The Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne: “Song from the Scaffold” |
|
July 17th: Feast of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne
Blessed Teresa of Sf. Augustine and Companions (1794) It is fitting that these Carmelite Martyrs would give their lives in witness to the Holy Faith in the day following the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel! In this ‘reign of terror’ in France, the religious were made to abandon their holy habits and disband their convents and sign an oath to the government. Death awaited those who would not compromise or succumb to this evil request. Blessed Teresa and fifteen other Carmelite nuns were guillotined during the “Reign of Terror” of the French Revolution. Two years earlier they had made an Act of Consecration by which they offered themselves as a holocaust to bring peace to the Church and the country. When they were arrested Sister Henriette exclaimed, “Let us rejoice in the joy of the Lord, that we shall die for our Holy Religion.” As each Sister ascended the guillotine, her companions sang the Veni Creator Spiritus. The normally noisy crowd was strangely silent, and a witness remarked, “They looked as if they were going to their wedding.” Within ten days of their death, the Reign of Terror ended.
Veni, Creator Spiritus 1. Veni, creator Spiritus 2. Qui diceris Paraclitus, 3. Tu septiformis munere, 4. Accende lumen sensibus, 5. Hostem repellas longius 6. Per te sciamus da Patrem 7. Deo Patri sit gloria, V. Emitte Spiritum tuum, et creabuntur:
On the day of their martyrdom the prioress, Mother Teresa of Saint Augustine, stood at the foot of the scaf?fold. Before climbing the steps, each sister interrupted her singing of Laudate Dominum to ask Mother Teresa, “Permission to die, Mother?” Mother Teresa responded to each, “Go, my daughter!” In front of a violent power, the sisters made it clear who had true authority over their life and death: Jesus Christ, who himself said, “No one takes my life from me, I lay it down of my own free will.”
LAUDATE DOMINUM
Laudate dominum
When during their trial the Carmelites were falsely accused of harboring arms, the prioress held up a crucifix and answered, “Here are the only arms that we have ever had in our house.” Sentenced to the guillotine for being adherents of what the government characterized as the “fanatical and royalist cult” of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the sixteen nuns sang on the way to the place of execution the Latin hymns Salve Regina and Te Deum and chanted the Laudate Dominum (Ps 117) while mounting the scaffold.
Salve Regina,
Related posts |
