Tea at Trianon: Was Marie-Antoinette a Saint?

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, December 8, 2013

Was Marie-Antoinette a Saint?

Marie-Antoinette ascending to Heaven by Elisabeth Vigée-LeBrun

Here is my interview from Christine Niles' wonderful show "Forward Boldly" on BlogTalk Radio about Marie-Antoinette, the Cathars and my current projects. (John Zmirak is on first and then I follow thirty minutes into the program.) I am always being accused of making Marie-Antoinette into a saint just because I do not believe she broke the sixth commandment and committed adultery. In Trianon I show her as a practicing Catholic which we all know does not automatically make a saint. People say that by making the Queen into a saint I strip her of her humanity. So we are only truly human if we are fornicating? But this is the mentality.

How many times have I been told that being a saint is boring? As if any of our saints had boring lives. Some of them probably would have loved to have had boring lives. St. Joan of Arc would have loved to have had a boring life. "I'd rather be home embroidering with my mother" she said.

Marie-Antoinette was, for most of her life, as far as we can tell, a Catholic in good standing. The question is, did she ever rise to heroic virtue? I believe she did. Anyway, enjoy the interview. Share

2 comments:

Gette said...: Great interview! And what interesting projects you have coming up. You have been one very busy woman, for sure. I can't wait to read them when they are published. Congratulations!

love and prayers,

Gette; December 8, 2013 at 9:58:00 PM EST
Unknown said...: she is virtuous but she had no any trecherous; June 22, 2018 at 12:56:00 AM EDT