The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 2 : § 3. 5-6

Chapter 2: The First Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

§ 3. The relationship between the Blessed Virgin and our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby it appears that she is the Firstborn of mere creatures

Third title whereby the Holy Virgin is the Firstborn of mere creatures

 5   Thirdly, Mary is the  Firstborn of mere creatures by right of her eternal predestination, inasmuch as God has from this starting point regarded her as the Redemptrix of every creature along with her Son, and she is consequently the glory and honour of all. In this sense, she can say with Him that God created her as the Beginning of His ways for His ways[1] In this sense too she can say that she was prepared from eternity,[2] or, according to the original text, she has been planted and raised[3] like a banner over the watchtower of this world, showing victory over Satan and the reconquest of the fortress he had seized. Listen to the words of St John Damascene and St Anselm. They explain briefly how it all happened, whilst waiting for a later opportunity to give more details.

God had made man, says St John Damascene,[4] as a cross between those creatures purely intellectual and those completely material; he was like a point of juncture between these two, where goodness and intelligence might be found. Man, through his sin, however, caused everything to fall into terrible disrepair and lamentable disorder. It was the Blessed Virgin’s intervention that reversed this, for the spiritual (or intellectual) and material were bought together within her womb by Him who had made them in the beginning. There, He resolved their differences and a treaty of peace was signed by each side.  

St Anselm has presented the same narrative in beautiful language[5]:

The creatures below man, he says, owe him obedience only to the extent that he maintains himself in the submission and subordination he owes to God. If he separates himself from God, breaking his ties, then the creatures for their part desert man and no longer want to recognise him. In this way, the sin of the first man was followed by a rebellion and general uprising of every creature, determined to cast off the yoke whereby they owed him respect and to rebel against him. Now the Sun, indignant at serving a rebel, made plans to withdraw its light, the stars their influences[6], fire its heat; the air thought rather to suffocate than to refresh, and so it was with all the other elements of the universe which were inclining towards a general mutiny, were it not for the Author of nature, along with His Holy Mother, who brought this to a halt and in this way restored Man to his estates and honours.

 The same St Anselm adds a third way of understanding this[7]:

From the beginning, God had loved man and had desired to be loved and acknowledged by him. Reason required this, considering that man’s entire well-being and happiness depended on God. Now, God did not wish to show His face openly to man but, in order that man might be drawn gently to a knowledge and love of his sovereign good, God placed before man’s gaze an infinity of creatures which would all serve as mirrors and ladders, enabling man to see God’s perfections and to lift up his heart in love. 

Wretched man, however, lost his mind and his way; instead of keeping on the path leading up to his Creator, he tarried with creatures, finding in them his contentment and happiness. In this way, he both debased himself in an alien way and robbed them of their nobility whose role was to guide man on the path to God. Everything was therefore in a state of disorder and confusion until the Holy Virgin appeared on the scene like a beneficent Star, Man, who had gone astray so shamefully, was led back to the path leading to knowledge and love of God. In the same way, the creatures whom man had debased and dishonoured were recalled to their primary duties and restored to their former splendour. Which creatures will henceforth deny that they owe homage to Mary, and that they are duty-bound to acknowledge her as Firstborn? For through her they have the happiness of being restored to their former state and to experience in this way a new birth.

 6   I am fully aware that these matters deserve fuller treatment but I am deferring this to a more suitable time after these discussions. The first title of Mary’s Birth-right comprises the Splendours and great Dignities of the Holy Virgin. The first three Treatises will concentrate on these. The second title represents her as the centre and culmination of God’s works. Apart from those occasions when the subject crops up from time to time, I shall use the whole of the following chapter to cover this. The third title shows her as the Redemptrix, restoring the work of God. I am saving the whole second Treatise to deal with this. Now these considerations have been dealt with, I propose we move on.

Footnotes

[1] The Lord made me the beginning of his ways for his works. Prov. viii. 22.

[2] I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made.   Prov. viii. 23.

[3] Ab æterno vexillata sum. See DMLBS. vexillare [CL vexillum+-are] 1. to equip with banners.  2. to add the mark of the cross.

[4] Orat. 1 de Nativit. B. Virg.

[5] De Excellentia Virg., c. 10.

