Thursday, July 17, 2025

Martyrs of Compiegne ("Dialogues of the Carmelites")


https://ocarm.org/en/item/713-bl-teresa-of-st-augustine-and-companions-ocd-virgins-and-martyrs

I saw the Opera "Dialogues of the Carmelites" on Broadway a long time back. The production is based on the play by Georges Bernanos and set into an operatic production by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). The play was based on the true story of sixteen Discalced Carmelite Nuns who were guillotined during the French Revolution. Here is a short historical account I lifted out of the Carmelite Liturgy of the Hours:

"As the French Revolution entered its worst days, sixteen Discalced Carmelites from the Monastery of the Incarnation in Compiegne offered their lives as a sacrifice to God, making reparation to him and imploring peace for the Church. On June 24, 1794, they were arrested and thrown into prison. Their happiness and resignation were so evident that those around them were also encouraged to draw strength from God's love. They were condemned to death for their fidelity to the Church and their religious life and for their devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. Singing hymns, and having renewed their vows before the Superior, Teresa of St. Augustine, they were put to death in Paris on July 17, 1794."

I confess that I have known the story of the Martyrs of Compiegne for the length of time I have known Carmel.  There were many lines in the Broadway production which spoke to me directly. The protagonist in this story was a woman called Blanche. She was the daughter of the Marquis De la Force. After the death of her mother, being caught up in the panic surrounding the French Revolution, Blanche was forever sealed with an inordinate fear of death and suffering. Even a mere shadow of a servant throws her into a panic and nervous breakdown. She decided to enter the cloister with the hope of finding the peace and security of the cloister walls and to hopefully experience a respite from all her fears. The Mother Prioress strongly reminded Blanche that the cloister was not a refuge to protect them. "Our Order does not protect us, we must protect the Order!" I love this line because it brings home the idea that an Order's charism is preserved through the efforts of its members. We can remain truly Carmelites to the extent we want to be and to the extent that we work at it.

Once inside the monastery, she met a fellow Novice Sr. Constance, who was her opposite in character. Sr. Constance was an enthusiastic, cheerful young novice who welcomed sufferings and nurtured the idea of martyrdom as an offering to God. She had a premonition of dying young. Quite a clash of attitude. But this difference in characters provided me the most uplifting plot in the story as these two opposing personalities were welded together in the scaffold, singing with ONE voice, the hymn of courage. It was a beautiful and inspiring spiritual twist and ending for me. During some early scenes leading up to the climax of the execution, the Mother Prioress was exhorting her spiritual daughters to be brave in facing whatever God had in store for them. But she tempered this exhortation with the line, "Prayer is our duty, martyrdom is the fruit." In other words, for me it meant, "let us go about our business of prayer for that is what brought us to Carmel, and leave God the free hand to grant us the glory of martyrdom, if that is what pleases Him." In other words, we should not seek martyrdom as an end in itself. She reiterated a spiritual truth that aspiring to great things can sometimes be a sign of spiritual pride. The Mother Prioress tried to temper Sr. Constance's longing for martyrdom by words such as these. In this instance, the Mother Prioress stood as a true daughter of St. Teresa of Avila who in her lifetime said many times, "our true martyrdom is the martyrdom of conquering self."

The story was the triumph of grace over nature. It was the story of how Sr. Blanche, a fear-ridden woman, ended up choosing death over freedom because she was given the strength for it in the end. Courage is not the absence of fear but embracing the object feared with the end result of overcoming it. It was the story of how God accomplished great things in simple and obscure women who never sought to win the crown of martyrdom but succeeded in obtaining it.   The Reign of Terror ended a few days after the execution of the Carmelites. We know for certain that their sacrifice was well received by Almighty God and bore fruit for France and the Church.

You can buy the book "To Quell the Terror" by William Bush and distributed by Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications https://www.icspublications.org/

 

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Our Lady of Mount Carmel


The Order of Carmel celebrates the solemnity of Mary under her title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16th. This is a very special day for all Carmelites as they honor Mary as their Patroness.
This is a very special day for me because this day marks the day I was led to a deeper appreciation of the Mother of God and my Catholic faith. I still vividly remember, and can accurately recall, the words of the priest that gave me my first brown scapular on July 16, 1984, "Wear this and call on the Virgin Mary." Everyone experiences life-changing events, this was mine.


Sunday, April 20, 2025

Easter Blessings and Joy!

“A woman about to give birth has sorrow, because her hour has come.  But when she has brought forth the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for her joy that a man is born into the world ” (John 16:21).
This passage from the Gospel of John articulates for me the joy of Easter.  Our Lord endured many sufferings because of His great love for us.  Now in his glorious resurrection He has given birth to new sons and daughters of the Church.  We have now put aside the penance of Lent and are now basking in the Easter triumph our Lord gained for us.  Easter is not only a season in the calendar but a journey of faith, hope and love, lived in the everyday.  It is a prefiguration of the Christian reality that the sufferings and difficulties of this world are passing and a time of unending joy will come.  It is the calm after the storm.
It was the witness of the Resurrection that gave the apostles courage to proclaim boldly the Good News of Jesus.  It was the same Resurrection that gave the early Christians perseverance in their times of cruel persecutions.  This is the same Resurrection presented to us by the Church every year.  What do we do with this great treasure?  Our Christian vocation calls us to witness to this great event and the promise it brings.  For a Christian, the cross should not be experienced as oppressive but redemptive.  We are  people of the Resurrection.

Easter is a singular event second only to none.  St. Paul says that if Jesus did not rise from the dead our faith is empty and in vain.  If the Resurrection did not happen we are the most pitiable of people because we are still in our sins and those who have died in Christ are the deadest of the dead.  For unbelievers or the mediocre, Easter is all about flowers, eggs and bunnies!  Cute but empty unless we recognize in these symbols a sign of new life and new beginnings.  We like to make New Year's resolutions to start off the year.  Easter resolutions are also appropriate.  Easter gives us great hope because it gives us the reassurance that darkness turns to light, sorrow to joy, and death to life.  How beautiful is our faith!! Despite the burdens and scandals in the Church, despite the disillusions and clamor for change, the Church will rise triumphant!  The Bride of Christ, the Church, is purified from its stains and imperfections.  Every year, newly baptized sons and daughters, bring new vigor of faith, new hopes and new zeal, creating something new from the old.  Yes, Jesus makes all things new!  HAPPY EASTER!