Tea at Trianon: Meriam Speaks

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, October 1, 2014

Meriam Speaks

From Aleteia:

“God is good.”

With those words, a beaming Meriam Ibrahim, a 27-year-old Sudanese woman who became an international symbol of religious persecution, delivered a speech to 500 people at the Values Voter Summit Saturday night. Her words were spoken in halting and broken English, but the audience at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in northwest D.C. heard them. The crowd clapped, whistled, and cheered its approval. To Ibrahim’s left was her wheelchair bound husband, Daniel.

Ibrahim described her captivity in a jail cell in the country’s capital of Khartoum. The daughter of a Christian mother and Muslim father, Ibrahim had been imprisoned and given a death sentence for allegedly apostasizing from Islam. She said the most difficult episodes were the visits of her husband to see her and the couple’s young son, Martin. Prison rules proscribed the visits to no more than 10 minutes. “Martin wanted to go with (Daniel) after the time limit was up, and I could do nothing to help him,” Ibrahim said. “I am not a criminal. The Lord is with us.”

Ibrahim gave birth to a daughter, Maya, while in shackles, according to media reports. Religious and political leaders, including Pope Francis, urged Sudanese officials to release her. In July, they got their wish after Ibrahim reunited with her husband, an American citizen. The couple lives in New Hampshire with their two children.

Ibrahim thanked many people who worked to secure her release, including Reps. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). She also praised God.

“We must believe in the Lord and follow him with all of your steps because he loves us,” she said before ending her 10-minute speech with one last spiritual exhortation. “Be strong and the Lord will be with you.” (Read more.)