[6] Qualité, puissance, vertu qui decoule des astres sur les corps sublunaires. Bonne influence. maligne influence. les diverses influences des astres font la varieté du temps. Dictionnaire de l’Académie française, 1re édition (1694).

[7] Cap. 12.

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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 2 : § 3. 3-4

Chapter 2: The First Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

§ 3. The relationship between the Blessed Virgin and our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby it appears that she is the Firstborn of mere creatures

First title whereby the Holy Virgin is the Firstborn of mere creatures

 3   I say therefore that she is the Firstborn of mere creatures by virtue of the same titles which oblige us to acknowledge the Saviour as Firstborn of every creature. I say this recognizing the inequality and dependence which must be understood proportionately between them both. Mary has this title because she surpasses them all in dignity, excellence and perfection. St Bernard, little child of Mary that he is, having considered the Son as I said previously, sets himself to contemplate the Mother and to say, altogether transported with joy and happiness:

Holy Lady, thou art chosen like the Sun. I am not talking here of the physical Sun which giveth light to us, but of Him who didst create it. He is chosen among millions of men and thou among millions of women. He is chosen among all who have been created, and thou among all He hath created.

 

This caused St Bonaventure to say:

Were all the Saints to grow as much as is possible for each of them according to their rank and in order, they would never equal the perfections of the MOTHER OF GOD.[1]

The reason is that forasmuch as holiness, grace and greatness have been divided among the Saints, each one of them has taken a share, some more and some less. The Blessed Virgin’s lot must be viewed as separate for she does not share these with anyone; for with her Son, and by means of her Son, she enters into the fulness of the holiness, grace and greatness of God. This provides me with the chance to make heard a great thought of St Augustine[2] who, with admirable emphasis, calls this the Work of an eternal design. By this he means, in my opinion, that if God were to have needed time like us in order to form in His mind the idea of such a noble and perfect creature, then He would have needed no less than an eternity.

Second title whereby the Holy Virgin is the Firstborn of mere creatures

 4   In the second place, she can be called the Firstborn of (mere) creatures because along with her Son she is their centre. They all regard her as the target they aim for. Listen to the words of the blessed Archbishop of Crete[3] and take note of how the great Saints speak of this Lady:

I do not consider her as being anything less than the declaration uttered from the depths of divine incomprehensibility as God’s aim from before time began.

     

He means to say that God is like an abyss where the depths of His Greatness are unfathomable to our crude understanding. He has made a creature in whom we can contemplate all His perfections more easily since they are more in proportion to our weakness. In this connection, He has had her in His mind's eye from the beginning, alongside His incarnate Son, as the aim and objective of His works and the fulfilment of the ancient prophecies and figures.

Do not take my word for it, says St Bernard, believe the Sacred Scriptures. Take the trouble to go though them and see if it it is not true that just as they speak of Mary from beginning to end, in the same way they have been written to make her known to us.[4]

Whoever wants to gain the satisfaction of following the advice of this great Saint and to explore his Holy Writings, will find that if the new and heavenly Adam is formed, He is formed from the virgin soil that is none other than Virgin Mary; that if He dwelt in an earthly Paradise, then this Paradise is the same Virgin; that the Spouse given to him is Mary, who justly bears the title of Mother of the living, which the ancient Eve abused, making herself mother of the dead; if the just man Noe is carried away from the waves and impetuous floods of suffering, it is with the Ark, that is to say with His blessed Mother who keeps Him faithful company; if innocent Isaac bears the wood for the sacrifice and proceeds courageously towards his death, Sara his mother is present and gives her assent to God’s will in its entirety; if Jacob crosses the Jordan, his beautiful Rachel is never far away. In short, we must conclude with Blessed Andrew of Jerusalem:[5] 

Mary is the mysterious Tabernacle whose design was given by God; in her the ancient prophecies have been accomplished and the figurative characters cast into the fire on the arrival of the Truth; she is the true Mercy Seat that the two Cherubim look towards unceasingly;[6] she is the expectation of all past centuries, the desired of nations,[7] the desire of the everlasting hills,[8] the fulfilment of the promises made to the Patriarchs and the accomplishment of the immutable designs of God.

Footnotes

[1] In I, dist. 44.

[2] Serm. de Annuntiat.

[3] S. Andræas Cretensis, Orat. 1 de Dormit. B. Virg.

[4] Serm. 1 in Salve.

[5] Orat. 1 de Dormit. B. Virg.

[6] Exod. xxv. 17-20.

[7] And I will move all nations: AND THE DESIRED OF ALL NATIONS SHALL COME: and I will fill this house with glory: saith the Lord of hosts. Aggeus ii. 8.

[8] The blessings of thy father are strengthened with the blessings of his fathers: until the desire of the everlasting hills should come; Gen. xxv. 26

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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 2 : § 3.1-2

Chapter 2: The First Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

§ 3. The relationship between the Blessed Virgin and our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby it appears that she is the Firstborn of mere creatures

 1   No, it pertains neither to nature, nor to art nor even to grace (as it normally operates) to produce a masterpiece from scratch; they need to try their hand firstly with something less advanced. The masterpiece of trees, for example, is their fruit. Before producing fruit, however, they must serve an apprenticeship in making flowers,  causing them to bloom and turn into fruit. Air practises with shaping ice before producing rock crystal. The earth does not produce diamonds, rubies and sapphires without first studying how to make Alençon diamonds and German gemstones. The sun brings forth dawn before the fullness of day; nature tries a thousand different experiments before gold is produced. The goldsmith, before crafting a piece of work for display, prepares sketches, moulds and reworks the material several times. God did not make the world such as it is now all at once; He began with a mass that was void and without form which He then brought to completion according to His plan. Before giving us the law of grace, He broke that given to Moses as though consigning it to history. 

This makes me hope that no-one will be offended if I say that God acted as follows. In order to create that masterpiece which will captivate created spirits for so long as there is a God and an eternity to contemplate Him, none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, God began with various sketches and models of ancient figures. Based on the idea He had of a God-Man, He produced His first Master stroke, namely the Mother of this same God incarnate. She came as close to His plan as would be possible for a mere creature.

 2   A kindly spirit from antiquity[1] has commented perceptively on the flower we call bindweed or campanula. He says it was a trial attempt by nature seeking a prototype for the Lily. If nature had attached the tiny filaments or golden buttons which are found in the centre of the Lily, and had made the flower firmer and more open, it could have passed for a Lily. Dare I suggest, following this learned writer, that the Blessed Virgin was God’s trial attempt at working with nature to make a Man-God? But why should I not dare to say this, since there are so many interconnections between one and the other? 

I declare before heaven and earth that I am not in any way claiming to depart from the respect I owe to the Majesty of the Word Incarnate; in this question I wish only to follow the teaching of the Catholic Church. I call upon His goodness to witness that my intention is not to reduce His Greatness so as  to elevate that of His Mother; I acknowledge no sort of subsistent Divinity in her and I see her infinitely lower than Him. I know only too well that I would never be regarded favourably by her if I tried to raise her up to the disadvantage of the King of glory, her most honoured Son, compared to whom she takes herself to be as a tiny atom, the picture of a nothing. My intention is simply to show that, except for the disproportion in everything and in every way caused by the divine person of the Saviour and what arises from this personal union, which always puts an infinite distance between Him and other creatures, the most Blessed Virgin comes as close as it is possible for a mere creature to His Greatness. She was drawn from Him as from a model and as a second idea from the plan God had through all eternity. I do not know of a better way of showing this than by presenting the parallels between her own predestination and that of her Son; in showing line by line that her Birth-right over all creatures is nothing less than a participation in and imitation of her Son’s. By doing this, I believe I am without doubt acknowledging the Majesty of Him from whom comes the first Masterpiece; I am aiming to render service to the Prince of whom she is the Mother and to the Holy Spirit whose Spouse she is. Finally, I am very encouraged to have on my side the authority of the Church which has no difficulty in honouring the Virgin with the words of Solomon[2], cited above in connection with the eternal predestination of the King of glory, Mary’s Son most dear. 

Footnotes

[1] Plin., lib. XXI, c. 6.

[2] The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning.[Prov. viii. 22]

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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 2 : § 2.4

Chapter 2: The First Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

§ 2. That our Lord Jesus Christ is, by His eternal predestination, the First-born of every creature

Third title by which the Saviour is the Firstborn of every creature

 4   In the third place, He is called the Firstborn of every creature, inasmuch as He has re-established all of them, restoring the lustre and honour they had lost, and He has been made head and king of a new people whom He acquired at the price of His blood. He is called the Beginning of the ways and works of God, inasmuch as He has restored to them their first splendour and even to a higher degree than before.  This is the reason we read in the Septuagint: the Lord created me the Beginning of His ways for His ways; that is, for the restoration of His works ruined by sin. This is how it is explained by St Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria[1], St Basil[2], St Ambrose[3], St Augustine[4], St Fulgentius[5] and others.  Did St Athanasius receive special grace when he said: 

It’s exactly as if the servants of a prince were taken prisoner through their own fault; then the prince sends his own son to save them from the hands of their enemy. On the way he puts on the garb of a slave and, when interrogated about this, he replies that his father gave him this disguise to carry out his service and to bring back the prince’s servants.

Do you not already see this Father of the world to come, whom Isaiah mentions[6]? Can you not see how Zara, before emerging from his mother’s womb[7], put forth a hand and in this, says St Augustine, bore witness that the Saviour, although the head and redeemer of mankind, would come into the world only after members of His own body who would themselves still, however, receive life and movement from Him?

Do you see how Jacob, having taken the birth right from his brother Esau, and having suffered in Mesopotamia all that a man of his condition might suffer, returns home in the midst of two companies that guide him?[8] This is to show, says St Augustine[9], that He is not only the Firstborn and the head of those before Him, but also of the angelic host, so that there is only one King and only one Head in this great kingdom of the universe. Do you not recognise that brave Eliacim, son of Helcias, promised in Isaiah[10]? God calls him His servant par excellence and clothes him with his sacred robe; He strengthens him with the girdle of war; He lays the key of the house of David on his shoulder; He gives him the power to open that which none shall shut, and to shut that which none shall open; He hangs upon him glory and honour, loading him like the trunk of a sacred trophy with all the spoils of the enemies he has subjugated, or like a rack with the arms and armour of the Royal household. Do you not contemplate from afar the  Conqueror in the Apocalypse[11], crowned before going to conquer, who goes forth on the white horse of His humanity to crush the rebels and bring freedom to His own?  Forward! So that all who come before Him sing with David:[12] To the Conqueror, who grants His favour towards those who change their way of life and who will be rescued from bondage. May all sing with St Gregory of Nazianzus canticles of praise to the King of Glory, who with the point of His sword has conquered the Universe, who has gathered unto Himself all things and who has placed them all according to their rank, inasmuch as He is the King of glory and worthy of all honour.

Footnotes

[1] Locis cit

[2] Locis cit

[3] Lib. I de Fide, c. 7.

[4] Lib. I de Trinit., c. 12

[5] Lib. adversus Objectiones Arianorum.

[6] Cap. ix.

[7] Gen. xxxviii. 27-30.

[8] Gen. xxxii.

[9] Serm. 3 in Psal. xxxvi.

[10] Cap. xxii.

[11] Cap. vi.

[12] Psal. xliv.

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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 2 : § 2. 3

Chapter 2: The First Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

§ 2. That our Lord Jesus Christ is, by His eternal predestination, the First-born of every creature

Second title by which the Saviour is the Firstborn of every creature

 3   In the second place, He is called the Firstborn of every creature because God has subjected them all to the one known[1] to the Eldest of the house, to whom properly belongs the inheritance and power of command over His brethren. He is called the Beginning of the ways and the works of God, because they all depend on Him and culminate in Him, as the point which is at once the beginning and end of the circle. St Hilary gave me this idea at the end of his 12th book on the Trinity, where he says:

The Word incarnate is rightly called the Beginning of the ways and works of God (which is to say, the end, for this is the interpretation of the great Father. This follows because all the steps taken by God before the Incarnation were directed uniquely to Him: when He cam to meet Adam, when He expelled Adam from Paradise, when He was received by Abraham, when He came down to examine the crimes of the sinful cities, when He appeared to Moses in the burning bush, when he gave the Law on Mount Sinai and so on. All these steps or actions taken by God had a particular significance in the hidden mystery of the Word incarnate.

Take careful note, St Theodoret[2] says in a beautiful simile, that all paths lead in the end to the royal route; you may judge from this that it is neither more nor less the case with all the ancient prophecies and figures for all lead to Jesus Christ.

