Tea at Trianon: The “Great Troublemaker”

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

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

The “Great Troublemaker”

From TFP:

In this twilight of mud and opprobrium, the whole world, sleepy and ashamed, is allowing itself to slide down the successive abysses of a gradual acceptance of Communism. However, in this panorama of general devastation, Cardinal Mindszenty has risen as the great nonconformist, the international troublemaker whose unbreakable refusal saves the honor of the Church and the human race. With the prestige of the Roman purple intact on his shoulders, this brave and selfless shepherd has shown Catholics that it is not licit for them to follow the crowds now bending their knees before Belial.

Thus, the admiring gaze of TFP members and volunteers and those in their sister organizations in the Americas and Europe turns to the illustrious cardinal, enthralled by his holy and intrepid attitude. The presidents of these entities have sent the former Archbishop of Esztergom (whose name, from the day he was removed and thus martyred, will share the same glory as that of Esztergom until the end of the world) a joint message that I am transcribing below. I am certain that countless readers would like to have signed it, many with their own blood or tears, the blood of their souls. (Read more.)