Chapter 3 : The Second Star or Splendour of the Crown of Goodness of the MOTHER OF GOD
She is a loving Mother for her children
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) |
§ 3. The Holy Virgin is the Mother of fair Love : the qualities of this Love
1 If the love of the incomparable Mother is beautiful in its birth and in its effects, it is no less so in its qualities; you will understand this more clearly once we have looked at them.
2 The first quality is its wondrous ardour; this is easy to show from what has already been said concerning its birth and its origins.
3 The second is how extraordinarily caring it is, always active and always focused on its object.
4 The third is how extremely resourceful it is, always finding new means to make an impact.
5 The fourth is how eager it is to be of service, because its only desire is to do good for us.
6 The fifth is how it always wants to be of help, being so moved when people are in need that it cannot see them without coming to their aid. I am skimming over these qualities because my aim is to examine them more closely in the following pages.
7 The sixth quality is that it surpasses in sweetness and gentleness all other love in the world.
Do not hold back but have the courage to approach this kind-hearted, says her devoted servant St Bernard[1]. There is nothing severe in her and nothing that would give you any reason to be fearful, for she is suffused with sweetness and gentleness; this is why Solomon portrays her with milk and with wool in her hands[2].
I am quite taken by the words of St Ambrose[3] when he compares her to Manna, sweetest of all foods :
Virginal Manna, prepared by the hands of Angels; Manna of such delicacy and brightness; but above all, Manna as the true essence of sweetness distilled from all other foods.
This, however, is only a simplistic image of the holy Virgin’s gentleness of spirit since she has millions of children to care for but she knows exactly what each one of them needs. St Augustine[4] compares her to the land which was once promised to the Israelites, a land so rich and fertile that Sacred Scripture describes it as flowing with milk and honey. He goes on to say that anyone who is blessed with encountering this Virgin most propitious should seek no other abode since she is that most pleasant dwelling promised by heaven to the children of salvation. This makes me fearful for those who have an embittered spirit or whose hearts have become hardened. If I may be permitted to say of the Mother what the great Apostle has said of the Son : Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His[5], then we have to conclude that those proud and haughty spirits are far removed from the qualities that the Mother of gentleness asks of her children ; and if they do not make an effort towards greater humility and gentleness, they run a terrible risk of being disavowed by the Mother of fair Love, which would be the greatest of all misfortunes that could possibly befall them.
Footnotes
[1] Serm. in Signum magnum.
[2] Prov. xxvii. 27 & xxxi. 13.
[3] In Psal. XXI.
[4] Serm. 100 Temp.
[5] Rom. viii. 9.
8 The seventh quality of this love is that it is wondrously firm and constant, unshakable by any difficulty that might arise. The pious Cardinal Peter Damian, who is able to speak from experience, has stated this in the following terms[1]:
I know, dear Lady, that thou art most kind-hearted and that the power of thy love for us is irresistible, in which thou art like unto thy beloved Son who, in thee and through thee, hath loved us with sovereign charity.
It is indeed greatly for our benefit that her love should be so deeply rooted. What on earth would become of us if this love could be overcome by our weakness and folly? Were this not so, what indifference and mutability we would experience in the spirit of our beloved Mother, to whom we would be giving a hundred reasons each day for drawing back from us and withdrawing her affection! If her nature were as fickle and changeable as our own, then our frivolity, our lukewarmness, our forgetfulness, our uncommunicative ways, our imperfections and our daily sins would soon cause her attitude to change and open up a rift between us. She, however, offers us consolation in the Canticles[2], saying that her love is stronger than death, and her zeal for our good is stronger than the iron hardness of hell itself ; that her ardent love is stronger than any fire or flame; and that all the waters that fall from the heavens and those that flow the length of rivers would not have sufficient power to extinguish the love burning in her heart; and just when she thinks she has done everything she can, it seems to her that she has done nothing.
What think ye of this love, dear babes and sucklings of the most sacred Virgin? What desire does it enkindle in your hearts to love her henceforth with undying affection and to shun anything that might affect this?
Footnotes
[1] Serm. in Signum magnum.
[2] for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames. Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it. Cant. viii. 6-7.
9 The final quality of the fair Love of the Holy Virgin is that it is eternal. Just as it is divine in its origin, so too it is divine in its duration. Her love began at the dawn of our life, a long time before we set eyes on the light of this world. Her love, however, was not to end with our life but was to continue throughout all the ages. She will cease her labours once she has conveyed us safely into the bosom of Blessed Eternity, where she wants us to have our abode but without leaving the dwelling she provided for us. Once there, we shall enjoy in her, through her and with her the pleasant fruits of never-ending happiness acquired for us by her charity; there, her love for us will grow, as she will no longer be apprehensive about us ; there, our love will be anchored safely, with no more fears of uncertainty and change; there, she will love us and we will love her; there, she will make known to us what she has done for us, and we shall bless and thank her forever; there, she will be ours and we shall be hers, and together we shall be God’s. What wondrously sweet rapture! What exquisite fruits of love! What a blessed eternity!
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| 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
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