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).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac (Poggi, 2020) |
§ 11. How she should be imitated by Virgins in particular
A love of seclusion : first companion of the virginity of the MOTHER OF GOD
6 The first of the accompanying virtues was a love of seclusion and a desire to flee encounters and others’ company – not only those which are pernicious but also those which are not necessary. Several doctors have in fact noted that the Hebrew word hâ-‘almah which is used in the prophecy of Isaiah where it is written[1] that a Virgin shall conceive, does not simply mean a Virgin but a Virgin in reclusion and hidden away who took care not to leave her house. Indeed, she adhered to this principle so assiduously that she never left home except when charity or necessity required her to do so and then she would return as soon as possible to her beloved solitude. I invite you to consult the Evangelist St Luke[2] to find out how she made the difficult journey to a city of Juda in order to visit her cousin Elizabeth. He specifically mentions that she went with haste, without stopping on the way. What is still more noteworthy is that this divine Author gives us to understand[3] that Mary abode with her about three months in Zachary’s house and then returned to Nazareth before Elizabeth’s full time of being delivered was come, in order to avoid an unnecessary encounter with the neighbours and kinsfolk whom she did not doubt would hurry to arrive at the first news of the miraculous birth of St John the Baptist[4].
If you thought she was someone frequently out and about on visits then you could not be more mistaken, says the learned Doctor St Ambrose[5]; for in the ordinary course of events she made a point of not leaving the house except when she needed to go to the Temple – and then she would never be unaccompanied by her parents.
You would have seen her always busy at home and when she left the house she was accompanied, even though no one watched over her more carefully than she did herself.
Footnotes
[1] Isai. vii. 14.
[2] Luke i. 39.
[3] Ibid. 56-58.
[4] Rupertus, lib. I in Cant.
[5] Lib. II de Virginibus.
7 Please do not tell me about those footloose and curious women who just cannot stay indoors and who have a great passion for going out and about. The more they travel the less they find and may God preserve them from losing that which is best preserved in seclusion. Even if they were to perform miracles they would have difficulty in persuading the Holy Fathers that they are chaste and pure. They would need to be referred to Tertullian, St Cyprian, St Jerome, St Ambrose and other similar great Masters of the spiritual life who taught mothers the way to bring up their daughters so as to learn these lessons. They would tell them[1] quite candidly that :
if they want to walk out in the streets like Dina[2] of old in order to see and to be seen, to flirt and have people flirt with them, they could well come to the same end as that unfortunate young woman; and if the world gossips about them disparagingly then they have only themselves to blame.
They would tell them[3]:
that there have been women who thought themselves just as sensible as they are who got into trouble through their overly free and flighty conversations; that nobody is lost by a single act but it only needs one spark to light a fire which may never be extinguished.
They would tell them[4]:
that nothing suits purity better than solitude and that seclusion is the best school for modesty.
They would tell them[5]:
that their willingness to parade themselves before the gaze of others is on its own contrary to chastity; that the desire to attract the gaze of men, and even more to please them – however virtuous they may be and whatever everyone’s good intentions may be – is like thrusting a dagger into the heart of purity; and that such behaviour will harden their souls little by little until it no longer causes them to blush.
They would tell them[6]:
that the only way of cutting themselves off from such temptations and such bad conversation is to stay at home; for just as we have difficulty in seeing the way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock and the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, so too is it difficult to see the path beaten by young men to the door of a girl who keeps the door of her home locked and bolted.
They would present for their consideration the example of the noble and virtuous Asella[7], a young lady of Rome whose idea of Heaven in this world was being alone in her little room. She lived in such seclusion from the society of men that her cheeks would blush even when she encountered her sister, although she too was a chaste virgin like herself.
In short, they would tell them of the wonders of holy virgins such as Agnes, Agatha, Cecilia, Lucia and a multitude of others who were never seen in public except when they received the palm of martyrdom; and they would tell them that if they preferred to follow the example of skittish coquettes rather than that of these wise Virgins, then they could expect only to share the shame and confusion of the former rather than the esteem and glory of the latter.
