Tea at Trianon: Church Windows Honoring Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette

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 21, 2026

Church Windows Honoring Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette

"Son of St. Louis, ascend to Heaven!"

Today, the feast of Saint Agnes, is the anniversary of the murder of Louis XVI. Depictions in stained glass of the martyrdoms of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at the Church of La Boissière-de-Montaigu in the Vendée. We know that in reality the Queen wore white, and had no woman with her. Via Le Boudoir de Marie-Antoinette.

Marie-Antoinette ascends the scaffold

And below is portrayed the Royal Family in the Temple prison in Paris. Of course, the crown and scepter were not there, but they are symbols of the royal duties and responsibilities that Louis never forgot.

Louis XVI, Louis XVII, Marie-Antoinette, Madame Royale, and Madame Elisabeth

I think the above picture is supposed to represent the Vow of Louis XVI to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart which he actually made at the Tuileries palace while under house arrest in the spring of 1791. He may have renewed the Vow while imprisoned at the Temple in 1792, as the picture appears to indicate. Below is a representation of Louis XVI making the Vow in the chapel of the Tuileries in the presence of Marie-Antoinette and their surviving children, assisted by His Majesty's spiritual director Père Hébert of the Eudist congregation.

Louis XVI consecrating France to the Sacré-Coeur, stained glass of the Church of Saint-Véran in Saint-Vran, in Brittany.

Here is a novena prayer in honor of Louis XVI (I have polished up the translation):

O my Jesus, who said, "Truly I say to you, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you!" Behold, I knock, I seek, I ask for the grace of [insert your prayer intention], in communion and by the merits of the Angelic King, our King Martyr, our King of France, our King Louis humble and hidden as King of the New Israel of God on earth, sacrificed and present in the Wound of the Divine Heart. Sacred heart of Jesus, I trust and hope in You.

Oh my Jesus, who said, "Truly I say to you, whatever you ask of my Father in my name, he will give you!" Here only to you Father, in your name I ask for this grace of [insert your prayer intention], in communion and by the merits of the Angelic King, our King Martyr, our King of France, our King Louis humble and hidden as King of the New Israel of God on earth, sacrificed and present in the Wound of the Divine Heart. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust and hope in You.

O my Jesus, who said, “Truly I tell you, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Behold, confident in the infallibility of your words, I ask you for this grace of [insert your prayer intention], in communion and by the merits of the Angelic King, our King Martyr, our King of France, our King Louis humble and hidden as King of the New Israel of God on earth, sacrificed and present in the Wound of the Divine Heart. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust and hope in You.

O Heavenly King, Consoling Spirit of Truth, Thou who are omnipresent, and fills all, Treasure of good and Giver of Life: Come and dwell in us, cleanse us of all filthiness and save our souls, Thou who are Goodness. AMEN.