Tea at Trianon: Another French Cathedral Burns

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, July 19, 2020

Another French Cathedral Burns

From Church Militant:

Police are treating the inferno at Nantes cathedral as arson after discovering fires were deliberately lit at three different points "spaced apart from each other" in the Gothic building, prosecutor Pierre Sennes said. Over a hundred firefighters rushed to save the 15th-century St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral at 7:44 a.m. on Saturday, as the blaze tore through the edifice incinerating the 17th-century Girardet pipe organ and shattering the original 16th-century stained-glass windows. (Read more.)

From The Catholic Herald:

A fire being investigated as arson at a historic cathedral in western France Saturday morning has been contained, according to the local fire chief, though not before the Gothic church’s great organ and rose window sustained severe damage. Fire Chief Laurent Ferlay told French television BFM on July 18 the damage to the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul of Nantes “is concentrated on the organ, which seems to be completely destroyed. Its platform is very unstable and could collapse.”

Firefighters were called to the cathedral, which dates from the 15th century, at 7.44 am, according to BFM TV. The Diocese of Nantes said there was also significant damage to the cathedral’s 16th century rose window and to the choir organ, French Catholic television station KTOTV reports. Speaking at a press conference Saturday, the fire chief said the fire was not as great as that which occurred at the Cathedral of Notre Dame 15 months ago and the damage is less extensive. (Read more.)

More HERE.

In Syria, on the feast of St. Elias, another cathedral rises again.From Aleteia:

On Monday, July 20, after many difficulties in the work of reconstruction, the Maronite Cathedral of St. Elijah, which suffered severe damage from mortar attacks during the war, will be officially re-opened and re-consecrated. “The restoration and re-opening of the cathedral has both a symbolic and a practical meaning,” stated Maronite Archbishop Joseph Tobij of Aleppo, in an interview with the international Catholic pastoral charity and pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). (Read more.)