The Apocalypse of 1917

Sarah Reinhard looks back to May 13, 1917, saying:

When the supernatural comes in contact with earth, there are unexplainable phenomena that often accompany it, and it’s easy to get distracted so that we only pay attention to those aspects. The Fatima apparitions have their share of cool phenomena associated with them, but it’s more important to apply the message to our everyday lives, to see the importance of what was said and taught to us through the three children.

In our busy modern lives, filled with meetings and errands and tasks, we often lose sight of the importance of prayer. We have all this technology, from being able to wash clothes and dishes in machines to communicating with people across the planet instantly. We can go wherever we want, whenever we want, and there’s no limit on when we wake or when we sleep, save that of the schedules we set. Our science tells us we can create life, ignoring the Maker who made that science possible, looking past the mystery underneath it all, pretending to understand that which remains a mystery, though worded differently now than in the past.

More HERE.

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Coronation of Mary I

There is a new blog dedicated to researching the life of Mary Tudor. Here is a post on the coronation of the first Queen Regnant of England. (Thank you, Matterhorn!) To quote:

Whilst Matilda, daughter of Henry I, had fought unsuccessfully for the throne in the twelfth-century and Jane Grey was proclaimed queen in July 1553, neither was officially anointed as sovereign. Thus Mary was the first women in English history who was crowned queen in her own right.

This naturally raised problems. Everyone had been used to a male fulfilling this role – and the existence of a queen regnant raised a number of questions regarding the extent of her power, how much power her prospective husband should have, etc. And the coronation itself was bound to be different.

Judith Richards in her excellent article, Mary Tudor as ‘Sole Quene’?: Gendering Tudor Monarchy (1997), notes that reports regarding the coronation procession that occurred on the 30th September 1553, were mixed. The eyewitness accounts don’t add up – one contemporary noted that she wore ‘a gown of blew velvet, furred with powdered armyen’ whilst another stated that she wore a white gown and had her hair worn lose to emphasise her virginity. Others recorded that her hair was up and adorned with jewels. These disagreements may seem trivial. But Richards raises an interesting point when she notes that such differences tell us a lot about the uncertainties felt by contemporaries watching the coronation procession. They were witnessing something unseen in England – the coronation of a female ruler and it seems that no one could agree on what manner Mary should present herself. Namely, whether she should have dressed in the same colours and in the same style as a king would at his coronation procession (that is to wear blue or purple velvet), or to follow the style of the queen consort (to wear white and wear her hair loose).

So evidently the day was a puzzling as well as an exciting event. It seems that Mary did wear her hair loose – and she proceeded to have herself depicted as such in the first plea roll portrait of her (dated Michaelmas, 1533)....

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A New Carmel

A new monastery of Carmelite nuns is opening in Pennsylvania, in the Harrisburg diocese. Share

Fans

When I was growing up in Maryland, there were few churches that had air conditioning, and in the summer they would be like walking into an oven. At our little country parish of Saint Ignatius Loyola in Urbana they distributed card board fans adorned with scenes of the Holy Family and the Last Supper. Later, my grandmother gave me an ornate one from Spain and after going to Spain myself I bought another. Ladies in Spain and in the south of France still use fans a great deal, since bistros and cafés can get hot and stuffy when crowded.

In past times, fans were a vital accessory. They often kept ladies from fainting due to their tight corsets and were indispensable in the art of coquetry. Sometimes the ornamentation got out of hand. As the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica says:

During the 18th century all the luxurious ornamentation of the day was bestowed on fans as far as they could display it. The sticks were made of mother-of-pearl or ivory, carved with extraordinary skill in France, Italy, England and other countries. They were painted from designs of Boucher, Watteau, Lancret and other "genre" painters; Hebert, Rau, Chevalier, Jean Boquet, Mme. Verite, are known as fan-painters. These fashions were followed in most countries of Europe, with certain national differences. Taffeta and silk, as well as fine parchment, were used for the mounts. Little circles of glass were let into the stick to be looked through, and small telescopic glasses were sometimes contrived at the pivot of the stick. They were occasionally mounted with the finest point lace. An interesting fan (belonging to Madame de Thiac in France), the work of Le Flamand, was presented by the municipality of Dieppe to Marie Antoinette on the birth of her son the dauphin. From the time of the Revolution the old luxury expended on fans died out. Fine examples ceased to be exported to England and other countries. The painting on them represented scenes or personages connected with political events. At a later period fan mounts were often prints coloured by hand. The events of the day mark the date of many examples found in modern collections. Among the fan-makers of modern days the names of Alexandre, Duvelleroy, Fayet, Vanier became well known in Paris; and the designs of Charles Conder (1868-1909) have brought his name to the front in this art. Painters of distinction often design and paint the mounts, the best designs being figure subjects. A great impulse was given to the manufacture and painting of fans in England after the exhibition which took place at South Kensington in 1870. Modern collections of fans take their date from the emigration of many noble families from France at the time of the Revolution. Such objects were given as souvenirs, and occasionally sold by families in straitened circumstances.

Fans are nice to have on a warm summer evening, sitting on the patio; they help you to create your own breeze while keeping the mosquitoes away. Share

Mark Twain on St. Joan

A book review. Share

A Court in Exile

Author Stephanie Mann has reviewed a book about the Stuarts that happens to be on my Wish List. Her scholarly assessment of the merits of A Court in Exile by Edward Corp is greatly appreciated. According to Mrs. Mann:

A Court in Exile offers a revisionist view of the Jacobite community at St. Germain-en-Laye, west of Paris. Guests of King Louis XIV, King James II and Queen Mary of Modena established their court in exile at the Old Chateau in 1689, and the court remained there until the death of the last Catholic queen of England during the "reign" of James III.

