Tea at Trianon: Christians in India

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

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Christians in India

Suffering more than ever. From Aleteia:

Christians in India say incidents of discrimination have been on the rise since Narendra Modi became prime minister this year, but there has hardly been an incident as dramatic as the one that took place this week.

St. Sebastian’s Church, which is situated in a crowded middle class area of New Delhi, burned down Monday morning. The interior of the church, including the altar, statues, chairs and the entire balcony, had been gutted. And people are convinced it was no accident.

Father Stanly Kozhichira told Aleteia that kerosene jars were found on the terrace of the church and that “I could smell kerosene inside the church” after fire was put out.

Thousands of Catholics, along with other Christians, led by Delhi Archbishop Anil Couto and other leaders choked the busy roads around the Delhi Police Commissioner’s office hours after the church was burned.

“We are shocked. The fears in the Christian community are growing,” Archbishop Couto [pictured] told Aleteia. “There have been no threats or tension in the area. The church torching is a mystery. This aggravates fears in the (Christian) community to what is happening in other parts of the country,” he said.

Though the Delhi government has formed a high level team to investigate the torching, Catholic activist John Dayal told Aleteia that, “Our fears are far from over. They are worsening.”

“We cannot see it in isolation from other attacks on Christian targets. If churches can be burnt in other places, they could do it Delhi also,” Dayal noted. (Read more.)