Tea at Trianon: Love and the Human Person

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, October 27, 2007

Love and the Human Person

John Crosby discusses the philosophy of Dietrich von Hildebrand on love and the intrinsic value of the human person.

Now we find this idea also in von Hildebrand's treatise on love, the last philosophical book that he published in his lifetime. He insists here that love is a value-response to the beauty of a beloved person; in loving the other I do not take the beloved person only as beneficial for me, only as filling out what I lack, but as worthy and splendid in his or her own right. It follows that love is an eminently personal act; it is eminently personal because it is eminently self-transcending. To this extent we see von Hildebrand continuing in this late work along the line of his earlier work.

Anonymous said...: Excellent thoughts to ponder especially in this age of self promotion and 'what's in it for me'. And isn't that how Our Heavenly Father sees us?; October 27, 2007 at 11:40:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Oh, yes, and that is how we should see each other. But I think sometimes we get bogged down on the level of feelings....; October 27, 2007 at 11:41:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: The Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project is supported by Pope Benedict and is doing quite well.

I was taught Philosophy of the Human Person by Dr. John Crosby. Wonderful course.; October 27, 2007 at 1:05:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, I believe I once met Dr. Crosby when I was visiting friends in Steubenville. Wasn't he on EWTN for a while?; October 27, 2007 at 1:11:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: At this link you will find John Crosby's first impressions of Dietrich von Hildebrand. Funny, my first impressions of John Crosby and knowing him as I have for many years, he is exactly like his mentor, von Hildebrand.

http://www.hildebrandlegacy.org/main.cfm?EID=85#ACMember; October 28, 2007 at 11:35:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: I'm sorry I didn't answer your question in the body of the last post: yes, he was on EWTN.; October 28, 2007 at 11:49:00 AM EDT