Chapter 5 : The Fourth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Goodness of the MOTHER OF GOD
The Wondrous Care she takes of 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) |
§ 5. Continuing our discussion of the Holy Mother’s care for her children : the Society of Jesus
1 I feel I owe it to my fellow Jesuits to show to their satisfaction how the Mother of those in religious Orders also played a part in the birth of the Society of Jesus, her Son. Since the beginning, in fact, she has been like a diligent gardener placing beautiful plants in the Society’s garden and watering them with the most exquisite favours. Concerning St Ignatius and his nine first companions, I shall not add anything to what I wrote earlier[1]. I would just like to recall that this little Society was conceived in Paris in the Montmartre Church of St Pierre on the feast of the Assumption in 1534. The Society later made its appearance in Rome in Santa Maria Della Strada, which was the first Church where the ten founding Fathers of the Jesuits exercised their ministry. Let us now consider some of their descendants.
Footnotes
[1] Part II, ch. 22, § 7.
Stanislaus Kostka
2 The first of these is Blessed Stanislaus Kostka, whom we might call the Angel of our Society and one of the dearest children of the Virgin. He came from one of the noblest families in Poland which had produced several Lords Palatine, Electors, Prelates, senior army officers and men such as these.
Once he had reached the age of thirteen, he was sent to Vienna in Austria to study there. He made excellent progress, especially in Letters, but his greatest pleasure was in the Rosary, or in poems written in honour of the Virgin, or in doing some other thing which he thought would bring pleasure to her. Whilst there, he was struck by an illness which you might think had been sent by his sweet Mother on purpose to show her great love for him. He received firstly a visit from blessed St Barbara, for whom he had a particular devotion; she was accompanied by Angels who brought him holy Communion. Shortly afterwards, the Holy Virgin came to see him in person and showed him how tenderly she cared for him. She was carrying her dear Son in her arms and she placed Him on the bed next to Stanislaus. It is impossible to describe the consolation that he received from this. Before she departed, she said that her wish was for him to join the Society of her Son. This would not be achieved without overcoming numerous difficulties, including a journey of more than three hundred leagues that he would have to make on foot. This was something that he was scarcely in the habit of doing but the love which inflamed his heart made this and other hardships easy for him to overcome. His conduct and achievements were such as to reveal how much the Holy Mother was helping him for he managed, after less than ten months with the Society, what even the most diligent application can scarcely achieve without long years of effort.
Footnotes
[1] Revelat. Extravag., c. 19.
Blessed Aloysius Gonzaga
3 Blessed Aloysius Gonzaga follows next[1]. He was reputed for his illustrious family (he was the eldest son of the Marquis of Castiglione, a Prince of the Holy Empire) but even more so on account of his remarkable virtues.
He belonged to the MOTHER OF GOD from the moment of his birth, for he came into the world following a vow made to Our Lady of Loreto, since the physicians present for his delivery fully expected the mother and her baby to die. This soon manifested itself in the affection he had for her which was so powerful and so heartfelt that it was not possible for him to speak of her or to hear anyone speak of her without his heart melting in tenderness. When he was ten years old, he felt inspired to render himself more worthy of her favour and to model himself more closely upon her by swearing a vow of perpetual virginity in front of the image of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence. At the age of fifteen, he began to think carefully about his future and what he should do in life to assure himself of eternal salvation. He was at this point in Madrid at the Court of Philip II, but his focus of attention was on heavenly rather than earthly things. A little while before the feast of the Assumption, he resolved to redouble his daily prayers and to ask for every grace that he could to enable him to know the will of God in this matter. On the day of his dear Mother’s triumph (this would have been in 1583), he prepared himself for Holy Communion with special fervour. After receiving, he was suffused with trust and love in the presence of God and he poured out the feelings of his heart. He implored Our Lord through the intercession of His glorious Mother to send down a ray of His light so as to show him the path he was to follow in order to serve him from that point onwards. He then clearly heard a voice speaking straight to his heart, saying that he should become a member of the Society of Jesus. He took this to be a voice from Heaven, which is exactly what it was, and after various trials he saw his wishes fulfilled. He soon came to surpass even the most advanced in the practice of virtue.