Tertullian[3] explains this is why He is called the Alpha and the Omega. St John Chrysostom[4] notes this is the reason St Paul[5] gives for God’s making of Him the recapitulation and sum of all things. It is the reason , according to St Cyprian[6], that Isaiah[7] calls Him the abridgement that God promised to make in the midst of all the land. In your view, was it not for this reason that He cried out on the bed of the Cross: It is consummated.[8] It is just as if He had wanted to say: All the shadows past and passing have been fulfilled. The second Adam has been formed from virgin soil; the articles of His marriage with the Church have been granted, the death of innocent Abel is concluded, Noah now floats on the waters of the flood, Abraham has already put forth his hand and taken the sword, Isaac is on the pile of wood, Jacob is going to cross the Jordan, Joseph is sold to infidels, the Serpent of Moses is lifted up, Samson is made a laughing stock to his enemies, Gedeon is going to break the jar with his soldiers, Job is delivered into the power of Satan, Jonas is cast into the sea. All that remains is by my death to place the seal on these prophecies and the last brush-stroke on these paintings. Do thou receive, my dear spouse, the spirit I communicate to give thee life.

Footnotes

[1] connue. Fem. Suggesting the Blessed Virgin?

[2] Lib. de Curandis Græcorum affectionibus.

[3] Lib. de Monomagia.

[4] Ephes. i.

[5] And he is before all, and by him all things consist. Coloss. i. 17.

[6] Lib. II contra Judæos, art. 3.

[7] Cap. x. 23 For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, and an abridgment in the midst of all the land.

[8] Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated. And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.  [John xix. 30]

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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 2 : § 2. 2

Chapter 2: The First Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

§ 2. That our Lord Jesus Christ is, by His eternal predestination, the First-born of every creature

First title by which the Saviour is Firstborn of every creature

 2   I want to say in the first place that He is called the Firstborn of every creature and the Beginning of the ways of God, that is to say of the actions or plans of God, inasmuch as He is the masterpiece and the rarest, most excellent and accomplished of anything produced by His divine handiwork. I am persuaded of this by the words used in Hebrew as well as in Greek at this point in Scripture. Thus, Job[1] calls Him Behemoth, the beginning of the works of God. Whether he means by Behemoth the Elephant, as some think, or the Whale as others prefer, or in fact the first Angel as St Gregory[2] interprets the word, he actually means to say that the Elephant is greater than all the animals on earth, the Whale greater than all those who swim in the water, and Lucifer is the most excellent of God’s works according to nature. It is in this same sense that St Ambrose[3] recognises the Saviour as the Firstborn of every creature and the Beginning of the ways of God, for He is the noblest and most elevated of His designs.

Here is what St Anselm says:

He is called the Firstborn of every creature because, just as the Firstborn is the first and most considerable among several brothers, in the same way the Saviour occupies the first rank in terms of dignity among all the works of God, as being destined to sit on the throne of glory in the midst of the Principalities.[4]

St Paul made this plain when he said that the Saviour had within Him the fulness of the divinity[5]: for at this word every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.[6] This Firstborn of every creature is He who, according to St Paul[7], in all things and everywhere has primacy. He is the Holy of Holies, says St Jerome[8] following the King-Prophet[9], whom God has magnified over all things. He is the high mountain raised in the midst of a myriad of others, says the same author;[10] the mountain to which the Prophet Isaiah summons all the nations, the mountain where David shed tears seeking help from on high. It is the sea as source for all the rivers, says St Bernard[11], and a source for all the Blessings we enjoy: health for the body, purity of soul,  righteousness of the will, knowledge, eloquence, everything. This is the one whom God has anointed, says David[12], above all the Prophets and all the Priests in the world. He is the most perfectly beautiful, beauty itself, the object of rapture in heaven and on earth.  Ask the chaste Spouse and she will speak of miracles, She finds Him so perfect and so handsome from head to foot. She likens Him to the cedar in the woods of Lebanon, the orange tree among the fruit trees, the roe deer amidst the wild animals of the countryside, the lily among flowers, the Cyprus grape among fruits, gold among metals, the sun among stars – in short, He is everything that is most pleasing, chosen before thousands. St Bernard was contemplating Him one day and could not contain his joy, speaking the following words:

