Tea at Trianon: Berglar's More

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, July 6, 2012

Berglar's More

Stephanie Mann reviews Peter Berglar's Thomas More: A Lonely Voice Against the Power of the State, saying:

This is an effective overview of More's life and works, with an interesting organizing pattern, and the reminder, especially highlighted in the epilogue, of the integrity of St. Thomas More's life. He thoroughly integrated his spiritual and professional life, his religious and personal life, so that there is no division or compartmentalization. Berglar notes when More may have failed in this effort (as when he followed Wolsey too closely) and does not ignore the difficulties and balance More had to work to achieve.

This book was translated from the German and the author notes in the epilogue the scarcity of German translations of More's works. Even though it is meant for a German audience, to bring St. Thomas More's example of responding to the crisis of the State attacking the Church, it's a good reminder for English and American audiences too, especially when discussing the distinctions between More and St. John Fisher:

The difference between them was the difference between layman and priest. Fisher was obliged to resist the regime's aberrations directly. In this sense, his position was easier than More's. Priests who come into conflict with the state and wish to remain faithful to the Church will invoke St. John Fisher as their patron; whereas perplexed Christians entangled in the complexities and intrigues of the social apparatus and in need of an example and intercessor, will turn to St. Thomas More. (Read entire post.)