Death of Marie-Thérèse de France

The daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette died just three days after the anniversary of her mother's execution.

Here is a rare drawing of Marie-Thérèse as she would have dressed around the time of her death in 1851.

Here is a card commemorating her death on October 19, 1751, with an abridged version of her Will. It says:

+WILL+ OF MARIE THÉRÈSE OF FRANCE, DAUGHTER OF KING LOUIS XVI AND OF QUEEN MARIE ANTOINETTE, WHO DIED AT FROHSDORFF, +OCTOBER 19, 1851+ Following the example of my parents, I forgive, with all my soul, and without exceptions, all those who may have harmed or offended me; sincerely asking God to extend to them His mercy, as well as to me, and supplicating Him to accord me pardon for my faults. I thank all the FRENCHMEN who have remained attached to my family and to me for the proofs of devotion that they have given us, for the sufferings and pains they endured because of us. I pray God to pour out His blessings on FRANCE, which I have always loved, even in the midst of my bitterest afflictions. Having always considered my nephew HENRI and my niece LOUISE as my children, I give them my maternal blessing. They have had the happiness to have been raised in our holy religion, may they always remain faithful to it, may they always be worthy descendants of SAINT LOUIS! May my nephew consecrate his happy faculties to the accomplishment of the great duties which his position imposes upon him! May he never depart from the ways of moderation, justice and truth!

Here is a more complete reading of her Will:

In the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost … I submit in all things to the will of Providence. I do not fear death; and, lacking merit of my own, I place all my trust in the mercy of God, praying of him for time and grace to receive the sacraments of the Church with fervent piety …

I die in the Roman Catholic and Apostolic religion, in which I have lived as faithfully as I had power, and to which I owe all the consolations of my life.

… After the example of my parents, I pardon, with my entire soul, and without exception, all those who have injured or offended me; sincerely praying God to extend to them His mercy, and to me also, for the pardon of my sins. To all the faithful French who have remained attached to my family and to myself, I leave thanks for the devotedness, the sufferings, and the penalties they have endured in our cause.

I pray God to shower down his blessings upon France–France, that I have never ceased to love even under my bitterest afflictions.

I thank the Emperor of Austria for the asylum which he accorded in his dominions to me and my family. I am grateful for the proofs of interest and friendship which I have received from the imperial family, especially under circumstances of deep sorrow; and not less so for the sentiments manifested by a great number of his subjects, more especially the inhabitants of Goritz …

Having always considered my nephew Henri and my niece Louisa as my children, I give them my maternal benediction. They have had the happiness of being educated in our holy religion: may they continue in fidelity to it, worthy decedents of St. Louis.

May my nephew consecrate his happy faculties to the accomplishment of the great duties imposed on him by his position! May he never wander from the paths of moderation, of justice, and of truth!

I institute my nephew Henri my universal legatee. It is my wish that my remains be deposited at Goritz, in the vault of the Franciscans, between those of my husband and his father.

Let no solemn service be celebrated on my account. All that I desire are masses for the salvation of my soul. Share

A Never Trump Influencer Who Spent Years Sabotaging Him Just Flipped

 From Tierney's Real News:

Karol Markowicz is a New York Post and Fox News columnist, the host of The Karol Markowicz Show and co-host of the Normally podcast, and co-author of the bestselling book Stolen Youth. She just published a full-throated defense of President Trump’s second term in the New York Post. The headline says it all: “I was a Trump skeptic — but his second-term wins made me a believer.”

She admits she voted third-party in 2016, sat out 2020 entirely, and never owned a MAGA hat. Now she’s listing all the reasons that America MUST stick with President Trump, and vote for his endorsed Republican candidates, instead of handing power back to the Communists and Islamists on the left who want to close prisons, install woke DEI, end capitalism, and open the borders wide again.

I’m glad she’s finally awake. I’m also sad it took this long. Here’s the opinion piece, which is well written and 100% correct, followed by my commentary: (Read more.)

Share

A True Arthurian Legend

 From The Habsburg Way:

You notice that so far I haven’t even spoken of the plot of GALAHAD AND THE HOLY GRAIL. It’s because it is barely necessary as the title tells it all - you get to know Galahad and his background, then Camelot calls, and the the quest for the Grail begins. You follow him and several of the knights of the Round Table as they face challenges and move closer to the longed-for goal.

So far, so Arthurian.

But what Guite does unashamedly is to imbue his book with deep, earnest, traditional Christian Faith. Before I found out that he is an Anglican pastor I was convinced he was a Traditional Catholic - you’ll get there, Malcolm ;) He explores the whole depths of Christian connotations of the Grail legend, Christian Chivalry, prayer and the Sacrifice of the Mass. It actually (gasp) encourages you to pray in temptations and set your hope in Christ! Figure that! (Read more.)

Share

How to Make French Quince Paste

 

 From Léonce:

I recently came across some beautiful quinces at the market and brought a few home, thinking it was finally time I tried making pâte de coing, the traditional French quince paste. I’ve always had a fondness for pâtes de fruits, those little fruit confections you find in traditional French chocolate shops. They remind me especially of Christmas when I was little, and the papillotes we would unwrap during the holidays: chocolates and sweets wrapped in colorful, fringed paper, often with a little message tucked inside.

