Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 7 : § 3.1-3

Chapter 7 : The Sixth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Goodness of the MOTHER OF GOD

She is a true model of generosity towards 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)

§ 3. The gratitude of the MOTHER OF GOD to cities especially dedicated to her 

Rome

 1   The city of Rome has rendered and continues to render great services to the glorious Virgin (as I have shown elsewhere[1]), receiving in return inestimable favours.

Amongst these, Rome will have reason to preserve until the end of the world the memory of a favour received in the year 590[2] in the time of Pope St Gregory the Great. The plague had been ravaging the city and causing the deaths of a great many Roman citizens. The scourge showed no mercy to anyone, from the highest to the least, not sparing even the sacred person of Pelagius II, St Gregory's predecessor in the Holy See. The effect was as though slings and arrows of fire were raining down from heaven and there was no one so blind as not to be able to see these as signs of God’s dreadful anger. St Gregory began to preach penitence and  ordered seven processions to take place, which were called Litanies. The first was comprised of Ecclesiastics, the second of Laity, the third of Monks, the fourth of Nuns, the fifth of Married couples, the sixth of Widows and the seventh of little Children. They all made their way to Santa Maria Maggiore where people multiplied their prayers with much weeping during the space of an hour, and where even the hardest hearts melted and were moved to cry out for mercy. The situation had indeed become quite dreadful and men were dropping like flies. This is reflected in what was written by several historians who said that during the short time this public devotion lasted, some eighty people fell down dead. At the end of the prayers, the Kyrie Eleison was chanted in honour of the nine Choirs of Angels, a prayer which is indeed short but most suited to beg for God’s mercy. It was later inserted into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on the order of Pope St Gregory[3].        

Despite these efforts, things went from bad to worse and many people were seen to give up the ghost whilst sneezing or yawning – whence arose the custom of blessing those who sneeze or making the sign of the Cross when yawning. Everyone started to think that the capital of Christendom was going to be changed into a desert. The last recourse and Sacred anchor of salvation, so to speak, was the image of the glorious Virgin painted by St Luke the Evangelist. St Gregory ordered this icon to be carried in procession and he himself took part in person, as he had in all the other pious exercises. As the procession was making its way, heavenly music could suddenly be heard and Angels singing the Pascal Hymn : Regina cœli lætare, alleluia, quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia, resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia. Pope St Gregory spontaneously added the final words, which the Church has retained ever since: Ora pro nobis Deum, alléluia[4]. At the same time, many people saw an Angel on top of the Tower of Hadrian which for this reason has been called ever since the Castel Sant’Angelo. The Angel could be seen sheathing his sword as a sign that the plague would soon end, as indeed proved to be the case. 

In the year 847, which was the first in the pontificate of Leo IV, this same city was delivered from a dreadful basilisk[5] whose poisonous breath had already killed a great number of people.  The Basilisk was dispatched by the Holy Virgin whose image had been carried in procession through the streets on the feast of her assumption. Any readers wishing to find out more should read the Annals of Cardinal Baronius for that year.

 

Footnotes

[1] Part I, ch. 12, § 5.

[2] Baronius eo anno, post S. Greg., pluribus locis ; Greg. Turon., lib. X Hist. Franc., c. 10 ; S. An-tonin., IV p., tit. XV, c. 24, § 2 ; Sigonius, lib. I de Regno Italiæ, an. 590 et 591, etc.

[3] Lib. VII, ep. 64.

[4] O QUEEN of heaven rejoice! Alleluia: / For He whom thou didst merit to bear, alleluia, / Hath arisen as he said, alleluia. / Pray for us to God, alleluia.

[5] See Pliny the Elder, The Natural History : Chap. 33 The Serpents called Basilisks.

Constantinople

 2   The city of Constantinople was once called the second Rome and it would be difficult to judge between them when it comes to devotion towards the MOTHER OF GOD, particularly if it had been able to persevere in the way that Rome did. For as long as Constantinople retained the true Religion, it was regarded as the apple of the world's eye and the wonder of all cities. It was called par excellence the City of the Blessed Virgin, who for her part worked wonders to protect it, especially in preserving it several times when attacked by enemies.     

 

Here is one example which took place in the year 625[1] when Heraclius was busy in a war against Persia. Chosroes, King of Persia, called upon the western Huns to attack the Royal City during the Emperor’s absence hoping to cause a distraction for the Christian army with which he was then engaged. The Huns duly arrived before the city and fought furiously for the space of ten days; but just when pride in their success reached its high point and whilst the poor people in the city seemed on the point of defeat, the Queen of Heaven came to their help in the following way which has been described by the historian Cedrenus.  

