Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 4 : § 5.11-12

Chapter 4 : Love – a third feature of the gratitude we owe the Mother of God

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)

§ 5. The fifth sign of love: Having a tender and fervent love for her dear Son

 11   Blessed Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, a Carmelite nun in Florence, had a different perspective and she was consumed by a different kind of fire. Occasionally she could be heard crying out, her eyes fixed upon the heavens: 

“Oh Love! Oh Love! Oh God of Love! The Love Thou hast for Thy creatures is too great! Not, dear Jesus, that it is too much for Thy greatness , but it is too great for such a base and abject creature.”

Then she would run through the Convent with a crucifix in her hand calling out the following words which aroused incredible fervour in the other sisters: 

“Oh Love! Oh Love! Oh Love! Never shall I cease to call thee Love, our hope and our all.”

Turning towards her sisters, she would ask:

“What! Did ye not know, my dear Sisters, that our Jesus is nothing but Love?”

She would then call upon her Beloved, speaking to Him as follows : 

“Grant unto me, O Lord, a voice so strong and powerful that when I call Thee Love, it may be heard from the east to the west, and in all corners of the world even as far as the gates of hell, making it possible for Thee to be known and loved as true Love, and receive thanks for the same.”

It would be difficult to describe here the tenderness she showed towards the crucifix, taking the Saviour in her hands, kissing Him, Holding Him tightly against her bosom, wiping away His sweat and His blood with her veil or handkerchief – and doing all this in such a miraculous manner that later these cloths were found moistened and stained as though she had really performed this service to Jesus Christ dying on the Cross. She was so affected by the ardour of her love that frequently even in the depths of winter she was forced to undo her habit and pour very cold water on herself, her face and her hands, drinking long draughts to cool down in some measure the flames of divine love that were consuming her. One day on the feast of the Invention (Finding) of the Holy Cross, she was heard to call out: 

“Oh Love! How little thou art known and loved; if thou hast not where to lay thy head[1], come, oh divine love! Just come to me and I shall be Thy dwelling. Oh soul! Why lovest thou not Love? Alas and alack! Love maketh me to die while living and to live while dying.”

Sometimes she would run through the garden and the cloisters looking for souls who knew and loved Love. When she encountered a Sister, she would take her by the hand and say to her: 

“Oh soul! Dost thou love Love as much as thou lovest thine own life? What! Dost thou not feel thyself swooning and dying of love?”

This has been an impromptu digression and there is not space here to provide similar details which could be found in the lives of St Catherine of Siena, St Bridget, St Gertrude, Saint Hildegard, St Mechtilde, St Lutgarde, St Mary of Oignies and many others. 

Footnotes

[1] Matt. viii. 20 & Luke ix. 58.

 12   There have been some people who, in order to keep the memory of Love and the Beloved continually fresh, have had certain marks imprinted on themselves whilst others have received these from Heaven, as though they were displaying liveries and favours of Love eternal.

Henry Suso was a devout Dominican friar who had the sacred name of Jesus engraved on his chest over the heart.

The author of Paris Antiquities writes that the Holy Name was found cauterised on the chest of a young woman from that city named Eustochium after her death.

The pious and learned Louis of Granada relates how in a city of Italy called Costello, during the opening of the tomb of a young woman of outstanding virtue called Catherine, there was found engraved on her chest a large pearl which contained the mystery of the Nativity and also the figure of the girl herself kneeling in front of the manger and adoring the infant Jesus.

Who has not heard tell of the instruments of the Passion which were seen over the heart of St Clare of Montefalco in Italy when her tomb was opened?

On the eve of the Annunciation in the year 1585, Blessed Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi (whom I mentioned above) was absorbed in meditation on the mystery of the Incarnation when the divine Word became flesh in the womb of the glorious Virgin. During her meditation, St Augustine wrote over her heart The Word in letters of gold followed by the words: was made flesh, in letters of blood. 

I shall not mention Saint Francis, Saint Catherine of Sienna nor several other Saints whose stories are very well known in this connection. I shall only add, in order to close this discussion with the words of St Bernard[1], that: 

One of the main reasons God makes a gift of this tender and sensitive love to devout souls is to drive out one love by another love – so as to banish from their hearts any feelings of sensual and profane love. 

In his opinion, it is: 

the reason why He clothed himself in our flesh – so that those who did not yet have a love sufficiently purified to love in the spirit alone might be drawn in pure love by someone whose flesh was entirely holy and Divine.

Footnotes

[1] Serm. 20 in Cant.

© Peter Bloor 2025 

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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.

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.