Against romantic melancholy on France
At First Things, Nathan Pinkoski and Jean-Baptiste Pateron said that “conservative romantics who love the past” can be tempted to despair. After the Notre-Dame fire, for instance, much commentary showed “disdain for France since the Revolution, disdain for France’s successful transmission of the past into the present, and disdain for the faith of the French expressed in the sorrowful hours of the present”.
Such gloom is misguided, the authors wrote. Yes, the Revolution ravaged the Church, but the 19th century was the age of St John Vianney, St Thérèse of Lisieux and the Lourdes apparitions. These saints helped inspire public witness throughout the 20th century. “In 1984, when the socialists attempted to suppress Catholic schools, a million turned out to protest.”
