Chapter 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) |
§ 5. The third reason that the Holy Virgin has the right to be considered as the Co-Redemptrix of men and the Mother of the world to come
The third reason: She suffered along with her Son
7 The sixth and final way we have of measuring the extent of her grief takes into account the duration of her spiritual martyrdom. According to the pious Abbot Rupert, the most sacred virgin spoke in the following words:
Do not imagine that my martyrdom was confined to the short time during which I saw my Son ill-treated, mocked, crowned with thorns, scourged, crucified, given wine to drink mingled with gall and, after his death, laid in the sepulchre. This was indeed the time when the sword of sorrow pierced my soul, but it had been planted there long before, because having received the gift of prophecy at the moment I became His Mother, I knew what He would have to endure. This meant that whilst bearing Him in my womb, cradling Him in my arms, breastfeeding him and nursing Him whilst He was a baby, I could always see His suffering and His death that were to come. From this, it is easy to understand how long I was the Mother of sorrow.
She revealed more about this one day to St Bridget[1] when she said that:
her sorrowful pains did not come to an end with the death of her Son, because during all the time she lived after His death she made frequent visits to the holy places around Jerusalem and in this way she continually kept alive the memory of that sad day, reopening the wounds she received.
On another occasion[2], the Holy Angel who was instructing her said:
It was not without good reason that the MOTHER OF GOD was compared to a rose; for by this symbol was signified that, growing among thorns, as she advanced in years the thorns which surrounded her grew stronger and pricked her more roughly.
This agrees with what the same MOTHER OF GOD revealed one day to St Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew King of Hungary. Here are the words of St Bonaventure[3]:
Our Lady was having a conversation with the holy widow and spoke as follows : My dear daughter, thou dost perchance imagine that it was without pain or labour that I received all those graces that God granted me; thou wouldst be mistaken for, with the exception of the grace of my first sanctification, I never received any favour from God except through the effort of great labour, with continual praying, most ardent longings, with profound devotion with much weeping and with a great spiritual affliction. I needed these continually as I tried to please Him in every way I could.
She went on to say:
Thou canst take rest assured, my dear daughter, that no grace comes down into the soul except through the channel of prayer and with mortification of the body.
This agrees, moreover, with what the same MOTHER OF GOD said to St Mechtilde, when she told her that:
God had sent her many tribulations but she had supported them with great humility and without showing her feelings to the outside world.
Footnotes
[1] In Lament. : Vulnera Christi morientis erant vulnera Matris dolentis.
[2] Serm. in Signum magnum.
[3] Lib. I Moral., c. 5.
8 Several doctors, considering this question from the perspective of the sanctuary, say that the pains of the most holy Virgin exceeded by far those experienced by women in childbirth. St John Damascene[1] and St Bernard[2] state that:
God, who had preserved her from the pains of labour when she was giving birth to the Saviour, gave them back to her with interest at the foot of the Cross, where He made her experience far worse travails. She felt torn apart inside, her heart being pierced and cut into pieces by the sword of sorrow.
St Bernard adds:
There is nothing that can be compared to the suffering she experienced, and all that can be said is that the affliction she endured was just what anyone might expect such a Mother would suffer for the loss of such a Son.
The devoted servant of the Virgin, St Bernardine[3], made an excellent point with regard to this:
Her pain was so extreme and exceeded so many bounds that, were it to be divided up amongst all creatures capable of receiving it, there would be enough to make them all die.
From this it becomes clear that it was only through a miracle that she was kept alive when assailed by the power of so many different types of pain and torment. For this reason, the Holy Fathers have no difficulty in calling her a martyr; but what am I saying, a martyr? The Blessed Deacon St Ephrem[4] calls her the honour of Martyrs; Sophronius[5], Saint Ildephonsus[6] and St Bernard[7] call her more than a martyr, and the Universal Church gives her the title: Queen of Martyrs.
Footnotes
[1] Lib. IV de Fide, c. 15.
[2] In Lament. B. Virg.
[3] T. I, Serm. 61, art. 3, c. 2.
[4] Orat. de Deipara.
[5] Serm. 2 de Assumpt.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Serm. in Signum magnum.
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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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