The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 12 : § 5.66-69

Chapter 12 : The Eleventh Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of 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)

She has been and is still recognized and called blessed by all generations in the world

§ 5. She was recognized  and honoured by all Nations everywhere in the world

OUR LADY OF SCHIEDEM & OUR LADY OF DORDRACH

 66   Holland is not any more lacking than other Provinces in the way the faithful have preserved signs of the ancient devotion of their ancestors and the affection shown by the most glorious Virgin, even though there has been much here to make them unworthy of this. The town of Schiedam takes great pride not only in the image they have of the most sacred MOTHER OF GOD but also in being the birthplace of Blessed St Lidwina.

There was a certain merchant dealing in foodstuffs who had a beautiful image of Our Lady that he intended to sell at the fair in Anvers. As he weighed anchor so as to leave the port of Schiedam, he found it quite impossible to make any headway, no matter what he did. Some of the townsfolk of Schiedam rushed to the scene to see what was happening and several went on board the vessel. When they saw the image of the Blessed Virgin, they came to the conclusion that she did not wish to go any further and this was the only thing that was stopping the merchant from setting sail. As soon as they had purchased the image which was to be the joy of their town and removed it from the vessel, the merchant was able to get under way without any difficulty and the wind filled his sails. The Citizens saw in this wonder the love that the Queen of Heaven had for their town and they carried her in solemn procession to the Church of St John the Baptist where soon she began to make herself known through the miracles she performed.

It was here that St Lidwina found an inspiration for her devotion, for she would often spend several hours at a time in front of the image, even from the age of seven years old. If on occasion this made her mother angry that she was spending too much time there, Lidwina would embrace her and say: “Dear mother, please don’t be angry; I went to greet Our Lady and she smiled sweetly at me.” She was regularly taken by her guardian Angel, whether in the spirit or otherwise, to a land in the East which was a true image of Paradise, but the Angel never failed to take her first to greet the Virgin of Schiedam.

Another town in Holland is Dordrecht where you can find the beautiful Church of Our Lady which was built by Saint Sure (or Sotère), Virgin and martyr.

Near the town is a brook called Dordrech and on the side of the brook was a tree which had a most holy image of Our Lady which this Saint came to visit frequently. Her devotion moved her to build a Church in her honour and the Holy Virgin gave her blessing to the idea. She despatched an Angel to her and he helped with the plan and all the measurements. The Angel also gave her three pieces of gold to cover the expenses and to pay the workmen. This made some thieves think that she had a hidden pot of money and in search of this, tragically, they murdered her.  A spring of water appeared on this very spot and people suffering from fevers come to drink from the spring and find a relief for their affliction.

England

OUR LADY OF THE BOWS, OUR LADY OF CANTERBURY AND OUR LADY OF WESTMINSTER

 67   We are conveniently placed to cross the sea and pay a visit to England where we shall go in search of the marks of English devotion, not that which is there now but that which in former times spread its fragrance around the world. This goes back to a time:

    • when the MOTHER OF GOD herself provided the ampulla used for the Anointing of English Kings, as I shall explain later[1];

    • when her image was borne at the head of armies in battle array[2];

    • when they would gain famous victories though few in number;

    • when people paid attention to St Anselm, St Edmund, to the venerable Bede, to Alexander of Hales, and to so many others who spoke of the wonders, of the excellence and of the holiness of her who was their visible protectress, turning aside the dangers that threatened them. 

We must not forget the memories of those times and the houses the Queen of Heaven still has in this Kingdom, even though profaned by the wickedness of a whole century, will help us greatly in this regard.

People formerly spoke only of the beautiful Church known as Our Lady of the Bows[3] in the City of London[4]. In the year of grace 1071[5], this Church was destroyed by a tornado along with more than six hundred houses in the City. The entire roof was ripped off and lifted into the air before, keeping its shape, it crashed into the ground. The timbers penetrated more than twenty feet and, as there was no way to retrieve them, they were sawn off past the chevron braces to permit the restoration of the pavement. Perchance this was a secret warning of storms yet more dangerous that would one day engulf the Realm, constraining the Queen of Heaven, the people’s protectress, to leave.

Footnotes

[1] Part III, chap.8, § 2.

[2] Willelmus Malmesburiensis, lib. I, c. 1 de Gestis Regnum Angl.

[3] The French text has Notre dame des Arcs, arcs here signifying “arches,” which in English were once referred to as “bows.” The modern name for the Church occupying this site is St Mary-le-Bow.

[4] Willelmus citatus, lib. IV in Willelmo II.

[5] This must be a copyist’s error for 1091, the year given by Malmesbury: see William of Malmesbury’s Chronicle of the Kings of England, JA Giles, 1847, at p342.

 68   At Lincoln[1] we can still the magnificent Church that was originated in the year 1080 by Remigius who had transferred his see there from the city of Dorchester. This beautiful building was built in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Remigius established a goodly number of Canons for the service of his Cathedral but he died just before its consecration, leaving that responsibility to Robert Bloet, his successor. St Hugh the Carthusian, a later Bishop of Lincoln[2], restored the Church[3] in honour of the Holy Virgin. The Walsingham centre of devotion is associated with an event that is worth recalling for all posterity. 

The first King Edward, while he was still young, was playing chess with a soldier in a chamber with a vaulted ceiling. Suddenly, without saying anything or knowing why he did it, he left the game and walked out of the room. He had scarcely done this when a massive stone fell from the vault down onto where he had been sitting and would certainly have crushed him had he still been there. This was a sudden miracle which he had no doubt was a special favour from the MOTHER OF GOD, for whom he had a particular devotion.

