Tea at Trianon: More on the Frederick Visitation

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, January 11, 2025

More on the Frederick Visitation

Mother Mary Paula

As many people know, I taught there in the 80's and 90's, was married there, and was close to the nuns. Lately, it was sold by the Archdiocese of Baltimore ad made into a hotel. The gloriously beautiful chapel has been transformed into a bar, resulting in outrage from former students and teachers. I wrote a letter in protest, which the Frederick Post published. The blasphemous outrage recently came to the attention of Fox News:

More than 3,000 people have signed a petition urging the owners of a chapel-turned bar in a Maryland Marriott property to abstain from serving liquor from the former high altar.
Catholics are asking the Wye Oak Tavern in the recently opened luxury boutique Visitation Hotel in Frederick, Md., to restore the dignity of the chapel. The restaurant features a bar around the former high altar, which is flanked by large stained-glass windows and statues of kneeling angels.
The restaurant, which opened on Dec. 19, is located in the former chapel of the Visitation Convent and Academy, a Catholic all-girls school that was established in 1846. It shuttered its doors in June 2016 due to low enrollment and was then purchased in 2017 and opened as a hotel in 2024.
"Even though the chapel was properly deconsecrated - for the girls of Visitation, for Christians, and for people of goodwill everywhere, this is an evident and painful misuse of the space," the petition reads.
"We, Visitation Academy alumni, concerned citizens of Frederick, Maryland, and others dismayed by the use of this space, request you to make the necessary changes as soon as possible to restore its dignity and respect its holy heritage - either by removing the altar and tabernacle or relocating the bar to another location," the petition adds.
Koren told Fox News Digital the petition was delivered to the hotel on Thursday morning and that a meeting with hotel management had been requested, but she said they have not heard back.
The Visitation Hotel notes on its website that following its sale in 2017, the site was no longer consecrated.
"The sale stipulated that the property and chapel be used for non-religious purposes," the hotel website states. "Sacred objects have been removed from the chapel. Any remaining items are present solely to maintain the building's historical character, as required by secular authorities." (Read more.)

My essay on Mother Mary Paula, HERE.