Chapter 12 : Association – eleventh 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) |
§ 2. Various Associations founded in honour of the MOTHER OF GOD
The Congregation of Our Lady of St Anno
1 The holy custom of forming associations of people who are united in mind and will to offer their services to the most sacred Virgin is not a new thing. Nearly six hundred years ago, blessed Saint Anno (Archbishop of Cologne) was not content with having built and endowed in his city a fine Monastery serving a Chapter in honour of the MOTHER OF GOD, but he set up in various other locations, according to an ancient author[1], several congregations named after the Immaculate Virgin Mary. He regarded these Congregations as the apple of his eye and his esteem for the members was so great that he loved nothing better than the conversations he had with them. He was always delighted to show them signs of the affection he felt towards them for the love of the Mother whose beloved children they were.
Footnotes
[1] Ex Historia cujusdam Coenobitæ Sigebergensis, lib. I, c. 29.
The Confraternity of the Rosary
2 Some two hundred years after this (in the year 1213[1]), St Dominic, who was one of the great Commanders in the Church Militant, received from Heaven the devotion of the Rosary and almost immediately afterwards the idea for a Confraternity. He appointed as its generals two members of his Order, one of whom was called Juan del Monte and the other Tomás del Templo. Here is what is written about the beginnings of this holy association[2].
St Dominic had been captured by pirates and condemned to the life of a galley slave when suddenly a violent storm arose and all on board his ship feared they would drown. St Dominic, however, prostrated himself on the floor and prayed to the MOTHER OF GOD that she would rescue them from the tempest. The Holy Virgin appeared to him and promised him that they would come to no harm provided that all those in the vessel would undertake to recite the Rosary every day and to form a new Confraternity whose members were bound to do this. Everyone on board agreed to do this and the sea then became as calm as though there had never been any storm.
The little Confraternity they established soon experience such a growth in numbers that today it is found in all corners of the world and has produced remarkable fruit. The Holy Fathers Pius IV and Pius V issued Bulls expressly authorising the ancient belief which was that God had through this means given the world a general remedy for all ills, and stating specifically that this devout association would be a bulwark of the faith and vanquish heresies. In fact, it was noted that as this devotion increased and spread, the heresies of the Albigensians and others which had reappeared such as the Berengarians, the Petrobrusians, the Henricians and others like them, were put to flight. In the process for the canonization of St Dominic it states that in Lombardy alone more than one hundred thousand heretics were converted by the courage of the Crusaders, the efforts of St Dominic’s Friars and by the continual prayers of those who were members of the Confraternity of the Rosary. The Holy Fathers esteemed this so highly that they enriched it with many privileges and indulgences, as may be seen in the Bulls issued by Urban IV, John XXII, Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, Alexandre VI, Julius II, de Leo X, Adrian VI, Paul III, Gregory XIII, Clement VIII and Paul V.
Footnotes
[1] Bzovius in Supplemento Annal. Baron., ad eum annum.
[2] Alanus de Rupert., lib. de Dignit. Psalterii.
The Confraternity of the Holy Virgin in Florence
3 Scarcely twenty years [1] after the institution of that Confraternity, the Holy Virgin chose the city of Florence to be especially honoured by an association of chosen people called the Congregation of those who praise the MOTHER OF GOD. Like a good tree, this was to bear very good fruit, namely the Holy Order of the Servites which we have covered elsewhere[2].
Footnotes
[1] An. 1238.
[2] Part I, ch. 12.
The Confraternity of the Disciplined in Siena
4 At the same time[1], or perhaps a little earlier, a new group raised their standard of devotion to the MOTHER OF GOD in the city of Siena in Tuscany. This was known as the Confraternity of the Disciplined and it was established in the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in the same city. The members began to practise with great fervour all sorts of beautiful and praiseworthy actions, including the exercise of the discipline which became so highly esteemed that it gave its name to the Confraternity which soon spread throughout the majority of cities in Italy. From this holy and honourable Confraternity emerged several valiant Captains in the Church Militant who worked wonders in fighting against the devil and the world. The list includes St Giovanni Colombini (founder of the Jesuati) along with his companion Francisco Vicente, blessed Bernardo Tolomeo, Ambrosio Picolomini and others who founded the Order of Our Lady of Mt Olivet; blessed Pietro Petroni,who was later to become a distinguished Carthusian; St Bernardine of Siena and countless other heroes whose names are written in Heaven.
Footnotes
[1] In Vita S. Bernardini.
The Confraternity of the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin
5 Soon after this, blessed Simon Stock, who was English and a great servant of the Queen of Heaven, was specially chosen by her to spread this devotion. This holy man was called Stock because he made a tree trunk his dwelling for a period of time, awaiting by divine revelation an Order dedicated to the service of the Holy Virgin, to whom he had consecrated himself a long time previously. At the same time that St Louis was bringing back to France a number of friars of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, two English barons were returning to their country accompanied by some members of this same Order. Blessed Simon was notified about this by one of his servants who alone knew of his hidden retreat and immediately went to join them. As his great holiness could not remain hidden for long, he was finally in the year 1250 elected as the sixth General of the Order. In this position he felt more duty-bound than ever to procure in every way possible the advancement of the glory of God and His holy Mother, Lady and Protectress of the Order that he had received into his charge. To this end, he frequently asked if she would be pleased by some new grace to place the great Royal Seal on the letters patent of filiation which she had granted to her children. The way he prayed for this was as follows:
Beautiful and pleasing flower of Mount Carmel, sacred vine who didst bear the royal flower, brightest of the stars, Virgin and Mother, but Mother and peerless Virgin, Virgin most pure and Mother most gentle : do thou deign to grant a new favour to the Order thou hast chosen.
This prayer proved so pleasing to the Holy Virgin that one night as he was praying before one of her images, she appeared to him surrounded by extraordinary brightness and accompanied by a group of Angels. She handed the scapular to him and added that this would be henceforth the hereditary pledge of her affection towards this Order, an ensign for her Confraternity, the favour that he had been requesting, a promise of safety in the midst of dangers, a sign and a mark of the eternal union her children would have with her. Immediately after this, the MOTHER OF GOD inspired several great Princes with the desire to join this holy Confraternity. Amongst the first were St Louis, King of France; Edward, King of England; Henry, Earl of Northumberland; Angela, daughter of the King of Bohemia, and many others whom it would take too long to list. Since then, this devotion has spread throughout the world and has been adopted by a countless number of people of all ages and qualities. The Holy Fathers John XXII, Gregory XIII, Sixtus V, Gregory XIV and Clement VIII were generous with their apostolic riches and blessings, and through granting many indulgences encouraged Christians to enrol in the Confraternity.
© Peter Bloor 2026
👑 👑 👑
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment