Chapter 13 The Twelfth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD
She is the Worker of great miracles
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) |
There is always a greatness about God, even in the smallest of things, but He has nevertheless reserved for Himself, says St Augustine[1], certain works which are more miraculous than the rest and which go beyond the ordinary laws of nature and of grace, in order that we might have a better understanding of the greatness of His absolute power, a power for which he is called the Omnipotent, the Master par excellence and the Worker of great miracles[2].
Even though this title in its full perfection is properly His alone through nature and through essence[3], it has nevertheless been communicated through a special privilege to the sacred Humanity, and through communication to the Blessed Virgin, whom I call in this sense the Worker of great miracles, the Omnipotent and the Absolute.
Footnotes
[1] Tract. XXIV in Joann.
[2] Who is like to thee, among the strong, O Lord? who is like to thee, glorious in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, doing wonders? Exod. xv.11.
[3] Who alone doth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever: Ps. CXXXV. 4.
§ 1. Omnipotent: the eighth title of the King of glory Incarnate
1 When it comes to this wonderful title, once again Solomon has the honour of having prefigured the Saviour. That he was a great worker of miracles and the Thaumaturge[1] of the Hebrews I have no doubt, having read[2] that he received as a gift infused knowledge of all the secrets of nature, that he had a perfect understanding of the power of celestial influences[3], the forces operating in the elements, in rocks, metals and plants, the properties of animals, sympathy and antipathy[4], and in general the strength and extent of all natural causes.
If we see that through applying themselves industriously in any of these areas there may be found men who can produce effects so extraordinary as to seem like miracles, whether it is in mechanical movement through the proportion of weights, line of direction, controlled breathing, through the power of vacuum and such like discoveries; or in the field of medicine by the use of untried simples[5] and distilled essences; or in nature as a whole through the modification of species – what are we meant to think about him who understood perfectly the power of all these causes, who knew how to apply them and had the necessary means to hand? This is why even though Sacred history does not specify what he did, and even though I do not accept as authentic the miraculous cures that Josephus and others attribute to him[6], (forasmuch as they are rabbinical fables, or even works of magic, which we would be ill-advised to attribute to such a great and wise Prince), nevertheless I have no doubt whatsoever that he had the knowledge and ability to work great wonders, since he said[7] that Wisdom the great worker of all things, had left none of her secrets hidden from him, whether for speculative or for practical purposes, so as to link him with the great King of wonders, of whom I am now about to speak.
Footnotes
[1] A worker of marvels or miracles; a wonder-worker.
[2] For he hath given me the true knowledge of the things that are: to know the disposition of the whole world, and the virtues of the elements. Wisd. vii. 17.
[3] The supposed flowing or streaming from the stars or heavens of an ethereal fluid acting upon the character and destiny of men, and affecting sublunary things generally.
[4] Antipathy: of substances, lacking in affinity, as in: there is an antipathy between oil and water.
[5] Herbs and medicinal plants.
[6] Lib. VIII Antiquit.
[7] Wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me. Wisd. vii. 21.
2 I have used the word link forasmuch as even though it may be true that the Saviour possesses in a sovereign degree this practical knowledge about the secrets of nature, and also a natural power over all the most wondrous effects that can be produced through the application of sensible causes – all this is so little in comparison with the supernatural power He has even as a man that I am not going to consider it further. It must be understood that, apart from the omnipotence He has according to His divine person and nature, being equal in all things and everywhere to His Father; apart from the participation in this omnipotence that He received as man through communication of idioms[1], meaning that in the same way that we speak of a man-God we can also speak of an omnipotent man – apart from this, I am saying He received immediately in His most holy humanity a pre-eminent power so great and so absolute that it is difficult to distinguish it from omnipotence, except in its dependency upon Divinity. This power extends over all nature, which is entirely subject to Him, not only in relation to those effects which are ordinary, but also for those which are extraordinary and which we call miraculous effects; we can say the power extends in general to anything it pleases Him to do. The proof of this is so clear in the Gospels that I do not intend to produce examples; I will simply touch briefly on the three main reasons why the Holy Fathers teach that this power was given to the sacred Humanity, because my aim is to show later in this discussion how the glorious Mother has this same power at a secondary level by virtue of participation.
Footnotes
[1] Communication of Idioms (Communicatio Idiomatum): Communication of properties: A technical expression in the theology of the Incarnation. It means that the properties of the Divine Word can be ascribed to the man Christ, and that the properties of the man Christ can be predicated of the Word. See ST III 16.
👑 👑 👑
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
No comments:
Post a Comment