Chapter 1 : Understanding the basis of Part III
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) |
§ 1. The Holy Virgin is the true Mother of all the children of the Church
The second reason the Holy Virgin may be considered the Mother of all the children of the Church
5 In the second place, the Holy Virgin is Mother of the children of salvation by reason of her status and role as Spouse of the Saviour. I am speaking here of this first and principal Spouse whom he chose to be His faithful companion, the Lady of all his possessions and His coadjutrix in the work of our redemption and salvation. Bearing in mind that I have already spoken at some length on this in Part II, I shall simply point out in passing that this truth has the authority of St Augustine who teaches[1] that:
The Virgin has every right to be called the spiritual Mother of the Saviour’s children (who are members of His mystical body), since through her charity she cooperated in their spiritual birth.
If you were to ask St Anselm when this divine Spouse was delivered of all her spiritual children, he would say that this was during the passion of her beloved Son and her most blessed Spouse:[2]
Whilst He was in agony on the Cross, she for her part cooperated as Mother in bringing forth into the world spiritual descendants who were to surpass in numbers the grains of sand on the seashore; at this time, she suffered mysterious pangs and an inner martyrdom much more violent than any physical punishment.
This caused Rupert[3] to say that there was a very great difference between her first confinement when the Saviour was born of her in Bethlehem, and the second when she was delivered of us, next to the Cross :
This is because in the case of her first confinement, not only did she experience no labour pains or suffering whatsoever, but her delivery was accompanied by a feeling of extreme spiritual contentment; in the second, however, her soul was pierced with a sword of sorrow, and she became prey to terrible languor and distress.
It was at this moment, according to the Holy Fathers, that St John the Evangelist became her first-born son, and that in his person the Holy Virgin was made Mother of all the Saviour’s children. It was when he said to her: Woman, behold thy son[4], that he commended all the others to her in the same way, not as strangers but as her own children whom she was helping to bring forth into the world and who were to be raised by her for Heaven.
Footnotes
[1] Lib. de Sancta Virgin., c. 6.
[2] De Excellent. Virg., c. 5.
[3] Lib. XIII in Joann.
[4] John xix. 26.
6 What a happy day for the Mother, but even more joyously happy for her children! Let Job curse as much as he likes the night of his conception and the day which brought him forth from his mother’s womb; let him wish that day turned into eternal darkness, let him wish to see it erased from the calendar, or at the very least numbered among ill-starred and inauspicious days[1]. Let Jeremiah take issue with his mother and lament that she ever brought him into the light of day[2]. For my part, I wish I could have all the eloquence of men and Angels so as to be able to offer up praise for this day a thousand times blessed which made us children of such a Mother, and brought for us the happiness of belonging to such a Father. May this day hold first rank amongst the happiest days in the year; let it be a day for prayers and works of thanksgiving; let it be most nobly commemorated amongst all the other days we celebrate, and let there be sung in honour of the Father and the Mother the most pleasing canticles that love and affection can inspire in the hearts of those who are their children.
Footnotes
[1] Job iii.
[2] Jerem. xx. 14-18.
§ 2. She is Mother in a more special way for those of her children who are devoted to her
1 There are further things for us to discover concerning the happiness of the children of the MOTHER OF GOD. Their first and foremost blessing comes from a secret which is hidden under the name of Mother, namely a very special spirit of benevolence which she has towards those who are most dear to her. In order to understand this more clearly, it needs to be said that every cause, however general or universal it might be, has certain particular effects which are specially attributable to it. The Sun has indeed been thought of as the common father of everything beneath it and its action is implicated in the production of all material things. This notwithstanding, gold is regarded as the Sun’s own, particular effect and for this reason alchemists have called gold the Son of the Sun. If you study gold closely, you will immediately agree that the Sun may be said to have taken pleasure in forming it and fashioning it from the bowels of the earth, its mother, forming it as far as possible in its own image and likeness. Just as the Sun is Prince of the stars, in the same way gold has been made king of metals. Look closely at the colour of gold which seems to be drawn from the Sun’s rays and it is for this reason that the poets call the rays golden; consider the brightness of gold which partakes of the Sun’s splendour; think too about the properties of gold, and you will agree that it is, for example, entirely incorruptible – just like the Sun, since even the most powerful of all the elements, namely fire, cannot damage it. It never shows any sign of rust or decay and does not soil or stain the hand of anyone touching it. In daily use, it produces benefits to human nature and life no more than less than the Sun its father. In short, you would say that the Sun wanted gold to be central to the earth in the same way that the Sun is in the midst of the heavens.
Footnotes
[1] “Gold is one of the seven metals of alchemy (gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron & tin). For the alchemist, it represented the perfection of all matter on any level, including that of the mind, spirit, and soul. The symbol for gold could also be used to represent the sun in astrology.” See Royal Society of Chemistry: Periodic Table.
👑 👑 👑
 |
| The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century. |
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.
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