An offering for Friday

Ordinary Time: July 17th
Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
 
The Roman Martyrology commemorates the Blessed Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne (d. 1794) also referred to as “Blessed Teresian Martyrs of Compiègne.” These sixteen Carmelite nuns are the first recognized martyrs of the French Revolution. They were guillotined on July 17, 1794 at the Place du Trone Renverse (modern Place de la Nation) in Paris, France.
 

Blessed Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne
At the height of the French Revolution in the late 18th Century, during the infamous Reign of Terror, the National Assembly adopted the spirit of anti-clericalism. The revolutionaries aggressively campaigned to wipe out Christianity throughout France by confiscating Church property, and suppressing convents and monasteries. Furthermore, they proclaimed the abolition of the Sunday Obligation and the various feasts of the Catholic Church as well as the validity of monastic vows.

In 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy was enacted, which required priests to pronounce an oath of loyalty to the government that was in direct conflict with loyalties towards the Pope and the Catholic Church. Those who refused to comply with this law either were exiled, imprisoned, or executed as traitors.

In August 1790, officials of the National Assembly raided the Discalced Carmelite Monastery of Compiegne with the intent of coercing its occupants into submission to their anti-clerical agenda. Each member of the community was bribed with promises of freedom and money if she would only renounce consecrated life. Not one accepted, but rather the Prioress, Mo. Therese of St. Augustine, led her community in a “vow of martyrdom”. Together, the Carmelites offered themselves collectively as a sacrifice to God so as to obtain the end of the tide of violence that engulfed France and the local Church. They repeated this special offering daily.

On September 14th, the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross, the nuns found themselves out in the street after their monastery was closed and looted. They were forced to remove their habits, the wearing of which was outlawed, and donned cast off civilian wear since they had no money to buy clothing. Despite their uncertain predicament, the sisters continued to practice their strict routine of devotion and prayer while sheltering in small groups within the homes of sympathetic neighbors. 

In June 1794, government officials again appeared in Compiegne and, upon finding a portrait of King Louis XVI and a prayer for the king to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in one of the improvised convents, the Carmelites were all taken into custody. They were jailed in the town of Cambrai with 17 English Benedictine Nuns also imprisoned there. This Benedictine community was witness to the daily self-offering heroically made by the Carmelites to the Lord.

On July 11th, both groups of religious were transported to Paris where they were to be tried for treason. On July 17, 1794, amidst the mockery of a hostile crowd, the 16 Carmelites were accused of various absurd charges that included the hiding of weapons in their monastery. To this the Prioress responded by lifting a crucifix and saying, “This is the only weapon we have had in our house.” 

The Sisters were all found guilty and sentenced to be guillotined on the very same day as their trial. Providentially, on the day before they were brought to Paris, the nuns had washed their secular clothing so they had to appear at trial garbed in the habits they were prohibited from wearing. Thus, they were poised to meet their Divine Spouse appropriately dressed – as true brides of Christ. Before their execution they knelt and chanted the Veni Creator Spiritus, as at a profession, after which they all renewed aloud their baptismal and religious vows.

Mo. Therese of St. Augustine then stepped forward and requested to be the last to die so she could prayerfully encourage her spiritual daughters. The novice, Sr. Constance, was the first to advance and before ascending the scaffold, she knelt before Mo. Therese to kiss a ceramic figure of the Madonna and Child that the prioress held in her hand. Sr. Constance then asked of her the permission to die to which the prioress responded, “Go, my daughter.” The novice then made her way up the scaffold, singing, and with the solemn dignity befitting a spouse of the King of Heaven.

One by one, each sister repeated Sr. Constance’s final act of obedience before ascending the platform as the others sang hymns, their countenances suffused with joy and peace. Long before the last nun was killed the unruly jeering had ceased and an uncomfortable hush had fallen over the crowd.
 
The Reign of Terror ended just 10 days after the execution of the Carmelites of Compiegne when Robespierre fell and himself was executed on the same scaffold. The English Benedictines, who had shared imprisonment with the Martyrs, survived the massacre and eventually returned to their own country. They attributed their survival and the unexpected end of the revolution to the heroic offering made by their fellow Sisters in Christ. When released from prison, the Benedictines were wearing the civilian dresses left behind by the Carmelites, which they treasured as relics thenceforth.

The 16 Martyrs of Compiegne were Beatified as a group on May 13, 1906, by Pope Pius X. They were declared Saints by Pope Francis in an Equipollent Canonization, effective December 18, 2024.

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Hail Mary

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Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Andres Segovia recording from 1958

Young boy calls his horses and they eagerly run over