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In thanksgiving for the Martyrs of Compiègne’s canonisation
13 September 2025
Remembering the courage and unwavering faith of the Carmelite martyrs of Compiègne
As Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was preparing to host a Mass of Thanksgiving for the canonization of the Martyrs of Compiègne on Saturday 13 September 2025, it was an occasion for us at Quidenham Carmel to remember and celebrate the martyrs’ courage and inspiring strength of faith in the face of persecution and death.
The special Mass in Paris commemorated the 16 Carmelite nuns who were executed during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror in 1794. Pope Francis officially declared the nuns of Compiègne as saints through a rare procedure called “equipollent (meaning ‘equivalent’) canonization” last December.
This means that our new Carmelite saints – Mother Teresa of Saint Augustine and her 15 companions, who were guillotined in Paris as they sang hymns of praise – can be venerated worldwide as saints in the Catholic Church. Their act of courage and unwavering faith in the face of imminent death inspired the famous opera by Francis Poulenc called ‘Dialogue of the Carmelites‘, itself based on a book of the same name by Catholic novelist Georges Bernanos.
The Martyrs were 16 French Carmelite sisters comprising 11 nuns, three lay sisters, and two tertiaries. Their Carmel was located in Compiègne, a commune 72 km north of Paris. But following the French Revolution the government began to persecute religious orders.
The sisters were arrested In 1794 after the Terror began, a time of fierce anti-Catholic persecution, and on 10 July 1794 they were transferred to the Conciergerie Prison in Paris to await trial. A few days later they were taken through the streets of Paris in an open cart, during which time they sang hymns of praise, before being executed.
The Martyrs of Compiègne were beatified on 27 May 1906 by Pope Pius X, making them the first martyrs of the French Revolution to be recognized by the Holy See, and on 18 December 2024 all sixteen sisters were recognised as saints by Pope Francis via equipollent canonization. Their feast day is 17 July.
