During the French Revolution in the late 1700s, a number of Daughters of Charity were among the hundreds of faithful priests, religious and ordinary Catholics who were killed because they would not take the oath required by the revolutionary government of France. Taking this oath separated one from the Catholic Church in Rome. 

June 26 is the Feast Day of these Five Martyrs of the French Revolution, all guillotined by the revolutionary government: Four Daughters of Charity at Arras on June 26, 1794, and one Daughter of Charity at Dax on April 9, 1794.  

Arras

Bl. Sister Madeleine Fontaine, Local Superior, age 71

Bl. Sister Mary Frances Lanel, age 48

Bl. Sister Theresa Madeleine Fantou, age 46

Bl. Sister Jean Gerard, age 41

The House of Charity at Arras was founded by St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac. The Sisters served those in poverty with great zeal and creativity until the time of the French Revolution. Seven Daughters of Charity were serving there, visiting those in need in their homes, providing a free school for girls, and serving the sick in a dispensary. Under pressure to sign the oath, three Sisters left: one returned to her family and two were sent to Belgium. The three Sisters that remained were unwilling to take the oath and were arrested on February 14, 1794. Confined for several months to various prisons, they ministered to their fellow prisoners with great kindness.  

Then, they were summoned to the revolutionary tribunal in the town of Cambrai. On the road from the prison to the tribunal, they prayed, sang spiritual songs, and consoled the other prisoners. Blessed Madeleine Fontaine repeated several times that their blood would be the last blood shed at Cambrai. Their peace was remarkable on the way to the scaffold.

They were guillotined, but the prophecy of Blessed Madeleine was fulfilled–they were the last to be executed at Cambrai. God rewarded their daily fidelity to His will with the extraordinary grace of martyrdom. They were beatified by the Church on June 13, 1920.

May God also give us the wisdom to make good decisions about the situations that demand our response and the courage to embrace the daily sacrifices that are asked of us!

Courtesy of Sister Marjory Ann Baez, D.C.

Dax

Bl. Sister Marguerite Rutan, age 58

In the newly completed Hospital in Dax, Sister Marguerite Rutan organized the work, the necessary improvements and built the chapel. But she gave her full attention to the sick, to the small school and to abandoned children.

The Revolution brought a new hospital director—a chaplain who had taken the oath of the revolutionary government. The Sisters refused to attend his Mass. Despite difficulties, they continued to work with sick and wounded soldiers, sailors and grave-diggers. The Sisters were required to take the Oath of Liberty-Equality, but refused in spite of the known consequences.

The Revolutionary committee found a way to arrest the Superior, Sister Marguerite. A false testimony allowed the committee to say that she was unpatriotic, a fanatic against the principles of the Revolution and that she tried to convince wounded soldiers to desert and join the royalist army of Vendéens.

On December 24, 1793, Christmas Eve, Sister Marguerite was arrested and celebrated the birth of Christ in the silence of her prison cell. By March, the guillotine had been installed at Poyanne Place, near the prison.  

On April 9, 1794, Sister Marguerite Rutan was judged and condemned to death with immediate execution. She was taken outside, tied back-to-back with Father Lannelongue, who also refused to take the oath.

As a soldier tried to remove her neck scarf, she raised her hand and stopped him. She removed her cloth to expose her neck. Sister Marguerite, possessed with a transcendent strength, advanced with dignity to the guillotine steps, confiding her entrance into eternal life to Mary. She spoke no words of criticism nor of hate. Her behavior manifested to the end that she forgave those who were doing evil.

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