Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 9 : § 4.7-8

Chapter 9 The Eighth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She commands the Church’s armies

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)

§ 4. The second Legion of the enemies of God and the Holy Virgin : Magicians, Sorcerers and other such monsters of nature having familiar intercourse with the Devil

 7   Now if the MOTHER OF GOD for her part detests these people and spares no effort in hunting them down, who would find that in any way unusual? In fact, would it not be most unusual if this were not the case? This follows on naturally from her incomparable holiness and in fact she is more directly opposed to their evil thoughts and actions than any other person after God Himself. Her involvement also springs from her status and role as Mother for all God’s children who without her would become prey for these wolves in human form and for these execrable harpies who thirst as much for human blood as they do for the destruction of souls. Over and beyond this, she feels a duty almost impossible to describe resulting from the incomparable love she has for her beloved Son whom she knows is the principal target of the continual sacrileges, outrages and blasphemies committed by these accursed pariahs. The case of the wretched Anatolius provides a powerful example of this. It may be found in the accounts of several learned authors[1] and deserves to be better known.

Coming from a very modest background, Anatolius had little by little been improving his position when he came to the great city of Antioch. There he began to ingratiate himself with certain reputable persons and through their friendship he was given the opportunity to enter public offices and positions of power. His entrance into these circles gave him the access he had always wanted to Gregory, Bishop of Antioch. Making use of this acquaintance (which was public knowledge) he made himself a key player in public administration, acknowledged and sought after by the majority of those working in this area. He was unable, however, to manage his own affairs without provoking the envy and hatred of good men and especially among the common people. Eventually, he stood accused of serious offences, along with his followers, for he had brought together a group of like-minded people who were also involved in sorcery and the occult. His crimes included extortion blasphemy and sacrilege, black magic, being found with others offering sacrifices to the devil, and countless other acts of iniquity. It was not unnatural for the public to include the Bishop in their condemnation because of his acquaintance with Anatolius. A network of friends and associates sprang into action, working on everyone and finding hundreds of ruses and stratagems to protect the guilty parties. Their plans would have been successful had not the ordinary people risen up against these enemies of the public good. Anatolius, however, was kept in close confinement and his personal focus was on regaining his freedom.

Inside his prison was a statue of Our Lady with a cord attached; she was venerated as the refuge of sinners and comfort of the afflicted. Anatolius showed his wicked nature by pretending to kneel in front of the statue, even though his heart was far from her. To make his deception more convincing, he tied his hands behind his back so as to give the impression that he was like a penitent criminal coming into the presence of the Virgin. He would pray in this manner on both knees before the statue – but this prayer came only from his lips, for within himself he had a heart like that of Antiochus[2]. This caused the MOTHER OF GOD to turn her back on him in the sight of several other prisoners and their guards who after this could see him only as one hated by Heaven and detested by the Holy Virgin. She herself spoke about him to several devout followers of hers in the city of Antioch, declaring she found him intolerable because of the insults that he would spew in the face of her Son. The news travelled quickly by word of mouth and eventually reached the pious emperor Tiberius, who immediately commanded his judges to summon Anatolius before him.

Closely guarded, he finally arrived in Constantinople with his followers, who were all criminals like him. The Emperor remitted the case to the Bishop and the Ecclesiastical Judges, who in due course handed it over to the secular authorities. The friends of this wicked man immediately tried to influence these so as to win them over. In fact, the authorities dealt with them so lightly that they were content simply to issue decrees of banishment for a number of those accused. On learning of this, the ordinary people of Constantinople were so furious that crowds of them took to the streets. They seized the accused and took them out to sea with a supply of faggots as they planned to make a sacrifice to God of these miscreants who had offered so many sacrifices to the demons. As for the Bishop and the Judges, God spared them the people’s wrath otherwise they would have found it difficult to escape a similar fate. This was not the case for the wretched Anatolius, however, for was firstly scourged and then led to the Amphitheatre where wild beasts were let loose upon him. Before they could kill him, he was taken away and hanged on a gibbet. This was not the end of his woes, however, for wolves were set upon him and they devoured what remained of his body. 

