"Marie Antoinette".

I was surprised to read comments in the press about the "Marie Antoinette" film, referring to her as a licentious person.

Many people regard Marie Antoinette as a good, moral individual, true to her Catholic faith. Her husband, King Louis XVI, was also a good-living person. He was one of the few French kings not to have had mistresses. Upon ascending to the throne, Louis was already locked into a situation where 25 percent of the national income was spent on Versailles. While conditions in the country were far from perfect, the 'storming' of the Bastille is said to have freed only nine prisoners, some of whom were there for good reason. Louis also forbade his soldiers to fire on the mob to prevent bloodshed, and this probably ensured his capture and later execution. Technically, Louis and Marie Antoinette were guilty of treason since they had contacted and corresponded with members of courts in other countries for assistance. Their apprehended flight from France also increased opposition to them.

My wife and I recall walking to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris for Sunday Mass and stopping along the way at the Conciergerie, the prison along the Seine where Marie Antoinette was held until her beheading in the present Place de la Concorde. Her husband, Louis, had been executed earlier.

Napoleon, upon being appointed First Consul, was told by Abbe Sieyes that Louis had been a tyrant. Napoleon replied, "He was no tyrant. If he had been, you would still be saying Mass and I would be a captain in the army." Sieyes (1748-1836) was the individual who developed the departement system used in France today.

A few years ago, during a vacation in Louisiana, we visited the town of Martinville. There is a statue of Evangeline for which the actress, Dolores del Rio, was the model. In the Catholic church in Martinville, one can still see a baptismal font donated to the church by Louis XVI with an inscription around the lid in French.

It is said that after his marriage to Marie Louise of Austria, the grand-niece of Marie Antoinette, Napoleon sometimes referred to Louis as "my uncle." Both the captors of King Louis and those of his wife attested to the serene and dignified way in which the royal couple faced death. The historicity of the positive testimony from hard core adversaries and enemies can scarcely be doubted.

Ottawa, ON