Footnotes

[1] Willelmus, ibidem, lib. IV.

[2] Rogerus de Heuedem, parte posteriore Annalium Angl. Probably a reference to The Annals of Roger de Hoveden, Comprising the History of England and of Other Countries of Europe from A.D. 732 to A.D. 1201.

[3] Following an earthquake in 1185.

 69   I simply cannot be sure in which part of England the following incident happened in the life of St Laurence, Bishop of Dublin in Hibernia (Ireland)[1]:

This Saint had found it necessary to go to England for some necessities of his Church. It so happened that a very wealthy man had paid for the building of a beautiful Church for Our Lady and had given it into the care of a Hermit. The Holy Virgin appeared to the Hermit  and asked why her house had been left for so long without being consecrated. The Hermit replied that the local bishop had been out of the country for a long time and this was the only reason for the delay.

“Well here is some news,” said the MOTHER OF GOD, “for I neither wish nor intend my Church to be dedicated by him. There is another bishop here called Laurence and it is my wish that he should perform this service. Tell him that it will be for him a sign of my will that he will have no favourable wind to return [to his see in Dublin] until he completes the consecration.”

The Hermit recounted all this to the rich man who promptly invited the Saint to his home and revealed to him the details of the vision. To begin with, the holy Prelate put forward objections, being unwilling to undertake such a thing in the jurisdiction of the absent Bishop. In the end, however, after much prayer and consultation, it was found that Our Lady was able to grant a dispensation from the laws and procedures in such a case, and this was confirmed by the successful outcome. After the ceremony had been completed, they had scarcely finished dining when a favourable wind arose and St Laurence was able to sail happily back to Hibernia. There he built a Church for Our Lady which was much more magnificent even than the one he had consecrated in England.

In Canterbury, it really is not possible to visit the beautiful Church of Our Lady without recalling St Augustine, Archbishop of the same city and Primate of England, who was nourished and raised there like another Samuel. In Westminster there is a very fine Chapel that King Henry caused to be built[2]. He laid the first stone with his own hands and enriched it with many Church ornaments. It was there where he would attend three sung Masses every day, without counting the low Masses.

There is much more that might be said, not only about monasteries but about other places of devotion which used to attract such crowds of the faithful in this kingdom formerly of such flourishing devotion. It is now time, however, to move back to the continental mainland.

Footnotes

[1] Surius, 14 Novembr. ; Polydorus Virgil., lib. XIII Hist. Angliæ.

[2] The Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey, the King in question being Henry VII.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >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. 

© Peter Bloor 2024 

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 12 : § 5.63-65

Chapter 12 : The Eleventh Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of 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)

She has been and is still recognized and called blessed by all generations in the world

§ 5. She was recognized  and honoured by all Nations everywhere in the world

OUR LADY OF BOURBOURG, OUR LADY OF THE TRELLIS, OUR LADY OF WETZ, OUR LADY OF VASIER, OUR LADY OF CONSOLATION, OUR LADY OF THE ARDENTS, OUR LADY OF CONSOLATION, OUR LADY OF LA BARRIÈRE, OUR LADY OF FINES, OUR LADY OF GRACES, OUR LADY OF FOURDES, OUR LADY OF UNSELLE, OUR LADY OF MESSINE, OUR LADY OF SMELCEM

 63   In the province of Flanders we now come to a parish Church called Our Lady of Bourbourg.

This image was already famous because of the miracles reported here and the great devotion of the people but the fame increased when a certain Breton struck the side of the statue with his sword. This caused blood to pour from the wound and the man who had committed this sacrilegious act fell down dead on the spot. This took place in the year 1383, as recorded by the annalist Bzovius who took this from the Church Archives.

The noble city of Douay is not lacking in places dedicated to the glorious Virgin or signs of her favour. Next to the Church of St Peter is a fine chapel called Our Lady of the Trellis. There was already an image of the  Holy Virgin here before it was built.

In the year 1532, some children were playing near the statue and they were being disrespectful when they were forced to stop when they saw that the statue was moving the infant Jesus from one arm to the other and was threatening them with her hand. This frightened them so much that they ran as fast as they could to tell their parents what had happened. Soon the chapel was packed with people and of all those who had hurried to see the miracle, there was not one who was in any doubt that the Holy Virgin was showing them that they needed to honour and serve her with greater devotion. It would be no easy matter to say how many were healed there and how many were the different sicknesses. In short, the blessings bestowed by the Holy Virgin on countless persons were so great and so frequent that the alms and gifts people offered in thanks for the graces received were enough to finance the building of a fine chapel.

In the street called Wetz there is another chapel associated with several miracles. In the Church of the Franciscan Cordeliers you can still see the picture of the Conception which was left undamaged by a fire in 1553 which reduced to ashes everything else around the Altar. In the vicinity of the same city you will see crowds of people at the Church called Our Lady of Vasier, especially villagers whose cattle have been cured by drinking water drawn from a well in the Church’s cemetery. Adjoining the leper house there is a small chapel which they call Our Lady of Consolation or Our Lady of Fevers because of the relief people obtain in their afflictions, especially those who have a fever.

