Tea at Trianon: The Beasts of the Apocalypse

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 14, 2015

The Beasts of the Apocalypse

Cardinal Sarah speaks out on ISIS and gender ideology. From The National Catholic Register:

In his synod intervention given last week, Cardinal Robert Sarah said the idolatry of Western freedom and Islamic fundamentalism are "almost like two apocalyptic beasts” and similar to Nazism and Communism.

The Guinean cardinal also called on the Church to proclaim the "transforming power of faith and the Gospel" clearly and without fear.

According to the full text of his intervention (see below), given to the Register and Aleteia, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship said “we find ourselves between gender ideology and ISIS”.

Islamic massacres and libertarian demands “regularly contend for the front pages of the newspapers”, he said, and pointed to June 26 this year. So-called Ramadan terrorist attacks in France, Kuwait, Somalia, and Tunisia, took place that day, as did the Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex “marriage” nationwide.

“From these two radicalizations arise the two major threats to the family: its subjectivist disintegration in the secularized West through quick and easy divorce, abortion, homosexual unions, euthanasia et cetera," Cardinal Sarah said, and cited as examples gender theory, the 'Femen' radical feminist group, the LGBT lobby, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

“On the other hand,” he said, there is the “pseudo-family of ideologized Islam which legitimizes polygamy, female subservience, sexual slavery, child marriage." He said he was referring to Al Qaeda, Isis, Boko Haram and other similar groups.

The West African cardinal said “several clues” allow one to intuit the very “demonic origin” of these two movements.

Unlike the Spirit of Truth that promotes communion, he said “these encourage confusion” and demand a “universal and totalitarian rule.” They are “violently intolerant, destroyers of families, society and the Church, and are openly Christianophobic,” he said.

“We are not contending against creatures of flesh and blood.”

He continued: “We need to be inclusive and welcoming to all that is human; but what comes from the Enemy cannot and must not be assimilated,” he continued. “You cannot join Christ and Belial [prince of darkness]! What Nazi-Fascism and Communism were in the 20th century, Western homosexual and abortion Ideologies and Islamic Fanaticism are today.”

He closed by saying “we must proclaim the truth without fear, the plan of God, which is monogamy in conjugal love open to life.”

The cardinal also called for “strong and clear” teaching from the magisterium of the Church, adding that all pastors “have the mission of helping our contemporaries to discover the beauty of the Christian family.” (Read more.)