Tea at Trianon: Birthday of La Pucelle

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

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Birthday of La Pucelle

The great feast of Epiphany coincides with the birthday of Saint Joan of Arc, who called herself La Pucelle, "The Maid." Here is a link to some of her most famous quotations, in addition to those included below.

Je me attens a Dieu, mon createur, de tout; je layme (l'ayme) de tout mon cuer.
"I place trust in God, my creator, in all things; I love Him with all my heart."

Je suis cy envoiée de par Dieu, le roy du ciel.
"I am sent here by God, the King of Heaven".

Je me attens a mon juge, cest (c'est) le roy du ciel et de la terre.
"I trust in my Judge, who is the King of Heaven and Earth".

Jack B. said...: Joan of Arc is the one (documented) person in history whose real story and personality is more impressive than the legends about her. Even hard-bitten agnostics like Mark Twain and George Bernard Shaw loved her.; January 5, 2009 at 8:16:00 PM EST
May said...: A very great saint, and a very unusual vocation.; January 5, 2009 at 9:46:00 PM EST
Victoria Thorne said...: georgous illustration, beautiful quotations. so enjoy stopping by.; January 6, 2009 at 12:18:00 AM EST