Tea at Trianon: Queen Clotilde as Penitent

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

Thursday, March 2, 2023

Queen Clotilde as Penitent

Venerable Clotilde of France was sister of Louis XVI and Queen of Sardinia. From East of the Sun, West of the Moon via Vive la Reine:

Marie Clotilde de France, later queen of Sardinia, died on March 7th, 1802. After the execution of her sister Elisabeth during the French Revolution, Clotilde resolved to live in a state of penitence, and cut her hair short, wore only wool clothing, refused jewelry except for a ring and a cross, and stopped attending amusements or other light activities. Although she was active in politics–partly due to her own husband’s inaction–she kept herself as private as possible, refusing the normal public role that would have been expected her station. After her death, she was declared venerable by Pope Pius VII.

From Tiny-Librarian:

The tomb of Marie Clotilde of France, Queen of Sardinia, inside the Church of Santa Caterina a Chiaia in Naples. She was declared venerable by Pope Pius VII after her death, which is two steps away from being declared a Saint in the Catholic Church.

More on the holy Queen's life, HERE and HERE. A guitar which may have been hers recently surfaced, HERE.