Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 12 : § 2.5 > § 3.1-3

Chapter 12 : The Eleventh Star or Splendour of the Crown of Goodness of the MOTHER OF GOD

She is the Sanctuary and Refuge of sinners

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. The Mother of God is the true City of Refuge for sinners

 5   In the fourth place, these ancient cities were so little known that we are scarcely able to discover their names; but when it comes to the City God built for the benefit of sinners, we can have no difficulty in saying together with the Prophet David[1] that she has received such praises for her glory and magnificence that her fame has spread throughout the whole of the earth. St Bernard[2] has written great things in this connection, notably when he said: 

Of all the qualities of the MOTHER OF GOD there is none more to our advantage or more pleasing to us than the exceptional tenderness she shows towards sinners. 

I would go further and say it would be truly difficult to describe just how much the splendour of her title Refuge of sinners adds lustre to her other titles. When we call her Mother of Divine grace, for example, it is mainly because of the work she does to bring this grace to life again in the souls of sinners who have lost it. When we call her Mother most amiable and Mother most admirable, it is by reason of the tenderness she shows towards sinners who cry out for her help and the wondrous changes she is able to affect every day in their hearts. When we think of her as Virgin most merciful and Virgin most faithful, it is in consideration of the gracious welcome with which she embraces the penitent sinner whom she has in the kindness of her heart invited to approach her. Could she truly be called the Cause of our joy if she received us with open arms only when we were preparing ourselves to return to God, or when she had granted us prevenient grace to form such a thought? In our estimation, is she a Vessel of honour only because of her outstanding holiness and not for her readiness to transform vessels of shame and opprobrium into vessels of honour, to borrow the words of the great Apostle St Paul[3]? If we call her the Tower of David, it is because she is a sanctuary where sinners may find safety. Is she the Ark of the Covenant? This is because she reconciles the sinner with God. Is she the Gate of Heaven? This is because she opens up Heaven for sinners who had lost it by falling into sin. In short, only God Himself can judge the value of this office she fulfils as Refuge of sinners and the glory she derives from this title of honour. 

People flock to her from the four corners of the world seeking a cure for their sins as though for a common but life-threatening illness and those who experience her help consider what she does to be amongst the foremost of her great qualities. The praise on earth, however, is as nothing compared with that in Heaven which resounds unceasingly with the blessings and gratitude offered to her by the Saints, especially those whom she rescued from abysses of most dreadful iniquity. People such as St Theophilus[4], St Mary of Egypt[5] and countless others sing in grand, mysterious harmonies of their extraordinary conversions, deriving indescribable happiness from the honour redounding therefrom to the Queen of Heaven. There on high, all her victories are made known and there is not one of her children who does not regard it as the greatest honour to follow behind her triumphal chariot. There, as the Prophet Isaiah says[6], the souls she has won for God are like so many jewels and ornaments of glory with which she is adorned for all eternity. There, all the blessed vie with one another as they confess their indebtedness to her : some for having received forgiveness for their sins through her intercession, others for having been preserved by her from falling into sin.  

Would that I were granted the grace of being numbered amongst these heavenly minstrels ordained on high for this special office: which is to sing of the greatness and wonders of the Mother of Goodness! I cannot achieve this without thy help, most Holy Virgin, and I implore thee to grant me the sweet grace of being not only the recipient of thy mercy but also just such a minstrel who will sing of thee through all eternity.    

Footnotes

[1] Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God! Psal. LXXXVI. 3.

[2] Serm. 4 de Assumpt.

[3] Romans ix. 21; 2 Timothy ii. 20-21.

[4] St Theophilus the Penitent (d. 538) also known as Theophilus of Cilicia or Theophilus of Adana.

[5] St Mary of Egypt: 344-421.

[6] Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee. Isai. xlix. 18.

