Tea at Trianon

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, May 13, 2016

Congratulations, Dr. Goldstein!

I would like to extend congratulations to my friend Dawn Eden Goldstein who has just received her doctorate in sacred theology. She is a brave lady and devoted to the teachings of Christ and His Church. From the Chicago Tribune:

As a convert from Judaism, Goldstein has found a sense of spiritual fulfillment in the Catholic Church that she lacked for most of her first four decades. Raised in a Reform Jewish household in New Jersey, Goldstein became an agnostic in 1981 after a rabbi preparing her for her bat mitzvah told her questions about her Torah portion belonged to scholars, not 13-year-old girls.

But by then, her connection to God already had begun to fray. At age 5, during her parents' divorce, she accused a staff member at the synagogue of sexually abusing her — an allegation the rabbi did not believe at the time, and one Goldstein did not pursue. Goldstein said she was abused a second time years later by someone close to her mother, leaving emotional wounds that one day would direct her calling.

In high school, she began writing for rock music publications and dropped Goldstein from her nom de plume. Though she never legally changed her name, she remained Dawn Eden for decades to come. After graduating from New York University in 1989 with a degree in communications, she continued writing about rock, composing liner notes, covering shows and interviewing musicians.

Battling bouts of suicidal depression, she found herself drawn to Jesus 10 years later and sought baptism at a Seventh-day Adventist church where she lived in Hoboken, N.J. But the Protestant denomination didn't hold much appeal for Goldstein. Initially, Catholicism's complex liturgy and lack of fellowship also turned her off. But the church's position against abortion rights and fertility treatments reflected Goldstein's political views.

In 2002, she launched a blog called The Dawn Patrol to rail against abortion rights, in-vitro fertilization and groups such as Planned Parenthood. During that time, she also worked as an editor and headline writer for Women's Wear Daily, The New York Post and New York Daily News. The blog occasionally prompted words of caution from editors — and eventually cost her her job at the Post. (Read more.)

I am currently reading and enjoying Dawn's third book Remembering God's Mercy and will be reviewing it soon.

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The Family and the State

From Return to Order:

The family is the single most important component of a Christian society. However, while the family is a tremendously vital force for development of the individual, it alone will not suffice. A regime of separate and scattered families, even very Christian families, does not a society make. Isolated families alone cannot normally sustain themselves in face of the uncertainties of life, they need the resources of a community and a State.

For this reason, sociologists say that the family is an imperfect society. Not in the sense that it is inadequate or defective, rather, the family is imperfect because it depends upon other social units to exist and function. Thus, the family requires higher bodies like the State to guarantee peace and order, justice and protected rights, or security and defense. The family also depends upon the support other imperfect organizations such as municipalities, companies, or professional organizations for resources that it needs to prosper. (Read more.)

The Jewish Catacombs of Rome

From the Daily Mail Online:

The Jewish catacombs in Rome are set to open to the general public for the first time this weekend, offering visitors a chance to explore the ancient underground tunnels and artwork.nIn a bid to highlight the diversity of Italy's cultural attractions, the ancient Jewish burial site at Vigna Randanini, will no longer be off-limits. The well-known Christian catacombs of Rome, of which there are 40, attract thousands of visitors every year, whereas up until now only private parties have been permitted to explore the second century Jewish burial site. (Read more.)

Presidential Election Thoughts

From Roman Catholic Man:

Here are just a few of the key issues in which both candidates have openly stated they have opposing stances …
Abortion is a woman’s unrestricted right … Hillary for, Trump against
For the redefinition of marriage (Same-sex, etc.) … Hillary for, Trump against
Against keeping God in the public square … Hillary for, Trump against
Restrict individual rights to keep and bear arms … Hillary for, Trump against
Stricter punishment does not reduce crime … Hillary for, Trump against
Against vouchers for school choice … Hillary for, Trump against
Expand ObamaCare … Hillary for, Trump against
Make voter regulations even easier … Hillary for, Trump against
Prioritize green energy … Hillary for, Trump against
EPA regulations are not restrictive … Hillary for, Trump against
Legally require hiring women & minorities … Hillary for, Trump against
Does not believe marijuana is a gateway drug … Hillary for, Trump against
(Read more.)

Pope Francis and the Satanist

From Church Militant:

Bartolo Longo's life is testimony to the power of the Most Holy Rosary to heal very serious, very deep wounds inflicted by the devil and sin. Bartolo was born on February 10, 1841, the son of devout Catholic parents who daily prayed the Rosary as a family. Bartolo's father died when he was only 10 years old, his mother remarried and he began to drift away from the Faith. During his studies at Naples University Bartolo became involved with the occult, taking part in séances, fortune-telling and sexual promiscuity. He was drawn deeper into occult practices, becoming a member of a satanic cult and eventually being initiated into the satanic priesthood.

