Pope Leo XIV has sent a telegram to the Archbishop of Paris, Mons. Laurent Ulrich, on the occasion of the Thanksgiving Mass for the canonization of the 16 Carmelitas martyrs of compiègnewhich will take place this September 13 at the Notre-Dame Cathedral.
In December 2024, Pope Francis authorized the canonization of these religious killed by hate to faith.
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Like the usual canonization process, the equivalent canonization by which these religious reached the altars is an invocation of papal infallibility in which the Pope declares that a person is among the saints in heaven. Avoid the formal canonization process, as well as the ceremony, since it is carried out through the publication of a papal bull.
A prolonged veneration of the saint and a demonstrated heroic virtue is still required, and although no modern miracle is necessary, the fame of miracles that occurred before or after the death of a saint is also taken into account after a study carried out by the historical section of the Vatican Dicaster for the causes of the saints.
“In the thanksgiving that resonates today under the notre-Dame vaults of Paris, in honor of the canonization of the sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne, his holiness Pope Leo XIV deeply pleases himself in joining the joy of all the faithful,” reads the telegram signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state of the Vatican state.
The Pope stressed that among the numerous faithful, religious and Catholic priests who gave life during the terror period of the French Revolution, these 16 Carmelites stand out who “especially raised the admiration of their own jailers and printed a beneficial shock in the most hardened minds and hearts, opening the path to the divine.”
“The abundance of literary and artistic works inspired by its martyrdom demonstrates, if necessary, that the artists were not wrong, just as the surprisingly silent crowd did not do it at the time of torture,” he added.
For the Holy Father, “the peace of the heart” that these religious stated on the way to the Guillotine “was really the result of immense charity, but also of the theological faith and hope that encouraged them.”
Given his imminent death, the religious of Compiègne were not victims of an arrest, but “authors of a supreme gift that updates the offering of their religious votes.” At that supreme moment, “apparently stripped of everything, they are actually rich in their votes and in the act of consecration with which they freely offered their lives to God,” said Leo XIV.
“Encouraged by the theological hope, the Carmelites are safe from the mysterious fertility of their life delivered by love, following the path drawn by Christ, convinced that, even in the heart of the most unfair suffering, the seed of a new life is hidden,” he said.
The Pope remembered the words of the prioress, last to be guillotined and offering a smile to the executioners, who said: “How could we be angry with these poor unfortunates who open the doors of heaven?”
“I forgive you with all my heart, as I hope God forgive me!” Added the religious before martyrdom.
“Total offering, forgiveness and gratitude, joy and peace: these are the fruits of charity that flooded the soul of our martyrs. That we can learn from them the strength and fertility of an inner life totally oriented to the celestial realities!” Wrote the Holy Father.
The telegram concludes by transmitting the blessing of Leo XIV to all the faithful and pastors present in Notre-Dame, “without forgetting the numerous people who from further bind to this event that rejoice the entire Church.”
History of the Carmelitas de Compiègne
The Festival of Our Lady of Carmen of 1794, held in a horrible prison in Paris, had omens of blood and glory for the barefoot nuns of the Compiègne monastery.
The next day, the sixteen daughters of Santa Teresa, novice included, were going to be taken to guillotine for the crime of being Catholics, “fans” in the revolutionary language.
You can know the complete story of the 16 Carmelitas of Compiègne, killed during the terror of the French Revolution, doing Click here.
Andrés Henríquez
I was born in Caracas in 1996. I am a writer for ACI Press and correspondent of EWTN since 2023. Since then, I cover events of the Catholic Church in Venezuela, Latin America and the world. I have more than 6 years of experience in bilingual media. In addition, in Venezuela I have worked from various fields for freedom and respect for fundamental rights in the country. I am a member of the Regnum Christi Federation since 2014.