Tea at Trianon: Gimme Shelter (2014)

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, February 2, 2014

Gimme Shelter (2014)

From Kathryn Jean Lopez:

At the end of a week that saw hundreds of thousands once again descend upon Washington, D.C., braving snow and frigid temperatures, the new movie Gimme Shelter is a cultural breakthrough. It’s a compelling, inspiring, uplifting true story of a brave girl who would have been trapped in a desperately miserable life if not for her insistence on something more, God’s grace, and the generosity of people who want to make sure no one is scared and lonely if they can help it.

And as is evident from the actors in it, it is totally mainstream.

In Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Kathy DiFiore, who runs a shelter for teenage pregnant girls (the real-life Second Sources Shelters) remembers being “frightened, alone, and all along trying to hold onto my dignity as a woman.”

Gimme Shelter is a portrait in fighting for human life and dignity. It’s a story of love, courage, and hope. It witnesses to the complementary courage of motherhood and fatherhood. It’s a rough, raw story. And you will walk away with hope. And wanting to provide some — at the very least to a local maternity home. (Read more.)