Tea at Trianon: The Return of Paganism

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, May 25, 2007

The Return of Paganism

From the NOR:

Early Christians considered abortion to be worse than other murder. Not only was the baby deprived of life on earth, but without baptism he was thought to be deprived of Heaven. (Today the Church offers hope that through Our Lord's infinite mercy aborted babies, although deprived of baptism, may enter Heaven.) Consequently, in the early centuries of the Church, when penances were long and severe, lifetime penance was assigned to those guilty of abortion or infanticide. In fact, throughout the Middle Ages and up to the present time, absolution for abortion has been reserved under canon law to the bishop, though in recent times most bishops have extended that privilege to their priests.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...: I did hear that many British doctors were shying away from doing abortions. I hope that is true...but what horror a doctor who doesnt want to do the procedure and the mother who wishes to murder her own child...*shakes my head*

Yours in Christ,

Marie; May 26, 2007 at 12:09:00 AM EDT