Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 8 : § 4.1-2

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)

§ 4. Fourth sign of honour : building Churches and Oratories for her

 1   The honour redounding to God from the construction of Churches can easily be ranked amongst the highest that He receives from us. For whenever a Church is consecrated to Him, He comes down to take possession and immediately makes evident His fidelity by listening to those who go there to have recourse unto Him. Although it is true that He does not always make His entrance with so much pomp and magnificence as He did when the Temple of Solomon was dedicated[1], nevertheless it is for us beyond question that He comes with an abundance of divine virtue so much the greater since the Christian Churches are more noble than that Temple of old with its ceremonies which were destined to serve as mere prefigurements of our holy mysteries. This is what makes me say that it is a work of great merit to construct Churches for God, since it obliges Him to come down on earth in a particular manner and it offers Him the means of revealing His greatness and being generous with His goods. It provides an opportunity for millions of people to obtain salvation through the exercise of all sorts of virtues. It is to increase and multiply the sanctuaries of God and the places where He may come in person to be with us. In a certain sense, it is to make Heaven come down to earth – or rather to construct on earth miniature Heavens, where truly celestial actions may be performed by day and by night, at all times and in every season, where God is blessed, adored and glorified unceasingly, where forgiveness is given for sins, where souls are revivified for eternal salvation, where their right to a Heavenly inheritance is made real, where Kings and lawful ministers of the holy Altar are anointed and consecrated, and where vows are taken ; in short, where we see put into practice all the most divine actions of which the human spirit is capable on this mortal pilgrimage.

Footnotes

[1] 1 Kings viii and 2 Chronicles v-vii.

 2   The same may be said (in a proportionate manner) of the Churches dedicated to the Saints and especially to her who is the Queen of Saints. Besides the exceptional joy the Saints experience in the honour God receives from the Churches which are dedicated to them; besides the satisfaction they feel on seeing the salvation and spiritual progress of men, they personally derive from this tribute great glory, and in short, everything that they can hope for from persons of our condition. This is what makes me believe that the MOTHER OF GOD is deeply moved by the generosity of those who choose to employ the resources they have received from Heaven in such a holy and honourable way. Since we read frequently in Scripture that God built houses for those who rendered Him some outstanding service, meaning that he helped to establish their families and blessed their posterity, what then must they hope for who have provided an abode for the Holy Virgin in palaces and temples, if not that her reward will be to build for them an eternal palace in Heaven, that she will fulfil their hopes, that she will guide their plans, and that she will fill them with every sort of happiness? 

It would give me great pleasure to talk about this at greater length but I must be content with what was said at the end of Part I where we visited the most famous of the Churches built in her honour across the whole world. The people we mentioned there who generously applied themselves to these projects are the same whom we saw in the subsequent Parts prospering in every way – to the glory of God and the honour of her whose generosity has never been equalled. 

Footnotes

[1] O God, Who didst deign to choose the virginal chamber of blessed Mary wherein Thou wouldst dwell: grant, we beseech Thee that, strengthened by her defence, we may assist with joy at her feast: 

[2] 8 x 35 = 280. “The duration of pregnancy is considered to be 280 days on average” : Physiology, Pregnancy by Pascual & Langaker (NIH:National Library of Medicine, 2023).

© 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.