Tea at Trianon: The Mantle of Elias

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 20, 2007

The Mantle of Elias

Prophet of fire
Prophet of rain
You depart
In the whirlwind
Of glory.
I clasp
Your mantle
As it falls behind.
With your double-spirit
I am possessed.
May I now perceive
The thunder and
Immensity
Of silence divine;
The promise
Of a wisp of cloud
Rising
Out of the sea.

~a Carmelite tertiary Share

5 comments:

wendybirde said...: I love this too, such a feeling there...; July 20, 2007 at 8:47:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Glad you like it, Wendy!; July 20, 2007 at 9:13:00 PM EDT
Michelle Therese said...: Cool icon!; July 21, 2007 at 4:02:00 AM EDT
Ann Murray said...: I have enjoyed reading the detailed history of the life of Elias, and your observation about the mantle prefiguring the scapular seems more than likely. The poem is lovely, Elena Maria, succinctly capturing the essence of this great prophet and holy man.; July 21, 2007 at 5:09:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, Plain Catholic it is an amazing icon.

Thank you very much, Veritas, for your kind words.; July 21, 2007 at 8:01:00 AM EDT