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Martyrs of Compiegne
      July 17th is the feast day of the Blessed Martyrs of Compiegne, all Carmelite nuns.
      It is certainly difficult for an average American (Christian or not) to understand martyrdom. “What a waste!” one thinks. What, indeed, does one make of the Lord’s word to Ananias to go to Saul, “for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My Name” (Ac 9:15-16)?
St. Paul came to understand this. “In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sale of His Body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24). “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice” (Ro 12:1), he wrote.
      Most know of the French Revolution (1789-1815), the storming of the Bastille, the guillotine, the bloody Reign of Terror. But not all realize that the heart of the French Revolution was a spiritual combat. Christianity reached Gaul in the First Century, and since the Fifth Century Christianity was the official state religion. Everyone was Catholic and one could not be a citizen of France if he were not Catholic. Then came the so-called Enlightenment where ideas of “science” and “progress” supplanted God’s providence, and where individual “rights” were championed over the common good of the family and community. After overthrowing the monarchy, and all were subject to (“rights” ignored) those running the now totalitarian state – the new idolatry.
      The state suppressed the Church, confiscated Church property and religious houses, and executed probably 800 or more clergy and thousands of laity. Tragic.
      On September 14, 1792, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, the day Carmelites traditionally renew their vows, the 20 Carmelites of the monastery at Compiegne, France, were expelled from their monastery, their property confiscated, and they were required to wear secular dress. The lodged in four houses and continued faithful to their common life the best they could for the next two years.
       The prioress, Mother Teresa, understood the spiritual battle, and through an impulse of the Holy Spirit, they all made a daily offering of themselves to God, soul and body, in union with Christ’s sacrifice, as an offering to restore peace to France and her Church.
      The soldiers came for the Carmelites on June 22, 1794. Those who were found at home (16) were arrested and imprisoned.
      In a wonderful irony of God, the Carmelites only had one dress of secular clothing, and on July 12th they had been given permission to wash these dresses, and so were clad back in their brown religious habits when suddenly the mayor and soldiers burst in to take them to Paris for the Revolutionary Tribunal without delay. Nothing could be done; off they went clothed as Carmelite nuns. On July 16th, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, they heard their formal accusation by Fouquier-Tinville. The next day, the Revolutionary Tribunal condemned them to death, to die that evening, July 17, 1794.
      When it was time to climb into the carts to take them to the guillotine, the habit-clad Carmelites began singing, like the martyrs of the early Church. Instead of the usual tumult along the streets, silence prevailed so the nuns’ singing rang out clearly. Someone said, “They looked like they were going to their weddings!” (Which they were.) They continued their sung praise and thanksgiving to God at the foot of the guillotine and renewed their religious vows one by one prior to ascending the stairs to the block. The scene of these holy women, poised, joyful, going to meet their Lord willingly, offering a pure sacrifice, was unforgettable. It stunned the crowds.
      Within 10 days the Great Terror ended.
Dibby Green

 Originally published in the print edition of the Mojave Desert News on July 18, 2019.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.
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