Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 8 : § 1.10-13

Chapter 8 : Honour – a seventh 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)

§ 1. First sign of honour : adoring her with hyperdulia

The practice of exterior adoration of the Holy Virgin

 10   There is no doubt that interior adoration is more noble than exterior adoration and that it is in fact the spirit which animates it, just as the soul animates the body. The latter, however is not without its own great merit and is highly pleasing to the Queen of Heaven.  Since man is composed of body and soul, it is beyond question that he owes her not only interior homage but also exterior worship. 

KISSING IMAGES OF THE VIRGIN

 11   The word adoration[1] comes from a practice much in vogue amongst the ancients, as we learn not only from their writings but also from Sacred Scripture, in particular the book of Job[2]. I am referring to hand-kissing, or rather to any sort of kiss given out of respect for holy or sacred things. This practice was sanctified right from the cradle of the nascent Church and Christians have made use of it to honour images, relics and other holy items. Throughout the ages, faithful servants of the MOTHER OF GOD have practised this as an act of love and gratitude, kissing as a sign of honour and affection her images, her relics, her name, locations she has graced, places in books where she is mentioned and things such as these. 

Footnotes

[1] adoration is said by some authorities to derive from Latin ad- (to|) and ōs, ōris (mouth). The habitus adorantium was to put the right hand to the mouth; adorare purpuram principis meant touching the Prince’s purple robe and bringing it to the mouth in reverence. See adoro in the LewisShort dictionary at Logeion.

[2] And my heart in secret hath rejoiced, and I have kissed my hand with my mouth: Which is a very great iniquity, and a denial against the most high God. Job. xxxi. 27-28.

 12   Genuflections, reverences and obeisances prone on the ground are performed ceaselessly in Heaven before the God of glory, as we learn from the prophecies of Isaiah, Ezechiel, Daniel and the Apocalypse of St John. From there they were brought down to earth and became part of religious worship from the beginning of the world. They were a common means of showing honour for the ancient Patriarchs, as is evidenced throughout Sacred Scripture. The Christian Church was born with this pious custom which was planted and authorised by the divine example of the Saviour Himself who would frequently prostrate Himself on the ground in long periods of prayer. St Bartholomew and St Martha prostrated themselves in prayer a hundred times every day and as many times during the night. The earliest Religious spent a great part of their lives in this practice and blessed Simeon Stylites provoked particular wonderment because he practised it by day and by night. Theodoret writes of him:

One of his companions wanted to see just how many reverences he would make once he started. He duly positioned himself at the foot of the Saint’s pillar and soon counted 1,240 reverences which were so profound that each time his head would touch his toes. In the end he could see the Saint was continuing and he grew tired of counting before Simeon grew tired of his deep reverences.

 13   Those with a fervent love for the MOTHER OF GOD knew well enough how to show her honour in this way.

Blessed Albert, a monk in the Monastery of St Crispin who lived around 1140[1], had no greater passion than showing honour to the Queen of Angels, his dear Mother. He discovered a thousand ways of doing this in a worthy and fitting manner. These included genuflecting one hundred times everyday and prostrating himself fifty times prone on the ground – each time saying the Ave Maria.

St Catherine of Sweden[2], daughter of St Bridget, used to spend four hours every day kneeling on the ground and she regularly accompanied this devotion with floods of tears.

St Elizabeth[3], daughter of Andrew II (King of Hungary), had instructed one of her maidservants to wake her at a certain hour of the night by touching her foot. Then she would discreetly leave the side of her husband and spend a part of the night in holy devotions.  

St Margaret[4], Queen of Hungary, as soon as she attained the age of discretion, would never pass by an image of the Holy Virgin without immediately kneeling down and reciting an Ave Maria. She would do this a thousand times every day during the Octave preceding her principal Feasts. 

The learned and devout Cardinal Jacques de Vitry writes[5] of Marie of Oignies that:

To honour the most sacred Virgin, she would often kneel down up to 1,100 times in 24 hours. This was a devotion she practised over a period of forty days in the following manner. First of all, she would genuflect 600 times without interruption. Next she would recite King David’s Psalter of 150 psalms, saying an Ave Maria at the end of each Psalm and paying homage to the Holy Virgin with a genuflection. Then she would administer the discipline to herself 300 times and with each blow she would kneel down and recite an Ave Maria. During this exercise she would regularly lose a considerable quantity of blood. Finally, she would bring her sacrificial offering to an end with 50 Ave Marias and 50 genuflections, making up the total of 1100.

Footnotes

[1] In ejus Vita apud Surium, 7 Aprilis.

[2] In ejus Vita, 22 Martii.

[3] In ejus Vita apud Surium, 19 Novemb.

[4] Ibid., 28 Januarii.

[5] Ibid., t. III.

© Peter Bloor 2025 

👑   👑   👑

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.