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THE CORONATION 563
He had himself merited and gained for them justifica
tion and life everlasting.
663. Never will either men or angels fully know what
a debt the world owes to the maternal piety of this great
Lady and Queen. The many favors which She received
at the hands of the Almighty each time She was ad
mitted to beatific vision in her mortal flesh, were bless
ings not only for Her, but also for us; for on those
occasions her divine knowledge and charity reached the
highest possible degree in a created being and in the
same degree did She desire the glory of the Most High
in the salvation of the rational creatures. As She was
yet in the state of a pilgrim and thus could merit and
gain their salvation, her loving anxieties lest souls lose
the enjoyment of God overflowed all bounds in her
purest heart. Hence She suffered a martyrdom pro
longed through her whole life and it would have con
sumed her vital forces each hour and each instant, if
the power of God had not prevented it; for the thought
that so many souls should damn themselves and be eter
nally deprived of the vision and enjoyment of God, and,
in addition to this, that they should suffer the eternal
torments of hell, without further hope of the remedy
which they had despised, was really a martyrdom to Her.
664. This lamentable misfortune caused an immense
sorrow to the sweetest Mother, because She alone recog
nized and weighed
it fully in her wisdom. She was
filled with a corresponding charity, and would have suf
fered without any relief, if She had been left only to
the influences of her love and merely to the considera
tion of what the Lord had done and suffered for rescuing
men from eternal damnation. But the Lord foresaw and
provided against this deadly sorrow in his most faithful
Mother; therefore He at times miraculously preserved
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