephrem, we have been reconciled with God. Thou art for prisoners, their deliverance; thou art salvation, peace, and joy; thou art the Mediatrix bringing reconciliation for the whole world.
Footnotes
[1] Serm. 2 de Assumpt. : Quod damnavit Eva, salvavit Maria.
[2] Serm. 4 de Assumpt.
[3] Serm. in Signum magnum.
[4] Epist. 174.
[5] Serm. de Dormit. B. Virg.
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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 Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
© Peter Bloor 2025
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