I should not omit to mention here that, during the trial of Anatolius, the Holy Virgin made many interventions, pointing out the cowardice and complicity of several officials. In particular, she showed herself to a certain officer of the Imperial Palace and reproached him for the way he was failing to deal properly with this matter which touched her personally, telling him it it would go ill with him for supporting the case of someone who had spared nothing in dishonouring her as well as her beloved son.

 

Footnotes

[1] Evagr., lib. V Hist. Eccles., c. 17 et 18 ; Nicephorus, lib. XVIII, c. 4 ; Baron., t. VII Annal, ad an-num 580.

[2] Antiochus IV. See I & II Machabees.

 8   There you have the beginning of that tragedy which will work itself out in desperate persons such as these throughout all eternity. We shall have to keep the rest of the story for our discussion of the victories gained by the MOTHER OF GOD over the dark arts and the wicked sorcerers. It is enough for now to say that their iniquity must be truly great since the Mother of Mercy lays aside her gentleness in such cases and she who is the Advocate of sinners is moved by love to speak against them. Accordingly, let those who look to her for mercy realise that they are simply not permitted to have intercourse with persons such as these, any more than they are with Demons. Let those who work in the administration of justice, moreover, remember that God orders them to dispatch these enemies without mercy as plagues of the world and as sworn enemies of God and the Holy Virgin – for fear of being judged accessories to their crimes.

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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.

© Peter Bloor 2025 

Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 9 : § 4.4-6

Chapter 9 The Eighth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She commands the Church’s armies

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)

§ 4. The second Legion of the enemies of God and the Holy Virgin : Magicians, Sorcerers and other such monsters of nature having familiar intercourse with the Devil

 4   I am speaking of the most terrible scourge God has for chastising the world, compared to which plagues, wars, famine and even heresy are like whippings which only brush against the surface of a man’s hide. I am speaking about those whom the Emperor brands under his law[1] as public enemies and a plague wherever they may be found in the world; of those who prompted Filimer, King of the Goths[2] (who had moved into the marshy lands near the Sea of Azov[3]), to introduce reforms in his state requiring these ill-disposed people to be banished into the remotest fastnesses of Scythia, lest they should spread infection through the contagion of their practices. He would have been better advised were he to have cleansed the world by sweeping away these evil seeds which seemed to take root everywhere and are able to spread infection from a distance just as easily as amongst neighbours. I am speaking of those for whom King Athalaric[4] would not hear talk of forgiveness as appears from the strong language he uses to those charged with the administration of justice, writing to them that it was a wicked thing to show indulgence towards those who reject any goodness in the kind-heartedness of God. We should none of us forget the memory bequeathed to the Roman Empire[5] by Julian the Apostate, one of the foremost sorcerers of his time: after his death, people found in wells, in dungeons and in hidden locations horrific piles of human heads, bodies he had cut open, babies that he had torn from the wombs of their poor mothers – all to provide the wicked sacrifices that the demons unceasingly required him to make. After he had given up his wretched soul in battle in Mesopotamia, spewing out his customary blasphemies against the Saviour, people discovered in the temple at Carrhae[6] the body of a poor woman hanging by her hair; he had cut her open before taking the field, intending by her sacrifice to gain victory.

Footnotes

[1] L. et si Cod., tit. de Maleficiis : In quacumque sint parte terrarum inimici generis humani censendi sunt.

[2] Joann. Magnus Gothus., lib. VI Hist. Goth.

[3] The French text has le Palus-Méotide, translating the Latin Palūs Maeōtis which refers to the large body of water to the NE. of the Euxine now called the Sea of Azov. See Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.

Identified by some with the Haran or Harran mentioned in Gen. xi. 31.

[4] Cassiod., lib. IX Var., c. 18.

[5] Niceph. Gal., lib. c. 1 et 3 Tripart. Hist., lib. III, c. p.

[6] Identified by some with the Haran or Harran mentioned in Gen. xi. 31.

