Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 4 : § 2.3-5

Chapter 4 : The Third Star or Splendour of the Crown of Goodness of the MOTHER OF GOD

She is a source of Favour 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).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac (Poggi, 2020)

§ 2. Advancing the Favourites of the Holy Virgin : first effect of her Favour

St Andrew of Fiesole[1]

 3   If the little human heart is capable of so much love and can show this with such noble and magnificent effects, how astonished do you think we would be if we could see the testimonies of heavenly favour? What heights of happiness, in our judgement, could be attained by the Favourites of the MOTHER OF GOD? 

Amongst this number may be counted blessed Andrew of Fiesole in Tuscany, born in Florence and a member of the illustrious family of the Corsini. His parents had consecrated him to the Holy Virgin before he was even conceived (they had prayed to her for a baby and had consecrated him to her before his conception). He had imbibed devotion to the Queen of Heaven with his mother’s milk and one day, when he was kneeling before her altar in the Carmelite Church, he experienced a calling to join that Order. It was the Favour of the Virgin that led him to the Order at the age of fifteen and accompanied him until the end. It was her Favour that caused him to make extraordinary advances in the Court of her Son by means of the outstanding virtues of humility, obedience, prayer, silence, mortification and charity which he obtained through her. 

Once he had attained the minimum age required to become a priest, his Superiors directed him to receive Holy Orders. Through obedience he agreed but it was never possible to persuade him to say his first Mass in Florence. In fact, because he feared the trouble and fuss that the presence of his family might cause, he withdrew to the Convent of the Forests near Florence  and this was where he offered his first fruits to God and His beloved Mother. He did this with such fervour and devotion that the Holy Mother, to show how pleased she was with him, appeared in person to Andrew, her favourite, and said to him:

“Thou art my servant[2], forasmuch as I have chosen thee and in thee will I be glorified.”  

Words more precious and all the effects that could ever be imagined of human favour. His wonderful virtues, which he enjoyed as a consequence of the choice the Holy Virgin had made of him, led to his elevation as Bishop to the See of Fiesole. There his great holiness and his closeness to her who had shown favour to him, made him so famous that he became a true luminary of the Church. The high point of his favour came when, having been warned by the glorious Virgin of the day of his decease, namely the Epiphany of the Saviour, he parted this life in the year 1373. His life had lasted seventy-one years which had seen him make continual progress, tirelessly engaged in good works – which God marked on several occasions by several noteworthy miracles during his lifetime, but with many more after his death. 

Footnotes

[1] Commonly known as St Andrew Corsini (1302-1373)

[2] Isaiah xlix. 3.

Albert the Great

 4   The same Favour took the Blessed Albert from nowhere and made him so great in all his perfections that the name Great has always been attached to his name. 

From a very young age, he dedicated himself to the service of the most sacred Virgin who received him with such warmth and love that soon the marks of her Favour became apparent. Every day he would offer veneration to his Mother by offering her various little acts of service and a small selection of prayers. He redoubled these as soon as he attained an age where he was able to contemplate the state of life he wished to embrace. He surrendered this desire entirely into the hands of his beloved Mother who took such a special interest in his progress that it was she who told him to enter into the Order of Friars Preachers. He did this and initially faced certain problems and difficulties but these were were all resolved by her who was guiding him .

A short while after joining the Order, he experienced a serious setback for he became prey to a very powerful temptation which arose from his feeling that he could not keep up with his companions in the study of philosophy. He was on the point of giving way to this temptation to quit and had even begun to prepare for his departure when he had a dream which caused him to change his mind. He seemed to see a ladder leaning against a wall in the cloister and all he had to do was to climb it and leave. At that precise moment, however, he was stopped in his tracks by four Virgins of incomparable beauty who explained that they were members of the MOTHER OF GOD’s retinue. They prevented him from passing and, after replacing his discouragement with renewed hope, they led him to their Mistress. The Mother of goodness received him with an extraordinary show of warmth and, by her serene countenance and her sweet words, she touched his heart so tenderly that all his cares left him. Then she spoke to him as follows:

“Albert, my son, thou shouldst not be faint-hearted over such a little thing as this, especially as thou knowest it was I who didst lead thee here and that, with thy consent, I have the power to sustain thee here. Thou hast only to tell me what thou desirest of me and thou shalt want for nothing.”

The young man found the courage to ask her to grant him the favour of excelling in philosophy – which was then the most pressing of his concerns. 

“If that is all thou dost require to continue happily in my service ,” replied the Virgin, “then thou wilt have what thou seekest; but in order that thou shalt remember this day and that thou shalt not forget thou didst receive this grace from me, when the end of thy life doth draw near, thou wilt suddenly revert to thy present ignorance. This will be for thee a certain sign that thou shouldst prepare for thy departure from this world and come to take the place I shall be keeping for thee in heaven.”

