Tea at Trianon: To Veil or Not to Veil?

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

Saturday, July 30, 2022

To Veil or Not to Veil?

So many women agonize over this when it is a matter of joy and reverence, not scruples. From Catholicism Rocks:

One day after Mass, I bravely approached a mother and her daughters to ask about their veils, which I'd noticed had been unceremoniously pushed back from their heads immediately upon exiting the church and now rested like dainty neck scarves around their chins.

“We wear mantillas as a token of modesty and purity,” the mother replied. “It covers the hair which is a women’s crown so that our beauty is not in competition with the Mass or distracting to those around us.”

Later, in a book explaining the treasure and tradition of the Latin Mass, I found this explanation:
When we think of those things which are most sacred, we find that they are often veiled in mystery: the secret vessels are kept under a veil; the tabernacle is veiled; the Ark of the Covenant is veiled. Out of respect for the dead, we cover their faces; at Life’s beginning we are hidden in our mother’s womb. Our Lady, the blessed vessel by which our Lord was made flesh and dwelt among us, is never without a veil. God created woman to fulfill the sacred mystery of bringing new life into the world. Thus we should consider it a privilege to be veiled in the Sanctuary.[1]
It should be noted that on the occasion when these same women are present at Mass in the Ordinary Form, they still veil and dress modestly. Veiling has meaning to them that goes beyond Tradition. (Read more.)