 5   Consider those miserable trees that have been blackened and devastated by bolts of lightning and then you will have an idea of what these souls are like when the Church hurls anathemas at them. These wretches stand condemned by God and have been abandoned by Him to all the rigours of temporal and eternal justice, if they do not acknowledge what they have done and repent. Alas! The cause of their detestable life is in fact that which normally leads them to die in utter despair, for they are like people who began to live out their hell a long time ago and will never cease to do so. To point out something which may be unnecessary, I am speaking of those who are the object of God’s indignation and at the same time of His infinite long-suffering, forasmuch as they ceaselessly fan the flames of His just vengeance, at the same time they also make us understand better than all other sinners that we are serving a God who is infinite in goodness and equanimity, for the patience which has tolerated these monsters for so long must be the patience of a God.

 6   Who will now find it astonishing that they have an irreconcilable hatred for the MOTHER OF GOD and that she for her part pursues them everywhere, seeking their undoing? They hate her forasmuch as they have souls that have been totally imbued with the fury of the Prince of darkness, their father, who at the same time that he was pouring his spirit into them, also infused them with a deep hatred of the Holy Virgin. They hate her just as owls hate the daylight, because of her incomparable holiness, especially as she is the most beautiful and most dazzling mirror of the infinite perfections of God that it is possible to find in a mere creature. They hate her so much that there are amongst them persons carried away with such a frantic desire to cause her harm that they, out of hatred for her virginity, pray that they may become as infamous in their vileness as she is pre-eminent in her purity. Does this not support what I was saying earlier that we need a God whose patience is infinite and that His Mother should partake of this in order to be able to put up with the hellish intentions of these denatured souls? They hate her for being the Mother of the Saviour of the world – against whom their hatred is principally directed. They try to dishonour her in every conceivable way, they load her with insults and blasphemies, and they try to place her beneath the feet of him whom they have chosen for their Lord. Finally, they hate her for the outrages they imagine they have suffered as a result of her who opposes all their schemes, who overturns their plans, who renders their curses and spells harmless, who confounds their Kingdom, bringing ruin at every level – as I shall be describing later when we discuss her victories.

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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.

© Peter Bloor 2025 

Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 9 : § 4.1-3

Chapter 9 The Eighth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She commands the Church’s armies

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)

§ 4. The second Legion of the enemies of God and the Holy Virgin : Magicians, Sorcerers and other such monsters of nature having familiar intercourse with the Devil

 1   It is with good reason that the Holy Prophet Job[1] represents the devil under the figure of Leviathan, meaning he who gathers around himself; forasmuch as, knowing very well his own weakness as well as the invincible power of the one he has presumed to attack, he finds it necessary to recruit helpers and to assemble forces around him from every side, intending to use their help and assistance to make up for his relative powerlessness. This matters little to him, however, provided he can find souls redeemed by the precious blood of the Son of God. These are enough to stoke up his anger and make him foam with rage. There would indeed be sufficient to paralyse souls with fear, seeing how he has plans to bring about their destruction, but we may take consolation from the words of God Himself speaking through the prophet Ezekiel and addressing the devil under the name of the Great Dragon as follows[2]: Listen, great dragon, thou who dost progress like the King of the waters amidst the vasty seas. I will attach to thy scales all the fishes of the waters, from the greatest to the smallest; thou wilt draw them after thee, and thou wilt thyself be hauled with them onto the shore to be cut open and chopped into little pieces. St Gregory comments on this passage as follows:

This dragon is none other than the Prince of Hell around whom are gathered the sinners of the world who join themselves to him and become part of him, and in the end become companions with him in his punishment, just as they were in his evil.

We have already seen the Devil’s first army, composed of those rebellious spirits whom he drew away in the very beginning from service to God. We now see the arrival of the second cohort which yields nothing much to the first when it comes to malice and cruelty. It is a miserable brood of wretches assembled together from various places, all adepts in the practice of hatred for God, whom we call Magicians and Sorcerers. There are others too that are like these and they are all truly children of darkness and freakish creatures of the night.

Footnotes

[1] Chap. xl.

[2] Chap. xxix (paraphrase).

