Near the end of The Terror of the French Revolution a group of Carmelite nuns gave a master course on how to die well:
On 17 July we commemorate the 16 Blessed Carmelite martyrs of Compiègne, Mother Teresa of St Augustine and Companions, who were executed on 17 July 1794 during the French Revolution.
The Sisters had refused to comply with the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, a law passed in 1790, which subordinated the Catholic Church to the revolutionary government, confiscated all Church land and banned religious orders. The Carmelites of Compiègne resisted the suppression of their monastery and so were arrested in June 1794 and imprisoned at the former Visitation convent of Compiègne, where they offered themselves daily for the peace of France and the Church. On 17 July they were tried in Paris, convicted of treason and sentenced to death by guillotine. Providentially, they were wearing their outlawed religious habits, since their only secular clothes were being washed on the day of the trial.
The Sisters were then transported in tumbrels among a group of 40 condemned prisoners to the place of execution at the Place du Trône, Paris. On the journey, the Sisters chanted the combined Offices of Vespers and Compline. This included the Miserere, the penitential Psalm 50: “Have mercy on me, O God, in your kindness…” and concluded with the Salve Regina. Eyewitness accounts report that the usually hostile crowds along the route were strangely silent.
On reaching the place of execution, Mother Teresa intoned the Te Deum, and then the Veni Creator Spiritus. Then all of the Sisters renewed their vows and Sr Constance, the youngest and still a novice, joined in, thus making Profession before mounting the scaffold. Sr Constance was the first to die, after kneeling for the blessing of her Prioress, and kissing a small staute of Our Lady. As she approached the guillotine, she intonedLaudate Dominum Omnes Gentes(Psalm 117) : “O praise the Lord, all you nations; acclaim him all you peoples. Strong is his love for us; he is faithful for ever.” This was taken up by all the Sisters, who continued to sing, with diminishing voices, until all had died. Usually executions were accompanied by shouting and cheers but there was only silence.
Sr Constance waved aside the executioner and his two assistants and approached the guillotine unaided. It is likely that the executions continued in order of religious profession. We know that Mother Teresa was the last. The 78 year old Sr Mary of Jesus Crucified was heard to say to the executioners “I forgive you, my friends. I forgive you with all that longing of heart with which I would that God forgive me!” The bodies of the Carmelites were buried in a Mass grave.
Many believe that the sacrifice of Mother Teresa of St Augustine and her community brought about the end of the ‘Reign of Terror’, which happened just 10 days later on 27thJuly 1794. Their story has captured the popular imagination, inspiring a novella by Gertrud von le Fort, a play by Georges Bernanos and an opera by Francis Poulenc. They were beatified by Pope St Pius X on 27 May 1906.
Go here to read the rest. If those valiant nuns aren’t in Heaven, there is no hope for the rest of us.
The back drop of Notre Dame is perfectly framed with the stairway, in one of the scenes.
What’s not seen is John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and a triumphant gathering of Martyrs witnessing this birthday of 16 virgins who entered into the celestial Notre Dame.
Our Lady, presenting them to her Son.
Wonderful news of the canonization of the 16 Carmelites of Compiegne.
One more interesting feature of this story. Many here at TAC know one of the great mainstays of opera since WW2 has become Francois Poulenc’s (d. 1963) “Dialogues des Carmélites.” In fact, it is truly a miracle that it ever came to be composed and produced.
Von Le Fort first wrote the novella “Die Letzte am Schafott,” (1931), translated as “The Song at the Scaffold.” The story is told by a French noble woman, Blanche de La Force (likely a stand-in for “Le Fort”), in letter form. The story was truly prophetic, with the Third Reich looming and WW2 imminent.
After the war, the great French novelist Georges Bernanos (d. 1948) worked on a screenplay for a film production, but it was deemed unacceptable and not likely to be successful. Bernanos then untimely passed away: but the executor of his estate found the screenplay, and obtained permission for the production rights from Le Fort: Bernanos’ widow and children were in dire straits, and Le Fort signed over her royalties for the novella to the family.
