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) |
§ 12. How she should be imitated by wives and widows
Third quality: simplicity and modesty in appearance
4 The third quality is simplicity and modesty in dress and appearance. The Holy Apostle[1], like his colleague St Paul[2], does not wish to hear of those women whose hair is styled in various tiers, bouffant, frizzled, powdered, studded with pearls, diamonds and other gems. He condemns those dresses of embroidered fabric and other similar clothes richly lined and attractively worked, as being products of the world and snares of Satan, apart from being quite unbecoming for the daughters of Jesus Christ.
True modesty, says St Cyprian[3], has no need of all this artifice because it is beautiful and pleasing enough in itself without extra adornments.
This is what the great St Hilary[4] once replied to his daughter Abra who was tempted to dress up like her friends:
She was asking for jewellery and he promised she could have a pearl of great price, one that would never fade, age or die – which was nothing other than chastity; but he added that in order to have this pearl she would have to reject other jewels for this pearl was so beautiful and so precious that it wanted to be alone.
He persuaded her in this way as easily as St Jerome did in the case of the noble woman Demetrias[5], his spiritual daughter, of whom he wrote:
that she was most ill at ease when forced to dress up and adorn herself ; for like the virtuous Esther, she would just as readily have endured the dirtiest and shabbiest of clothes rather than frills and finery.
I must confess that I do not know how Christian women, especially those who profess to have devotion, can in good conscience spend so much time and effort on such things, nor how they can sleep at night with the foolish belief that there is no harm in all these frivolities. I would only beg them to weigh carefully what the Holy Doctors have written about this and to take from them the rules of their spiritual life.
I have found some, say St Gregory[6], who go so far as to try and cover up this vice, wanting us to think there is no harm in dressing up ostentatiously in costly garments. They should tell me why it is that Sacred Scripture[7], carefully highlighting the points of condemnation for the rich man, mentions these two things in particular: that he was clothed in purple and fine linen; and feasted sumptuously every day. They should explain why, if their sole aim is nothing other than vanity, they take so little trouble to dress up when they stay at home and will not be seen by anyone else.
Do not imagine that it is here a question of vanity alone since the Saints link it to consequences which are worse.
So here you are, says St Cyprian[8], dressed in sumptuous attire, adorned with finery so as to look like a nymph; you stroll along the streets in a manner just as studied and affected as your clothes; you attract the gaze of young men on all sides through the folly of their youth; you provoke sighs and longings in their hearts; you fan the flames of their concupiscence, you throw oil on the fire – and yet you consider yourself to be altogether innocent. It is my wish and prayer that you do not fall into perdition, and you for your part should take pains not to be the cause of ruination in others for you are placing them at no less risk than were you to give them poison, or pierce their breast with a dagger – and after all this you want to convince me you are chaste? I shall never believe it; and should you ever try to do so, your clothes would give the lie to your words.Do not deceive yourselves by trying to persuade us with fine words, says St John Chrysostom; we understand the ways of the world only too well. I am telling you that it is impossible to be obsessed with your appearance and at the same time to be concerned for your soul. How could you even dream of doing this when you are so focused on your body and your appearance, drowning in your own vanity and crushed beneath the heavy burden of your countless sins?
Footnotes
[1] Whose adorning let it not be the outward plaiting of the hair, or the wearing of gold, or the putting on of apparel : 1 Pet. iii. 3.
[2] (I will) that women also pray in decent apparel: adorning themselves with modesty and sobriety, not with plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire: 1 Tim. ii. 9.
[3] Lib. de Bono pudicitiæ.
[4] Epist. ad Abraham filiam suam.
[5] Ad Demetriadem de Virginitate.
[6] Homil. 40 in Evang.
[7] Luke xvi. 19.
[8] Lib. de habitu virginum.
5 Let these Saints continue in this vein for I personally would never have the boldness to write what follows if it were not from their pens.