Around the Beloved you will see thousands of thousands and millions of millions; but ultimately none of them can come even near to His perfections : there is only one Beloved in the world, a first who has no second, the Phoenix who is unique in his kind.[13]

Consider the myriad of all God’s works: how many stars you will see in the sky, how many plants on earth, how many birds in the air, how many fishes in the sea, how many animals in the forests, how many thousands of men, how many millions of Angels! How many Patriarchs, Prophets, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins! But in the order of hypostatic union, there is only one Jesus Christ, unique in the bosom of His Mother and unique in the bosom of His Father, the Angel of great counsel[14], the singular Prophet[16], the one Master[16], the Apostle par excellence[17], the Martyr without paragon[18], the peerless Lamb[19], exemplar and guide for Virgins.

Footnotes

[1] Cap.10.

[2] Lib. XXXIII Moral., c. 28.

[3] Lib. de Interpellatione Job.

[4] In c. 1 ad Coloss.  And you are filled in him, who is the head of all principality and power: Coloss. ii. 10.

[5] For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporeally; Coloss. ii. 9.

[6] That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: Philipp. ii. 10.

[7] And he is before all, and by him all things consist. Coloss. I. 17.

[8] Epist. ad Suniam et Fretellam.

[9] Psal. CXXXVII.  2. I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to thy name. For thy mercy, and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy holy name above all. 

[10] Lib. XII in Ezech., c. 14. Cf. the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of mountains, and high above the hills: Micah iv. 1.

[11] Serm. 13 in Cant.

[12] Psal. XLIV. God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

[13] Serm. 21 in Cant.

[14] καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελoς /and his name is called the Messenger of great counsel. SEPTUAGINT Isai. ix. 6 (Septuagint).    

[15] Deuter. xxviii..

[16] Matth. xxiii.  10 Neither be ye called masters; for one is your master, Christ.

[17] Hebr. iii. 1. the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus:

[18] Tim. vi.

[19] Apoc. xiv.

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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 2 : § 2. 1

Chapter 2: The First Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

§ 2. That our Lord Jesus Christ is, by His eternal predestination, the First-born of every creature

 1   The Apostle Paul says this explicitly in the first chapter of his epistle to the Colossians.[1] Several Doctors understand by these words the Eternal Word as God. Our interpretation of them as applying to God made man by temporal generation is, however, supported by all the Fathers of the Holy Council of Serdica[2], by St Athanasius[3], St Anselm[4] and by the writer[5] who under the name of St Jerome made a commentary on this passage of St Paul. The Saviour applies this title of honour to Himself in chapter viii of the Proverbs where, according to the Septuagint, generally followed by all the ancient Fathers, He is called the Beginning of the ways of God.[6] Pope St Clement[7], St Gregory of Nazianzus[8], St Athanasius[9], St Basil[10], St Augustine[11], St Cyril[12], St Jerome[13] and many other of the most highly qualified of the Doctors all acknowledge that this title belongs to Wisdom Incarnate.

Not that I want to say He should be called the Firstborn of every creature or (what is equivalent) the Beginning of the ways of God, forasmuch as He was the first in God’s plan when He formed the resolution to create the world. I am already committed to showing, at the start of the next Treatise, that God did not think of Him until after foreseeing the general ruin of our race resulting from sin. Much less do I want to say that this title applies to Him through having been created the the first among men according to the order of time. All the ancient writings would contradict me for He was promised only in the middle of history, that is to say after several centuries had elapsed. This information would prove me to be in error.

 

Footnotes

[1] Coloss. i. 15.

[2] Epist. ad omnes fideles.

[3] Serm.3 contra Arianos.

[4] In hunc locum.

[5] In hunc locum.

[6] The Lord made me the beginning of his ways for his works. Prov. Viii. 22..

[7] Lib.V Const. Apost., c. 19.

[8] Orat.4 de Theologia.

[9] Serm.2, 3, 4 contra Arianos.

[10] Lib. IV contra Eunomium.

[11] Lib. I de Trinit., c. 12.

[12] Lib. V Thesauri, c. 4, 7 et 8.

[13] In c.4 Micheæ, lib. II.

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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