Tea at Trianon: Altar Wine During Prohibition

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, July 22, 2012

Altar Wine During Prohibition

It never occurred to me that wine might be an issue.

Sadly, during prohibition, many wineries went out of business. However, the lucky ones who got contracts with the Catholic Church to make sacramental wines survived or even flourished. You see, alcoholic beverages for medicinal and sacramental use were exempt from the ban. (Read entire post.)

May said...: Funny, I never thought of this problem either.

It's hard to believe the country went to all the trouble of
enacting a whole constitutional amendment over this...which then of course they ended up having to go to all the trouble of repealing via another.; July 22, 2012 at 2:32:00 PM EDT
Stephanie A. Mann said...: Ken Burns produced a series on Prohibition for PBS, and mentioned that there were some people who "converted" to the Jewish faith so they enjoy wine on the Sabbath! The history of Prohibition is also related to the dregs of nativist anti-Catholicism as Al Smith's bid for the presidency revealed--fear of Catholics, especially Irish Catholics--since he was in favor of repeal.; July 23, 2012 at 9:33:00 AM EDT