The admirable St Paula, says St Jerome[1], a wonder of sobriety and virtue, could never meet one of these fancily coiffured women without reproaching them with a frown and a disapproving look in her eyes; she was also wont to say that affecting that physical beauty which was so much sought after was an infallible sign of ugliness in the soul.Virgins and women who are wise, St Cyprian[2] adds, should avoid like the plague the affectation and finery which are suited to harlots, and which serve as signs and standards of women who have abandoned their own honour. It is simply not possible that those who are bedecked in silk and scarlet can put on the Lord Jesus Christ[3]; and where so much gold, pearls and clusters of diamonds can be seen on display, then it must of necessity be said that there the principal adornment of the body and soul is missing. For otherwise how would they not be fearful to wear what costs others so dearly, making a display of weapons, so to speak, which are still tarnished with the blood of their neighbour?
St Gregory of Nazianzus, whilst discussing the admirable virtues of his dear sister Gorgonia[4], dismisses all this paraphernalia of vanity as coming from the Prince of Darkness.
No one, he says, ever saw Gorgonia’s clothes decorated with frippery or her hair specially plaited in tresses and such like. She never made use of any artifice to make her face more attractive or to alter what nature had given her. She believed that sort of thing belonged only to women with a bad reputation; in the case of women who held their honour in high esteem, she believed there was no beauty like unto that which was resplendent in the soul. Her rouge was nothing other than blushing caused by her holy chastity, and her ceruse[5] was a natural colour produced by her long abstinence; what was left over could be left to actresses and to those glorying in being unable to blush.
But why would I go in search of further examples since I already have one so excellent to hand? For where was there ever modesty like unto that of the MOTHER OF GOD? The great Apostle of France, St Denis, was he not altogether enraptured by her modesty? Did not Nicephorus[6], Cedrenus[7] and other historians expressly comment that she never wore anything other than plain and undyed wool? I personally have no doubt whatsoever that she was one of those women spoken of by Clement of Alexandria[8] who, in imitation of the valiant woman mentioned in Proverbs[9], sought wool and flax[10], and that she hath put out her hand to clothe her domestics, and most especially her dear Son. Evidence in support of this is the seamless garment[11] that the Holy Fathers unanimously accept was the work of the Holy Virgin’s hands. At this point I should like to ask our Christian ladies if they believe this Princess of Heaven spent three or four hours every day (or even more), beautifying herself in front of a mirror– and what possible good could come from such a disordered use of time? If they say they do it to please their husbands, why do they not then stay at home? What is the point of walking out and about so much, making so many visits and going on so many trips? What is the point of so many vain and questionable encounters and conversations? Who could ever imagine that the husband might take pleasure from things such as this which, every single day, can turn upside down even the best regulated of families? Who would say he was wrong to think that these are signs of incontinence rather than marks of loyalty? But what will these ladies say about the sheer amount of time they waste in his privileges and amusements? They spend the whole morning getting dressed, and the afternoon receiving visitors or paying their own visits. Can there possibly be in the whole world a life more useless than that? What time do they have left to pray to God and to manage their household? What about the example they are supposed to give to their servants, their children and their neighbour? Who cannot see that their devotions simply amount to mere ceremony, superficial like everything else?
Those who wish to live a Christian life following the example of the MOTHER OF GOD are very different indeed! Satan and all his pomps (as our Doctors call them) are immediately renounced as soon as holy devotion fills the soul! How different are the intentions and affections we then see in the soul! And how all the cares lavished on appearance can now be seen as diametrically opposed to pleasing God! But perhaps enough has now been said on this point.
Footnotes
[1] Epist. 27 ad Eustoch.
[2] Lib. de habitu virginum.
[3] Rom. xiii. 14.
[4] Orat. 11.
[5] A name for white lead, used as a paint or cosmetic for the skin (OED 1a & 1b).
[6] Lib. II Hist. Eccles., c. 33.
[7] In Compendio historiæ.
[8] Clemens Alex., lib. III Pedag., c. 11.
[9] Prov. xxxi. 10.
[10] Ibid. 13.
[11] John xix. 23.
© 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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