JULY 17TH, FERIA;
Commemoration of St. Alexius, Confessor
Month in honor of the Most Precious Blood of OLJC.
Also in the Roman Martyrology today are the 16 Holy Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne. This is their story, as told by Mr. Michael Haynes —
The heroic sacrifices of the Martyrs of Compiègne took place against the bloody background of the Reign of Terror’s increasing attack on the Catholic Church. The Revolutionary Assembly outlawed the practice of religious life in 1790. One of the many such houses was the flourishing Carmelite monastery of Compiègne, north of Paris, renowned for its “fervor and fidelity.”
When the Revolutionary armed forces demanded that the nuns leave the monastery, the entire community refused. They had no intention of accepting the offer to be “liberated” from their lives—namely, to break their vows. By remaining in the monastery, they officially became wards of the State.
On Easter Day, 1792, the Revolutionary forces plundered even more churches and outlawed the wearing of a religious habit. Still, the community refused to cave. In the months that followed, the members consecrated themselves, freely offering themselves up to martyrdom to end the Church’s persecution.
Mother Superior Thérèse of Saint Augustine proposed that they “offer [themselves] in holocaust to appease the wrath of God and so that the divine peace brought by Christ on earth is returned to the Church and to the State.”
In August 1792, the convents were ordered to be forcefully closed. The Mother Superior arranged for the community to live in hiding, dispersed across Paris. On November 27, 1792, still united by their self-sacrificial wish, they began to recite a daily prayer of consecration. In it, they offered their lives as an offering for the salvation of France.
Living incognito with friends and appearing in disguise, the nuns practiced their life of prayer and penance for over a year. Out of sight of the authorities, they continued to meet and observe the Carmelite Rule.
On June 21, 1794, soldiers of the Revolution raided the places they were living. They discovered letters which they argued were evidence of “crimes” the nuns had committed against the Revolutionary state. Summarily arrested, the soldiers first took the nuns to the prison of the Visitation. On July 10, they were moved to the prison of the Conciergerie. This foul and wretched place had been the last resting place for many a Catholic priest or religious murdered during the Reign of Terror.
As their biographer recounts, one of the sisters served as their legal defense since none was granted to them. She encouraged the others.
“My dear Mother, my sisters, you have just heard the accuser declare that we are going to be put to death because of our attachment to our holy religion. We all desire this testimony and venerate it. Let immortal thanks be given to Him who first opened the way to Calvary for us. Oh, what happiness to die for our God!” After having spent many months hiding in secular clothes, the community resumed their religious habits for their final moments.
Whilst being taken to the scaffold, the nuns sang the hours of the Divine Office from their prison cart. The sweet chant of Vespers and Compline rang out across those who had gathered to witness the insatiable guillotine at work. Several accounts document that a particular silence fell over the usually unruly mob. After singing the Veni Creator Spiritus [and renewing their religious vows] and the Te Deum, the moment of martyrdom arrived.
“Each nun knelt before the prioress, renewed her vows, kissed a tiny terracotta statuette of Madonna and Child, and then mounted the scaffold high.”
The first to be executed was Sister Constance, who had been prohibited by the Revolutionaries from making her final vows. Her final action was to ask her superior for permission to die—a permission granted by the Mother. Then came the others, in like manner. Mother Thérèse was the final martyr of the community.
Ten days after their martyrdom, the chief architect of the Reign of Terror, Maximilien Robespierre, was himself executed. Many French Catholics attributed the monster’s ignominious death to the intervention of God and the sacrifice of the Carmelites of Compiègne, who have offered their lives for the end of the Terror. As the years passed, a number of miracles obtained through their intercession continued to amass. Pope Saint Pius X beatified the sixteen martyrs on May 27, 1906, in Saint Peter’s Basilica. In December, 2022, they were canonized by Pope Francis.