Tea at Trianon: Henry VIII's Rosary

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 18, 2008

Henry VIII's Rosary

Yes, he had one. Share

4 comments:

Hans Georg Lundahl said...: Why not? He "was a staunch Catholic" said my history teacher: not to the end as distinct from High Church Ritualist Anglican, but as distinct from Protestant/Lutheran.; October 18, 2008 at 12:27:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, indeed, Hans. Henry always considered himself to be a Catholic. Sadly, this did not prevent him from dissolving the monasteries, and having the Carthusian monks hanged, drawn and quartered. Not to mention what he did to St. Thomas More, St. John Fisher, and his own cousin Blessed Margaret Pole. And to many, many others.; October 18, 2008 at 1:27:00 PM EDT
Hans Georg Lundahl said...: Now THAT is another story, sad enough. Especially since Carthusians were great propagandists for the Rosary.

IN Sweden the first printing press was introduced by them, the first book was an introduction nto Rosary prayer: Gustav Wasa (grandfather of Gustavus Adolphus, also of anti-Catholic fame) confiscated both and used the press to propagate his new royalty (he was born in a Sweden in personal union with Denmark) and the Reformation.; October 18, 2008 at 2:41:00 PM EDT
EC Gefroh said...: E., I guess it shouldn't be so surprising that he had a Rosary. Yet it is. Wow!; October 18, 2008 at 2:49:00 PM EDT