Tea at Trianon: Humiliation

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

Friday, April 2, 2021

Humiliation

From Pater Familias:

There's a reason why people don't speak the truth and the prophets stand alone. Elijah wanted to die rather than be tasked with what he was called to. Jeremiah, too. Jonah, Job--they all wished for death. Being a prophet is a heavy burden. Telling the truth comes with a high cost.
Catholicism still holds a modicum of respectability today; not in what it professes (which the world opposes), but as a mainstream religion. As long as it stays in it's lane. As long as it wears respectable clothes.
The theme of nakedness is prevalent in Scripture from the very beginning. Adam and Eve before the Fall were unaware of their nakedness and unashamed, but post-Fall they sought to cover themselves and hide. Shem and Japheth sought to cover their father Canaan's nakedness when he fell asleep drunk and uncovered.
It is common practice to strip the clothes of those one wishes to humiliate. Jews were stripped of their clothes by the Nazis before they were sent to the gas chambers or executed. During the Armenian genocide women were stripped naked and crucified in public display. My friend Fr. David Nix notes in a video (since suspended) on his blog that Communists who level psychological warfare against those who oppose it do so at four levels: demoralization, dehumanization, crisis, and normalization.
We see also in mediating on the Sorrowful Mystery of Christ's Crowing With Thorns this stripping of garments in public as a means of humiliation. His own clothes they stripped, and re-clothed him in their own clothes of mockery--a scarlet robe. Then they mocked him for his claims of being a King.
Just prior to the Lord's going before Pilate, we see Peter--whom we can all relate to and see ourselves in--denying his affiliation with Jesus. He wants to strip his identifying discipleship garments to blend in with the rest of the crowd.
One thing about humiliation and shame--it always seems to involve the public, or at least people outside of ourselves. Did Christ suffer humiliation? He does not regard the esteem of men, and is Humility itself, so I can't say the humiliations we may experience in our faith life are comparable. He knew who He was and who He belonged to. The searing of shame that we suffer in our humiliations is often in proportion to the degree of attachment to the esteem of men.
In our faith, we often wear a cloak of our own choosing. We take the good, respectable parts of our faith--feeding the hungry, praying, going to church like a good citizen--and wear it like an identity badge. It allows us to worship within the bounds set by those in power, and live our lives relatively comfortably as "good people" without the weight of oppression.
But true, raw faith is naked, reserved for the Father's eyes only. If we do claim to be bold in proclaiming our faith publicly, we often do it on our own terms and of our own choosing.
Stripping, however, is at the hands of others. As our Lord recounts to Peter, "I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God." (Jn 21:18) (Read more.)