Tea at Trianon: Leo XIV Pays Tribute to Palestrina

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

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Leo XIV Pays Tribute to Palestrina

From Aleteia:

Composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) is “one of the musicians who contributed most to the promotion of sacred music.” These are the words of Leo XIV on June 18, 2025, during a ceremony organized on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the former Vatican choir master.

The pontiff highlighted the importance of the Roman polyphonic tradition, which flourished particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries but which remains a “point of reference” to this day.

On Wednesday afternoon, Leo XIV took part in an event promoted by the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation, named after the cardinal who was head of the Sistine Chapel choir from 1956 to 1997.

Bartolucci played an important role in preserving the sacred music heritage of the Catholic Church after the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council. He promoted not only Gregorian chant but also polyphony, particularly that of Palestrina, of whom he was a recognized expert. (Read more.)