Like many involved in the occult and satanism, he was afflicted with demonic oppression, which was ruining his life. People suffering from demonic oppression experience self-destructive thoughts, self-harming, the urge to actions that are damaging to themselves and others. Bartolo has been described as suffering "despair, fear, hate, anger, an inability to forgive, resentment, and thoughts of suicide."

Sinking deeper into self-destructive darkness, one day Bartolo heard the voice of his dead father beseech him, "Return to God! Return to God!" A friend of Bartolo put him in touch with a Dominican priest, Friar Alberto Radente, who taught him about the healing power of the Most Holy Rosary. At the age of 30 on October 7, 1871, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Bartolo became a Dominican tertiary and took the name "Rosario." (Read more.)

Evening Isles Fantastical

From Charles Coulombe:

Before ever they had heard of the Faith, they were aware of unseen presences all around them — some they deemed good, and others evil. At times these might erupt very strongly into vision, if the stories they told had any reality to them at all. And when at last the Church reached them, she not only gave them a means of understanding these occurrences, she gave them powerful weapons against their unpleasant aspects. From this mixture arose the folklore of Catholic and Orthodox countries in a process that continues to-day in mission lands. Although differing wildly in specifics from place to place, in general outline it was remarkably similar from Ireland to Russia, and later from Spanish New Mexico to Portuguese Indonesia.

As we know from everyday experience if not from history, fallen nature is always with us; from the beginning the remarkable march of spiritual (and sometimes military) conquest of which we spoke was accompanied by defections due to various heresies. Perhaps the most vociferous of these, Islam, has threatened at times to sink the whole Christian world in blood. But instead of drawing ever closer in the face of the threat, Western and Eastern Christendom split. Where they have remained most similar, however, is precisely in this realm of folklore — that is, in popular response to the unseen. Certainly, that background, combined with miraculous relics, shrines, and images, and indeed, the Sacraments themselves, created a world of wonder. (Read more.)

Anti-Catholic Myths Debunked

From The Catholic World Report:

Dr. Stark: Voltaire and his associates made up the fiction of the Dark Ages so that they could claim to have burst forth with the Enlightenment. As every competent historian (and even the encyclopedias) now acknowledges, there were no Dark Ages. To the contrary, it was during these centuries that Europe took the great cultural and technological leap forward that put it so far ahead of the rest of the world.

CWR: What relationship is there between the mythology of the "Dark Ages" and the myth of "secular Enlightenment"? How rational and scientific, in fact, was the Enlightenment?

Dr. Stark: The “philosophes” of the so-called “Enlightenment played no role in the rise of science—the great scientific progress of the time was achieved by highly religious men, many of them Catholic clergy.

CWR: The Crusades and the Inquisitions continue be presented as epochs and events that involved Christian barbarism and the murder of millions. Why are those myths so widespread and popular, especially after scholars have spent decades correcting and clarifying what really did (or did not) happen?

Dr. Stark: I am competent to reveal that the Crusades were legitimate defensive wars and that the Inquisition was not bloody. I am not competent to explain why the pile of fine research supporting these corrections have had no impact on the chattering classes. I suspect that these myths are too precious for the anti-religious to surrender. (Read more.)

Dandelions

From Southern Living:

If the sight of bright yellow dandelions dotting your otherwise perfect lawn drives you batty, blame it on the Pilgrims. It was they who reportedly brought the plant to America from its homeland in northern Europe in the 1600s. What else would you expect from guys wearing belt buckles on their hats? Of course, the Pilgrims had good reason for doing so. The common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is among the nutritious and useful of herbs, with a long history of culinary and medicinal use. Its leaves, whether boiled or eaten fresh (yum!), are high in potassium, calcium, iron, and Vitamins A, C, B1, and B12. The dried and roasted roots make an acceptable coffee substitute for people who don’t like coffee, and the fermented flowers produce dandelion wine and beer. Dandelion tonics are a folk medicine remedy for liver problems. The Old Farmer’s Almanac says they also act as a powerful diuretic — just the thing you want to imbibe before a trans-Atlantic flight. Beekeepers value dandelions as a rich source of pollen and nectar.

This deep-rooted perennial forms a rosette of sharply toothed leaves 6-12 inches long. Their fancied resemblance to a lion’s teeth gives the plant its common name — “dandelion,” a corruption of the French dent de lion (“lion’s tooth”). Blossoms appear from late winter through fall, carried atop hollow stems 4-15 inches high. They’re followed by the familiar puffball seed heads that children like to blow on, releasing seeds to fly hither and yon.

Dandelions are mortal enemies of lawn lovers, who mercilessly execute them with broadleaf weed killers, despite the fact that the flowers are quite pretty. But more and more health-seeking folks grow the culinary types (selected for larger, thicker leaves) found in specialty seed catalogs. Culinary selections such as ‘Pissenlit’ (I told you they were diuretic), ‘Catalogna,’ and ‘Ameliore’ give the best yields and enjoy full sun and fertile, well-drained soil. Pick only young leaves before flowers appear; old leaves, like old girlfriends, can be bitter. (Read more.)