Tea at Trianon: In Defense of St. Louis IX

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, July 20, 2020

In Defense of St. Louis IX

I think the statue is glorious and totally captures the spirit of the warrior king. It is almost impossible to judge a medieval saint and ruler by contemporary American standards. St. Louis IX did much that we would find utterly appalling. All that can be said is that in those days, heresy and blasphemy were seen as leading to spiritual death. Spiritual death was seen as bad or worse than murder of the body, because it was murder of the soul. The king saw it as his duty to protect his people, body and soul. Anyone or anything that threatened the spiritual or material well-being of France were punished or destroyed. To our post-Enlightenment eyes much of what was done in the Middle Ages as a matter of course is seen as outrageous. From First Things:

Left unmentioned by Louis’s modern detractors is his lifelong devotion to issues of social justice in a world that cared little for such ideas. At his own expense, he continually paid to feed and clothe hundreds of Paris’s poor. Every evening he shared the royal table with local homeless and usually insisted that he wash their feet before they left. He established several hospitals for the poor and homes for battered women and ex-prostitutes. He personally visited lepers and washed their sores. After his humiliation in Egypt, Louis refused to don the rich regalia of the French crown, dressing simply and living humbly for the rest of his life. He was the sort of person, like Mother Teresa or John Paul II, whose reputation for piety and virtue was so great that contemporaries had no doubt he would one day be a saint. He was canonized in a record 27 years. (Read more.)

Here is a magnificent defense of St. Louis from a direct descendant His Imperial Highness Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza. I once had the honor of being presented to the prince. From TFP:

We need the good and strong Saint Louis in these days of weak leadership and cowardly surrender. Saint Louis was renowned for his passion for justice. He was a statesman who pursued peace with the nations surrounding France by negotiating generous and equitable solutions to complex disputes. He also knew how to be firm in upholding the Catholic Faith. That is why he fought to free the Holy Land from the hands of its Muslim occupiers and stop their brutal and unjust persecution of Christians.

Such was Saint Louis’s reputation that, when imprisoned by the Muslims during the Crusade, an emir asked to be dubbed a knight by him. Saint Louis answered: “Become Christian, and I’ll make you a knight.” Other Muslims would bring their cases before him to be judged. During his reign, he sent officials throughout the realm to announce in every city that anyone who had complaints against present or past royal officers and judges, for corruption or injustice, to come forward so that justice could be rendered and the tainted public officials removed from office.

He was also famous for his Christian charity, especially towards the poor. He truly believed that the peace and blessings of the realm came through the proper care of the poor. He was a true father to his people and was beloved by them. He had dinner with beggars, washed their feet and ministered to their needs. He set up hospitals, schools and institutions to take care of the sick, poor and blind.

The most important quality of my ancestor was his sanctity. Saint Louis IX was a holy king who loved God and the Blessed Mother. He avoided all sin and practiced heroic virtue. He spent long hours in prayer, fasted, and prayed much. The king said that he prayed long into the night so that France might sleep tranquilly. Everywhere he encouraged the practice of the Faith and endowed religious institutions and churches.

As a descendant of Saint Louis, I was profoundly moved to hear that Catholics frequently gather at his monument in Forest Park, St. Louis, to pray the rosary and defend this symbolic and historical landmark. By remembering him with a statue, we do more than honor his memory. We recognize humbly that, through God’s mercy, good and holy leaders can exist again. Saint Louis challenges us to act with wisdom and courage.
Let us keep the statue, lest we lose the highest of standards—those of Christian civilization—and tumble into chaos and anarchy. (Read more.)