Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 11 : § 1.1-4

Chapter 11 : Imitation – tenth 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)

If you see Imitation is being dealt with now after the other ways of showing gratitude, you should not for that reason think any the less of it. I have deliberately left it until now because it is not so much an individual virtue different from the others but rather a combination of all the virtues, adding only a general motive which is to perform actions so as to make ourselves more like the person being honoured. Apart from this, once you have taken a closer look at imitation, you will find that the Queen of Heaven herself esteemed it highly and practised it more than any other.

§ 1. How Imitation is one of the most pleasing forms of gratitude to the MOTHER OF GOD

 1   To ask why we should imitate the Queen of Angels is in my opinion like asking why we should love her – granted that love is not only love but is also the father of likeness and imitation.

Love, says the Philosopher[1], cannot exist without likeness, to the extent that if it is not founded upon it then it must beget it; and if it is not already found present then it cannot stop itself from producing it.

There is nothing in the world it will not bring down, no pleasure it will not forego, no gain it will not sacrifice in order to render itself like that which it loves; and there is nothing it will not give, nothing it will not do or undertake in order to render that which is loved similar to itself. This is, however, especially true of maternal love, more so than all the other types of love : inasmuch as it lives and feeds on likeness. The strongest love of mothers usually goes to the children who are closest to them. This is the thrust of the wise advice which St Bonaventure[2] gives us when he says : 

Do you want to be welcomed by your dear Mother and win a special place in her affections? Do you want to be treated tenderly by her and never be refused anything you might ask of her, even if this goes so far as to abide happily with her? Learn then that the shortest way of achieving this is to study how to imitate her as much as you can. 

You will be making a big mistake, says Saint Augustine[3], if you imagine you can achieve great things by having recourse to her but without trying to be like her : until you go to the trouble of imitating her humility and her other virtues, you should be aware that nothing has been achieved – forasmuch as the true touchstone of love and devotion is to imitate that which you honour[4]. 

Footnotes

[1] Arist., lib. III Ethic. (Aristotle’s discussion of friendship and likeness is in fact found in Book VIII).

[2] Stimulo divini amoris, c. 7.

[3] Serm. 35 de Sanctis.

[4] Summa devotio imitari quod colimus /The highest devotion is to imitate what we worship.  Vid. S. Bonav., Lib. viginti quinque memorabilium, nº 13.

 2   Even if she did not belong to you in any way, please tell me you would you not have good enough reason to imitate her because she was (as indeed she is) the most excellent model of all the virtues that you could ever choose under God? I do not intend to elaborate on this subject here forasmuch as I have already shown elsewhere[1] how she is the Queen of virtues; but knowing that you can consider her as your Mother, is it not a mark of great consolation that you do not have to look far for something to imitate, that you have exemplars of every virtue within your family, as well as a Mother who is the most accomplished idea of all perfection? This is the joy and privilege of the children of the valiant woman in Proverbs[2], who is a true prefiguration of the MOTHER OF GOD : that all in her household are clothed with double garments. This is not simply a reference to the clothing they had for winter and summer but, as is noted by Cardinal Hugh[3]: 

These are holy habits and qualities which protect them when times are bad, such as strength of will, patience, meekness and humility; and those which are more suited to better times, such as piety, devotion, wisdom and the like.  

Not only have they put on Jesus Christ, as the Apostle recommends[4], but they are also clothed in imitation of their Father and their Mother and are, as St Bonaventure says[5], dressed with Mary, the perfect rule of all purity. The Prophet Isaiah[6], moreover, not only wants us to fix our eyes upon Abraham the father of the faithful, but he is most keen for us always to have before us the image of his chaste wife Sarah, whom we have described elsewhere[7] as one of the figures foreshadowing the glorious Virgin, our Mother. I find it so hard to understand how, coming from such good stock and having the outstanding example of such a Father and Mother ever-present before us, we can nevertheless make such heavy weather of following their lead. With what possible pretext can we hope to cover up our cowardice and laziness, and how can we bear to be reproached by so many beautiful examples they have left for us to follow 

Footnotes

[1] Part I, ch. 10.