Lately, I’ve also become rather curious about old French pastry books. There is something fascinating about discovering recipes that were once familiar, sometimes even everyday, but that we rarely think to make anymore. Some require an astonishing amount of work; others are surprisingly simple. And every so often, I come across one that makes me wonder why we ever stopped making it. (Read more.)

Share

Greta Gerwig’s Sincere Subversion of Narnia

 From Further Up:

Even putting aside the Streep-casting, there’s something odd in the way Aslan appears in the trailer to be made of stars. It’s visually striking, yet it suggests the blurring of a boundary between the stars and their Maker. The posters giving a first look at Aslan’s more solidly incarnated appearance aren’t very reassuring, as his face looks like a patchwork quilt of fur, feathers and even scales. His eyes are also differently colored, an apparent nod to David Bowie’s illusion of heterochromia. What this is all meant to add up to is confusing, to say the least. Perhaps there’s some reassurance in the fact that Gerwig used male pronouns for Aslan throughout her interview, and in the fact that it appears he will at least have a mane and a terrifying roar. But there remains the impression that Aslan’s image is an admixture of elements, an entity bound up and fused with nature in ways that are decidedly not aligned with Lewis’s vision.

This brings me to Led Zeppelin, who made the historic choice to give Gerwig their blessing for “Stairway to Heaven” to be used in the trailer. Most takes have focused on the rock anthem’s bizarre tonal clash with a Narnian oeuvre. It is indeed bizarre, but if you look at the lyrics, you can begin to see Gerwig’s creative logic, which is not entirely crazy. (Read more.)

Share

The Execution of the Queen of France October 16, 2026

 From Chronicles:

At her trial, she was charged with orchestrating orgies at Versailles and planning the 1792 massacre of National Guardsmen. Both charges were entirely invented. Most outrageously, she was accused of incestuous relations with her 8-year-old son, who “confessed” to it after the revolutionary tribunal got the child drunk and abused him into repeating what they demanded.

The Queen wrote a final letter to her sister-in-law before being led to the scaffold. It was never delivered. The text is absolutely stunning, and I encourage all to read it in its entirety.

She expresses her love for the recipient of the letter, for her children, and for the Church. And she proves, as though it needed proving, her moral superiority over her murderers in adhering to her faith’s exhortation to forgive those who wrong us:

I have just been condemned, not to a shameful death, for such is only for criminals, but to go and rejoin your brother. Innocent like him, I hope to show the same firmness in my last moments. I am calm, as one is when one’s conscience reproaches one with nothing . . . Let my son never forget the last words of his father, which I repeat emphatically; let him never seek to avenge our deaths…I pardon all my enemies the evils that they have done me…Farewell, my good and tender sister. May this letter reach you. Think always of me; I embrace you with all my heart, as I do my poor dear children. My God, how heart-rending it is to leave them forever! Farewell! farewell!

A constitutional priest, that is, one of those who had pledged full allegiance to the anti-Christian Revolution, was assigned to hear her confession, but she courageously refused this diabolical traitor to the Church. (Read more.)

 

Here is a French article about the possibility that the Queen was suffering from uterine cancer during her imprisonment, which was the reason for her heavy bleeding. Robespierre was afraid she would die in prison, which is why he rushed her trial. He wanted her to die on the guillotine.

Share

Burial of Marie-Antoinette

In the Madeleine Cemetery, with the head between the legs. (Via Vive la Reine.) Engraving after a painting by Mouillard, 1893. Share

Groomed by PRIDE

 From Tierney's Real News:

A new study by the CDC shows that the number of young teenage girls who identify as gay, bisexual or transgender has FALLEN by 50% in just the past two years. CDC data shows the explosion among ninth-grade girls was never organic. It was social engineering via influencers, schools, and retail - and now the numbers are crashing.

Starting about 10 years ago, the percentage of young teenage girls who suddenly identified as bisexual (or gay) skyrocketed by 300%! It peaked under the Obama-Biden regime in 2021 at 32%. One out of three 9th grade girls were calling themselves bisexual, transgender or gay in 2021! WTH.

A new study by the CDC shows that it has fallen from 32% to 17% in the past two years. Praise God! (Read more.)

Share

Becoming a Knight in Burgundy

 From The Medieval Scholar:

Knighthood and nobility must nevertheless be distinguished. A nobleman’s son inherited family relationships and might inherit property; he did not simply inherit his father’s personal accolade. Late medieval records could distinguish nobles who were knights from nobles who remained esquires. The candidate needed promotion if he wished to cross that particular boundary.[1,5]

The household offered a setting in which inherited standing could become demonstrated usefulness. It brought young men into contact with experienced adults, obligations, and patterns of conduct. Historian Arie van Steensel describes noble education in the Burgundian Low Countries as substantially practical, with young nobles spending time at different courts. He also stresses regional variation: the dukes did not make noble culture uniform throughout their territories.

That helps explain why a family connection mattered without treating birth as the whole story. An introduction could secure an opportunity to serve. It could not, by itself, show whether the young man could make himself useful, handle responsibility, or sustain a reputation among those whose opinion mattered. (Read more.)

Share