Tea at Trianon: The Canonization of Mary Queen of Scots

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

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

The Canonization of Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Stuart has long been called a "Servant of God" which means her cause for canonization has been introduced. The other Stuart whose cause has been introduced is her great grandson James II. From Academia:

The Scottish bishops were, however, very active in collecting material for the forthcoming exhibition (notably the Blairs Portrait of Mary) and in promoting her beatification. In this, the network of influential Scottish convert aristocrats made the bishops' efforts easier. Mrs Maxwel lScott of Abbotsford, for example, advised Archbishop Smith on how to market Mary's cause: I think you will like to have the result of my talks with the Duchess [of Argyle] and Lady Lothian about the Tercentenary. They are both interested and keen about a celebration in Edinburgh and are quite ready to patronise it…The Duchess says that Lady John is very keen — She possesses many Stuart relics…With regard to Holyrood, the Duchess says that Lord Lothian (as Secretary of State for Scotland) is the right person to ask the Queen for permission...we feel sure he would be glad to ask, he is himself anxious that Scotland should have its own celebration. Lady Lothian thinks the Lord Provost of Edinburgh should be asked to co-operate in the Movement. The Duchess suggests that if your Grace liked to put a notice in the papers to invite contributions of pictures … The Duke of Norfolk is I think sending his Queen Mary Rosary to Peterborough with the proviso that it shall go on to Edinburgh if desired.

No time was lost: an Edinburgh Mary Stuart Exhibition Committee was formed, comprising the Duchess of Buccleuch, the Marchioness of Lothian and Mrs Maxwell Scott, with the artist Sir Joseph Noel Paton (the Queen's Limner for Scotland) as secretary; the Earl of Hopetoun promised support, as did Lord Rosebery.12 Then, unexpectedly, the venture came to a halt — the bishops learned that an international exhibition (to be held in Glasgow the following year) had already made arrangements to show the same relics of the Queen; reluctantly, the Edinburgh exhibition was postponed.13 Nevertheless, the move to have Mary beatified continued. Early in 1893, James Campbell, rector of the Scots College, Rome, assured Archbishop Angus MacDonald that Queen Mary's name could, without any difficulty, be inserted into a forthcoming address to Pope Leo XIII, then celebrating the anniversary of his episcopate — the Pope was already known to be strongly in favour of Mary's cause. The Queen's cause was argued in the archdiocese of Westminster from 24 August 1888 to 13August 1889. The outcome was a decision to proceed: Campbell's successor in Rome, Robert Fraser, was instructed to forward the petition for Mary's beatification to the Sacred Congregation of Rites. (Read more.)