Tea at Trianon: Four Canonizations

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, October 14, 2008

Four Canonizations

And prayer requests for the persecuted Christians in India, Iraq and the Congo.

Pope Benedict XVI presided over the canonization of four saints today in St. Peter's Square. One of them was the first Indian woman to be canonized, Sr. Alfonsa of the Immaculate Conception (Anna Muttathupadathu) (1910-1946), of the Congregation of Claretian Franciscans. He said that she spoke of her cross as a means of preparing for the heavenly banquet, as she said "I consider a day without suffering as a day lost." He also spoke about the lives of the other three saints canonized today. In his homily, the Pope also spoke of the "singular beauty" of these saints, inviting people to imitate them. After the canonization, the Holy Father greeted pilgrims and spoke about the religious persecution in India, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He asked people to pray for them and assured them of his own prayers. Mentioning St. Alfonsa again, he said that she reminds us that in deep suffering, "God always provides the strength we need to overcome every trial."

A full translation of the homily can be found at Papa Ratzinger Forum. Catholic News Agency has one article about the canonization and another about his words after the canonization. Asia News also has an article.