Tea at Trianon: The Martyrs of Compiègne

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

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The Martyrs of Compiègne

Today is the feast of the Blessed Martyrs of Compiègne. Here is a post that sums up the essence of their ordeal. It is important to recall that the Prioress, Blessed Theresa of St. Augustine, was given her dowry by Queen Marie-Antoinette; otherwise, being impoverished, she would not have been able to enter the monastery. The nuns were ultimately convicted because they had in their posession a portrait of King Louis XVI as well as some Sacred Heart badges, items which branded them as being "counter-revolutionaries." William Bush wrote an excellent book about the martyrs a few years ago called To Quell the Terror. I highly recommend it. Share

2 comments:

Melody K said...: Elena, I'm so glad you mentioned the Martyrs of Compiegne on their feast day. I was hoping someone would. I have been fascinated and edified by them ever since I read "To Quell the Terror" a few years ago. One thing is puzzling; they were to have been canonized as saints in the the early 1990's, but that didn't happen. As far as I know they are still "blesseds". One would think the fact of martyrdom would move their cause forward.; July 17, 2007 at 5:02:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: I don't know why they have not been canonized; it is a mystery to me....; July 17, 2007 at 6:40:00 PM EDT