No one really thought it would be successful, but the executor had it modified into a play. This play, now re-named “Dialogues des Carmélites,” was fortuitously performed in Vienna in 1953, and well-known theatre choreographer and former ballerina, Margaret Wallman, happened to see it. Wallman’s husband was the president of the highly influential Italian opera publishing house, Ricordi. Ricordi was also Poulenc’s publishing firm, and so she asked Poulenc to write an oratorio based on the play and Novella. However, Poulenc, who had already written a highly personalistic psychologically-driven opera ( “Le Voix Humaine, 1958), seeing the psychological depth and power of the Le Fort story, wrote it as the compelling intensely focused opera it is today.
Due a contract rights dispute, Poulenc suspended work on the opera until the legal issues were resolved, and it finally debuted at the famed La Scala opera house of Milan in January, 1957 in an Italian version. That summer, the French libretto we know now which has become standard, was performed in Paris by the Opéra National de Paris with voices personally chosen by Poulenc. Fortuitous also was its completion before Poulenc’s unexpected death only 6 years later in 1963.
Not standard opera thematic fare, focusing on religious conviction and vocation, nonetheless the work, despite all odds has remained an opera mainstay to the present day.
One more interesting feature. Many here at TAC know that one of the great mainstays of opera since WW2 has become Francois Poulenc’s (d. 1963) “Dialogues des Carmélites.” Yet it is truly a miracle that ever came to be composed.
The story was first skillfully retold in the 1931 quite prophetic (with WW2 and the Third Reich looming) novella by German writer Gertrude Von le Fort (“Die Letzte am Schafott,” (1931), translated as “The Song at the Scaffold.” The story is told by a French noble woman, Blanche de La Force (likely a stand-in for “Le Fort”), in the form of a letter to a friend .
The great French novelist Georges Bernanos (d. 1948) worked on a screenplay for a film production, but it was deemed unacceptable and not likely to be successful. Bernanos then untimely passed away: but the executor of his estate found the screenplay, and obtained permission for the production rights from Le Fort: Bernanos’ widow and children were in dire straits, and Le Fort signed over her royalties for the novella also to the family. No one really thought it would be successful, but the executor had it modified into a play. This play, now re-named Dialogues des Carmélites, was fortuitously performed in Vienna in 1953, and well-known choreographer and former ballerina, Margaret Wallman, happened to see it.
husband was the president of the highly influential Italian opera publishing house, Ricordi. Ricordi was also Poulenc’s publishing firm, and so she asked Poulenc to write an oratorio based on the play and Novella. However, Poulenc, who had already written a highly personalistic psychologically-driven opera ( “Le Voix Humaine, 1958), seeing the psychological depth and power of the Le Fort story, wrote it as the compelling intensely focused opera it is today.
Due a contract rights dispute, Poulenc suspended work on the opera for several years until the legal issues were resolved, and it finally debuted at the famed La Scala opera house of Milan in January, 1957 in an Italian version. That summer, the French libretto we know now which has become standard, was performed in Paris by the Opéra National de Paris with voices personally chosen by Poulenc.
Also fortuitous was its completion and successful performance under the guidance of its composer, because Poulenc died unexpectedly only a few short years later. Also too, despite the fact its thematic material, it was not standard opera fare, it has remained an opera mainstay to the present day, and continues to tell the story of these 16 “weak” women of faith who stood up to all the power of Revolutionary France.
I have seen the Poulenc Opera, “Les Diologues Des Carmelites” several times, the first time on “Live from the Met” witht the great Jessye Norman singing the role of the Mother Superior, and then live at the Kennedy Center and Hartke Theatre. In 2019, I visited their monument in the Picpus Cemetery in Paris (just across the walkway from Marquis de Lafayette’s grave). where they were buried in a mass grave. I and the pilgrims I went there with all sang “Salve Regina” there in their honor.
High time these martyrs were canonized. Oh, but we can canonize some folks perhaps without miracles since VII…