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) |
§ 8. A curse transformed into a blessing : the second fruit of mankind’s restoration by the Blessed Virgin
5 In short, this is why the Holy Fathers refer Adam and Eve, and all their children generally who experience the fruits of the first curse, to this holy Mother who enables them to see things anew and is for them a source of rejoicing and renewal.
I have already caught wind of the good news, says St Bernard[1], to be heard and taken in by Eve and all her daughters who give birth and are born with the pains of labour. They need only to pay heed and listen attentively to the words of the Angel. Take courage, poor Adam; and thou poor Eve especially – take courage and thou wilt find consolation in the daughter that God has granted thee: the time hath now come when the opprobrium thou hast endured will be lifted from thee and it will no longer be permissible for Adam to say that the woman he received from God led him into the snares of Satan; but rather he will be forced to confess that it was by means of a woman that he was rescued from those snares. Make haste, therefore, Eve and go to Mary; let the daughter answer for the mother; let her bring to an end the excuses and imputations of her father; forasmuch as the man who was brought down by a woman hath been restored not only by a woman, but by a woman who is wise, succeeding the one who acted unwisely; by a humble woman, who hath been given to him in place of a proud woman; and by a woman who giveth him life, replacing her who caused death to swallow him up.
St Augustine[2] issues a special invitation to all women, in whatever condition they find themselves:
to come and offer veneration to her who hath restored them in honour:
- the virgins – to offer their duties of state to the Princess of virgins;
- those who are married – to her who is the very idea of someone with a good and holy marriage;
- those who are mothers – to the model for mothers; and
- those who nurse babes and sucklings – to the most chaste nursing mother in the world.
As for me, I feel the need to summon people of all ages, conditions and professions, and not leave out anyone amongst the children of men; inviting them to come and offer their veneration and their service unto her because, as is observed by St John of Neocaesarea[3], she has brought blessings for both sexes, for people of every age and every condition in the world.
Footnotes
[1] Homil. 2 in Assumpt.
[2] Serm. 15 de Tempore.
[3] Serm. 1 de Annuntiat.
§ 9. Adam’s recall from exile and his renewal : third fruit of the restoration of men by the Blessed Virgin
1 Never did the world know a day more serene and more filled with joy than when God made the decision to show mercy to poor Adam, who had been condemned and exiled from Paradise, stripped of his nobility and all his honours. This was also the day chosen by Providence to give hope to the criminal that there would be a happy outcome to his case. In the end, God had given in to the requests and arguments of friends and agreed that the parties should have their day in court so that their cases might be examined. Once He was seated upon His throne and the Princes, Lords and Officers of the Crown had taken their places, Justice and Mercy were summoned by a herald and led into the middle of the assembly where they were to present their addresses to the court.
Justice was clad in a crimson mantle embroidered with the scales of justice and, after making a profound bow to the King whose face shone that day with extraordinary majesty, she was the first to speak, her face on fire with zeal. She opened her speech by declaring that she found it hard to believe the court would have any purpose other than to issue a judgement increasing the penalties of this public enemy (as she called poor Adam). Insofar as it had been his first offence, it was clear that he had been treated with excessive leniency, and that his crime deserved further punishments, not only by reason of the person whose commandment he had scornfully rejected, but also for the lack of any reason he had for his crime and for the intolerable contempt that he had shown in this matter of a wretched mouthful of apple. He continued by saying that if we were to proceed further and consider the way in which Adam and his descendants behaved subsequently, we would find that instead of amending their ways through penitence they had piled up sin upon sin, and seemed to have no other aim than to stir up their Creator’s anger still further, drawing down new punishments upon their heads. Further, His Majesty knew better than any other the enormity of the endless crimes which had been committed in the world, and that the only way of bringing the insolent behaviour to an end was to apply vengeance at the earliest possible opportunity and to eliminate them all. Further, if it were decided to rehabilitate them, then it would be necessary to pardon at the same time the fallen Angels, or to provide a good reason for those Blessed Spirits to repent who saw men rehabilitated and their companions lost without hope of a reprieve. Furthermore, she added, what fitting satisfaction could be expected from them which could match the enormity of their iniquities? No, even were they to tear themselves into a little pieces, or to weep rivers of tears by way of reparation, this would be as nothing compared to the price demanded by their iniquity. Accordingly, she concluded, they should receive a heavy weight of new penalties by a way of reprimand for their temerity; in the alternative, they should be cleansed from the world and made companions in the misfortune of those whose advice they had followed and whose transgressions they had imitated.
2 During the whole of this speech, the effect of which was to embitter people’s spirits and to make them abandon any thoughts of gentleness and forgiveness which they might have had for men, the eyes of those present came for the most part to be fixed upon Mercy, who finally was constrained to lower her veil, so as not to suffer from the distress caused by the words of Justice, and even more so the great tears which trickled down her cheeks, and the sobs which she found difficult to control. Justice had scarcely concluded her speech when all eyes turned towards Mercy to see what she was going to say in response. The hearts of all those who saw her were touched by her gentleness, her constancy, her weeping and her white apparel, modest and well cared for; but they felt anxious for her and for the party that she was representing, fearing that this would not turn out in a way befitting her honour. Then, after pausing to wipe away her tears and to compose herself, she bowed low, with her face towards the ground and her eyes lowered.
She then spoke in the following manner: Most Sovereign Majesty, if those before whom I am speaking had the least suspicion in the world that I should want to undertake the defence of a wretched man to the prejudice of Thy honour and your glory, then this would stop my speech in its tracks, and I would avoid adding a single word. I appreciate what I owe to Thy greatness, and the obligations upon me to honour it. I think, however, that everyone believes that the duty in which I am bound to Thy service is capable of loosening my tongue and gives me the courage and determination to continue in order to point out in all humility the glory that would be Thine in recalling and rehabilitating a poor man who is in extreme distress. In this, I ask Thee to remember that the greatness of Thy majesty shows itself incomparably more in actions of gentleness and kindness rather than than in loud threats and the dread of torture. Fittingly, it is through love and the effects of generosity that Thou art known by Thyr creatures; this is what wins their hearts and their love; this is what Thou hast in Thyself and which emanates from Thy essence; whereas when it comes to severity and punishment, you Thou art reacting to their offences and are constrained to behave in a way contrary to Thy natural inclinations.
As far as I am concerned, I confess that, far from wanting the exoneration of Adam and his children, on the contrary in this I am on the side of Justice, my venerable sister, who in this regard has been too sparing. I accept that men’s crimes are great and their iniquities multiply every day; but what else can be expected from them, since they have been cut off from the help of Heaven, being left prey to their evil inclinations and the movements of their corrupt nature? What can be expected, except that they will pile misfortune upon misfortune and they will fall down the rocks until they are completely crushed and find themselves at the bottom of the precipice? On the other hand, if Heaven shows itself but once favourable to their wretched condition and if Thy infinite goodness, which alone can renew them, holds out a hand to them, I have a firm hope that they will get back on their feet, which will enable them to offer service and honour to Thee. Finally, they do not have hearts of stone, nor are they steelyin their indifference; humility is in their nature and may be drawn out through gentleness; love alone is capable of achieving anything you would want in this respect.
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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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