Tea at Trianon: Mrs. Coniker's Cause for Beatification

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, September 11, 2007

Mrs. Coniker's Cause for Beatification

Gwen Coniker, a mother of twelve who died a few years ago, is being considered for canonization by the Vatican at the suggestion of her husband. (Via Spirit Daily) Share

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: Aw, Mr Coniker is so sweet. I think he is a saint too.; September 11, 2007 at 3:24:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: It's so wonderful to see that this happily married woman's cause is being considered. There is the same issue in the Orthodox Church regarding married saints (most saints are monks/nuns/virgin martyrs). I wanted to take a married saint as my patron saint. Juliana of Lazarevo did live with her husband "as brother and sister" though, unlike Mrs. Coniker. But I loved that she was a wife and mother!; September 11, 2007 at 4:14:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: I agree, Georgette!

Yes, Juliana, there are some beautiful married saints. Some of them chose, at some point, to live in celibacy while still married, but others did not. St. Elizabeth of Hungary was so in love with her husband and had a happy marriage until death separated them. The parents of St Therese of Lisieux may also be canonized someday. And St Gianna Biretta Molla was living a normal married life with her husband when she died.; September 11, 2007 at 5:50:00 PM EDT
johnthebaptist said...: Having worked with Gwen and Jerry for a number of years, I would have to agree with Jerry's statement in the first paragraph of the article.; September 11, 2007 at 8:50:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: What a lovely story of selfless love. I pray that I can be that generous to my family.; September 11, 2007 at 9:11:00 PM EDT