These Discalced Carmelite nuns lived in a town of Compienge, France, in the Monastery of Incarnation, offering intercessory prayers for those in need. In 1789, their community numbered 20, with their prioress Therese of St Augustine. In the same year, in the midst of the French Revolution, the french National Assembly declared all religious vows null and void, assuming that most religious men and women were held in religious life against their will. The Assembly believed their act would "liberate" religious who would gratefully leave to enter the workforce. In August 1790, a government official visited the monastery of Compiegne and was surprised that each member of the community refused the "ridiculous freedom" that was being offered. The nuns were given a two-year ultimatum after which they would have to leave religious life. Under the leadership of Mother Therese the community prepared for the ordeal to come, praying and appealing to God for help and offering themselves as an instrument for the peace between France and their Church. They resolved to follow Jesus in his crucifixion and resurrection. Following their expulsion from the monastery, the community split into groups of four, living separately, adopting secular dress and continuing their simple and prayerful life.
Soon after, sixteen of the sisters were arrested for living religious life in violation of the constitution. They were taken to Paris, where they were all found guilty of being religious fanatics and supporters of King, they all were sentenced to death on the 17th July. On the night before their execution, the sisters arrived at the guillotine singing the Veni Creator Spiritus. Therese of St Augustine asked to be the last to die, so that she could encourage her sisters in their commitment, in the midst of the pointless violence. By the end of the same month the terror opf the French Revolution had come to an end. Text after Universalis
It all seems very hard work, this business of perfection - and so it is: we are waging war on ourselves! But as soon as we get down to it God becomes so active in our souls and showers so many mercies on them that whatever has got to be done in this life seems insignificant. And as we nuns do so much already, giving up our freedom for love of God and subjecting it to someone else, what excuse have we got for holding back when it comes to interior mortification? ....If you have started serving God seriously, the least you can offer him is, your life! If you have given him your will, what are you afraid of? If you are a real religious, a real 'pray-er', and want to enjoy God's favours, you obviously can't afford to shy away from wanting to die for him, and undergo martyrdom. Don't you realise, sisters, that the life of a good religious - a person who wants to be one of God's really close friends - is one long martyrdom? I say 'long' because in comparison with those whose heads have been chopped off in a trice one can call it long, but all our lives are short, very short in some cases. And we don't even know whether our own won't be so short that it will come to an end in an hour, or even a second, after we have made up our mind to serve God fully. That could happen.
We have just got to make no account of anything that will come to an end, least of all life, for we can't count on a single day. If we remember that every hour might be our last, is there a single one of us who will feel inclined to shirk?
Well, there is nothing you can be more certain of, believe me! So we must train ourselves to thwart our own wills in every way; then, if you try hard, as I have said, though you won't get there all of the sudden, you will gradually arrive, without realising it, at the peak of perfection. The fragments of the second reading from The Office of Readings, Discalced Carmelite Proper offices, after 'The Way of Perfection' by St Teresa of Avila
It all seems very hard work, this business of perfection - and so it is: we are waging war on ourselves! But as soon as we get down to it God becomes so active in our souls and showers so many mercies on them that whatever has got to be done in this life seems insignificant. And as we nuns do so much already, giving up our freedom for love of God and subjecting it to someone else, what excuse have we got for holding back when it comes to interior mortification? ....If you have started serving God seriously, the least you can offer him is, your life! If you have given him your will, what are you afraid of? If you are a real religious, a real 'pray-er', and want to enjoy God's favours, you obviously can't afford to shy away from wanting to die for him, and undergo martyrdom. Don't you realise, sisters, that the life of a good religious - a person who wants to be one of God's really close friends - is one long martyrdom? I say 'long' because in comparison with those whose heads have been chopped off in a trice one can call it long, but all our lives are short, very short in some cases. And we don't even know whether our own won't be so short that it will come to an end in an hour, or even a second, after we have made up our mind to serve God fully. That could happen.
We have just got to make no account of anything that will come to an end, least of all life, for we can't count on a single day. If we remember that every hour might be our last, is there a single one of us who will feel inclined to shirk?
Well, there is nothing you can be more certain of, believe me! So we must train ourselves to thwart our own wills in every way; then, if you try hard, as I have said, though you won't get there all of the sudden, you will gradually arrive, without realising it, at the peak of perfection. The fragments of the second reading from The Office of Readings, Discalced Carmelite Proper offices, after 'The Way of Perfection' by St Teresa of Avila
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