The Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne

In 1792 the revolutionary government of France closed the Carmel of Compiègne and expelled its nuns. Led by their prioress, Mother Teresa of Saint Augustine, the sisters continued to live their consecrated life secretly in small groups, and they made a daily offering of themselves to God for the return of peace to France and to the Church.

In June 1794, during the Reign of Terror, they were arrested, taken to Paris and condemned by the Revolutionary Tribunal for remaining faithful to their religious life. On July 17, 1794, the sixteen women, eleven choir nuns, three lay sisters and two externs, were guillotined at what is now the Place de la Nation. They went to their deaths singing hymns and renewing their vows, the youngest, Sister Constance, going first. Ten days later the Terror ended with the fall of Robespierre. They were beatified in 1906, and Pope Francis declared them saints on December 18, 2024.

Their story inspired Georges Bernanos' play "Dialogues of the Carmelites" and Francis Poulenc's opera of the same name. Carmelite monasteries remember them with special devotion, and pilgrims pray at the Picpus Cemetery in Paris, where their bodies were thrown into a common grave.