Tea at Trianon: The Eucharist and the Thirty Years War

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

Sunday, February 7, 2016

The Eucharist and the Thirty Years War

From Vultus Christi:

Today’s Feast of Reparation for offenses committed against Our Lord in the Sacrament of His Love was instituted in the 17th century when, particularly in a France ravaged by the Thirty Years War (1618—1648), churches were desecrated and burned, the Most Blessed Sacrament was thrown to the ground, trampled, and even fed to animals. Bands of mercenary soldiers descended from the Protestant countries of Northern Europe to pillage and destroy everything that represented the Catholic Faith. Two things, in particular, became the object of their fanatical wrath: images of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

At the same time, in certain ostensibly Catholic circles, there was a surge of interest in black magic and in engagement with the powers of darkness. Not infrequently, Sacred Hosts were stolen from churches, or taken away surreptitiously after a sacrilegious communion. Too many priests were seen to offer Holy Mass hurriedly and with scant reverence. Tabernacles were neglected. Churches were forsaken. The King of kings and Lord of lords (Apocalypse 19:16), the Thrice–Holy God before whom the Angels veil their faces and adore, hidden beneath the fragile appearance of the Sacred Host, remained silent in a state of utter abjection, abandoned to the coldness, indifference, and carelessness of men. “O my people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested thee? answer thou me” (Micheas 6:3). (Read more.)

Hans Georg Lundahl said...: "in a France ravaged by the Thirty Years War (1618—1648)"

France per se was not ravaged by the Thirty Years War.

"À partir du XVIe siècle, au catholicisme s’oppose le protestantisme, opposition qui débouche sur une terrible guerre civile. Les premières persécutions contre ceux qui adhèrent aux idées nouvelles commencent dans les années 15201. Mais il faut attendre les années 1540 et 1550, pour voir le développement des clivages. À la fin du règne d'Henri II, le conflit se politise. Les guerres de religion commencent en 1562 et se poursuivent entrecoupées de périodes de paix jusqu'en 1598, avec la mise en place de l'Édit de Nantes. Les guerres de religion trouvent un prolongement aux XVIIe (siège de La Rochelle, révocation de l'Édit de Nantes) et XVIIIe siècle (guerre des Camisards), jusqu'à l’arrêt des persécutions sous Louis XVI (Édit de Versailles en 1787)."

But perhaps the reference is not to France as such, but to present day East or South East France, which was back then Holy Roman Empire?; February 8, 2016 at 5:46:00 AM EST
Hans Georg Lundahl said...: Please don't approve my previous comment, I just looked up Thirty Years War in French wiki and saw how much of the involvement of Richelieu meant involvement of French territory. If you already did, please approve this one too.; February 8, 2016 at 6:26:00 AM EST