Footnotes
[1] In ejus vita.
João Nunes Barreto
4 João Nunes, who through his outstanding merits eventually became Patriarch of Ethiopia before dying in Goa, gateway to India, was a rich gift to the Society by the MOTHER OF GOD[1]. He entered the society four years after it had received approval from the Holy See and just after the arrival of Peter Faber[2], the first companion of St Ignatius in Portugal.
Before he joined the Society, he had been Abbot in an Abbey situated some six leagues outside Braga (a city in Portugal), where he acquired such a great reputation that he was popularly known as the Holy Abbot. His way of perfection centred mainly on contemplation and living an austere life. He spent a large part of the day in prayer and the remainder in administering the Sacraments, in spiritual reading and in other devout exercises, seeking to find spiritual tranquillity. God, however, was to send him trials in order to perfect him and for this purpose he made use of Melchior Nunes, his brother. He had been with the society for some time and nothing was closer to his heart than seeing his brother João sharing in the happiness which he enjoyed. The Abbot felt greatly troubled in his heart and resolved to say a number of Masses with the intention of discerning what God wanted him to do. One night whilst he was asleep, he seemed to hear that he was to serve as Deacon to a Priest officiating solemnly whom he had never seen before. When the time came to offer him the sign of peace he took his usual position on the right side of the Priest; the Priest, however, signalled that he should pass to his left, and João found it very difficult to obey this instruction. Before this matter had been resolved between them, he suddenly woke up and tried to work out the meaning of this mysterious dream. This would be revealed to him after only a little while.
The more he prayed, however, the more his anxiety increased until finally he decided that the best remedy to calm the storm raging in his heart was to anchor his hopes firmly to the MOTHER OF GOD. Accordingly, he began to call upon her for assistance and, in order to gain her favour, he offered to say a certain number of Masses in her honour. Our Lady immediately appeared to him, along with the same Priest he had seen in his dream. She instructed him to seek out this Priest in Coimbra and to carry out his instructions to the letter.
The Abbot dressed himself as a beggar and made his way to Coimbra where he met Father Faber. He immediately realised this was the same man he had seen in his dream. Father Faber led him through forty whole days of spiritual exercises, helping him to understand how hitherto he had sought peace on the right hand, so to speak, in contemplation and in the recollection of his retreats, and how God, who understood this sincerity of his intentions, had allowed him to find peace amongst such exercises; but henceforth he would no longer find peace here and he would have to go to the left hand side, which would involve him in much labour and weariness, learning to submit his own judgement and will to others, following the example of his Saviour who had been stripped of His garments and nailed to the Cross, denying himself and no longer limiting his zeal to the confines of a small town but giving free rein to the Holy Spirit and allowing himself to be led whithersoever he might be called to serve Him. He would have been willing to join the Society there and then if Father Faber had wanted to receive him, but it was judged more prudent to grant him some time to think about it. In the end, he came back, determined to follow Our Lord in the Society, where he spent many years displaying such virtue and labouring so diligently that it would not be possible to find any greater signs of his vocation.
Footnotes
[1] Histor. Societ., part. I, an. 5, nº 138.
[2] French: Pierre le Fèvre.
Another Nunes
5 Another Nunes[1], from the illustrious Guzman family, was at the same time won over to Our Lord in the city of Louvain by the same Father Faber. The MOTHER OF GOD herself had a hand in this event.
Whilst he was dreaming about what he was going to do with his life, the Holy Mother appeared to him accompanied by Peter Faber and Francis Strada, the famous preacher, and spoke to him as follows:“Hast thou the courage to serve my Son until thou art utterly worn out and exhausted?”He bravely answered that he was indeed prepared to do this and she then said to him:“Then do thou follow these two men.”Sometime after this, Father Faber and Father Strader actually came to see Nunes and Father Faber spoke to him using the same words uttered by the Blessed Virgin, saying:“Hast thou the courage to serve Jesus Christ until thou art utterly worn out and exhausted?”This left him in no doubt that it was the Holy Virgin herself who had brought these two Fathers to him so that he could join the Society, which is what he did.
Footnotes
[1] Godignus, in vita superioris Joannis Nunnii Barresii Patriarchæ.
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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
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