In Lille there is a Church dedicated to St Peter where you will be shown the chapel of Our Lady of the Trellis. The name derives from the iron trellis in front of the statue which has been famous for over thee hundred years because of the miracles associated with Our Lady and the great devotion of the people who come from all parts, especially on Saturdays[1]. In the middle of the main square, opposite the town hall, there is a chapel of the Holy Virgin  where they keep a candle formed from the wax that meted from the great candle in Arras, which I mentioned earlier. They collect the wax which melts when the candle is lit[2] and put it in water which itself then has great powers not only for driving away fevers but also for healing all sorts of inflammation of the human body.

 64   In the outskirts of the city next to the new gate, there is a chapel visited by crowds of devout faithful and it is known as Our Lady du Haut because of its location or also as Our Lady of Consolation because of the help and relief obtained by those having recourse to the glorious Virgin. It was built[3] following the miraculous deliverance of Lord Haucron whom the Holy Virgin preserved from a shipwreck when he prayed for her help. Half a league from the city we come to the chapel called Our Lady of Esquermes, celebrated for its miracles for over four hundred years. Another half a league away on the other side[4] we find Marian devotion in the chapel called Our Lady of La Barrière, which takes its name from its location near the gate of the Abbey of Marquette. Another half a league and we come across Our Lady of Fines where several miracles have been reported over many years[5]. One league from the city is Our Lady of Graces which is now visited more frequently since a citizen of Lille called Jean Dubois was miraculously cured of apoplexy in 1581.

Two leagues away from the city on the Bethune side is Our Lady of Fournes which is visited by a great many people suffering from illnesses such as sciatica, problems with nerves and similar conditions. This has been the case since a crippled woman who took two whole days and a night to travel one league to the Church, was completely cured and returned healthy and happy, leaving her crutches in the chapel, where many others can be seen. Two leagues on the eastern side is the Parish Church called Our Lady of Linselle where people go mainly to pray for rain during periods of prolonged drought. Three leagues away is Our Lady of Messine, no less famous than the ones already mentioned, whether for the cures that take place there or the crowds of faithful who come to the Church. We must not forget to mention Our Lady of Smelcem which was built and founded by Baudouin, nicknamed Fair Beard, after he was healed by the Holy Virgin of a flux of blood. There was a miraculous image of the Holy Virgin in the place where he was cured and where he built this Church  Shepherds often noted that, amongst other miracles, when their sheep came near they would get down on their knees.

Footnotes

[1] Bucelinus, in Annalibus Gallo Flandriæ, lib. II.

[2] Bucelinus, loc. cit.

[3] Bucelinus,ibid.

[4] Bucelinus,ibid.

[5] Bucelinus,ibid.

OUR LADY OF MONTAIGU, OUR LADY OF OEGNIÈS, OUR LADY OF AFFLEGHEM, OUR LADY OF LOUVAIN & OUR LADY OF LAKEN

 65   Let us proceed now to the Duchy of Brabant. Who has not heard tell of Our Lady of Montaigu, also known as Our Lady of Zichem because of the proximity of the small but ancient town of this name, two leagues from Louvain, three from Malines, four from Anvers and as many from Brussels?

On a hill called Montaigu which is in the middle of a fine plain, there was an old oak tree which held a precious treasure : a small statue of Our Lady. A shepherd noticed it and decided he would take it home and make a little oratory for it; but the strange thing was that no sooner had he formed this intention in his mind than he found himself fixed to the spot, just as though he was rooted there, and he could not move a single step forward. Eventually the Sun set and the shepherd’s Master, who had heard no news of either him or his sheep, was waiting for him impatiently. Seeing that it was getting late and there was no sign of him, he thought there must have been an accident. That made him determined to find out what was going on and what had happened to him. Never was anyone more surprised than this poor shepherd was when seeing his Master and feeling that he had been caught out. He could no longer hide what had happened to him and he candidly confessed his wrong. Taking the statue out he immediately begged his Master to put it back in the tree where he had found it. The Master had no sooner done so than the shepherd was able to walk again without any difficulty, just as though someone had untied him. The news of this spread very quickly everywhere and from then on crowds came to see the statue.

It is true that in the year 1580, the statue was removed and no-one knows by whom or how, but people came to the place as before. Six years after the loss, a venerable old man substituted another in is place. This was kept there until 1602 and was then placed in a little wooden chapel before being installed in a place of honour in a beautiful Church built for the purpose by the Archbishop of Malines. The miracles that occurred there and which continue to this day are countless. I believe there are few places in Christendom with miraculous statues made from oak which predate this one. If I were to carry out the necessary research, it would require an entire history to itself. The learned writer Lipse, well-known for the books he has produced, has compiled what he found to be the most reliable details.

One league distant from Nivelle, which is also in the Brabant region, you can see Our Lady of Oignies, from whom the blessed Marie of Oignies took her name, not only because it was her place of birth but by reason of the great devotion she felt for the place which she visited once a year, making the journey barefoot and where Our Lord and His Holy Mother granter her countless blessings, as I shall explain more fully in Part III of this work[1]. In the Affligem Monastery they still show to this day an image of the glorious Virgin and pass on the traditional account of St Bernard’s greeting, when he said: May God keep thee safe, Mary. She replied to him in a clear and audible manner: May God keep thee safe, Bernard. In Louvain there is a chapel in the Church of St Peter with an image of Our Lady which in the year 1444 on the 25th of September began to be associated with miracles and these have continued ever since. Near Brussels, you will find Our Lady of Laken which is a Church built on the express command of the Blessed Virgin[2]. She indicated all the measurements with a rope which they still show visitors. The Church was consecrated by Our Lord and has seen several miracles.

Footnotes

[1] Chap. 4, § 4.

[2] Vide Auctarium ad Molanum.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >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. 