 2   In order to give you a clearer idea of the sort of monsters we are talking about, I should clarify that by these words Magicians and Sorcerers I am referring to those sinners who are the most abominable in all the world after the Demons themselves; those who are foremost in committing acts of divine and human lèse-Majesté, declared as such by all laws; those latter-day Giants who, along with the devil their father, are leagued against Heaven and determined to attack the Divinity. They are such wretches, however, that the mountains of injuries and blasphemers they pile up one upon the other, will in the end fall upon them and crush them. I am speaking of those enemies of all piety, those mockers of all religion, those master practitioners of sacrilege, those profaners of everything holy; those who abuse the sacraments, who trample on the blood of the Testament, and pay homage to the enemy of God and the sacraments that He has left us for our salvation. The hairs would stand up on the back of your neck and the sun itself would darken in mourning if I were to describe even the least detail of the crimes of which they stand accused and convicted. I prefer to spare the eyes and the ears of chaste souls rather than to soil them by giving an account of the vile deeds of these possessed spirits. The things that they do in their unspeakable orgies and that they cover under the darkness of night are too shameful to tell and to hear. Is it not, for example, a horrible thing to recount that an old sorceress called Jeanne Potière, who cast a spell causing the devil to enter into possession of those poor religious sisters as we mentioned earlier[1], was charged with having received communion sacrilegiously four hundred and thirty times, without mentioning other excesses that she committed against God and men, countless and beyond measure?

Footnotes

[1] See § 3. 5.

 3   I am speaking here of those:

• who traffic in iniquity and who, carried away by a vain hope of obtaining something from the enemy, bind themselves to him and commit themselves to undertake and complete everything he commands them to do; 
• who become his instruments for the commission of every sort of sin and especially those that he cannot commit himself; 
• who become the slaves of Satan, bought and sold in order to do evil, and bound to pay back what they owe him through the crimes he commissions from them every day; and those
• who, as a price for their pretended friendship with him, become as if transformed into him through participation in his spirit; those whom we could call with St Augustine[1] the glory and the triumph of the Devil, making them worse even than those who dishonour God.

I am speaking here of persons who are filthy pits and abysses of sin, since the demons do not enter into these prostituted souls a mere dozen at a time but in their millions. Following on the infidelity, wickedness, atheism, heresy, schism, apostasy and despair which may be counted amongst the most execrable of crimes, we see gross iniquities of every description, undying hatred, anger beyond all bounds, diabolical vengeance, murder of the body and of the soul, sacrilege and other similar monstrosities of sin planned and prepared in the darkest dungeons of hell. What words can I find to describe the maniacal spirit that carries them away so that, not being content only with the evil that they themselves can commit, they freely consent to all those evils which they themselves cannot put into effect?

Footnotes

[1] Lib. de Vera Relig., in c. 55.

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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.

© Peter Bloor 2025 

Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 9 : § 3.8-10

Chapter 9 The Eighth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She commands the Church’s armies

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)

§ 3. The first Legion of the enemies of God and the Holy Virgin : the Demons

 8   Because their hatred knows no bounds nor limits, at least as far as their desire to cause her hurt, if I were to continue this discussion it would have no end. I think therefore that it will be sufficient to say that in my opinion the inveterate hatred of this wretched spirit towards the MOTHER OF GOD is represented in a marvellous manner in chapter 12 of the book of Revelation by St John. This faithful servant and second son of the Virgin saw in heaven:

a woman clothed with the Sun, who had the Moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: and being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered. In front of her he saw a blood-red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his heads seven diadems; and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, so that when she should be delivered, he might devour her Son; but things turned out very differently, for when she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod, her son was taken up to God, and to his throne. 

The Dragon, however, having been cast down and carried to earth by spirits, the woman had an opportunity to escape and make her way towards the solitude of a place which had been prepared for her. Far from losing heart at realising how he had been defeated, the monster returned to the attack with renewed rage; and seeing that the child had escaped his clutches, he redoubled his assaults against the mother, pursuing her relentlessly. There were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle and she took flight into the desert with such great speed that it was impossible for the Dragon to catch her. The Dragon cast out of his mouth after the woman, water as it were a river; that he might halt her escape; but the earth helped the woman and swallowed up the river, which the dragon had cast out of his mouth. The Dragon was angry against the woman and, because he had now lost hope of harming the mother and her child, he went to make war against her spiritual seed. This he did on the sands of the seashore, watching for opportunities to wreak his revenge.

