On December 18, 2024, Pope Francis announced Wednesday the “equipollent canonization” of the sixteen Martyrs of Compiègne. In so doing, Pope Francis confirmed the conclusions reached by the Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints. Their feast will be observed on July 17, the anniversary of their martyrdom.
The official announcement cited the Pope’s wishes “to extend to the universal Church the cult of Blessed Thérèse of Saint Augustine (born: Marie-Madeleine-Claudine Lidoine) and 15 companions, of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of Compiègne, martyrs, killed in odium fidei on July 17, 1794, in Paris, France, by inscribing them in the catalog of Saints (Equipollent Canonization).”
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Many throughout the Catholic Church welcomed the decree.
The Form of Canonization
An equipollent canonization is one in which the Pope waives the customary formal process. Instead, he cites the many decades or centuries of ardent devotion to an individual or, as in this case, individuals. Generally, in such cases, many among the faithful already venerate them as saintly, and there are widely circulated and verified accounts of their saintly lives.
Various pontiffs have used the process, and several prominent saints and Fathers of the Church have been officially recognized as saints in this manner. Figures equivalently canonized include Saints Wenceslaus, Raymond Nonatus, Queen Margaret of Scotland, Hildegard of Bingen, Thomas More and John Fisher. Though still a rare process, Pope Francis has made more frequent use of it than his predecessors.
Abominable Persecution
The heroic sacrifices of the Martyrs of Compiègne took place against the bloody background of the Reign of Terror’s increasing attack on the Catholic Church. The Revolutionary Assembly outlawed the practice of religious life in 1790. One of the many such houses was the flourishing Carmelite monastery of Compiègne, north of Paris, renowned for its “fervor and fidelity.”
When the Revolutionary armed forces demanded that the nuns leave the monastery, the entire community refused. They had no intention of accepting the offer to be “liberated” from their lives—namely, to break their vows. By remaining in the monastery, they officially became wards of the state.
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On Easter Day, 1792, the Revolutionary forces plundered even more churches and outlawed the wearing of a religious habit. Still, the community refused to cave. In the months that followed, the members consecrated themselves, freely offering themselves up to martyrdom to end the Church’s persecution.
An Offer to God
Mother Superior Thérèse of Saint Augustine proposed that they “offer [themselves] in holocaust to appease the wrath of God and so that the divine peace brought by Christ on earth is returned to the Church and to the State.”
In August 1792, the convents were ordered to be forcefully closed. The Mother Superior arranged for the community to live in hiding, dispersed across Paris. On November 27, 1792, still united by their self-sacrificial wish, they began to recite a daily prayer of consecration. In it, they offered their lives as an offering for the salvation of France.
Living incognito with friends and appearing in disguise, the nuns practiced their life of prayer and penance for over a year. Out of sight of the authorities, they continued to meet and observe the Carmelite Rule.
Arrest and Trial
On June 21, 1794, soldiers of the Revolution raided their abodes. They discovered letters which they argued were evidence of “crimes” the nuns had committed against the Revolutionary state. Summarily arrested, the soldiers first took the nuns to the prison of the Visitation. On July 10, they were moved to the prison of the Conciergerie. This foul and wretched place had been the last resting place for many a Catholic priest or religious murdered during the Reign of Terror.
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At a show trial on July 17, the pseudo-court sentenced the religious to death.
As their biographer recounts, one of the sisters served as their legal defense since none was granted to them. She encouraged the others.
“My dear Mother, my sisters, you have just heard the accuser declare that we are going to be put to death because of our attachment to our holy religion. We all desire this testimony and venerate it. Let immortal thanks be given to Him who first opened the way to Calvary for us. Oh, what happiness to die for our God!”
The Execution of the Innocent
After spending many months hiding in secular clothes, the community resumed their religious habits for their final moments.
Whilst being taken to the scaffold, the nuns sang the hours of the Divine Office from their prison cart. The sweet chant of Vespers and Compline rang out across those who had gathered to witness the insatiable guillotine at work. Several accounts document that a particular silence fell over the usually unruly mob.
After singing the Veni Creator Spiritus and the Te Deum, the moment of martyrdom arrived.
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Professor William Bush’s book To Quell the Terror: The True Story of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne provides a detailed account of their last moments. “Each nun knelt before the prioress, renewed her vows, kissed a tiny terracotta statuette of Madonna and Child, and then mounted the scaffold high.”
The first to be executed was Sister Constance, who had been prohibited by the Revolutionaries from making her final vows. Her final action was to ask her superior for permission to die—a permission granted by the Mother. Then came the others, in like manner. Mother Thérèse was the final martyr of the community.
Their names are as follows:
- Mother Thérèse of Saint Augustine: prioress, born in Paris on September 22, 1752.
- Sister Euphrasia of the Immaculate Conception: born in Bourth (Eure) on May 12, 1736.
- Sister San Luigi: sub-prior, born in Belfort on December 7, 1751.
- Sister Annamaria of Jesus Crucified: born in Paris on December 9, 1715.
- Sister Carlotta of the Resurrection: born in Mouy (Oise) on September sixteen, 1715.
- Sister Enrichetta of Jesus: born in Paris on June 18, 1745.
- Sister Teresa of the Heart of Mary: born in Reims (Marne) on January 18, 1742.
- Sister Teresa of S. Ignatius: born in Compiègne on April 4, 1743.
- Sister Giulia Luisa of Jesus: born in Évreux (Eure) on December 30, 1741.
- Sister Maria Enrichetta of Providence: born in Cajarc (Lot) on June sixteen, 1760.
- Sister Costanza: novice, born in Saint-Denis (Seme) on May 28, 1765.
- Sister Mary of the Holy Spirit: born in Fresne-Mazancourt (Somme) on August 3, 1742.
- Sister Santa Marta: born in Bannes (Sarthe) on October 2, 1741.
- Sister Elisabetta Giulia of San Francesco Saverio: born in Lignières (Aube) on January 13, 1764.
- Sister Caterina Soiron: tertiary, born in Compiègne on February 2, 1742.
- Sister Teresa Soiron: tertiary, born in Compiègne on January 23, 1748.
A Saintly Harvest of Miracles
Ten days after their martyrdom, the chief architect of the Reign of Terror, Maximilien Robespierre, was himself executed. Many French Catholics attributed the monster’s ignominious death to the intervention of God and the sacrifice of the Carmelites of Compiègne.
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As the years passed, a number of miracles obtained through their intercession continued to amass. Pope Saint Pius X beatified the sixteen martyrs on May 27, 1906, in Saint Peter’s Basilica. In 2022, Pope Francis opened the now-concluded process of the equivalent canonization.
A Discalced Carmelite Priest, Father John Hogan, commented further on the Revolution’s persecution of Catholics. “[The] red lust of violence settled quite comfortably with calculating rationale which possessed the leaders of the Revolution (a warning to us all!) And many innocents were slaughtered in the service of that rationale. It was a violence that claimed everyone.”
“The example of our new Saints, the Martyrs of Compiègne shine with serenity, fidelity and forgiveness,” Father Hogan added. “They conquered hatred by love, as did all the Martyrs of that terrible Terror. Let them be our models of behavior and life. So today, we in Carmel celebrate, but let the whole Church celebrate: love conquers all fear & hatred.”
Photo Credit: © Joan Gené – CC BY-SA 4.0