The 16 Martyrs of Compiègne
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The Carmelite sisters of Compiègne, martyred for their faith at the end of the French Revolution, stand in stark contrast to today's proponents of radical leftist feminism.
The sixteen nuns, who were guillotined en masse in Paris in 1794, were at last canonized by Pope Francis this week. They had been proclaimed venerable by Pope Leo XIII in 1902 and beatified by Pius X in 1906.
These martyrs embodied qualities and virtues eschewed by many modern feminists and women who peddle in identity politics – those who feed upon fake news rather than Catholic faith; who embrace arrogance in place of piety and humility; who exalt expediency over enduring values; and who spurn sacrifice to indulge in material comfort.
Yet, in what could be described as holy irony, these 16 saints and their virtues, maligned by Leftists today, helped bring an end to a period in the history known as the Reign of Terror.
'ODIUM FIDEI' or 'HATRED OF THE FAITH'
According to most historical accounts, an estimated 17,000 people were guillotined during the French Revolution, primarily during the "Reign of Terror" between June 1793 and July 1794.
The new revolutionaries abolished the Catholic monarchy, confiscated Church property, exiled hundreds of thousands of priests, and murdered untold numbers more – some, drowned all at once.
Churches were looted and burned, the Sacred Host was desecrated, and the Sabbath Day was erased from the calendar.
According to many historians, this one year period represents some the most violent anti-Christian persecution in modern European history.
It was into this sleeve of history, the Carmelite sisters of Compiègne fit.
HERSTORY
In 1790, when the new government outlawed all religious life, the sisters began in earnest their very real journey to Calvary.
In that year, revolutionary officials burst into their cloistered convent in the city of Compiègne (about 50 miles north of Paris), interrogating each sister and issuing an ultimatum – break your vows and join in the revolution, or expect the worst.
But each one of the 16 sisters refused to abandon her religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, as well as the convent's life of continual prayer, all the while understanding the fate they would suffer for their fidelity.
Sensing the direness of the situation, the prioress, Mother Teresa of St. Augustine, arranged for the sisters to take cover in the city, where they continued to meet in secret for community prayer.
But in 1794, as the revolution ratcheted up – ever bloodier and more terrorizing – the sisters were rounded up and arrested, then locked up in a former convent in Paris repurposed as a jail for political prisoners.
In a show trial, the sisters were found guilty of being "religious fanatics" and "enemies of the people." They were accused of opposing the revolution, evidenced in letters that had been found. They were also charged with sympathy for the monarchy, evidenced by an altar cloth embroidered with a fleur-de-lis (a symbol of the monarchy) found in their convent.
Lastly, they were convicted of the crime of continuing to live out their Catholic faith as a community of consecrated Christian women, verboten in the brave new France.
After languishing in prison for a month, they were carted through the streets of Paris to the place of their execution as onlookers hurled insults and rotten food at them.
But they approached their fate bravely – unfazed by the madness around them – singing hymns of praise to God and His Mother in unison until the blade cut short their voice.
Sister Constance of St. Denis, the youngest member of the community, was the first to be guillotined. The prioress had sent her first so she would not suffer the gore of the beheadings to come. The prioress herself, Mother Teresa of St. Augustine, was the last to offer her life.
It is reported that as they each – one by one – ascended the platform of the guillotine, the spectators became eerily silent.
Many believe the unusual silence of the gawkers to be a portent of the execution of the architect of the revolution, Maximilien Robespierre, just ten days later. Devotees of the sisters believe their sacrifice moved Heaven to help bring about an end to the horrors of the revolution.
Indeed, the prioress had prepared the sisters for martyrdom nearly two years prior to their arrest. While they were still underground in Compiègne – seeing the writing on the wall – they had all presciently offered their lives to God as a sacrifice for the salvation of France and an end to the bloody revolution.
SAY THEIR NAME
The names of 16 women who were executed for refusing to bow to the French revolutionary mob are:
St. Mother Teresa of St. Augustine
St. Sister Marie of Jesus Crucified
St. Sister Charlotte of the Resurrection
St. Sister Euphrasia of the Immaculate Conception
St. Sister Julie Louise of Jesus
St. Sister Teresa of the Heart of Mary
St. Sister Teresa of St. Ignatius
St. Mother Henriette of Jesus
St. Mother St. Louis
St. Sister Marie-Henriette of Divine Providence
St. Sister Constance of St. Denis
St. Sister Francis Xavier
St. Sister Marie of the Holy Spirit
St. Sister St. Martha
St. Sister Teresa Soiron
St. Sister Catherine Soiron
"Dear Martyrs of Compiègne, pray for us," many posted on X upon hearing of Francis' decree. "Give us your courage and faith."
The pope's official canonization of the 16 guillotined Carmelites can remind us all to follow their example as we travel our spiritually necessary journey to Calvary.
They have given us 16 profiles in how to hold onto our faith during troubled times with courage, tenacity and grace.
The example of radical feminists fail us – it fails to protect unborn babies, allowing millions of them to be guillotined in the womb; it scoffs at traditional marriage and motherhood; it adopts an arrogant attitude toward those who don't buy into its ideology.
Compare the ugly, de-sacralized language of the Left and its focus on so-called gender inequality, power dynamics between genders, systemic oppression, etc. with the lyrics of the "Veni Creator Spiritus" – the hymn the sisters sang in the moments before their martyrdom:
Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,
and in our souls take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heavenly aid
to fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
The radical feminist Left has gone too far. The sacrificial example of the martyred sisters of Compiègne can bring us back from the bloody abyss in our time, and turn us back to Christ.
Dr. Barbara Toth has a doctorate in rhetoric and composition from Bowling Green State University. She has taught high school in Poland and Oman and at universities in the US, China and Saudi Arabia. Her work in setting up a writing center at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahmen University, an all-women's university in Riyadh, has been cited in American journals. Toth has published academic and non-academic articles and poems internationally.
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