 9   I am well aware that many Holy Fathers and Commentators have read this mysterious figure of the woman as symbolizing the Church; but I am also aware that the figure has been interpreted as representing the MOTHER OF GOD by writers such as St Epiphanius[1], Saint Augustine[2], Saint Bernard, Saint Bernardine[3], St Denys the Carthusian[4], Saint Antoninus[5], Albertus Magnus[6] and by several other Doctors of eminent learning – to say nothing of the Sun clothing this woman, the Moon at her feet, the twelve stars and other features of the Virgin which I discussed in Part I. What interpretation of the woman’s son, who is to reign over the nations of the earth, could we possibly have other than the Son of the glorious Virgin, our Saviour and our Redeemer, to whom David says[7] in the person of God: Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. St John speaks of contractions and labour pains which have no place in Mary; they must therefore be understood in a spiritual sense as referring to the grief that filled her sorrowful heart by reason of the knowledge she had of all that her beloved Son would have to endure. That the Dragon should have hated the Son of the Virgin is no cause for wonder since he understood very well that He would be the one to remove his tyrannical grip on the kingdom of this world which he had usurped; but the evil wretch immediately understood that, as far as he was concerned, this sacred fruit was out of reach of his fury, that He mocked his attempted assaults and that the teeth and claws that he was sharpening could do Him no harm, forasmuch as He was seated on the throne of God, to whom He was equal in power and with whom He was consubstantial in nature.

Footnotes

[1] Hæresi 78 et Serm. de Laudibus Deiparæ.

[2] Lib. IV de Symbolo ad Catechum.

[3] T. I de Conc. LXI, art. 2, c. 1.

[4] Lib. III de Laudibus Virg., art. 29.

[5] IV part., tit. XV, c. 20.

[6] Ad c. 1 Marc.

[7] Psal. ii.

 10   This is what spurred him on still more and filled him with venomous rage against the glorious Virgin. After this, he determined to use this initial humiliation as a springboard for everything he would do; and after this, he swore an oath to pursue her relentlessly and to attack her in person and through his wretched followers. As an enemy, however, he was as ineffective against the Mother as he was against the Son since she had immediately been placed under the protection of God and, apart from receiving an escort provided by millions of blessed Spirits, she was also given the wings of an eagle conferring a protection so extraordinary that, despite all hell’s fury and the waves of persecution spewed against her, she was kept in a place of safety, under the shade of Heaven’s protection. As a result, we now see the Dragon on the seashore, foaming with rage at seeing himself treated in such an ignominious manner, turning over in his mind dreadful plans for wreaking vengeance against the Virgin’s children. Indeed, if I did not see her ever ready to run to their defence, I would have good reason to call out with the Angel of the Apocalypse[1]: Woe to the earth, and to the sea, because the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time. Take heart, however, and be of good cheer : for we shall see the Holy Virgin appearing soon, and she will frustrate all his efforts, crushing them beneath her feet.

Footnotes

[1] Apoc. xii. 12.

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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.

© Peter Bloor 2025 

Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 9 : § 3.4-7

Chapter 9 The Eighth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She commands the Church’s armies

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)

§ 3. The first army of the enemies of God and the Holy Virgin : the Demons

 4   To ask what reason the MOTHER OF GOD has for hating Satan with an irreconcilable hatred, is to ignore the infinite obligations she has towards God whom the evil one opposes with all his might; it is to fail in recognising her title as Mother of God’s children, whom the evil one tries to cut off in every way from the roads leading to Heaven; it is to forget the commission and the power that she received to frustrate all his plans and to fight him unto death. 

If anyone asks, moreover, what it is that poisoned and enraged the serpent against the Holy Virgin, you should remember the hatred he has borne within him from the very beginning of the world, not only directed towards men’s Redeemer but also towards her who was revealed to him as being the Saviour’s Spouse and His Mother. Add to this that she was granted privileges of nature, grace and glory so far elevated above those which he had lost, that the sight of this peerless beauty is a source of undying irritation and anger, filling him with a furious determination to remove her from sight. But what really made him blaze with fury and spite was what God himself said to him, namely that she would frustrate his plans in every way and that she would crush his head1. His experience of the truth of this prophecy has played no small part in firing up his Hatred more and more.

