Martyrs of Compiègne
Encyclopedia
The Martyrs of Compiègne are sixteen Carmelite nuns who were guillotined On 17 July 1794 during the Reign of Terror
. They are commemorated on 17 July of the Carmelite Calendar of Saints
.
Terrye Newkirk writes in "The Martyrs of Compiègne as Prophets of the Modern Age":
Francis Poulenc
's opera Dialogues of the Carmelites
is based on the story of the Martyrs, as adapted by Gertrud von Le Fort
and, later, Georges Bernanos
.
Choir Nuns
Lay Sisters
Servants
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
. They are commemorated on 17 July of the Carmelite Calendar of Saints
Calendar of saints
The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the feast day of said saint...
.
Terrye Newkirk writes in "The Martyrs of Compiègne as Prophets of the Modern Age":
On 17 July 1794, in the closing days of the Reign of TerrorReign of TerrorThe Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
led by Robespierre, sixteen Carmelite nuns of the Catholic Church were guillotined at the Barrière de Vincennes (nowadays Place de la Nation) in Paris. They were buried in a common grave at the Picpus CemeteryPicpus CemeteryThe Picpus Cemetery is the largest private cemetery in the city of Paris, France. It was created from land seized from the convent of the Chanoinesses de St-Augustin, during the Revolution. It contains the remains of French aristocrats who had been guillotined during the French Revolution...
, where a single cross today marks the remains of the 1,306 victims of the guillotine. A mere handful of the French RevolutionFrench RevolutionThe French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
's victims, they have commanded the attention of historians, hagiographers, authors, playwrights, composers, and librettists for two hundred years. In the course of the 20th century, the Martyrs of Compiègne have been the subject of a massive scholarly history, a German novella, a French play, a film, and Francis PoulencFrancis PoulencFrancis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
's opera Dialogues of the CarmelitesDialogues of the CarmelitesDialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead a screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on the...
. In 1902, Pope Leo XIIIPope Leo XIIIPope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
declared the nuns Venerable, the first step toward canonization. They were later beatifiedBeatificationBeatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
by Pius X in May 1906: Carmelites celebrate the memory of the priorPriorPrior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...
ess, Blessed Teresa of St. Augustine (Lidoine), and her fifteen companions on 17 July, and Catholics may adopt them as patrons. The bicentenary of their death was observed in 1994; many are petitioning for their canonization.
Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
's opera Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead a screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on the...
is based on the story of the Martyrs, as adapted by Gertrud von Le Fort
Gertrud von Le Fort
Gertrud von Le Fort was a German writer of novels, poems, and essays. She came from a Protestant background, but converted to Catholicism in 1926. Most of Gertrud's writings come after this conversion...
and, later, Georges Bernanos
Georges Bernanos
Georges Bernanos was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. Of Roman Catholic and monarchist leanings, he was a violent adversary to bourgeois thought and to what he identified as defeatism leading to France's defeat in 1940.-Biography:Bernanos was born at Paris, into a family of...
.
List of the martyrs
The martyrs consisted of fourteen nuns and lay sisters, and two servants:Choir Nuns
- Mother Teresa of St. Augustine, prioress (Madeleine-Claudine Ledoine) b. 1752
- Mother St. Louis, sub-prioress (Marie-Anne [or Antoinett] Brideau) b. 1752
- Mother Henriette of Jesus, ex-prioress (Marie-Françoise Gabrielle de Croissy) b. 1745
- Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified (Marie-Anne Piedcourt) b. 1715
- Sister Charlotte of the Resurrection, ex-sub-prioress and sacristanSacristanA sacristan is an officer who is charged with the care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents.In ancient times many duties of the sacristan were performed by the doorkeepers , later by the treasurers and mansionarii...
(Anne-Marie-Madeleine Thouret) b. 1715 - Sister Euphrasia of the Immaculate Conception (Marie-Claude Cyprienne) b. 1736
- Sister Teresa of the Sacred Heart of Mary (Marie-Antoniette Hanisset) b. 1740
- Sister Julie Louise of Jesus, widowWidowA widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
(Rose-Chrétien de la Neuville) b. 1741 - Sister Teresa of St. Ignatius (Marie-Gabrielle Trézel) b. 1743
- Sister Mary-Henrietta of Providence (Anne Petras) b. 1760
- Sister Constance, novice (Marie-Geneviève Meunier) b. 1765
Lay Sisters
- Sister St. Martha (Marie Dufour) b. 1742
- Sister Mary of the Holy Spirit (Angélique Roussel) b. 1742
- Sister St. Francis Xavier (Julie Vérolot) b. 1764
Servants
- Catherine Soiron b. 1742
- Thérèse Soiron b. 1748
See also
- Discalced CarmelitesDiscalced CarmelitesThe Discalced Carmelites, or Barefoot Carmelites, is a Catholic mendicant order with roots in the eremitic tradition of the Desert Fathers and Mothers...
- Secular Order of Discalced CarmelitesSecular Order of Discalced CarmelitesThe Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites , officially Ordo Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Saecularis, and formerly known as the Third Secular Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and of the Holy Mother Saint Teresa of Jesus, is an association in the Roman Catholic Church, with lay persons...
- Carmelite Rule of St. AlbertCarmelite Rule of St. AlbertThe eremitic Rule of St. Albert is the shortest of the rules of consecrated life in existence of the Roman Catholic spiritual tradition. St. Albert Avogadro, a priest of the Canons Regular and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote the Rule in the early 13th century. The Rule is directed to Brother...
- Constitutions of the Carmelite OrderConstitutions of the Carmelite OrderThe stand as an expression of the ideals and spirit of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.Foundational sources for the Constitutions include the desert hermit vocation as exemplified in the life of the Prophet Elijah. For the Carmelite the contemplative vocation is exemplified par excellence...
- Book of the First MonksBook of the First MonksThe Book of the First Monks is a medieval Christian work in the contemplative and eremetic tradition of the Carmelites. It is one of the most important documents of the Order, because it shaped many of the Saints from the Carmelite Order in the basic spirituality of the first Hermits...
- Christian martyrsChristian martyrsA Christian martyr is one who is killed for following Christianity, through stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake or other forms of torture and capital punishment. The word "martyr" comes from the Greek word μάρτυς, mártys, which means "witness."...
External links
- On the history and spirit of Carmel. ICS Publications.
- Terrye Newkirk, The Mantle of Elijah: The Martyrs of Compiègne as Prophets of Modern Age. ICS Publications, 2000.