Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 8 : § 3.19-23

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)

§ 3. Third sign of honour : celebrating her feasts religiously 

 19   I should point out moreover that since we are true children of the heavenly Jerusalem, having a right through divine adoption and through the grace of regeneration to the joys and happiness of the Royal House from which we issue, we should accordingly rouse our hearts and show in the way we celebrate our own feasts that we share in the heavenly rejoicing after the manner in which the celebrations are observed on high. St John in his Apocalypse[1] was invited to be present in the spirit at the miracles which accompanied the solemnity of the opening by the Lamb of the book sealed with seven seals and the triumphant celebrations which followed. He saw the four and twenty ancients and the four living creatures, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours (which are the prayers of saints) fall down on their faces singing praises of the Lamb. He heard the voices of the glorious spirits and the number of them was thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and benediction. He heard every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, singing the same song with a different air and proclaiming with a new cadence a thousand blessings to the Lamb, seated on the throne of the living God. 

I believe this gives us a true idea for our feasts and is the perfect model for what they should include: Prayer, Rejoicing, Thanksgiving and Glorification. 

 

Footnotes

[1] Chap. v

Prayer

 20   I have mentioned Prayer which is represented by the odours which St John saw rising continually to the throne of God and covering the entire Holy City with their pleasing fragrance. Reason requires that we should on our feast days dedicate a special time to contemplating their mysteries that the Church is putting before us and our hearts should be filled with holy feelings. Fr Francisco Suarez is someone no less known in heaven for his outstanding virtues than on earth for his extensive knowledge and he would never say Mass on the feast days Of the Holy Virgin without having previously spent at least two good hours meditating on her great qualities. In fact all those with a heartfelt love for this Princess try on such occasions to contemplate and savour her sweet mysteries and to hold colloquy with her as long as they can

Rejoicing

 21   We learn from Holy Scripture that just as Samson found honey in the mouth of the Lion[1], so shall we find sweetness and joy in prayer which is represented by a lion because of its great power. This is what we encounter when we speak in our prayers of the great qualities of the Empress of Heaven. It is as though the soul attains a state where it is flooded with sweet feelings of rejoicing occasioned by thinking on the excellent qualities of her who is uniquely cherished. There, a man’s spirit is as though transported with delight and shares the joy of seeing her elevation; there, he finds contentment, there he achieves satisfaction, there he loses himself, there he confesses that he desires nothing more since he sees the object of his love transformed in God. The effects of this joy are truly so great in some people that their hearts would suffer from extremes of desire and languor if God did not intervene to fortify or mitigate these feelings.

Footnotes

[1] Judges xiv.

Thanksgiving

 22   From these considerations and from this Rejoicing spring lively feelings of gratitude which prompt the soul thus affected to offer acts of thanksgiving to the most adorable Trinity for having raised the Holy Virgin to such high honour and especially for having granted the favours which are associated with the particular feast in question. The thanksgiving is offered most especially to the King of glory, her beloved Son :  for whom, through whom and in whom she received so many favours from Heaven. Finally, the thanksgiving is offered to the Holy Virgin herself, forasmuch as her feasts always contain a reminder of some signal obligation we have towards her.

Glorification

 23   Finally, all this happiness culminates in blessings and acts of glorification for which man realises his soul is ill-equipped to supply and so he seeks help from everywhere he can. He prays in aid all in Heaven and on earth to adore the Father of lights, from whom comes down every perfect gift[1]; he calls upon them to sing and proclaim His magnificence and make Him known to all His creatures. He does as much to bless and glorify proportionately her whom God has raised in unimaginable ways; he speaks to her of the wonderful things his love reveals to him and in his heart he wishes these tender colloquies might never end. 

Footnotes

[1] Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights: James i. 17.

© Peter Bloor 2026  

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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.