Monthly Archives: September 2015

Seven Stars and Seven Crowns

28 Monday Sep 2015

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Coronation of ElessarThe Fellowship of the King is a free Catholic literary magazine inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. As I happen to believe that The Lord of the Rings is the greatest literary work of the 20th century (and also because I have deep personal admiration for Tolkien as a Catholic Author), I was delighted to be able to contribute an article about Monarchy and Tolkien’s work for the magazine’s 2015 Autumn Issue, which by the way is packed full of extremely good content (and this is only part 1 of 3).

The Lord of the Rings is certainly a topic which I will write about a lot in the future, but for now here’s an excerpt from the first paragraph of Seven Stars and Seven Crowns:

The great Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien once described his masterpiece The Lord of the Rings as a “story is cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that has long lost any object save mere power…” Of all these, the battle between Kingship and Tyranny is one of the most deeply Catholic themes in the story. It is also one of the most obvious. Most Catholics who have read The Lord of Rings will rightly recognize in these fictional histories the figure of Aragorn, the prophesied King, as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will return like Aragorn to reclaim His Kingdom. Yet these same Catholics will often overlook a more hidden meaning in the portrayal of Kingship in The Lord of the Rings, for the simple reason that we have forgotten that Christendom also once had an earthly King.

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Saint Wenceslaus: Duke and King of Bohemia

28 Monday Sep 2015

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Saint Wenceslaus (Václav) of Bohemia is perhaps the most well known of the noble-born saints of the Sacred Ages. Born around the year 907, Wenceslaus was primarily educated by his father Duke Vratislaus and after his father’s death (when his son was only thirteen) his grandmother St. Ludmila. Both Vratislaus and his mother Ludmila were both intent on spreading Catholicism in the many still pagan parts of the realm of Bohemia, and after her son’s death the Duchess took over the education of her grandson to keep him away from the influence of his pagan mother Drahomíra.

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Can Church and State Really Be Separate?

26 Saturday Sep 2015

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 “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church.” This fundamental principle of modernity was condemned by Pope Bl. Pius IX in his 1864 Syllabus of Errors as incompatible with Catholic teaching, yet today it is almost universally accepted. Is it really possible to separate politics even partially from religion, as secularists and others would have us believe?

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Our Lady’s Victory at Vienna

15 Tuesday Sep 2015

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Last week I received an email about my post on the Siege of Vienna from a reader of my site who wishes to be referred to only as an anonymous monk. Having received his permission to publish the body of his letter, I here present it in full, with only the salutation and ending abridged:

WE are all troubled, seeing the wave of Moslems sweeping into Europe.  I hear they are headed primarily for Germany and Austria… indeed, that a large group is marching to Austria right now.

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September 11th

11 Friday Sep 2015

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For Americans, the eleventh of September will forever mark the tragedy which leveled two towers into smoldering ruin.  For those of Christendom, however, this day marks a different kind of tragedy- a tragedy that almost happened. On the eleventh of September, Christendom was almost in ruin.

To the soldiers on the walls of Vienna (who were commanded by Ernst von Starhemberg), it certainly seemed as the shadows lengthened that the armies of Jihad were victorious. By the next dawn, Vienna would be destroyed in flame and smoke. The Emperor, gathering his forces, could not possibly reach the city in time. And if Vienna fell, Europe would fall with it.

But as the morning star faded into the reddening sky, there came with dawn the sound of trumpets and hope was rekindled. The King of Poland Ján III Sobieski and his knights had honored their allegiance, and in the largest cavalry charge in history, the red banner bearing a white eagle quickly became the sign of the Victory of the Holy League against Jihad. The day was September 12, 1683, the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, whose image was carried victorious through the Battle of Lepanto.

 DEVS☩VICIT

 

Austria and the American Left

02 Wednesday Sep 2015

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“To the American leftists, we must strongly bear in mind, Austria was far more wicked than Germany: It existed in contradiction to the Mazzinian principle of the national state, it had inherited many traditions as well as symbols from the Holy Roman Empire (doubleheaded eagle, black-gold colors, etc.), its dynasty had once ruled over Spain (another bête noire), had been leading in the Counterreformation, had headed the Holy Alliance, had fought against the Risorgimento, had suppressed the Magyar rebellion under Kossuth (who has a monument in New York), had morally supported the monarchical experiment in Mexico.

Hapsburg-this evoked memories of “Roman Catholicism,” of the Armada, the Inquisition, of Metternich, of Lafayette jailed in Olmütz, and Silvio Pellico in Brünn’s Spielberg fortress. Such a state had to be broken up, such a dynasty had to disappear. So finally the House of Austria went into exile and was replaced by a simple common man from Austria, allegedly a “house painter,” who drowned the world in a flood of blood and tears.”- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Leftism

Does the World need a “Global Policeman”?

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

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Defensor Gentium

Since the downfall of Christendom, the UN, the EU, and the United States have attempted fill the void. America in particular has stepped into the role of protector of the common order against the growing threats of terrorism. This has drawn much criticism from those who believe the American government is acting out of less altruistic motives, and has prompted the question: Does the World really need a nation acting as the “Global Policeman”?

It is essential to the International Common Good that order be maintained, and that lawful authority maintain it. So in a limited sense the answer is yes. The US, however is not a legitimate authority in this sense- even less so as the country roles down the slippery slope of immorality at breakneck speed. And really, this shouldn’t be surprising. As a nation attempts to wrestle with responsibilities that were not its own, it becomes unable to fulfill the responsibilities which it is truly bound to.

While the US tries (or had tried in the past) to protect the common order in the face of the vast collapse, this is still a pale (and unsuccessful) substitute for the tradition of Christendom. The threat which we struggle to face was very successfully countered; countered by the legitimate authority. The Holy Roman Emperor, the Defender of the Nations of Christendom, did know that his mission was to protect the Common Good, and true Morality was integral to his office. The Emperor, the Commander of the Armies of Christendom, could and did lead the West to victory, and certainly did this better than any “Global Policeman”.