With that, she disappeared but subsequent events were soon to confirm the truth of the apparition, for after but a short time he overtook in his studies all those students who had previously left him far behind. In the end, he acquired such a reputation in matters of doctrine that he was nicknamed the Great. The Holy Virgin (who always gives much more than she promises) was not content with making him great in learning but went on to make him greater still in virtue. She conferred upon him the gift of a wondrous purity of heart and an excellent habit of prayer : in short, she made him a perfect mirror of the perfections desirable in the religious life. In the end, that which she had predicted came to pass, for he suddenly had to stop short in the middle of a lesson he was giving and had to take leave of his pupils, explaining to them in detail what had happened to him. Their hearts were so affected by these words that, once he had finished speaking, they all began to weep and they escorted him to his cell just as though they were taking him to the tomb.  He used all the little time he had left by making ready for his death, which was just as holy as his life, and finally he commended his spirit into the hands of her who was waiting for him in Heaven.  

St Bernardine of Siena

 5   Another beloved son of the MOTHER OF GOD who benefited from her Favour was the Blessed St Bernardine of Siena. He was a member of the Franciscan Order and we have frequently heard him speaking in honour of the Holy Virgin, as recorded in Parts I and II of this work.

Whilst he was still young, it could be seen from his remarkable modesty, the love he had for chastity, and his gentle ways that the Virgin Mother had her eye on him. What shone forth the most in his youth was indeed the tender affection he had towards the Queen of Angels and this was so strong that his radiant countenance gave off a light which was noticed by all those who had dealings with him. His principal devotion was to an image of the Virgin on one of the gates of the city of Siena, called Camollia. He would visit everyday, kneeling down and offering her his service, telling her of his singular love for her, and that (after God) he placed all his trust in her. He practised this devotion from a very early age and continued with it for as long as he could, even after he was admitted into the Franciscan Order.

The following story about this young servant of the Virgin reveals something of his nature. Having lost his parents when he was young, he was brought up by a kind-hearted aunt called Diana and her daughter Tobia – his main source of support who took extraordinary care in raising him well. One day whilst he was in conversation with her, he let slip that he had made the acquaintance of a Mistress[1] who was the most beautiful, the wisest and the most accomplished that could be imagined. He revealed he had been speaking with her every day and it had reached the stage where he could not get to sleep without seeing her. On the one hand, Bernardine’s aunt did not dare to question his virtue, for she could discern in him a maturity and a wisdom beyond his years ; on the other, his gentle nature and the various risks to which youth can find itself exposed, caused her some apprehension. Unable to resolve her uncertainty, she decided to keep a careful watch on him and she was delighted when all she could discover were his diligent visits to the Virgin of Camollia. She determined, nevertheless, to get to the bottom of the mystery and she took him aside one day and questioned him further about the way he had spoken of this Mistress. She was so insistent that in the end he confessed to the wondrous affection he felt in his heart towards the Queen of Angels and he spoke of the ways in which he, for his part, had received so many favours from her. His good aunt Diana was so pleased with what she heard that she could scarcely contain the joy in her soul.  

In addition to his other devotions, Bernardine also recited the Crown of Our Lady every day with great devotion. Because of the affection and service he offered to her, the Virgin gave him a special place in her heart, magnifying him before God and before men. One day, whilst he was praying as usual, she appeared to him and said: 

“My dear son, I have come to tell thee that thy devotion is most pleasing to me and, in consideration of the services thou hast rendered unto me, I have obtained for thee the gift of working miracles to advance my Son’s glory and mine own. I have in addition obtained for thee the grace of preaching and thy sermons will bear a rich plenitude of fruit. I can also reveal thou wilt rejoice with me forever in heaven and wilt have a goodly share in my joys.” 

God alone would know how this favour caused his love and trust for his beloved Mother to grow in his heart. His closest friends heard from his own mouth his belief that he had never received any grace from God which was not the result of this devotion and a sign of the Queen of Heaven’s approval.

During a sermon that he preached in the city of Siena in 1427, he revealed that he had been born on the feast day of the Nativity of the Virgin and he went on to explain that on this same date he had been baptised, he had received his religious habit, he had made his solemn profession, and he had said his first Mass. He added that on this same day he hoped to depart this world but in fact this proved not to be the case, since he died on the 20th of May. He received a special warning of this some time before his death whilst he was preaching in the city of Aquila (which is in the Kingdom of Naples) where he is buried. He was explaining the mysterious image of the Crown with twelve stars which is on the head of the woman that St John refers to in his Apocalypse. Suddenly, people saw on his head a star brighter than the sun, and rays of extraordinary brightness streamed from the star, lighting up his face. After a while, the star disappeared, foreshadowing the moment a few days later when this wondrous luminary, who had up until then enlightened the world, would cease to shine here below so that he could ascend to the eternal joys of Heaven.

Footnotes

[1] In the sense of teacher, instructress or governess; the French Maîtresse is from the Latin magistra; cf. Pope John XXIII’s Encyclical Mater et Magistra (1961).

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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