16 Carmelite Nuns Executed During the French Revolution | Martyrs of Compiègne

On July 17, 1794, sixteen Discalced Carmelite women from Compiègne were executed at the Place du Trône Renversé in Paris during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror.

The sisters sang hymns and psalms as they were transported through Paris. At the scaffold, they chanted the Veni Creator Spiritus, renewed their baptismal and religious vows and approached the guillotine one by one after receiving the blessing of their prioress, Mother Teresa of St. Augustine. Sister Constance, the community’s youngest member and novice, was executed first, while the prioress was the last.

Ten days later, Maximilien Robespierre was arrested during the Thermidorian Reaction. He was executed on July 28, and his fall marked the collapse of the Reign of Terror. The Carmelites were beatified by Pope Pius X in 1906 and canonized by Pope Francis on December 18, 2024.