Tea at Trianon: American Saint: The Life of Elizabeth Seton

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

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

American Saint: The Life of Elizabeth Seton

American Saint is the biography of Elizabeth Bayley Seton, the first American citizen to be canonized in the Roman Catholic Church. Based upon thorough research, Joan Barthel recreates life in 18th-century New York City, where Elizabeth came of age in the highest circles of society as a devout Episcopalian. From early childhood, her path was marked by the deaths of key family members, a melancholy pattern which would continue until her own death from tuberculosis in 1821. Every sorrow only served to bring Elizabeth closer to God.

The book explores Elizabeth’s personal struggles, from her youthful temptation to suicide to her love for her friend Antonio Filicchi. As a fairly new convert to Catholicism, Elizabeth, a widow with five young children, took on the monumental task of founding a congregation of sisters and a school for girls in the wilderness which was Emmitsburg, Maryland. The drawback is the author’s attempt to portray Elizabeth as a forerunner of the contemporary “nuns on a bus,” inserting a modern spirit of rebellion into the life of a person who, in spite of her pioneer spirit, strove for obedience to her Church. Other than such anachronistic misunderstandings, it is a fine portrait of a courageous woman.

(This article originally appeared in the February 2014 edition of the Historical Novels Review.)

(*NOTE: This book was sent to me by the Historical Novel Society in exchange for my honest opinion.)

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2 comments:

Hans Georg Lundahl said...: Thank you for sharing!; February 19, 2014 at 5:43:00 AM EST
julygirl said...: I have visited there many times. It is a special place and is located in conjunction with another special and holy place, a Grotto to our Lady. Anyone visiting in the area of Emmitsburg, Maryland should make it a point to visit and spend some contemplative time there.; February 20, 2014 at 11:10:00 AM EST