 5   In your opinion, do we not have reason to believe a proud spirit when in his extreme confusion he is forced to confess the losses that he suffers because of his enemy? How many times have we heard such a spirit raging in despair because of the wrongs and the affronts that he says she inflicted on him? How many times has he filled the air with screams and shouts because he does not have a way of avenging himself on her whom he feels did him so many wrongs? Around one hundred and thirty-six years years ago[1], the majority of the religious sisters of the monastery of la Chesnaye, near Cambrai, were found to be possessed by evil spirits because of an old witch who had brought this evil upon them. The whole world would be astonished at the unheard of things they did, for they could be seen flying through the air like birds, climbing trees and balancing on branches like weasels, uncovering secrets long hidden and performing hundreds of other actions weird and disturbing. Those who had the opportunity to listen to them report that there was nothing more wonderful to hear than the the evil spirits complaining through the mouths of the possessed women about the harms they were suffering at the hands of Mary, the Mother of mercy. Every day she would rescue countless souls from those whom they had trapped in their snares.

Footnotes

[1] Christianus Massæus, Chron., lib. X ; Joannes Molinetus Vallencenensis, in Chronico Belgii.

 6   In connexion with this, nothing can be compared with what all the biographers[1 of St Dominic have written concerning the confession which this great servant of God extracted from the sworn enemy of the Holy Virgin through the mouth of an Albigensian heretic tormented as a consequence of his blasphemies by 15,000 demons who had entered into possession of his body.

He was taken to the city of Carcassone to be exorcised. He was asked to identify whom the spirits feared most out of all those in heaven, and who should be loved, honoured and glorified with the most affection by men. After refusing a thousand times to answer through diabolical obstinacy, finally an answer was given when St Dominic saw the MOTHER OF GOD accompanied by more than a hundred Angels. She touched the possessed man with a golden rod she held in her hand and commanded the rebellious spirits to obey St Dominic in the shame of their defeat and for the greater glory of God. After writhing in frightful spasms and showing their fury with hundreds of screams and contortions, this is how they replied:

“Thou art our foe, causing our ruin and our confusion! Why hast thou come down from heaven to torment us? Are we not being forced by thee, who art the Advocate of sinners and the sure path to paradise, to uncover a truth which is greatly prejudicial to us? Listen, ye Christians, listen to what we are forced to confess: this MOTHER OF GOD who is here present, hath all the power she needeth to free her servants from our hands. It is she who doth bring all our schemes to nought just as the sun doth dissipate the clouds, and she it is who confoundeth our undertakings. We confess, under duress, that no one persevering in her service hath ever been damned with us. One single sigh of hers in the presence of the most holy Trinity hath more effects than all the prayers of all the other Saints. She on her own filleth us with more dread and terror than the rest of Heaven together; and it is impossible for us to win anything over her faithful servants. Know ye that through the efficacy of her prayers several Christians have been saved against all odds even at the hour of death, and if this little Mary[2] (as he scornfully called her), had not overturned our plans, already we would have destroyed the Church by now, and tearing out the faith of all her Orders.

This is a witness deposition worthy of being preserved in the archives of all the Churches of the world, to the glory of God and His holy Mother, for the advancement of souls and for the confounding of Hell.

 

Footnotes

[1] Cap. 45.

[2] Pratum Spirituale is generally attributed to Johannes Moschus (550-619) who was accompanied in his travels by Sophronius. For a 1992 English translation by John Wortley, see The Spiritual Meadow (Cistercian Publications) pp27-28/155.

[3] The French text has Mariette.

 7   How many times has the evil one let it be known that in a certain sense he fears this holy Lady much more than God Himself? It is not that her power is greater than God’s – it would be a blasphemy to say that – but inasmuch as God does not normally deviate from a course of action He has chosen in human affairs, whether in the order of nature or of grace; accordingly, the evil spirits are able to study His principles of action and accustomed mode of operation so as to use measures based on what they predict should happen. The behaviour of the MOTHER OF GOD, however, is based upon love and mercy; this means they have never been able to establish principles on which they could base their plans with any degree of confidence. Just when they are confident that their schemes are going to succeed to their satisfaction, the Virgin’s opposition alone overturns their plans and projects, destroying what they had carefully constructed. Who will therefore be surprised to learn how full of rage and fury these wretches are, and how they can scarcely bear to hear the name of her who always has her eye upon them, who exposes all their secret plots and who catches them everywhere?

