Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1894-09-20
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Centenary Of the Execution d
Madam Elizabeth Of France.
A CHILD OF MARY.
Eaa l5
MAY Lis 1874.
MAY IL, 1894.
From TIE Irish Catholic.

From TIE Irish Catholic.
The 11th of May, 1894, stands
out forever in bold relief in the
bloodstained annals of the Fren ch
Revolution, as the day that witnessed
the execution of Madam Elizabeth
of France. This execution, let us
say at once, was one of the most
odious and atrocious crimes COM
mited by the sasss-calottes who
drowned France in an ocean of
blood, slaughtering the innocents,
whose sole crime it was to be of no
BILE birth and steadfast adherents
of faith and fatherland. At a time
when, in France, certain partisans
of the terror try to rehabilitate the
memory of their grandfathers, the
murderers, at the service of the
Revolution, is it not a becoming
duty to venerate the noble victims
whose names adorn the pages of the
last edition of the martyrology, and
whose courage on the scaffold shows
what religion and patriotism can
do, even in the weaker sex, for
God and ones country? The pious
princess, the sister of the ill-fated
Martyr-King, Louis XVI, is one
of those victims whose noble fea-
lures, as deliEeated sy historians,
it does one good to behold even in
death.
This noble lady, we are informed
by her contemporaries, united in
her person the virtues of a saint
with the most gracsful charms Of
exterior beauty and accomplish
ment. Her soul was noble, pure,
and devoted without parallel; her
mind most resolute and perspioa-
cious. She was, it seems, the only
person in the royal home who saw
clearly as the events of the Revolu
luton unfolded themselves day by
day in darker and more mysterious
colors. Her great soul can be read
through in two words: les paurres,
les paWrres. One day the jeweller
to the royal household showed her
a fine set of jewels, which at first
sight she seemed most anxious to
purchase. "Howmuch ?" she said /;
400 livres, was the reply. Then
after few moments consideration,
''No ~ said she" 1900 livres will
enable me to set up four little house
holds TOR the poor" In her letters
she very frequently speaks of the
pOor-"The winter is likely to be
severe, what is to become of the
poor? IL / had treasures nobody
would be in want; oh /! that / had
plenty of money that nobody might
be poor any longer - As to her
determination and firmness of will,
nothing could be more admirable
and self-sacrificing. She refused
to marry, because she had resolved
to remain always with her loved
brother, the king. Nor would she
leave France, though she clearly
foresaw the future. Her devoted
ness to the king and royal family
was highly appreciated by Mary
Antoinette; "my sister, Elizabeth"
the queen wrote, ssnstains us all
by her calm courage, I" and the peo-
pie of Paris, 1.-THE true people, not
the sdns-culottes revelling in satan
ical orgies, called her "Sf. Gene
ries Of the Tnilleriss."
Let us now give 8 short report of
the execution of this holy princess.
When she was sentenced to death
twenty-four other people we're SEN
fenced with her as being accompliees,
amongst them being some noblemen
and ladies of high rank. Dumas,
the president of the tribunal who
pronounced the sentence of death,
limited to this fact, as he concluded
with an insolent and mean irony
saying : 'She viii not complain,
Elizabeth of France, she will be
able to imagine herself at Versailles
on finding herself at the foot of the
holy guillotine surrounded by such