It was not ISIS, but the
radical secular humanists of the French Revolution who murdered Christians!
July 17: Feast of the Blessed Martyrs of Compiegne
On July 17, 1794, sixteen Carmelites caught up in the
French Revolution were guillotined at the Place du Trône Renversé (now called
Place de la Nation), in Paris.
When the revolution started in 1789, a group of twenty-one discalced
Carmelites lived in a monastery in Compiegne France, founded in 1641. The
monastery was ordered closed in 1790 by the Revolutionary government, and the
nuns were disbanded. Sixteen of the nuns were accused of living in a religious
community in 1794. They were arrested on June 22 and imprisoned in a Visitation
convent in Compiegne There they openly resumed their religious life.
For a full twenty months before their execution, the sisters came
together in an act of consecration “whereby each member of the community would
join with the others in offering herself daily to God, soul and body in
holocaust to restore peace to France and to her Church.”
The nuns were not just mere victims of the Revolution overcome by
circumstances. Each contemplated her martyrdom; each understood her offering.
Each sought that “greater love” of giving herself for her fellow man in
imitation of the Divine Lamb Who redeemed humanity.
On July 12, 1794, the Carmelites were taken to Paris and five days
later were sentenced to death. Before their execution they knelt and chanted
the "Veni Creator", as at a profession, after which they all renewed
aloud their baptismal and religious vows. They went to the guillotine singing
the Salve Regina. They were beatified in 1906 by Pope St. Pius X.
The Carmelites were: Marie Claude Brard; Madeleine Brideau, the
subprior; Maire Croissy, grandniece of Colbert Marie Dufour; Marie Hanisset;
Marie Meunier, a novice; Rose de Neufville Annette Pebras; Anne Piedcourt:
Madeleine Lidoine, the prioress; Angelique Roussel; Catherine Soiron and
Therese Soiron, both extern sisters, natives of Compiegne and blood sisters:
Anne Mary Thouret; Marie Trezelle; and Eliza beth Verolot. The martyrdom of the
nuns was immortalized by the composer Francois Poulenc in his famous opera
Dialogues des Carmelites.
Excerpted from Catholic Fire
Things to Do:
- You can learn more about the
Carmelite Martyrs in Gertrud von le Fort's historical novel, "Song at the Scaffold", William Bush's
"To Quell the Terror", or go here and
read Terrye Newkirk's excellent essay.
- Visit this website for more information.
Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne pray for us!
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