Carmelite Saints & Blesseds
Blessed Teresa of St Augustine and Companions
Virgins and Martyrs
July 17: An Optional Memorial from the Common of Martyrs or Common of Virgins
As the French Revolution entered its worst days, sixteen Discalced Carmelites from the Monastery of the Incarnation in Compiègne offered their lives as a sacrifice to God, making reparation to him and imploring peace for the Church. On June 24, 1794, they were arrested and thrown into prison. Their happiness and resignation were so evident that those around them were also encouraged to draw strength from God’s love. They were condemned to death for their devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Singing hymns, and having renewed their vows before the superior, Teresa of St Augustine, they were put to death in Paris on July 17, 1794.
you called Blessed Teresa of St Augustine and her companions
to go in the strength of the Holy Spirit
from the heights of Carmel to receive a martyr’s crown.
May our love too be so steadfast
that it will bring us
to the everlasting vision of your glory.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39; Gospel - John 15:18-21.
Texts taken from the “Carmelite Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours,” Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome: 1993.
Image courtesy of the Carmelnet webmaster, U.S.A.