© Peter Bloor 2024 

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 12 : § 5.60-62

Chapter 12 : The Eleventh Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of 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)

She has been and is still recognized and called blessed by all generations in the world

§ 5. She was recognized  and honoured by all Nations everywhere in the world

OUR LADY OF TONGRE

 60  In Hainaut we come to Our Lady of Tongre and the origin of this Church deserves a few words here. Tongre[1] is a pleasant little village in the diocese of Cambrai, about a league from the city of Ath and half a league from Chièvres.

There was a nobleman called Hector of Tongre who was notable not only for his extraction (being a cousin of the Counts of Flanders and Saint-Paul, as well as a nephew of the Count of Namur), but for his good and praiseworthy life. On the eve of Candlemas in the year 1081, an image of the most glorious Virgin was brought into his garden by Angels at eleven o’clock at night. It was surrounded by a beautiful, bright cloud that illuminated all the country roundabout as though it were a fine summer’s day. The lord of Tongre had been blind for three years and when he heard news of what had happened he was carried straight away to his garden. There, along with the greater part of his subjects, he spent about an hour and a half listening to heavenly music which was accompanied by such a sweet fragrance that it seemed to them like a foretaste of Paradise. After this had finished, the lord carried the image to his chamber with every sort of pomp and honour, ordering that it was to be guarded most diligently. The following morning, it was borne solemnly to the Church of St Martin and placed on the high altar. The next day, however, they noticed something mysterious had happened, for the image was found back in the garden at the spot where the Angels had first set it down. The news of this miracle spread everywhere and no-one could speak of anything else. The Bishop of Cambrai was told and he took the steps necessary to ensure he was juridically informed of everything that had happened. Then, on the 17th of February, after preaching a fine sermon praising the MOTHER OF GOD, he blessed the garden where the image stood and then the whole château which since then has witnessed countless miracles.

I was given this account by Sir Robert of Hautport, lord of Grands-Sars, who has compiled details of the main and best-attested miracles.

Footnotes

[1] Tongre is now known as Tongre Notre Dame and must be distinguished from Tongres (Tongeren).

OUR LADY OF CAMBRAI, OUR LADY OF CHIÈVRES & OUR LADY OF SPINLIEU

 61   In the same County of Hainaut and in the same diocese of Cambrai, there is a beautiful and ancient Abbey called Cambron which is about three leagues distant from Mons. There was a converted Jew who would visit the Abbey, having been brought to Baptism by the Count of Hainaut who also gave him a post at the Mons court.

In this Abbey, there was a certain gallery in the section open to visitors which had an image of the glorious MOTHER OF GOD with her Son in her arms, being adored by the Magi. This was a simple image traced in red chalk on a clay wall but it provoked such anger and contempt in this wretch who was Christian in name only that the hatred he felt towards the MOTHER OF GOD frequently caused him to wake up with a start, in the belief that she was always telling him things or doing something. This made his anger blaze all the more, as if the Virgin would have taken pleasure in troubling his repose or interrupting his sleep. Filled with fury and rage, he was not content with the terrible insults he continually hurled at her but one day in the year 1322, he was so carried away that he stabbed at the image of the Virgin five times with a spear, being unable to tolerate her presence any longer. Immediately, blood began to flow copiously from the wounds. Two lay Brothers heard some shouting and confused noises. One was a carpenter named Jean Mandidier and the other was called Matthieu de Lobbes.

They saw the damage that the Jew had caused and they were scandalized. Jean was on the point of using his axe to split open the head of the culprit who had committed this sacrilege, but his companion prevented him and they agreed it was better to follow the procedures of justice. They submitted a report to the Abbot, who in turn consulted with the Count of Hainaut. On the basis of the allegations, the criminal was arrested and questioned but he was able to keep his tongue under control. He gave his answers in such a way that his case was dismissed and he was allowed to take up his post once again.

Four years after this, an Angel appeared to an old man living in Estinnes. His name was Jean Flamand, known as le Fèvre[1], and he had been sick with the palsy for seven years. The Angel told him to challenge the Jew to fight a duel so that he might avenge the outrage he had perpetrated against the image of the most glorious Virgin MOTHER OF GOD. The old man sought the advice of his Pastor who, seeing him suddenly cured of his palsy but still weak and feeble, told him to wait and see if there would be a confirmation of the Angel’s order. On the third night, the Angel returned more resplendent than before and ordered him on behalf of the Queen of Heaven to go to the Abbey at Cambron and see with his own eyes the crime committed by the perfidious Jew. He was then to seek vengeance in the way that had been indicated to him. Filled with confidence and zeal, the old man betook himself to the Abbey and presented his challenge to the Jew who was obliged to accept it. The duel was fought at the gate of the park in Mons, where you can still see to this day a little chapel dedicated to the honour of the Virgin of Cambron. The wretched Jew was felled to the ground by the first blow struck and was condemned to be drawn behind a horse to the place of his execution, there to hanged by his feet upside down, over a fire with a ravenous guard dog on either side of him.

All this is recounted by the above-mentioned Count of Hautport and readers can discover from his writings the great wonders performed by God in connection with this image.

The same writer produced a history of Our Lady of Chièvres, a small village in Hainaut where in 1130 a noblewoman name Ide commissioned the building of a chapel near a spring where people went to draw water, near to which was an elderberry bush where an image of Our Lady had been placed to stimulate devotion to her among those coming for water. The Chapel was no sooner completed than crowds began to flock there.

