Chapter 3 : Trust in the Mother of God – a second feature of the gratitude we owe
[Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré’s Triple Crown of the Holy Mother of God (1643 French edition). Fr Poiré :1584 - 25 Nov.1637: R.I.P.]
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac (Poggi, 2020) |
§ 2. The second sign of trust: having recourse to her in every difficulty
3 This same trust is the sacred anchor which the soul casts heavenwards at life’s end when beset by a storm of fears about death. I shall never forget the wonderful example of trust shown by the Emperor Andronikos Palaiologos[1] which could only ever have come from a heart filled with devotion towards the Blessed Virgin.
This Prince found himself facing death through having drunk an excessive quantity of cold water (something he used to do when he was suffering from unusual heat in his veins so to avoid the need for venesection). There was no one available who could bring him the Holy Sacrament and so he struggled from his bed and knelt down, weeping copious tears. He took a small golden statue of the Holy Virgin which he always wore around his neck and, entrusting himself to her, he placed the statue in his mouth so that she might serve as Viaticum since he had no hope of being able to receive Our Lord.
This is what is recounted by Gregoras who had spent a fair time with him that same evening without any signs of death or sickness.
Footnotes
[1] Niceph. Gregoras, lib. X Histor.
4 To sum up, Trust is the safe haven where all those suffering from any sort of affliction should seek refuge and where they will never fail to receive a favourable welcome. By way of example and for the edification of readers, I should like to include now an extract from the prayer addressed to the Holy Mother by a venerable monk called Theosteriktos, some eight hundred years ago. It may be found in the liturgical prayer of the Greeks[1].
Princess of earth and Heaven, glorious Mother of the Word Incarnate, if ever a poor man laden with ills and misery did present himself before the altar of thy clemency then I am such a one who cometh to throw himself at thy feet. My disordered passions and desires are like so many raging winds which beset the barque of my soul and threaten at any minute to send it plunging to the depths. What doth it avail me that thou hast borne in thy sacred womb the true Pilot and Haven of grace for which we should set sail in order to be saved, if thou dost not now come promptly to mine aid and calm the tempest that would swallow me up. The spirits of darkness wage a fearful war against me and deliver me into countless temptations; why art thou the Mother of Him who wished to be our Prince of peace if it is not to put these demons to flight and to rescue me from the continual danger in which I find myself? I can see clearly how poor and how lacking in every good I am, but what will it avail me if all the treasures of Heaven are at thy disposal but thou dost not feel for my indigence? My spirit is weighed down by infirmities of the body, but even more so afflictions of the soul, and I am overwhelmed with distress in hundreds of different ways. Art thou not the Mother of our sovereign Physician, and dost thou not possess a rich store of cures and healing? To what end wouldst thou have been made a bottomless well of mercy and why would the God of eternal mercy have been conceived in thy womb if it were not to provide comfort and relief for us in our misery? And from whom can we hope for true joy in our hearts and interior consolation other than from thee – who didst bear within thee the great joy that shall be to all the people?
I confess that never was there prisoner more closely bound with ropes and chains, nor worse laden with irons and fetters then I am shackled by my sins and overwhelmed by my crimes; but I know well enough that He who came down from Heaven to deliver us from sin hath placed in thy hands the price of our redemption and hath given thee full power to redeem us. Wilt thou really be capable of seeing me rot at the bottom of a ditch in the darkness of my blindness, thou who doth bear in thy hands the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world? I prithee behold in me one of thy poor servants who trembleth at the mere thought of his death, whose heart is frozen in fear about the uncertainty of what is to happen to him after his death, who already doth experience death through the fear he hath of the dreadful judgement of God. Prithee remember that our Judge is thy Son and with but one word thou canst render Him favourable unto us. If thou wert to ask for tears then I am content to weep floods, but I prefer to ask thee for but one of those tears that my dear Saviour and thy beloved Son shed for me, since this is capable of drowning a world of sin and of washing away the sins of a whole world. To sum up, most holy Virgin thou art my Mother and I am thy son; thou art my Lady and I am thy servant, unworthy though I am of these two titles. Thou hast the means of obliging me and I place my trust in thee that this is something thou wilt wish to do. I implore thy help in virtue of this trust and much more in consideration of thy natural goodness.
Thus did the heart of this devoted servant of the Virgin take flight and soar heavenwards, teaching us to have recourse to her in all our necessities with total confidence and trust.
Footnotes
[1] For more, see St Theosteriktos and the Supplication Canon to the Theotokos.
© Peter Bloor 2025
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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.
The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting. Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 30-31.
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