The sixteen Carmelite martyrs of Compiègne - 1794

The 18th century French revolutionaries regarded cloistered and contemplative religious life as an attack on individual freedom and an outdated religious practice, and made it illegal. Yet the contemplative Carmelite nuns in Compiègne, northest of Paris, managed to remain faithful to their vows until the end. At the height of the Reign of Terror, they were accused of being counter-revolutionaries and religious fanatics, imprisoned and sentenced to death. All sixteen of them were guillotined on July 17, 1794 (29 Messidor of Year II). They had first made an offering of their lives as sacrificial victims to obtain peace for the Church and for their country, and ascended the scaffold singing hymns of praise to God.

Execution of the Carmelites, stained glass window in the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Quidenham, England / © CC BY-SA 2.0/John Salmon

Reasons to believe:

One of the nuns who was away during the arrests and survived, Sister Mary of the Incarnation, later wrote an account on their execution, The Story of the Martyrdom of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne, which was published in 1836, forty years after the events. The account of their martyrdom was also told by their fellow inmates, the English Benedictine nuns of Cambrai, who survived.

The Carmelites of Compiègne were not foolish and did not wish to die: they agreed to take some oaths demanded by the revolutionaries, provided that they could maintain their religious vows.

We have proof of their courage, free will and strength of convictions: when forced to leave the convent and hide in different apartments in the city, they courageously continued to practice community prayer, despite the government's orders. They all refused to renounce their religious vows, and they later recanted their civil oath while in prison.

Paradoxically, it was at the Conciergerie Prison that the Carmelites had the joy of once again being able to experience community life. A witness called Denis Blot testified: "We could hear them every night, at two in the morning, reciting their office." Their serene joy made a strong impression on both prisoners and jailers: "They looked like they were going to their wedding."

At the end of the 17th century, one century before the French Revolution, a Carmelite nun from this same monastery, Sister Elisabeth-Baptiste, had a dream in which she saw all her Carmelite sisters in the glory of heaven, dressed in their white cloaks and holding a red palm in their hands. Their martyrdom had been foretold several decades in advance, and the nuns were preparing for it.

Unlike regular executions, when the nuns arrived at the place of execution, the crowd went very quiet. The nuns sang and climbed the scaffold one after the other, with a joyful resolve. Their attitude disconcerted the stunned crowd, as well as the hardened executioner Charles-Henri Samson. Witnesses said that the novice nun, who was the first to climb the scaffold, "looked like a queen about to receive a diadem".

For the Carmelite nuns, martyrdom was not a tragedy but a celebration, because they were sure that their ultimate destination was eternal life with God. This is why they were able to sing on the scaffold up to the last minute.

The Carmelites believed: "We are the victims of the age, and we ought to sacrifice ourselves to obtain its return to God." According to the act of consecration pronounced by these nuns in 1792, the purpose of their voluntary sacrifice was that the "divine peace that [Christ] had come to bring to the world should be restored to the Church and the State". In fact, the spectacle of their unjust death and courage changed public opinion, making it aware of the horror of revolutionary violence. Eleven days after their execution by beheading, the fall of Robespierre put an end to the Reign ofTerror.

Several miracles were obtained through the intercession of the Carmelites. At least four of these miracles were investigated, attested and used for the beatification of the sixteen nuns: the cure of Sister Clare of St. Joseph, a Carmelite lay sister of New Orleans, when on the point of death from cancer, in June, 1897; the cure of the Abbe Roussarie, of the seminary at Brive, when at the point of death, March 7, 1897; the cure of Sister St. Martha of St. Joseph, a Carmelite lay sister of Vans, of tuberculosis and an abcess in the right leg, December 1, 1897; the cure of Sister St. Michael, a Franciscan of Montmorillon, April 9, 1898.

Summary:

The sixteen Carmelite nuns were slowly transported through the streets of Paris, for two hours, on a tumbrel (two-wheeled cart) that took them to their execution at the Place du Trône Renversé (now Place de la Nation) on July 17, 1794 (29 Messidor Year II). The Reign of Terror had descended on France, but until then this religious community had been spared by keeping a low profile. On that day, the civilian clothes they had been forced to wear were being washed, so it was in their habit (with a large white coat) that they climbed up the scaffold. They sang the psalm "Laudate Dominum", traditionally sung at the founding of a Carmelite convent, as they set off to establish their community in eternity.

This sacrifice of innocent women drew a large crowd. Eleven days later, the Reign of Terror came to an end with the fall of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor (he was guillotined, despite an attempt by a deputation from the Paris Commune to save him). Russian author AleksandrSolzhenitsyn saw the self-sacrifice of the nuns as the cause of the return to peace in France, and compared the militant-atheist Russian Revolution and USSR, which persecuted religion and committed mass atrocities over decades, to the godless French Revolution.

The lives and arrests of these French Carmelite nuns have inspired a number of major works: a novel (by Gertrude von Le Fort), a script (by Georges Bernanos), an opera (by Francis Poulenc), films (including one by Philippe Agostini and Father Bruckberger OP), etc. Father Bruckberger was deeply touched by the nun's fidelity, an example he only imitated later in life, he said.

At the request of the bishops of France and the Order of Carmelites Discalced (OCD), Pope Francis agreed on Feb. 22, 2022, to open a special process known as “equipollent canonization” to raise the 16 Carmelite martyrs of Compiègne to the altars. After their beatification by Pius X in 1906, canonization will elevate them from blessed to saints. In deference to the French government, they are not labeled as martyrs. Yet it was out of hatred for the Catholic faith that they were beheaded.

Eric Lebec is an author, television director, journalist and writer. A long conversation with Father Bruckberger (o.p.) introduced him to the Carmelites of Compiègne.

Going further:

To Quell the Terror: The True Story of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne by William Bush – JICS Publications; Limited edition (January 1, 1999)

More information:

The Song at the Scaffold: A Novel by Gertrud Von Le Fort (1931)
Play by George Bernanos Dialogues des carmélites (Publication date 1949 )
Francis Poulenc opera "Le Dialogue des Carmélites" (composed in 1956. Poulenc wrote the libretto for his second opera after the work of the same name by Georges Bernanos).
1960 movie "Le Dialogue des Carmélites" (French original)
Catholic Exchange article "The Carmelites of Compiègne: Martyrs in the Age of Enlightenment"