Tea at Trianon: A Hidden Soul

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, January 13, 2016

A Hidden Soul

From Vultus Christi:

Sixty–three years ago, in the heart of Rome, died one of those hidden souls whose entire life is but a silent offering. The holiness of such souls is brought to light when, providentially, one discovers that their action, although discreet, is wonderfully fruitful in the mystery of Mother Church. Maria Sieler, who died in Rome in 1952, was one such soul. Austrian by origin, she settled in the Eternal City in 1939 to pursue and consummate a life yielded entirely to Christ, and to plant there the seed of the work that Heaven had asked of her.

Born on February 3, 1899 in Winterdorf in central Styria, she was baptized the following day. Her parents were modest but very devout farmers. They had five children; Maria was the second of these. At six years of age she lost her father. His death reduced the family to poverty. At a very young age, Maria was obliged to begin work on the family farm and to care for her three younger sisters. Her childhood was divided among the school, the farm where she worked as a shepherdess, and her visits to the church. Very early on, she received two mystical graces, which were to orient her entire existence. (Read more.)