Tea at Trianon: Only God Remains

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

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Only God Remains

From America:

In what was perhaps the most powerful passage of his inspiring and challenging homily, Francis reminded the new archbishops and Christians worldwide that “everything passes; only God remains.” Indeed, he said, “kingdoms, peoples, cultures, nations, ideologies, powers have passed, but the Church, founded on Christ, notwithstanding the many storms and our many sins, remains ever faithful to the deposit of faith shown in service; for the Church does not belong to popes, bishops, priests, nor the lay faithful; the Church in every moment belongs solely to Christ. Only the one who lives in Christ promotes and defends the Church by holiness of life, after the example of Peter and Paul.”

He recalled that throughout history, from the very first days of Christianity, “In the name of Christ, believers have raised the dead; they have healed the sick; they have loved their persecutors; they have shown how there is no power capable of defeating the one who has the power of faith!”

Pope Francis spoke these inspiring words during the solemn celebration on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the patron saints of the Church in Rome, at a mass attended by relatives and friends of the new archbishops, as well as cardinals, bishops, priests, women and men religious, 8,000 faithful from all continents, and ambassadors from many of the 180 countries that have diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

In his homily, drawing on the heroic witness of the Christian community yesterday and today in the face of persecution, he called on the new metropolitan archbishops to live their lives consonant with this glorious tradition of the Church’s martyrs.

He began by recalling how the first Christian community was “besieged by persecution,” James was executed and Peter was arrested. But, he said, “I do not wish to dwell on these atrocious, inhuman and incomprehensible persecutions, sadly still present in many parts of the world, often under the silent gaze of all.” (Read more.)