Tea at Trianon: Love Letters of St. Gianna

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, May 22, 2022

Love Letters of St. Gianna

From National Catholic Register:

She was a doctor who drove to Mass in her Fiat 500 and searched endlessly for the will of God. He was a humble, morally resolute engineer full of enthusiasm for the richness of life. They met in the town of Mesero, Italy, and the day before their wedding, Pietro Molla gave Gianna Beretta a watch, a pearl necklace and a note.

“Let these crown the wonder and the brightness of your beauty and your virtues on our wedding day,” he wrote. “May the watch always mark the loveliness and most peaceful times of our life, and may this pearl necklace be a sign of the enchanting light of our love. They are given to you ... by your Pietro with the greatest love.”

The couple documented their love story in years of letters to each other. Love Letters to My Husband and The Journey of Our Love are books that contain dozens of letters between the two of them. While their deep affection for each other has only captured the hearts of readers in print since 2002 and 2014, respectively, Gianna was beatified in 1994 and canonized in 2004.
Their wise words induce reflection on holy and mighty expectations for romantic relationships, from dating, to engagement, to marriage, and on love itself. In the book The Journey of Our Love, the introduction author Elio Guerriero wrote:

“Better than a theological treatise, these letters are a convincing proof that the way of holiness does not necessarily pass through religious life or the priestly ministry,” he wrote, “but can unfold in the midst of the world, living one’s own vocation as a Christian called to holiness with Christ in married life.”

The couple exchanged the honest and affectionate desires of their hearts with each other and responded with kindness and shared enthusiasm for their upcoming life together.

Gianna: “I really want to make you happy and be what you desire: good, understanding and ready for the sacrifices that life will require of us. I haven’t told you yet that I have always been very sensitive and eager for affection.”

Pietro: “A new life is beginning for me: the life of your great (and greatly desired) affection and of your radiant goodness. ... I too want to make you happy and understand you well.” (Read more.)