The revisionist aspect of this study corrects the Whig view that this court in exile was dismal, poor, and inconsequential. With the assistance of three colleagues--Edward Gregg, Howard Erskine-Hill, and Geoffrey Scott--Edward Corp traces the history of the courts of the Kings Over the Water through the Jacobite attempts to regain the throne, the relationships between Louis XIV and James II and between Louis and James III, and the transitions between St. Germain to Lorraine to Avignon to Rome after France recognized the Georgian succession in England and James III could not remain in France.

To reassess the court of St. Germain-en-Laye, the author and his three contributors describe the organization of the household and the court, its finances and its relationship to the court and government of France, the practice of the arts of portraiture, poetry, music, opera, and theatre, the education of James III, and the devotional life of James II.

Father Geoffrey Scott addresses this last topic, recounting the faithful piety of James II, influenced by both Jesuit and Salesian spirituality. James came to regard his expulsion from the throne as just punishment for his infidelities and affairs, especially those occurring after his conversion to Catholicism. He assiduously attended daily Mass and practiced many devotions (attending Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction, Forty Hours, and the Canonical hours of prayer), counseling his son and heir to remain absolutely true to the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, James II certainly offered religious freedom to his Anglican supporters at Court, even though Louis XIV forbade them to hold religious services. James III continued his father's practice, free to hire Anglican chaplains at his courts after the death of Louis.

James III's education highlights the divisions between Jesuit and Jansenists in France at the time; his formation was definitely in view of his succession to the throne, emphasizing character, linguistic facility, and proper deportment.

After both James III and Mary of Modena left St. Germain (and Corp explains how much a catalyst the death of Princess Louise-Marie in 1712 was in this regard) the Jacobite community did suffer from penury and neglect. As Corp notes, this is the image the Whig school used to depict the earlier Court, quite unjustly in his view.

Sometimes the details seem almost superfluous, as when Corp analyzes and diagrams the arrangement of rooms and the location of the court and household staff--but the details are indeed important to depict the munificence of the Court. Both James II and James III maintained these Courts in the expectation of their return as rightful monarchs of England, and that hope was demonstrated by Court etiquette and organization until those expectations met their ultimate failure.

I regret the paucity of portraiture and the black and white reproductions of the portraits included. A map of France and a map of Europe and England at the time would also have been helpful to understand the movements of James III from St. Germain-en-Laye to Lorraine to Avignon to the Papal States. Those minor regrets aside, this book provides excellent context and significance to a comparatively unfamiliar circumstance in English history--a Court in Exile awaiting return.

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Death of Madame Elisabeth

In her Memoirs, translated by John Wilson Croker, Madame Royale describes the last days of her aunt, Madame Elisabeth, guillotined on May 10, 1794. After Madame Elisabeth was taken away, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte was alone. Elisabeth, the sister of Louis XVI, was thirty years old when she was killed.

In the beginning of spring we were refused candles, and we were obliged to go to bed as soon as it grew dark.

Until the 9th of May nothing extraordinary happened. On that day, at the moment we were going to bed, the outside bolts of the doors were drawn, and a knocking was heard. My aunt begged of them to wait till she had put on her gown; but you answered that they could not wait, and knocked so violently, that they were near bursting open the door. When she was dressed, she opened the door, and they immediately said to her, "Citizen, come down." — "And my niece?" — "We shall take care of her afterwards." She embraced me; and, in order to calm my agitation, promised to return. "No, citizen," said they, "you shall not return:— take your bonnet, and come along." They overwhelmed her with the grossest abuse. She bore it all patiently, and embraced me again, exhorting me to have confidence in Heaven, to follow the principles of religion in which I had been educated, and never to forget the last commands of my father and mother. She then left me.

Down stairs they detained her a considerable time in searching her (though they found nothing), and in writing an account of their proceedings. At length, after a thousand insults, she was put into a hackney-coach, with the crier of the revolutionary court, and taken to the Conciergerie, where she passed the night. The next morning they asked her these questions.—

"What is your name?"

"Elizabeth, of France."

"Where were you on the 10th of August?"

"In the palace of the Thuilleries, with my brother."

"What have you done with your jewels?"

" I know nothing about them; besides, these questions are wholly useless. You are determined on my death. I have offered to Heaven the sacrifice of my life; and I am ready to die — happy at the prospect of rejoining in a better world those whom I loved upon earth."

They condemned her to death.81 She asked to be placed in the same room with the other persons who were to die with her. She exhorted them, with a presence of mind, an elevation of soul, and religious enthusiasm, which fortified all their minds. In the cart she preserved the same firmness, and encouraged and supported the women who accompanied her. At the scaffold they had the barbarity to reserve her for the last. All the women, in leaving the cart, begged to embrace her.82 She kissed them, and, with her usual benignity, said some words of comfort to each. Her strength never abandoned her, and she died with all the resignation of the purest piety. Her soul was separated from her body, and ascended to receive its reward from the merciful Being, whose worthy servant she had been.

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An English Ladymass

An English Ladymass by Anonymous4 is one of my most beloved CDs. I was delighted to find some reflections about it, HERE. Share

For the Fun of It

Remembering a grandma.

In my earliest years, I lived with my grandparents on a postage stamp sized lot in a large steel city. Our working class neighborhood housed first- and second-generation immigrants, mostly from Europe, who presided over orderly homes, clean-swept streets and trimmed lawns. Meals were on a time-table, chores were a priority and affection was measured in acts of love and service – usually.

There were some rare evenings when the children in our house, all cousins and close in age, begged and cajoled my dear granny to let her hair down (after the grandpa had gone to bed, of course). When the kitchen counter was wiped and the last tea towel hung up for the evening, the quiet pleas would commence, and when we saw the twinkle in her eye, we knew the fun would soon begin.

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