Tea at Trianon: Scientific Literacy

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, May 28, 2025

Scientific Literacy

From Mater et Magistra:

Science naturally fits into a framework: young learners absorb foundational knowledge, older students analyze and question, and advanced learners articulate and defend ideas. Classical education uses the Trivium and Quadrivium in forming students to seek truth systematically. Science, when rightly taught, directs students toward wonder and inquiry, reinforcing their understanding of divine order.
As St. Augustine wrote in De Magistro, teaching must engage the intellect and lead the soul toward truth. Scientific literacy, approached through the lens of faith and reason, aligns with this pursuit. Psalm 111:2 (Knox) reminds us, "Great are the works of the Lord; let all who delight in them make search." The Church has always valued reason as a means of knowing God more deeply.
St. Thomas Aquinas affirmed that theology is the highest science because it orders all other knowledge toward God. Yet he also emphasized that natural philosophy (science) is essential, as it reveals God through His creation (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 1, Art. 6). (Read more.)