Blessed Marie-Geneviève Meunier

The Martyrs of Compiègne were the 16 members of the Carmel of Compiègne, France: 11 Discalced Carmelite nuns, three lay sisters, and two externs (or tertiaries). They were executed by the guillotine towards the end of the Reign of Terror, at what is now the Place de la Nation in Paris on 17 July 1794, and are venerated as martyr saints of the Catholic Church. Ten days after their execution, Maximilien Robespierre himself was executed, ending the Reign of Terror. Their story has inspired a novella, a motion picture, a television movie, and an opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites, written by French composer Francis Poulenc. The number of Christian martyrs increased greatly in the early years of the French Revolution. Thousands of Christians died by the guillotine or as the result of mass deportations, drownings, imprisonment, shootings, mob violence, and "sheer butchery". In 1790, the French Revolutionary government passed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which outlawed religious life. The community of Carmelite sisters at Compiègne, a commune 72 km north of Paris, was founded in 1641, a daughter house of the monastery in Amiens. The community grew rapidly and "was renowned for its fervor and fidelity". It was supported by the French court. Shortly after Bastille Day, on 4 August 1790, government officials, with armed guards, interviewed each sister at their convent in Compiègne and forced them to choose between breaking their vows or risking further punishment. They all refused to abandon their lives of obedience, chastity, and poverty. They were allowed to remain at the convent and were deemed wards of the state, which entitled them to receive government pensions. The revolutionary government, at the end of 1791, required all clergy to swear a civic oath supporting the Civil Constitution or risk losing their pensions. At Easter 1792, the government plundered churches and interrupted services. Mother Teresa of St.