Today is the 426th birthday of a great man, one of the most pre-eminent geniuses in the history of Christendom, a fellow Poitevin who, in my opinion, had all the excellences of our race, and a hero in the chronicles of the Church and the Kingship of Christ.  Unfortunately, because of the lack of faith and appreciation on the part of the French, they were punished by Louis XIV being raised terribly by a grossly incompetent and foolish woman, Anne of Austria.  Thus, when Louis le Grand refused to consecrate himself to the Sacred Heart, all of the framework laid by this noble prince of the Church for the triumph of the rights of God, the peace of Christendom, the liberty of the Roman Pontiff, and the recovery of the Holy Land was squandered.  But just who is this great Poitevin Cardinal who was of one heart with and dreamed the same dreams -- of conquering Constantinople and of the universal progress of religion and morals -- as His Grey Eminence the saintly Père Joseph du Tremblay, who fostered his career and worked tirelessly by his side ?  He is perhaps the most calumniated man in the history of our religion, none other than His Red Eminence himself, Armand-Jean Cardinal du Plessis, duc de Richelieu.  Please, in your mercy, make him the birthday present of praying for the repose of his soul in case he is in Purgatory.
 

Do you think Mazarin, his successor, was successful in continuing the policies of Richelieu. Mazarin was an Italian, which I thought was interesting.