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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.

© Peter Bloor 2025 

Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 9 : § 3.1-3

Chapter 9 The Eighth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She commands the Church’s armies

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)

§ § 3. The first army of the enemies of God and the Holy Virgin : the Demons

 1   Hannibal, Prince of Carthage, showed great hatred at every opportunity towards the Roman people. This he had sworn on the altars to do while still young at the instigation and in the presence of his father, Hamilcar[1]. Every time he came across a Roman soldier still alive on the battlefield, his hatred was always apparent and showed itself in cruelty, for no matter how exhausted and weak he found the Roman, he would cut off the lower part of his feet and leave him in that condition to suffer whatever fate would bring. As for his prisoners of war, he would divide them into pairs, sometimes even brother against brother, forcing them to fight each other to the death in front of his tent. He would not be happy with this inhuman spectacle until there was only one prisoner left alive[2]. Greater still was the hatred of Mithridates, king of Pontus, who with one letter brought about the death of 80,000 Romans who had been living and trading peacefully throughout Asia without doing any harm to anyone[3]. Greatest of all perhaps was the hatred of the two brothers Eteocles and Polynices[4], since it survived even their death. They had killed each other in single combat before the sight of their respective armies. Both bodies were laid out on one pyre but the flame seen ascending divided in two, showing those present that their hatred continued after death.

Footnotes

[1] See 9. III. 3e3 in Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings by Valerius Maximus (1st century AD).

[2] Ibid. 9. II. 2e2.

[3] Ibid. 9. II. 2e3.

[4] Eteocles, son of Oedipus, King of Thebes and Jocasta, and twin-brother of Polynices. The brothers having compelled Oedipus to abdicate and leave Thebes, he prayed the gods that they they might be eternally at enmity with each other. See The Thebaid by Statius (1st century AD).

 2   Even this does not amount to much when compared to the hatred the Virgin and the ancient serpent have for each other. I can say with confidence that their hatred is the oldest, the most enduring, the most irreconcilable and the most universal there has ever been. It is the oldest because it appeared at the birth of the world and God Himself was the Promoter, at least on the part of the Virgin, when He said: I will put enmities between thee and the woman[1], distinguishing this woman with a mark of singularity in order that it might be known (according to the holy Doctors) that He was speaking only about her who is singular in every respect. It is the longest inasmuch as it will last until the end of the ages, equalling in extent all eternity. I say this hatred is the most irreconcilable because it has never known any peace or truce, and it will result in one or other side being put to the sword and to the torch, being for them a matter of life and death. I describe this hatred as the most universal because it does not stop with their persons but extends to all who belong to each of them. Everyone who loves the MOTHER OF GOD hates unto death this cursed serpent and his followers; and everyone who is on the side of the serpent hates without exception everyone who is with the MOTHER OF GOD. Are we to believe that this animosity should be understood as applying to figures of the one and the other? If what is written by the learned Abbot Rupert[2] is true (which he claims has received approval), it follows that it is something which goes beyond what is natural.

He maintains that there is such opposition between the woman and the serpent that were the woman to touch the head of the Serpent only with the sole of her bare foot she would at the same time deprive him of all sensation and movement, in a way more effective than the most violent blows from an axe or a hammer. On the other hand, if the snake can inflict the first damage, howsoever slight, on the sole of the woman’s foot, there would be no remedy and she would perforce die.

Finally, just as the MOTHER OF GOD can have nothing to do with anything linked to the serpent, so is it that this evil one cannot endure anything that belongs to the holy Virgin.

Footnotes

[1] Gen. iii. 15.

[2] Lib. III de Trinit., c. 20.

 3   To illustrate this point, I should like to recall a story which deserves to be better known and which was told during the Second Council of Nicaea. It is taken from the Spiritual Meadow[1], composed (according to the opinion of some) by Blessed Sophronius, Archbishop of Jerusalem[2].

