Tea at Trianon: The Twin Hearts

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

Friday, May 10, 2013

The Twin Hearts

Above are votive offerings of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus from Chartres Cathedral. The Immaculate Heart is pierced with the sword of sorrow, wreathed with flowers and crowned with lilies, symbols of Mary's love and purity. The Heart of Mary is offered on behalf of the Louis XVI and the Royal Family. The Sacred Heart, wreathed in the crown of thorns and crowned with the flame of love and the cross, represent the Passion of Christ and His love for the world. The Sacred Heart is offered on behalf of the Church in France. The votives were left at Chartres Cathedral in 1790 by members of the household of Madame Elizabeth of France, perhaps at her bidding. Today is the anniversary of the death of Madame Elisabeth. (Via Vive la Reine.) Share