 

What greatly increased devotion was what happened in 1306 to Huart Picquavet who was suffering from very painful gout and was delivered from his affliction by a vow he made to Our Lady of Chièvres. There is also the case of the man from Paris who had been sick with the palsy for a long time. He had himself carried to this chapel and found he was immediately freed from his illness. He resolved there and then to enlarge the chapel in the form which we can see today.

Our Lady of Spinlieu, which is near Mons in Hainaut, was once no more than a tiny Hermitage but today it is a fine Cistercian Monastery. The Holy Virgin has from the beginning been pleased by the way she is honoured and served in this place. I am including the city of Cambrai in Hainaut, although I know some make it a separate province. The people here recount how the city was besieged by the Huns or Hungarians in 930 and it was saved thanks to the intervention and favour of the most glorious Virgin. Its Archbishop St Vast had already won her over by dedicating the city’s beautiful Church to her. Our Lady of Haut in Hainaut was one of the small statues honoured most devotedly throughout her life by St Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew, King of Hungary[2]. She bequeathed them in her will as a rich legacy to her daughter Sophie who later distributed them amongst various Churches where God performs miracles through them to this day. The most famous amongst them is the one kept in Haut where she has more than amply repaid the honour shown her, having saved the city from danger on various occasions.

Footnotes

[1] Said by some to refer to his trade as a smith.

[2] Lipsius, in D. Virg. Hallensi.

OUR LADY OF THE WOOD, OUR LADY OF GOOD HOPE & OUR LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN

 62   In Arras which is located in the Artois region, there is a chapel called Our Lady of the Ardents[1] where they keep a miraculous candle believed to have been brought down from Heaven by Our Lady. Here is what happened[2]:

In the year 1095 according to some (or 1105 according to others), Arras was plagued by a sickness known as the Holy fire disease. The inhabitants sought help from the Mother of mercy who eventually, touched with compassion, came down through the vault in the choir of this great church. She was seen by a large number of people, with a candle in her hands which she gave to Ittier of Brabant and to Peter the Norman who at the time were at loggerheads concerning a murder that had been committed. The reconciliation of these two contending souls was the first miracle of this divine gift. Those suffering from sickness who drank of the water into which cooled the hot wax from the candle recovered their health. What has made this all the more extraordinary and inspiring is that even after five hundred years the candle has not diminished in size, even though numerous small candles have been made from the wax that melts each time it is lit.

There is another little chapel near Arras called Our Lady of the Wood,

where a wretch of a man called Jean de la Palu tried ride his horse in, as though it were a stable. The Holy Virgin was avenged immediately for this wrong he was about to commit against her, for as he spurred his horse forward, the horse threw him to the ground and he broke his neck. This happened in 1478.

In the middle of a wood in the same county of Artois, there is a beautiful Church founded by the Duke of Ascot as a result of numerous miracles connected with an image of Our Lady of Foy. Students at the Jesuit school had attached the image to an oak tree on the feast day of Our Lady of the Snows, which was on the 5th of August in 1526

Half a league away from the same city may be seen the little hermitage now known as Fontenelles, but formerly called Our Lady of the Fountain because of something remarkable that happened in 1008.

The plague was ravaging the city of Valenciennes and the Holy Virgin appeared to the Hermit, a holy man, on the day before the eve of her Nativity, asking him to tell the inhabitants on her behalf that they were to fast the next day and spend the night in prayer. She would then show them some miracles. All agreed straight away to do as she asked. When night fell, the majority of them could be seen on the walls offering their prayers and devotions. As they were praying, with increasing fervour, the Holy Virgin came down from Heaven in the sight of all; she was more dazzling than the sun and she was attended by countless Blessed spirits. She held a cord with which she girded the city – a distance of two leagues. Having done that, she went to the Hermit’s den and clearly instructed him to go and see the Magistrates and tell them on her behalf to pass the whole of the next day, her Feast day, in devotions and to make a solemn Procession where she had left the cord, adding that this would bring an end to the contagion.

Everything came to pass just as she had predicted. In recognition of such an extraordinary favour, every year during the octave of her Nativity, there is a solemn Procession which covers each day one part of the distance of the two leagues marked out by the Virgin.

The miraculous cord is kept with great honour among the most precious relics of the town. A Confraternity was instituted and the members are called the Rayés because on the feast day the members wear striped robes as a mark of rejoicing and to commemorate the great blessing received from Our Lady

Footnotes

[1] The French text has des Ardents, which seems to refer to a sickness called le mal des ardents, usually translated as “holy fire disease,” “St Anthony’s fire,” or ergotism. One of the main symptoms is a burning sensation in the limbs.

[2] Meyerus, in Annalibus Flandriæ.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >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. 

© Peter Bloor 2024 

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 12 : § 5.58-59

Chapter 12 : The Eleventh Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of 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)

She has been and is still recognized and called blessed by all generations in the world

§ 5. She was recognized  and honoured by all Nations everywhere in the world

Franche-Comté

OUR LADY OF BATAN, OUR LADY OF REVOT, OUR LADY OF JUSAVANT, OUR LADY OF THE CLOISTER, OUR LADY OF BEAUPRÉ, OUR LADY OF GRAY, OUR LADY OF DOLE, OUR LADY OF MONTROLAND, OUR LADY OF VILLARSÉ, OUR LADY OF THE MOUNT, OUR LADY OF EFFONT, OUR LADY OF CUSANCE, OUR LADY OF FAVERNEY, SAINT-MARY, OUR LADY OF MONTIOUX, OUR LADY OF BAUME, OUR LADY OF CLAIRVAUX, OUR LADY OF ORNANS

 58  Let us proceed to Franche-Comté as it is next to Lorraine and yields nothing to the other provinces when it comes to devotion towards the Queen of Heaven. The majority of the Churches here are dedicated to the Holy Virgin but I have concentrated on those sites which have a particular devotion. The cathedral in Besançon is called St John the Great and was re-established in 790 by Bernoin, the thirty-seventh Bishop of that city who was from the house of the kings of Austrasia. It was dedicated to the glorious Resurrection of the Saviour, to the Holy Cross, to the most sacred Virgin MOTHER OF GOD, to the Evangelist St John and to the blessed deacons St Stephen and St Vincent. It was given many beautiful relics, notably of the Holy Virgin.

