As we have read, the kingdom was worried in 1638. There was no heir apparent for the throne of France.
At the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Graces in Cotignac, not far from Louvre, on November 3, 1637, the Blessed Mother had appeared to an Augustinian monk named Brother Fiacere while he was in prayer in the monastery of the church of Notre- Dame-des-Victoire (Our Lady of Victories)
She had in her arms a child. She was dressed in a blue robe with stars, her hair hanging on her shoulders, three crowns on her head, sitting on a chair and saying: “My child, it is not my Son, it is the child God wants to give to France.” The child was to be King Louis XIV … to whom Saint Margaret Mary would one day give messages through the Kings confessor.
King Louis XIII, in his joy, after the little future King (Louis XIV) was born, decreed:
“We declare that we are taking the very Holy and Glorious Virgin Mary as special Protectress of our land, and, that on the feast of the Assumption we should commemorate our present declaration at High Mass. We similarly exhort all people that have a special devotion to the Virgin on that day to implore her protection that God will be served and revered in such a holy way that we and our subjects may finally reach the happy end for which we have all been created. Such is our wish”
King Louis XIII
This declaration of King Louis XII is an example of a King exercising his authority of ‘The Divine Right of Kings’ … in one aspect of that theory. It almost sounds like the Pope speaking infallibly proclaiming a dogma. In this declaration do we sense the intermingling of Church and State……?
Pope Leo XII 1885 touches on the essence of Divine Right:
“Man’s natural instinct moves him to live in civil society for he can not, if dwelling apart, provide himself with the necessary requirements of life, nor procure the means of developing his faculties. Hence it is Divinely ordained that he should be born into the society and company of men, as well domestic as civil.
Only civil society can ensure perfect self-sufficiency of life. But since no society can hold together unless there be someone over all, impelling individuals efficaciously and harmoniously to one common purpose, a ruling authority becomes a necesssity for every civil commonwealth of men; and this authority, no less than society itself, is natural, and therefore has God for its author.
Hence it follows that public power of itself cannot be otherwise than of God.”
Immortale Dei 1885
King Louis XIV believed in ruling France with ‘Divine Right’ With the manner in which his birth was prophesied, one finds it difficult to dismantle his thinking.
To be continued