Tea at Trianon: Public Penance

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

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Public Penance

In the light of the scandals which are rocking the Church, penance sounds good to me. Public sinners, those responsible for giving scandal of any kind, even if they were kings or queens, once used to demonstrate that they were sorry by processing down the street in sackcloth and ashes, or kneeling at the doors of the church throughout Lent. I think every diocese should come up with something and that all Catholics be encouraged to participate, with the bishops leading the way. Everyone can learn to chant the Miserere for starters.

Julygirl said...: .....and CAUSING scandal through rumors and outright lies should also be dealt with in a penitential manner by the person responsible. Many a self righteous person skips merrily through life slandering and defaming innocent people's reputation for the sole purpose of making themselves feel good and look good to others.; April 22, 2010 at 3:08:00 PM EDT