via The Catholic Times
ST. MARY’S RIDGE – If you haven’t heard about the Vendée region of France and its place in Catholic history, don’t worry, you’re probably not alone.photo
According to one Catholic historian, a little-known but inspiring event in this western region of Catholic France sheds a clear light on how the French Revolution (1789-1799) impacted the Catholic Church.
On June 30, at 4 p.m., in the basement of St. Mary Church, St. Mary’s Ridge, Catholic historian Christopher Check will be speaking on “For God and King: The Catholic Uprising in the Vendée.”
Executive vice president of The Rockford (Ill.) Institute, Check is a graduate of Rice University, Houston, and served for seven years as a field artillery officer in the U.S. Marines in the Persian Gulf. His writings have appeared in numerous publications, including This Rock, Gilbert! and the Chesterton Review.
The Vendée uprising took place during the French Revolution, which Check considers the “defining event of modern times,” and “a deliberate war against tradition, against the crown, against marriage and the family, and most of all, against Jesus Christ and His Holy Church.”
Refusing to obey the edicts of the Revolution, the fiercely devout Catholic peasants, nobles, and priests of the Vendée formed an army of resistance. Armed with little more than clubs, pitchforks and hunting rifles, they rose up to defend their faith and tradition. Led by the region’s nobles, this army marched to the cadence of the rosary being recited and wore the Sacred Heart of Jesus as its badge of honor.
At first, the army of the Vendée was successful in driving the Revolutionary Army of France from the region – and could have, as none other than Napoleon Bonaparte himself admitted later, marched straight on to Paris to restore the Church and throne in France.
But the bloodthirsty work of the Revolution would not be deterred – and with a nearly endless supply of troops and weapons and a new, vicious form of “total war” which heralded modern warfare practices – the Revolution eventually defeated the faithful and subdued the Vendée. Despite that defeat, as Check will focus on in his lecture, the uprising remains a remarkable witness to the faith and an inspiration for those who love Jesus Christ and his Church.
The lecture is free and open to the public with a request for a free will offering at the door. For more information, contact Mark or Valerie Kircher at 608- 463-7273.
5 comments:
*debating a +2-hour drive*
It is a little closer than La Crosse... I'm not sure if it's faster to go through Richland Center but they've fixed up Hwy 14-61 quite a bit if I remember.
I will definitely be there.
I just love learning about the French Revolution. I blame it on the Scarlet Pimpernel (of which I have devoured every book).
Add that to how relevant the French Revolution is in terms of its reflection of today's anti-religious fervor and intellectual elitism, and the promise of more learning on the subject thrills me.
Disclaimer: I am, and have always been, a nerd.
Warren Carroll sparked my interest and I've been fascinated ever since. Check I think wrote an article in This Rock a while back on the same subject. I'll try to find it and post it before the talk. I haven't read any Scarlet Pimpernel but you have sparked my interest.
Some say the Revolution began the end of Christendom, others say Luther started it. It did begin the end of Catholic royalism to our everlasting shame.
I've got Warren Carroll's "The Guillotine and the Cross" on my list of "to read." I've heard it's good.
The Scarlet Pimpernel series is a set of rip-roaring, heroic pre-Zorro Zorro-esque tales peppered with historical details and, of course, it being fiction, an occasional bit of artistic license. I had no idea of the more appalling details of the French Revolution (because, of course, they whitewash it when they teach about it in school) until I read in one of the books of the Nantes drownings, thought it couldn't possibly be true, and then learned to my utter horror it was.
Post a Comment