On Tue, 23 Jul 1996, Thomas Izbicki wrote:
> On Tue, 23 Jul 1996, GP. Ferzoco wrote:
>
> > Today, 17 July, is the feast of ...
> >
> > * Carmelite martyrs of Compiegne (1794)
> >
> > * * * * * * *
> > George Ferzoco
> >
> Are these the same people as in the opera Dialogues of the Carmelies? (I
> saw it once; very powerful.)
>
> tom izbicki
>
>
I hope I am not redundant; having been away for a week, I have a lot of
messages but don't see an answer to this.
Yes they are. A collection of sources toward their canonization was
collected by a Brother Bruno in a volume called Le Sang du Carmel. I am
also giving them a page or two in my forthcoming history of nuns. The
opera takes some liberties. For example, it was the prioress, Mme.
Lidoine, who went last to the guillotine after standing at the foot and
giving each nun permission to die. Also, they managed to get enough
pieces of their habits smuggled into prison to die as nuns. They were
image conscious and these things were staged to ensure that they would be
clearly understood by all the world to be dying as martyrs and not
accidental victims of the revolution. Alas, for all their trouble the
church delayed their canonization until recently in order to bargain for
concordats with the secular states.
Jo Ann McNamara
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