Footnotes
[1] S. Bern., Tract. de Gradibus humil., gradu 1.
[2] Gen. xxxiv. 1-2.
[3] S. Hieron., passim.
[4] Ambr., Exhort. ad Virg.
[5] Tertull., lib. de Velandis Virginib.
[6] Ita Gaspar Sanctius interpretatur locum Salomonis, Proverb. xxx. 18-20.
[7] Hieron., Epist. 15 ad Marcellam.
Modesty : second companion of the virginity of the MOTHER OF GOD
8 Whilst they are reflecting upon this, I can tell them that the second virtue with which the Holy Virgin accompanied her chastity was modesty or decency. St Gregory Nazianzus[1] teaches that:
There is such a close link between the internal and external that if what is inside is well-formed then of necessity what shows outside will reflect this; accordingly we can actually see modesty in people’s eyes, restraint in their speech, sobriety in the way they walk, propriety and decency in all the movements of their body.
According to Blessed Epiphanius[2], a Priest of Constantinople, the Queen of Angels was in this respect most admirable :
Being small, she never fixed her eyes on anyone and never behaved improperly in any way. Her modesty, moreover, seemed so unique conpared to the ways of the world that all men of judgement considered she was someone who must have come from Heaven rather than being conceived on earth and they were forced to admit they had never seen a modesty so rare or a countenance so divine.
This is why St John Damascene spoke to her as follows[3]:
O Virgin beyond compare, drawn by thy love I am addressing these words to thee, sweet fruit of St Anne’s womb! But how shall I portray with my poor pen the sobriety of thy manner and the modesty of thy garments? What words will suffice to describe the sweet beauty of thy countenance and the maturity of thy demeanour which was noted even in thy childhood? Thou wast never ostentatious or affected in thy dress, still less in thy deportment and countenance. There was both gentleness and gravity in thy demeanour. Men had no access to thy presence – hence thy troubled reaction when the Angel Gabriel suddenly appeared before thee.
Such are the words spoken by St John Damascene. But concerning her reaction, please consider in the first place that several learned Doctors have stated the Holy Virgin was troubled not at the sight of an Angel in her room, for that was nothing new for her, but seeing him in the form of a man, which was something totally out of the ordinary; in the second place, consider what Peter Damian noted[4]: that she carefully maintained her habitual silence by not giving any reply to the divine Ambassador until seeking clarification from him as to how God was to accomplish the designs that He had for her.
Footnotes
[1] Epist. 193.
[2] Apud Niceph., lib. II Hist., c. 23.
[3] Orat. 1 de Nativitate Virg.
[4] Serm. 1 de Nativit. B. Virg.
9 At this point the great Master of Virgins, St Ambrose[1], sends them to the Holy Mother’s school :
in order to learn modesty and chastity from her, along with the realisation that a true Virgin must be suspicious of every word uttered by men and that she should blush every time she encounters one.
Next they should learn from St Bernard[2] that:
their most beautiful lustre consists of their modesty and sense of shame, which St Agnes called the rose-coloured blush of their cheeks.
St Augustine[3] adds the warning that they should keep careful watch over their eyes and never gaze upon any man. There is no point replying that true chastity is in the heart and that those women who have determined to preserve it have no need to be spoken to in this way, because he can firmly shut the door against these fine excuses for frivolous behaviour by telling them that:
if the eye is free to gaze here and there at anything it pleases, then he will never believe that true modesty can abide within the heart.
Finally, Saint Jerome[4] tells them that:
the advances made by young men, their looks, their smiles, their gestures and other similar charming actions are signs of their burning desire and symptoms of the mortal illness that leads to the endangering of their chastity.
In short, they all proclaim that for want of sobriety and self restraint many women who thought themselves most virtuous have fallen and that the way of frivolity is so slippery that as soon as they set foot on it then they can soon find themselves on the broad path that leadeth to destruction.
Footnotes
[1] Lib. II in Lucam.
[2] Serm. in Signum magnum.
[3] Epist. 109.
[4] In Vita Sancti Hilarionis.
© Peter Bloor 2026
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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.
The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.
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.
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