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
9 From everything that we have considered up until now, my first conclusion is one shared by several learned doctors, taking due note of:
• the excellent qualities of the most sacred Virgin, who offered her Son for our redemption;
• the love, affection and the greatness of the courage with which she offered Him as a sacrifice;
• the quality of her gift-offering;
• the extremity of her suffering;
• how these were united with those of the Saviour, who offered them personally on the Cross, along with His own, for our salvation; and
• the pleasure that the Eternal Father took from this.
We are taking nothing whatsoever away from the Saviour, nor from the sublime nature of the salvific undertaking, when we say that with her Son (although to a much lower degree), the redemption of men was something that she herself merited, along with the whole panoply of graces included in the economy of our salvation. To this end, she received a prevenient gift of great blessings and graces, enriched with so many favours and ennobled with so many prerogatives, as we saw earlier. The blessed St Anselm[1] made this very clear when he said:
By the holiness most pure and the purity most holy of her most generous heart, she was raised in an incomparable manner over all holiness and purity, and for this reason merited the title of the fallen world’s most worthy Redemptrix.
Later he adds[2]:
She alone amongst all other women merited being the Mediatrix of so many blessings.
St Bernardine of Siena[3], applied to her the words from Ecclesiastes : All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea doth not overflow[4]. He words this felicitously as follows:
This immense sea of graces does not overflow except so as to pour its favours on all the children of grace and salvation.
Her title of Redemptrix leads to this necessary conclusion, as will be shown more fully later on when I explain how there is no grace coming from God to men that does not pass through the hands of Mary.
Footnotes
[1] De Excellentia Virg., c. 9.
[2] Quæ tantorum beneficiorum sola præ cunctis effici meruit mediatrix.
[3] T. III, Serm. VI, art. 3, c. 4.
[4] Eccles. i. 7.
10 My second conclusion is that God alone understands perfectly the greatness of this favour she has received and to what height of glory He has raised the Holy Virgin. The Blessed St Anselm[1] tried to understand why God did not make use of a Seraph for the redemption of man, and he made the following pertinent observation:
Apart from the fact that a Seraph did not have the qualities necessary for such an undertaking (which would require almost infinite strength), there was another consideration – namely, that if He had given this honour to a created spirit, He would have been obliged to share His glory with the Seraph; and although He was the Creator of man, He would be allowing the glorious title of Redeemer to be borne by another, and in consequence man’s affection would be divided, giving a certain part to the One who had created him, whilst reserving the better part for him who had recreated and redeemed him. Sharing in this manner would be far removed from the greatness of God and His desire that the heart and love of His creature should be His and His alone.
This conclusion not only finds much support in Sacred Scripture and in the experience we ourselves have of the way God rules, but it also shows us in a wonderful manner just how highly He esteemed the Holy Virgin. That which He had never wanted to share with any other creature whatsoever, He was pleased to grant to the Mother and Spouse of His dear Son, placing on her head the Redemptive Crown, which is the greatest glory which can be given to a creature. This is always to be understood as greatest after that of MOTHER OF GOD, her unique title which prevents me from being surprised at all her others, inasmuch as we cannot wonder at any favour He might grant to her, for it was to her that He subjected His own Son, who is equal in all things and consubstantial with Him. Having received such a superabundance of divine charity, the Holy Virgin became accepted into the family of the most Holy Trinity. In consequence, the Father accepted that what He had granted to this Daughter of His could be effective by going ,as it were, outside the household; in a similar way, the Son wants her to receive all possible honour and blessings; and the Holy Spirit seeks out every conceivable way to elevate her in dignity.
Thus will she be honoured whom it pleased God to raise up.
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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