There it is said that there was once on the Mount of Olives a recluse, a monk of great virtue and merit, who had been tormented by the spirit of fornication even into his extreme old age. Finally one day, weary of such a long struggle, he began to weep and he asked the demon who was tormenting him how long this relentless oppression would continue and whether he would not give him a break so he might prepare for his death. Then the enemy appeared in a visible form to him and promised he would leave the old man in peace if he promised to keep secret one thing he was going to tell him. The hermit swore an oath to keep the secret and the demon then told him he must cease to show reverence for the little image of Our Lady holding the Saviour in her arms which the monk had in his cell and before which he would kneel showing great love and honour. He asked to be given a day to think about this and early the following morning he went to see the Abbot Theodore to tell him what had happened between him and the evil spirit. The holy Abbot explained that he had been trapped and it was not permitted to deal in this way with the devil; by breaking the promise that he had made to the devil, however, he had begun to make reparation for his sin . He added that it would be more forgivable for him to visit all the places of debauchery in the city of Jerusalem than to agree to the demand of his enemy and abandon the duty he had to Our Lord and the holy Virgin His Mother.

 

Footnotes

[1] Cap. 45.

[2] Pratum Spirituale is generally attributed to Johannes Moschus (550-619) who was accompanied in his travels by Sophronius. For a 1992 English translation by John Wortley, see The Spiritual Meadow (Cistercian Publications) pp27-28/155. 

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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.

© Peter Bloor 2025 

Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 9 : § 2.4-6

Chapter 9 The Eighth Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power of the MOTHER OF GOD

She commands the Church’s armies

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. The Mother of God commands His armies

 4   While considering these issues, however, I have not lost sight of the fact that you have for a long time wanted to know who are these enemies that God has given her to defeat. It is possible, for example, that someone might imagine these would be all sinners who are opposed to the glory of God and to the desire the Saviour has for their salvation. It would not be possible to think this, however, without undermining her title of Mediatrix and the role God gave her as refuge for sinners. Accordingly, let us say rather that these enemies are those who have a hatred of God’s Majesty, who come near Him only because they are determined to cast Him down from His throne and who would destroy Him completely if they could. Out of hatred for Him, they also do everything they can to prevent His creatures from coming to enjoy the good things that He has prepared for them. 

In view of this, is there not good reason for the MOTHER OF GOD, who has a greater interest than any other person in the honour and glory of her Son, to oppose with all her might their rage and their detestable plans? This is particularly the case as she herself is also violently attacked by them. Those who are against God bear an irreconcilable hatred towards her too and have declared a war to the death against her. The head of this wretched war party is none other than he who at the birth of the world, carried away in a frenzy of self-love and wanting to be the equal of God, instigated the first rebellion by creatures against their Creator. From that moment onwards, this rage has continued to blaze in his heart, and has led him to seek every opportunity go against his Sovereign.

 5   You only need a modicum of patience to see him in the midst of four armies formed from those whom he has poisoned with his bitter hatred and filled with his furious animosity. He has uprooted from their hearts and minds any feeling of humanity, planting within them a desperate hatred of God and of all those who stand with God. The first army is made up of an almost infinite number of rebellious spirits whom he mustered from the very beginning against God and whom he has continued ever since to use in support of his plans. The second is made up of magicians, sorcerers and wretches such as these who have renounced their Creator and all hope of their own salvation in order to ally themselves with Satan and make war on Heaven. The third army consists of those referred to by the Prophet when he quotes their words[1]: Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof, so that there shall not be left in this Church a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed. These are all those revolutionaries whom the devil has stirred up to overthrow religion, amongst whom the heretics occupy the first rank. The fourth army includes all the the atheists and blasphemers whom the Prince of Hell has bribed to sharpen their serpentine tongues against God and to fill the air with their sacrilege and blasphemies.

Footnotes

[1] Ps. CXXXVI. 7.

 6   Here then you have the raging horde and execrable rabble of the King of the desperadoes and the Chief of the rebels whose aim is to make war against Heaven, closing it off for all the children of salvation. Do not be alarmed, however, when you see their loathsome countenances and hear the plans they hatch in their hellish meetings, for you will soon see the arrival of her who commands the armies of the Saviour, of her whom after God they hate most of all. You will see her wondrously arrayed at the head of the heavenly host and spearheading an army filling hell and all its minions with dread and dismay. Now the time has come to see how she will vanquish all these monsters and cast confusion into the camp of these wretches enemies of God and His Church.

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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.

© Peter Bloor 2025