Queen Marie Thérèse and her son the Dauphin of France, painted by Charles Beaubrun.
Maria Theresa, wife of Louis XIV, had a great horror of sin. One day someone asked her to do something which was wrong.
She answered: “No, I will never willfully consent to offend God.”
“But,” said the other, “after all, it is a very small offense; at most it is only a venial sin.”
The pious Queen answered: “Only a venial sin! And do you think it is nothing to commit a venial sin? A venial sin is an offense against God, and whatever offends Him is grievous enough, no matter how small it may appear.”
Rev. D. Chisholm, The Catechism in Examples (London: R & T Washbourne, Ltd., 1919), 391.
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 366