In the same City there are several other places of ancient devotion, such as Our Lady of Batan and Our Lady of Revot. The Church named after Our Lady, which has been significantly arranged and decorated by Fathers of the Minim Order, has always been famous for the miracles occurring there. As it is some distance from the hurly burly of the city centre and the crowds, it is ideally suited to foster quiet devotion. This means there is never a shortage of people who come to say their prayers and to beg for the help of the most glorious Virgin. In the Jesuit Church there is an old statue of Our Lady of Montaigu and the prayers of gratitude pinned around attest to the miracles that have been performed here.

In the cloisters of the Magdalene, there is an old image of the Holy Virgin which is called Our Lady of the Cloister or Our Lady of Pity because she is holding in her arms the Saviour after He was taken down from the cross. In 1624 the whole cloister was damaged by fire but the statue was miraculously preserved, including its veil, even though the niche where it stood was reduced to ashes. This led to a wonderful increase in devotion compared with before. People go there for help with all sorts of illnesses, but especially for Quartan fevers. In the Church of the Franciscan Cordeliers, there is a Confraternity of the Conception with accounts going back more than three hundred years, although there is no evidence of its original foundation because all the documents were lost in the disaster that hit Besançon in 1575[1].

One league distant from this city is the Our Lady of Beaupré, a famous place of pilgrimage, where they keep the Holy Virgin’s girdle which was presented to the Abbey by one Archbishop of Besançon. Our Lady of Gray is a statue made from oak of Montaigu and is kept by the Church of the Capuchin Fathers. For the last eight or nine years, so many people have been coming here because of the miracles that I can truthfully say it is one of the most frequented Marian sites in Christendom. The Holy Virgin has shown how pleased she is to be honoured and served in this way because more than two thousand five hundred miracles have been reported.

Our Lady of Dole is a Church that draws attention to itself by virtue of how it stands out. The first stone was laid by Antoine de Vergey, Archbishop of Besançon. About a quarter of a league from Dole is Our Lady of Montroland, which is located on a small hill and is an ancient place of pilgrimage for the inhabitants of Franche-Comté and the adjoining provinces. Near Butier, you have Our Lady of Villarsé; near Toraise, Our Lady of the Mount; near Gy, Our Lady of Effont, founded by Thibaut de Rougemont, Archbishop of Besançon, on his return from the Holy Land; near Baume (called the Nuns[2]), Our Lady of Cusance; near Vesoul, Our Lady of Faverney, famous not only for miracles but for the Sacred Host miraculously preserved amidst flames on the very day of Pentecost, the 25th of May, 1608; near Pontalier, the church of Saint Mary in the mountains of Burgundy; by Saint-Claude, Our Lady of Montioux. These are places celebrated for their ancient Marian devotion, without mentioning places such as Baume, Our Lady of Clairvaux, Our Lady of Ornans and several others which people’s piety, blessed with favours and graces from Heaven, have for a long time made the holy Virgin famous.

Footnotes

[1] This appears to be a reference to the Battle of Besançon which took place in 1575 when Huguenots unsuccessfully attempted to sack Catholic churches and seize the city.

[2] Today known as Baume-les-Dames for the same reason, as being the site of an Abbey for religious sisters.

The Low Countries

OUR LADY OF AVIOTS & OUR LADY OF FOY

 59   Let us now retrace our steps back across Lorraine and enter the Low Countries. There will scarcely be a corner there which is not marked in some way by this pious people’s devotion to the glorious Virgin. I shall in fact not be speaking about the noble Churches of Anvers, Brussels, Louvain, Malines, Arras, Saint Omer, Bruges, Cambrai, Dordrac, Térouane, Utrecht, Valenciennes or others of similar renown. Neither shall I be touching upon a great number of Monasteries which have been built there with the name of the Queen of heaven. I shall instead run through the sites most famous for the crowds of faithful who flock there and the wonders that are performed there.

Making our way to the Duchy of Luxembourg, we shall pay a visit to the beautiful and ancient Church of Our Lady of the Aviots which is in between the two famous Abbeys of Orval and Juvigny. The frequent miracles that occurred there involving still-born infants are the reason for this name[1], but the fact that pilgrims travelled some distance from all parts is proof that other miracles were also performed there by the Queen of Heaven. In the country and diocese of Liège, between the Sambre and Meuse rivers, at Pont Villette (near Marcènes) on the 12th of April 1626, a shepherd found a statue of yellowing stone attached to an old oak tree. Immediately after its discovery, miracles started to occur. The locals named the statue Our Lady of Mercy.

