Tea at Trianon: Our Lady of the Rosary

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

Monday, October 7, 2024

Our Lady of the Rosary

Gwyneth Thompson-Briggs’ "Our Lady of the Rosary"

It is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and let us celebrate it by admiring a new painting by my friend Gwyneth Thompson Briggs. From The Catholic World Report:

On October 7, 1571, things weren’t looking good for nations in Europe and the Mediterranean region. The Ottoman Empire, seeking to expand its influence throughout Europe, aimed its fleet of galleys and galleasses—with 12,000 to 15,000 Christian slaves as rowers—toward the Gulf of Patras, on the west side of Greece. Defending against the Muslim Turks was the Holy League, a much smaller fleet of Catholic ships from Spain, Venice, and Genoa, under the command of Don Juan of Austria.

However, St. Pope Pius V, realizing that the Turks had a decided material advantage, called upon all of Europe to pray the Rosary, asking Mary for victory. Christians gathered in villages and towns to pray as the sea battle raged; at the hour of victory the Pope—who was hundreds of miles away at the Vatican—is said to have gotten up from a meeting, walked over to an open window exclaiming, “The Christian fleet is victorious!” and shed tears of joy and thanksgiving to God.

The toll of the sea battle was great: The Holy League lost 50 of its galleys and suffered some 13,000 casualties. The Turks, however, lost much more: Their leader Ali Pasha was killed, along with 25,000 of his sailors. The Ottoman fleet lost 210 of its 250 ships, of which 130 were captured by the Holy League.

Coming at what was seen as a crisis point for Christianity, the victory at Lepanto stemmed Ottoman incursion into the Mediterranean and prevented their influence from spreading through Europe. Through the intervention of Our Lady, the Hand of God prevented the Muslims of the East from overcoming the Christian West. Recognizing the importance of the victory, Pope Pius instituted a feast on October 7th in thanksgiving for Mary’s patronage. Pope Pius originally named the feast for Our Lady of Victory. Two years later, in 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of this feast day to “Feast of the Holy Rosary.” (Read more.)