Tea at Trianon: Bishops Consecrate US to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

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

Friday, June 12, 2026

Bishops Consecrate US to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

From The Pillar:

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, was the main celebrant at the Mass, which was held at the Basilica of Mary, Queen of the Universe.
Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, the first Catholic diocese in the United States, delivered the homily at the Mass.
“As we approach this great anniversary of our nation, we may be tempted towards nostalgia for the past or anxiety about the future,” he said.
“Today we choose something better: trust. Today we place the Church in the United States, and this nation we love, into the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Not because we have everything figured out, but because we know the One whose love endures forever. In his Heart, we find gratitude for the past, strength for the present, and hope for the future.”
He called for a recognition of both the successes and shortcomings of the past 250 years.
“There have been moments of extraordinary witness and holiness. But there have also been moments of failure, division, and sin,” he said.
“Consecration requires the humility to acknowledge both. We cannot come to the Heart of Christ while pretending we have no need of His mercy. To consecrate ourselves and our nation is to place our wounds, our shortcomings, and our sins before the One whose love is greater than all of them.”
The consecration of the nation is also a time for hope in the future, he said.
“It is a declaration that the future does not belong merely to political movements, economic forces, or human plans. The future belongs to God. And so we place into His Heart, not only ourselves but generations yet unborn, and all those who will inherit the Church and the nation we leave behind. Remaining in the Love of Christ in a culture that prizes independence and self-reliance, we gather publicly to acknowledge that our deepest identity and our truest hope come, not from ourselves but from the Lord.”
Lori emphasized that all Catholics must work together for the renewal of the Church.
“We consecrate our nation, not because it is perfect, but because it is beloved by God,” the archbishop said.
“We entrust to the Heart of Christ our achievements and failures, our hopes and anxiety, our present challenges and our future aspirations. We ask him to heal what is wounded, strengthen what is good, and guide us towards a future marked by justice, peace, freedom, and respect for the dignity of every human person.” (Read more.)