Tea at Trianon: The Advent Wreath and the Birth of the Savior

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

Saturday, December 2, 2006

The Advent Wreath and the Birth of the Savior

Tell us if you are he who is to reign over the people of Israel?
--from The Roman Breviary, Matins responsory, First Sunday of Advent

Here is a link from Fish Eaters about making an Advent wreath, with accompanying meditations.

I read that in the new film about the Nativity of Our Lord, the Blessed Mother is shown having labor pains, in contradiction to the writings of many of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, who maintain that Mary gave birth without pain and without loss to her perpetual virginity. The preceding link gives the theological reasoning for this de fide teaching, as well as the quotations below:

"Who loves you is amazed and who would understand is silent and confused, because he cannot probe the Mother who gave birth in her virginity. If it is too great to be clarified with words the disputants ought not on that account cross swords with your Son (St Ephraim, Songs of Praise, 1, 2; )

"Believe in the Son of God, the Word before all the ages, who was...in these last days, for your sake, made son of Man, born of the Virgin Mary in an indescribable and stainless way, -for there is no stain where God is and whence salvation comes...." (St. Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration on Holy Baptism, 40:45; 381 AD)

"According to the condition of the body (Jesus) was in the womb, He nursed at His mother's breast, He lay in the manger, but superior to that condition, the Virgin conceived and the Virgin bore, so that you might believe that He was God who restored nature, though He was man who, in accord with nature, was born of a human being." (St. Ambrose of Milan, Mystery of the Lord's Incarnation, 6:54; 382 AD)

"Who is this gate (Ezekiel 44:1-4), if not Mary? Is it not closed because she is a virgin? Mary is the gate through which Christ entered this world, when He was brought forth in the virginal birth and the manner of His birth did not break the seals of virginity." (St. Ambrose of Milan, The Consecration of a Virgin and the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, 8:52; c. 391 AD) Share

2 comments:

elena maria vidal said...: Yes, Georgette, and it ties in with the doctrine of her perpetual virginity, which is a dogma and a matter of faith. I am surprised to see so many Catholics questioning this on the internet. Doctors of the Church such as Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Alphonsus Liguori teach that Mary was a virgin before, during and after childbirth.; December 4, 2006 at 7:31:00 AM EST
Anonymous said...: I thought it was a magisterial teaching that Mary was a virgin before, during and after childbirth...; December 5, 2006 at 8:59:00 PM EST