Early one morning, the Holy Mother left her dear Church in Blachernae near the city and passed through the enemy camp accompanied only by two eunuchs. The Huns concluded this must be the Empress seeking out their Prince to discuss terms with him in the absence of her husband. Accordingly, they allowed her free passage but kept an eye on the troops they had seen coming out of the city a little earlier. They noted that she passed through their lines without saying a single word and they made haste to follow her without realising this was actually diversion on Heaven’s part designed to blind them all. When they had caught up with her, she disappeared from view together with her companions and this struck such fear into their hearts and confusion into their minds that they began fighting with one another. In fact, if nightfall had not brought an end to this, not one would have escaped alive. The following morning, the general staff visited the camp, saw the strange damage and accordingly they quickly lifted the siege. The MOTHER OF GOD, however, pressed them no less on board their ships than when they were on land and most of them perished at sea.

In the Greek Ritual, there is a reference to the city being besieged by two armies, one of which was commanded by Shahrbaraz, second in command to Chosroes; the other was commanded by Chaganus, General of the Scythians and Mysians. These armies were so powerful that there were scarcely one Greek for every ten of the barbarians. The Ritual goes on to say that whilst these infidels were hurling blasphemies against Heaven, the Patriarch Sergius made every effort to encourage his people to have recourse to the MOTHER OF GOD, whose image he had taken out of the Church of Our Lady of Guidance. He bore this along the walls of the city, along with the sacred Shroud and other relics of the Holy Virgin that were housed in the same Church. In the end, the Barbarians determined to take flight but were thwarted in front of the Church of the Virgin in Blachernae. There they seemed to be transfixed and the men of Constantinople, along with their women and children, threw themselves upon their foes, wreaking terrible death and destruction.

Fifty-three years later, Constantinople came under attack by a powerful Saracen army from April until the following September. The Holy Virgin[2] fought once more against the enemies of Constantinople, placing so many obstacles and difficulties in their way that they were forced to withdraw. Of those who remained, many perished when exposed to the storms and the fury of powerful winds. 

Footnotes

[1] Theophanes, in Annalibus Græcor. ; Cedrenus, in Compendio hist.

[2] Theophanes, in Annalibus Græcor.

 3   In the year 717, before the Emperor Leo III (the Isaurian) fell into the iconoclastic heresy, the same Saracens resumed their attack and maintained an army camped before the city for the space of three whole years.

  

Once again, the same image of the MOTHER OF GOD was carried solemnly around the city walls as people implored for help for her dear city. She did this forthwith by providing a well-crafted plan to the Emperor: this was to send two fireships into the heart of the Saracen fleet which was composed of some 8,000 ships. The Greek fire on these two vessels succeeded so effectively that it made the Saracen fleet come to resemble a massive forest fire. At this point it was a case of every man for himself but even this did not guarantee survival because some were cast into the swirling waters whilst others who reached the Ægean Sea were greeted with a hail of fire which made the sea boil, causing the ships’ pitch to melt so the ships sank quickly without more than ten persons being saved – whom God kept alive to tell everyone about the disaster they had suffered and about the glory of the most sacred Virgin.     

Several most learned authors[1] attested to this victory, as did Pope Gregory II who made an special reference to it in a letter that he addressed to Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, and which was read publicly at the Second Council of Nicea. The people of Constantinople, in order to show their gratitude for all the favours they had received from the MOTHER OF GOD, offered thanksgiving throughout the nights before and after these three victories. A new feast was also introduced called Our Lady of the Upright or Our Lady of the Unsleeping, since for the duration of the nights we have mentioned the people in Constantinople did not did not go to bed and stayed awake, praying unceasingly and insistently before the image of the Holy Virgin. For the same reason, the hymn that was sung also had the name of the Feast and was called the Hymn of the Unsleeping. This feast was observed on Saturday in the fifth week of Lent, as is recorded in the Greek Ritual. 

Footnotes

[1] Theophanes, in Annalibus Græcor.

[2] Theophanes, in Annalibus Græcor. ; Vincent. Bellovac., lib. XXIII Speculi hist., c. 27 ; Sigeber-tus, in Chronico ; Baron., an. 717 et 718.

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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