Today, July 17, is the memorial of Blessed Teresa of St. Augustine & Companion Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne.
During the anti-clericalism of the French Revolution, the monasteries and convents were suppressed.
Consequently, the Discalced Carmelite nuns were arrested in June 1794, during the Reign of Terror. They were led in a cart through the streets of Paris, where they were condemned as a group as traitors and sentenced to death.
They were sent to the guillotine for beheading on July 17, 1794 on board an open cart. Along the road, priest disguised as common folk gave the nuns absolution. During the long ride the nuns sang “Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness, in your compassion, blot out my offense… Hail holy Queen, mother of mercy…”
At the foot of the platform, the community jointly renewed their vows and began to chant the “Veni Creator Spiritus,” the hymn sung at the ceremony for the profession of vows.
It was said that they also sang Psalm 117: “O praise the Lord all you nations! Praise Him all you people! For His mercy is confirmed upon us and the truth of the Lord remains forever! Praise the Lord!”
They continued their singing as, one by one, they mounted the scaffold to meet their death.
The novice of the community, Sister Constance, was the first to die. When Sr. Constance was called by the executioners, she accused herself before the Mother Superior for not being able to finish the Divine Office. Mother Teresa said, “You will finish it in Paradise.”
Constance then sought her blessing and permission to die. She then serenely and willingly placed her head under the blade. The next sisters did the same. Sister Henriette the infirmarian assisted her sisters up the steps. After she blessed everyone, Mother Teresa of St. Augustine took her turn and was the last to be beheaded.
There were no raucous crowds during the executions. All were silent, except for the singing of the nuns and the slicing of the blade.
The sisters’ decapitated heads and bodies were thrown into a common sand-pit in a cemetery, which is now the present-day Picpus Cemetery. Their murder was the climax of the Reign of Terror and its supposed triumph over the Church that it despised. Within 10 days, Robespierre fell from power and was himself beheaded. Thus the Reign of Terror suddenly ended.
The nuns were beatified in 1906 by Pope Saint Pius X.