Tea at Trianon: Towards an Organic Christian Society

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

Monday, February 22, 2016

Towards an Organic Christian Society

From Return to Order:

An organic socio-economic order takes into consideration life’s spontaneity, unpredictability and creativity. Return to Order presents and celebrates organic society and its corresponding economy as a refreshing contrast to modern economy. Organic society is full of vitality and moods; nuance and meaning; poetry and passion. At the same time, an organic economy is full of dynamism and capable of great production. In fact, such a social order is so important that we do not hesitate to call it the heart and soul of an economy.

To the adjective organic, we add the august adjective Christian. An organic order cannot be reduced to a natural manner of organizing society. It must be founded upon Christian virtue if it is to promote fully the common good. When virtues—especially the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance—are practiced in an organic society, everything enters into a proper balance and rhythm because each acts in accordance with his nature. This is the foundation for true order and also the true progress and prosperity that is so needed today. (Read more.)