§ 3. Advice for the sinner

 1   Anyone who thinks this title does not apply to himself would be flattering himself unduly and presuming too much of himself. Truthfully speaking, however, my intention is to address what follows to the sort of person whose conscience is pricking him for not being in God’s grace but who nevertheless disdains to make use of the heavenly help available, about which we have been speaking. I should say at the outset that I have difficulty judging whether such a person deserves anger or compassion for the secret dealings he has with the enemy and for cheerfully choosing this rather than having recourse to the place of refuge that God has prepared for him. I use the word cheerfully since what will he be able to reply when he is arraigned before the sovereign Judge, accused and then convicted of various crimes as a result of his own confession? What will he find to say when he is asked why he did not turn away from his sinful ways and seek safety in the City of Refuge, why he did not have recourse to the MOTHER OF GOD, the shelter and safe haven for sinners? Will he perhaps claim that he did not know of this option? Heaven and earth will give the lie to this for there is no corner of the world where her faithful servants have not carried the good news of peace on earth; and where they have not announced that God, whose only wish is to save us, has fixed in the firmament over His Church a Star to serve as a guiding light for the sinner troubled and tormented by temptations, leading him to a safe haven if only he keeps his gaze fixed thereon. The Japanese are the first to receive the rays of the rising sun and they have heard this news; so too have the people of Peru who see the setting of the sun, and the people of Brazil who are burned by the heat of the noonday sun, along with the Scythian and the Tartar who live amongst the snows and glaciers. In short: wherever there is some knowledge of the one true God,  there the great mercies of the Mother of Goodness become known.

 2   Will the sinner try to claim there were too many difficulties for him? His conscience will never permit him to go against the truth by saying this, which is unjust to the MOTHER OF GOD and harmful to the public good which would be undermined by this false belief. Far being difficult to approach, she actually reaches out to those who are seeking her; indeed before they even think to look for her, she sows the seed in their minds by her prevenient grace. Even were anyone to  think of saying something so rash, it would immediately be contradicted by a countless host of Blessed Spirits whom the Virgin had sent hundreds of times, encouraging the sinner to return to God and with others like him to walk once more on the path of salvation. Will he say that he approached her and was rebuffed? Then the whole of Heaven would unite against him and the millions of sinners whom she has welcomed with her loving warmth would never allow him to get away with such a wicked claim. The demons themselves would rise against him, those very wretches who had so many times cursed her whose incomparable kind-heartedness had never turned anyone away. How then will this pitiful sinner defend himself? What possible explanation can he give to cover himself?  What can he say except that he wilfully allowed himself to fall into perdition and that he never thought to make use of a method so simple, so gentle and so efficacious as simply having recourse to her who is a Mother for all, sinners included? Is that not to have a heart of stone? In order to avoid at all costs the risk to one’s eternal salvation, to preserve one’s soul from a dreadful fate without end, being separated from God forever, would we not be willing to walk over razor blades, to be cut to pieces, to endure for millions of years the most atrocious torments in the world? Will this wretched sinner have to die in bitter regret and confusion, finding himself banished in perpetuity from the heavenly abode of eternal happiness in his Creator's presence – all because he would not turn his heart just once towards Heaven and speak affectionately to the Mother of Goodness?    

 3   What I am about to recount in order to demonstrate this truth I shall say only once – but would that it might serve to open the hearts of stubborn sinners! 

Some nineteen years ago, there was in the city of Tournon (in the Viverais region of France) a young man who had been born in Montpellier. He had become a heretic and was stubbornly determined to remain set in his heresy unto death. He had fallen seriously ill and the nearer he drew to his end the more his heart seemed to harden. Several spiritual doctors had tried in vain to recover for him the taste for Heaven and holy things that he had entirely lost, but just as all the hours of the day differ from each other, one doctor finally arrived who, amongst other things, asked the man whether he had ever asked the Virgin for help – we should note that the day was Saturday. The man replied that he had not and he was urged to try this at least once in his life, but he stubbornly refused to do so. Eventually, however, he yielded and agreed to pray to the Holy Mother. No sooner had the prayer finished than he slowly started to come to himself and it was as though his eyes were opened and he could see the dangerous condition in which he now found himself. These thoughts prompted him to ask to make his Confession, declaring that he now detested his error and his hardness of heart and accusing himself of the sins he had committed throughout his life. He received with extraordinary devotion the other Sacraments of the Church and never ceased invoking the name of her who had delivered him, the Refuge of sinners. After two hours, he finally gave up his spirit into the embrace of his Mother, as we may suppose. The person present when all this happened and from whom I learned the details is still alive and well; he is  a man of great faith and virtue who would not for the whole world utter an untruth.  

Will the hard-hearted sinner still obstinately refuse such loving kindness as this? Let him try without delay if he will to find something to say by way of justification when God tells him that this Refuge was just as available for him as for others and when He rebukes him for refusing to make use of it. Will he not then be forced into an eternal silence, condemning himself to all the rigours of the avenging hand of God? Let him think on this whilst there is yet time; and let him, if he is wise, make use of the guiding light offered by this gentle Star so that in the end, along with others whom she has saved from the edge of the precipice, he will be able to sing throughout eternity of the wonders of her mercies.

[End of Chapter 12]

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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