Near Foy, a smallholding in the barony of Celles which is part of the same diocese and region of Liege, the celebrated image of Our Lady of Foy was discovered in the month of May in 1609. Here is what happened:

There was a carpenter from Foy named Gilled de Wanlin who cut down a great oak tree to build a boat, but he found it was worm-eaten and rotten inside. This made him decide to chop it up for firewood. When he had cut it to the height of a man, he discovered inside an image of Our Lady made of whitish earth, about one foot tall and with three bars that had once enclosed it when the tree was still young. The image was taken first to the house of the man who farmed the Foy smallholding and it stayed there for six weeks. It was then placed in another oak tree  and enclosed with three bars as before. Finally, the statue was placed where it is today, in a small chapel built on the same spot as the tree which had borne this wonderful fruit.

Miracles of all sorts have occurred there and continue to this day, drawing pilgrims from the whole of Christendom.

Footnotes

[1] aviot was a word used in Lorraine and adjoining areas for a still-born infant.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >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. 

© Peter Bloor 2024 

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 12 : § 5.57

Chapter 12 : The Eleventh Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of 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)

She has been and is still recognized and called blessed by all generations in the world

§ 5. She was recognized  and honoured by all Nations everywhere in the world

Lorraine

OUR LADY WITH THE SILVER FOOT, OUR LADY OF VERDUN, OUR LADY OF BEAUMONT & OUR LADY OF CHÂTILLON

 57  The Cathedral in Toul has a particular chapel where people go to offer their devotions to the Virgin and this chapel is called Our Lady with the Silver Foot. This name comes from something that happened on the vigil of St Matthew in 1284. While a group of traitors in the city were plotting to betray their people to the enemy, a devout woman was praying before the Altar of the Holy Virgin. She received a warning about their plans and she was told to go and warn a town councillor. To add credence to the message, the statue on the altar stretched a leg forward and the foot was suddenly covered in silver. This is the origin of the name: Our Lady with the Silver Foot.

The noble Cathedral of Our Lady in Verdun is one of the foremost places of devotion in that part of the country. St Pulchrome or Polychrome was the fifth Bishop of Verdun who attended the Council of Chalcedon along with six hundred and twenty-nine other Bishops. It is commonly believed that he dedicated Our Lady’s altar in this Church with a statue of her trampling a dragon beneath her feet. This was to represent the victories of Our Lady over the wretched heretics at the Council who argued in vain against the honours offered to her. Some of these are mentioned by Laurent of Liège (a monk of St Vanne), and William (a dean at Verdun), who compiled a history of the Bishops of this venerable Church. Richard de Vassebourg also put together a compilation and included a life of Ursio, Bishop of Verdun in which he says that the number of miracles when Rainaud (Count of Bar) was causing problems for the people and Clergy of Verdun was so great that a yearly feast was introduced on the 20th of October called the Commemoration of miracles performed in that Church through the intercession of the most glorious Virgin. Apart from the miraculous image next to the altar of the Holy Virgin, there is another on the roof of the Church in which the people of Verdun have no less confidence than in the other. Here is the story as recounted by the same historians.

In 1131, Albert of Chiny was elected Bishop of Verdun and Rainaud Count of Bar (whom I have already mentioned) was determined to avenge an injury he felt he had received at the hands of the inhabitants of Verdun. He went as far as Amblonville in company with Simon, Duke of Mozellane along with the majority of Dukes and Lords from the districts of Metz, Mozellane, Lorraine and Barrois. These were all related to him or allies of his and they were resolved to make the people of Verdun pay for the wrong they had done to Rainaud. This honourable company set out from Amblonville with the aim of laying siege to the city of Verdun. As soon as they left the hills and arrived on the plain where the city is located, they noticed what appeared to be divine phenomena on the roof of the Church of Our Lady. This filled them with fear and made them change their minds about the attack. The leaders conferred together and then Simon Duke of Mozellane spoke for all of them when he told Count Rainaud that they could see Heaven seemed to be against their plan and as far as they were concerned they would never wage war against God nor against the glorious Virgin. They offered their services in any other matter which might seem just and reasonable and which would not make them go against their conscience, as was the case here. Count Rainaud was greatly angered at seeing his plans frustrated but he was left with no other choice than to abandon them. From that moment on, the devout inhabitants of Verdun understood their preservation was thanks to the most sacred MOTHER OF GOD.

Ligny is about two leagues from Bar-le-Duc and there you will find an image of Our Lady which has seen several miracles and these continue to this day. They have tried to restore and to decorate it but it seems Our Lady does not wish to receive any paint or gilding. In the collegiate Church of this same city there is another image said by some to be the work of St Luke, or at least based on those that come from the hand of this holy Evangelist. This image is also of great renown, especially for the cases of still-born infants who, having been presented to the holy Mother, showed sufficient signs of life to receive Baptism.

Between Dompcevrin and Vaucouleurs we come to Our Lady of Beaumont which is where Joan of Arc, known as the Maid of Orleans, was accustomed to pray to God and to entrust the affairs of France to the glorious Virgin. It was here where she received the commandment from Heaven to take up arms for the good of the whole of France, as I shall explain more fully in Part III.

There is a beautiful and ancient Abbey of St Bernard on the frontier of Lorraine with the Duchy of Luxembourg. At the entrance to the choir of this Church is an image of Our Lady which attracts those who have a devotion for her and where she has often granted her help to those who come to pray in the hope of receiving her help.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >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. 