[2] Prov. xxxi. 21.

[3] Hugh of St-Cher, a Dominican Cardinal, d. 1263.

[4] But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ : Rom. xiii. 14.

[5] In Psal. 5.

[6] And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. Isai. xi. 1.

[7] Part I, ch. 3, § 4.

 3   Let us return to the Holy Virgin our dear Mother, since she is the focus of our attention. Are we not actually saying that her qualities are so out of the ordinary that they are altogether inimitable, and that it belongs only to her to be the MOTHER OF GOD, to be Virgin and Mother at one and the same time, and to bring together qualities which are so extremely different from one another?

Yes, we are ; but, asks St Bernard[1], is there nothing else in her that can be imitated? Consider for a moment those times when we find ourselves lacking gentleness in our conversation, humility in our hearts, greatness, courage, and tender-heartedness : can we excuse ourselves on the grounds that her perfections are inimitable by us?

You cannot come near to being like the MOTHER OF GOD, you say? What then will you reply to St Jerome[2], to St Ambrose[3], to Blessed Peter Damian[4] and to the pious Hugh of Saint Victor[5] who strongly maintain that we can?

You have the means of being the MOTHER OF GOD, says the first, but this is in the spirit.  

But do the will of the Father, says the second, and you will be the Mother of the son.

The Holy Virgin conceived the divine Word in her bodily womb, says the third; and we conceive Him in the womb of our soul; she nourished Him with the precious milk of her sacred breasts and we feed Him with the tasty morsels of our holy actions.

My dear brethren, says the fourth, let us make no mistake about this; since if we aim to enjoy the eternal happiness which has been prepared for us, it follows of necessity that we should firstly be Mothers of Jesus Christ; I mean that we should conceive Him, bear Him within us, give birth to Him and finally possess Him as our own. We shall conceive Him through faith, bear Him through our good will, give birth to Him through good works, and finally we shall rejoice in possessing Him in Heaven when He will be entirely ours and we entirely His.

If these qualities which seem so far removed from us are not actually beyond our power, then what will be the case with her exceptional modesty, her perfect humility, her voluntary poverty, her admirable confidence and trust, her perfect charity not only towards God but towards her neighbour, and with all her other virtues which are more humanly accessible, so to speak?  Let us not be in any haste about this, however, since time is needed to consider them in detail and to set our hearts on imitating them.

Footnotes

[1] Serm. in Signum magnum.

[2] Epist. 22 ad Eustoch.

[3] In c. 21 Luc.

[4] Serm. 2 de Nativit. B. Mariæ.

[5] Serm. 18.

 4   Let us say, however, by way of conclusion that we are still obliged to imitate her if only because of the wondrous fruits that will come to us through this imitation. Blessed are they that keep my ways, she says[1]. What more could you want since you will actually experience great happiness in this holy exercise? Take time to listen to her devoted son Bernard and he will reveal to you in what exactly this happiness consists. 

The Holy Virgin, he says[2], knows in a special way those who love her and she draws close to them who entreat her help, especially when they take pains to imitate her chastity and humility; she cherishes in a unique manner those who have placed all their trust in her, after God, and who serve her from the bottom of their hearts. Apart from this, remember that it is no small thing to have won her grace and favour, since : 

• she is all-powerful on earth and in heaven, 
• the life of our souls is in her hands, 
• the eyes of all Christians are fixed upon her and 
• she provides them with the nourishment of grace, as though she – like the sea with its bottomless depths – is the true source of all the virtues.

Who would not wish to run after her with so much to be gained, especially when we hear her calling out to us[3] that he who loves her will follow her, and that he will be filled with her fruits and showered with her blessings? Let us therefore take her at her word and, by means of her favour, let us learn once and for all the way to imitate her.

Footnotes

[1] Prov. viii. 32.

[2] S. Bernard., Super Salve.

[3] Ecclus. xxiv ; Prov. viii.

© 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.