These Carmelites were guillotined on 17 July 1794 (the day after the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) during the French Revolution/Reign of Terror for refusing to obey the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. They offered up their lives for an end to the violence. The Reign of Terror ended 10 days after their martyrdom.
Before their execution they knelt and chanted the “Veni Creator”, as at a profession, after which they all renewed aloud their baptismal and religious vows. The novice was executed first and the prioress last. Absolute silence prevailed the whole time that the executions were proceeding.
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- Madeleine-Claudine Ledoine (Mother Teresa of St. Augustine)
- Marie-Anne (or Antoinette) Brideau (Mother St. Louis)
- Marie-Anne Piedcourt (Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified)
- Anne-Marie-Madeleine Thouret (Sister Charlotte of the Resurrection)
- Marie-Antoniette or Anne Hanisset (Sister Teresa of the Holy Heart of Mary)
- Marie-Françoise Gabrielle de Croissy (Mother Henriette of Jesus)
- Marie-Gabrielle Trézel (Sister Teresa of St. Ignatius)
- Rose-Chrétien de la Neuville (Sister Julia Louisa of Jesus)
- Anne Petras (Sister Mary Henrietta of Providence)
- Marie Claude Cyprienne Brard/Catherine Charlotte Brard (Sister Euphrasia of the Immaculate Conception)
- Marie-Geneviève Meunier (Sister Constance)
- Angélique Roussel (Sister Mary of the Holy Ghost)
- Marie Dufour (Sister St. Martha)
- Julie or Juliette Vérolot (Sister St. Francis Xavier)
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Prayer for the feast of July 17th
Lord God, you called Bl. Teresa of St. Augustine and her companions to go on in the strength of the Holy Spirit from the heights of Carmel to receive a martyr’s crown. May our love too be so steadfast that it will bring us to the everlasting vision of your glory. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Prayer for obtaining graces through the intercession of the Blessed Carmelites of Compiègne
Lord our God, You called the 16 blessed Carmelites of Compiègne to show you the greatest testimony of love through the offering of their blood that “peace may be returned to the Church and to the State.” Remember the joyful and heroic fidelity with which they glorified you. May your goodness manifest their favor with you, in granting through their intercession the grace (the miracle) that we ask you in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!Give over our hearts to joy, the day of glory has arrived, Far from us all weakness, seeing the standard come; We prepare for the victory, we all march to the true conquest, Under the flag of the dying God we run, we all seek the glory; Rekindle our ardor, our bodies are the Lord’s, We climb, we climb the scaffold and give ourselves back to the Victor. Amen.
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Hymn composed by the Martyrs to the tune of the Marseillais
Give over our hearts to joy, the day of glory has arrived,Far from us all weakness, seeing the standard come;We prepare for the victory, we all march to the true conquest,Under the flag of the dying God we run, we all seek the glory;Rekindle our ardor, our bodies are the Lord’s,We climb, we climb the scaffold and give ourselves back to the Victor.
O happiness ever desired for Catholics of France, To follow the wondrous road Already marked out so often by the martyrs toward their suffering, After Jesus with the King, we show our faith to Christians, We adore a God of justice; as the fervent priest, the constant faithful, Seal, seal with all their blood faith in the dying God….
Holy Virgin, our model, August queen of martyrs, deign to strengthen our zeal And purify our desires, protect France even yet, help; us mount to Heaven, Make us feel even in these places, the effects of your power. Sustain your children, Submissive, obedient, dying, dying with Jesus and in our King believing.