© Peter Bloor 2024 

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 12 : § 5.55-56

Chapter 12 : The Eleventh Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of 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)

She has been and is still recognized and called blessed by all generations in the world

§ 5. She was recognized  and honoured by all Nations everywhere in the world

Lorraine

OUR LADY OF NANCY, OUR LADY OF GOOD HELP & OUR LADY OF BOUSSIÈRE (BOUXIÈRES)

 55  Let us proceed now to Lorraine, not only because it is nearby but also because we shall find they have there a most heartfelt  devotion to the glorious Virgin. She is honoured there as protectress along with St Nicholas and she shows in various ways how pleased she is with the devotions offered to her. In Nancy the capital she has a house at the highest point of the city. She is like a guardian and the people consider her protection to be as reliable as the strength and stability of the walls and ramparts. Near the St Nicholas gate may be found the Church called Our Lady of Graces. It is in the care of the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus and has a fine little chapel with a beautiful image of Our Lady of Montaigu where the faithful may find relief in their time of need.

Outside the city gates to the south of the St Nicholas gate we come to the small chapel of Our Lady of Good-Help. It was formerly known as Our Lady of the Burgundians because of the large numbers of soldiers from there who were buried near the chapel after the bloody battle in which Charles the Bold, last Duke of Burgundy, was defeated along with his men by René Duke of Lorraine in the plain below the Chapel. Later, it was also known as Our Lady of Victory, for the same reason. Today the Chapel retains the name of Our Lady of Good Help not only because of the aid she supplied to Duke René and the people of Lorraine but also because of the favours she grants on a daily basis to all sorts of people who implore her in their hearts to help them in their physical or spiritual difficulties and problems.

Two leagues outside Nancy on the crest of a hill you will see Our Lady of Boussière in a locality now known as Bouxières-aux-Dames which is so named from the dames or ladies who lived there as religious sisters or canonesses. The first reference to the origin of this Church is found in the Breviary of the See of Toul on the Feast of St Gauzelin, Bishop of Toul and descendant of the house of France.

There we read that St Gauzelin felt an urge to build a Church to the most glorious Virgin but he did not know where to locate it. The Virgin appeared to him at night whilst he slept and told him to build a Church at the place where in the morning he would find a white doe. This turned out to be the hill at Boussière and Bishop Gauzelin built his Church there. As the day of its dedication approached, he invited the Archbishop of Trêves and the Bishops of Metz and Verdun. The night before the day of the great ceremony, something made him get up to double-check nothing had been forgotten for the next day. This was truly the reason he had in mind for doing this, but God’s plan was to show him and the Bishops he had invited that the dedication was being done by Our Lord in the presence of the most sacred Virgin and countless blessed spirits. He entered the Church and, noticing an extraordinary illumination he realized what was happening and ran to get the Bishops. They arrived in time to see the end of the ceremony and received Our Lord’s blessing and a partial indulgence which remitted one third of their sins.

Pont-à-Mousson is known for its learning and for its devotion to Mary which is shown by the way they have placed her at all their gates as though giving her the keys of the city and entrusting its defences to her. The Virgin has amply shown how pleased she is by their devotion through the miracles that have been associated with her images there. 

OUR LADY OF SION

 56   About six or seven leagues from Nancy there is a beautiful hill in the county of Vaudémont called Mont-de-Sion where the Holy Virgin is honoured under the name Our Lady of Sion. Vassebourg wrote the Ecclesiastical history of the Bishops of Verdun and in his life of Thomas de Blamont, the sixty-fifth Bishop, he links the foundation of the Church on this hill to Henry III, count of Vaudemont and nicknamed the Just, and to his wife Elisabeth, daughter of Ferri the second Duke of Lorraine. The foundation is said to have taken place in 1306. There are, however, reasons to suspect this Church is much older and that those nobles merely restored and improved an existing Church. 

The current Dukes of Lorraine, Francis I and Charles IV, have a particular devotion to the honour of God and His glorious Mother, as I shall explain in Part III. They noted that devotion seemed to be falling away from this place which had previously seen crowds of pilgrims. They wanted to halt this trend and make it flourish better than ever before. Accordingly, they resolved to make this Church a centre of devotion as accessible as possible. To this end, they looked to the Fathers of the Third Order of St Francis as having the necessary zeal in the service of God and being well-suited to advance the glory of the Virgin. They built and founded a fine monastery, with the first stone being laid on the 27th of September in 1626. Today we can see that God has so blessed the holy intentions of these Nobles and the courage of the Fathers that people have been coming from all parts and Heaven has been looking favourably upon their prayers and requests.

The devotion of the most illustrious house of Lorraine, especially towards the glorious Virgin, requires me to let future generations know about the Confraternity instituted in Our Lady of Sion in November 1393 by Ferri of Lorraine, Count of Vaudemont, and his wife Marguerite of Joinville, and which was joined by numerous Lords and Ladies of Quality. This may be seen in the document sealed with fourteen seals which is in the collection of papers held by the Dukes of Lorraine. The rules of this Confraternity limited membership to gentlemen or people of noble extraction; all Members were to attend Our Lady of Sion on the day of the Assumption of the most glorious Virgin, failure to do so resulting in a fine; every member was to display on his person for eight days before and eight days after the Assumption, an image of the Holy Virgin, whether in silver, or a painting or embroidery; anyone failing to wear such an image would be liable to a fine. There was to be mutual peace and Christian friendship between the Members and this was to be procured and maintained in every way possible; if there were any dispute between members, then all would be required to do everything in their power, either as a group or as individuals, to restore peace and good will between the parties. Apart from this, there were rules about praying, offices, devotional practice and several instructions with pious regulations, all of which I shall pass over in order to avoid straying here beyond the limits I have set myself in this work.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >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. 

© Peter Bloor 2024