Tea at Trianon: Icon of the Martyrs of the Royal Family

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, May 22, 2017

Icon of the Martyrs of the Royal Family

I could not figure out who was portrayed in this icon at first glance. It is a Russian-style icon depicting Louis XVI, Louis XVII, Marie-Antoinette, and Madame Elisabeth. It is interesting to remember that Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette became friends with the Tsarevitch Paul and the Grand Duchess Marie when they visited France in the 1780's. The future Tsar and his wife were also greatly impressed by the virtue of Madame Elisabeth. There are people who accuse me of trying to make saints out of Louis and Antoinette but it seems I am not the only one. Actually, it is my intention merely to show how their Catholic faith gave them strength, which other authors tend to ignore. I personally believe that they displayed heroic virtue at their deaths, but the final decision lies with the Church. But God can glorify whomever He chooses. Share