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Favorite Lesser Known Saints?


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faithcecelia

Oh, The Martyrs of Compiegne!!! I adore these! I guess to me they are not lesser known as they were a community favourite at Quidenham. One of the novices taught me a lot about CBT while I was having my therapy. The night before their execution she spoke to their confessor and told him how scared she was. He broke the process down into tiny steps - dressing, climbing into the cart, climbing the steps etc, and she realised she could manage each step. It moves me to tears to know that they each knelt before their Prioress and obtained 'permission to die' before climbing the scaffold singing the Te Deum. It is said to have been the beginning of the end of the awful state in France at the time, as even the most bloodthirsty of the fans of the guillotine were horrified at watching their execution.

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JenDeMaria

[quote name='faithcecelia' timestamp='1304879724' post='2238750']
Oh, The Martyrs of Compiegne!!! I adore these! I guess to me they are not lesser known as they were a community favourite at Quidenham. One of the novices taught me a lot about CBT while I was having my therapy. The night before their execution she spoke to their confessor and told him how scared she was. He broke the process down into tiny steps - dressing, climbing into the cart, climbing the steps etc, and she realised she could manage each step. It moves me to tears to know that they each knelt before their Prioress and obtained 'permission to die' before climbing the scaffold singing the Te Deum. It is said to have been the beginning of the end of the awful state in France at the time, as even the most bloodthirsty of the fans of the guillotine were horrified at watching their execution.
[/quote]

Did you know that Sister Constance, the youngest, was one of St. Therese' s favorite martyrs?

The beautiful opera The Dialogues of the Carmelites portrays the sisters as singing the Te Deum as they mount the scaffold, but they were actually chanting Psalm 117 (116 Vulgate) Laudete Dominum omnes gentes -- Praise the Lord, all ye gentiles! -- which was sung by Saint Teresa at the founding of a new Carmel. After consecrating themselves to the will of God and the possibility of martyrdom every day for over 2 years they rejoiced in their vocation to the guillotine! I find their story very moving, as well.

I just finished reading a wonderful book on the sujbect by the historian William Bush called [url="http://http://www.icspublications.org/bookstore/others/b_others08.html"]To Quell the Terror[/url], which I would highly recommend, by the way.

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faithcecelia

Yes To Quell the Terror was the first book I read on them, I also read another, older, book which was a style I don't like (I am the least sugary Carmelite in the world, I can't even read Story of a Soul without cringing!) but was stunningly beautiful and actually became a favourite, though I can't remember what it was called, maybe it didn't have a title?? (lots of our books were rebound). Quidenham is a very close community to the Benedictines of Stanbrook, who have lots of the relics of the Compiegne martyrs.

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faithcecelia

Just done a bit of hunting and there are actually about 4 hymns they were meant to have sung :think: guess its one where people have reported what they thought they heard, and stories were repeated, etc etc. Either way, they were amazing women who showed that God can call anyone to be a martyr.

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JenDeMaria

[quote name='faithcecelia' timestamp='1304884544' post='2238779']
Just done a bit of hunting and there are actually about 4 hymns they were meant to have sung :think: guess its one where people have reported what they thought they heard, and stories were repeated, etc etc.[/quote]

I'm sure there are probably several different accounts of the song sung as the sisters ascended the scaffold. Many people become confused given the different fictional portrayals of the actual historical event and the sisters sang many different songs on the way to the execution site as they were transported there in open carts.

*Gertrud von Stein has the sisters singing [i]Veni Creator Spiritus[/i] in her novella [i]The Song at the Scaffold[/i]
*I was wrong in what I said above, Poulenc has the sisters singing the [i]Salve Regina[/i] in his opera [i]Dialouges of the Carmelites[/i]
*William Bush, the historian, reports that the cart ride to the guillotine took several hours and they, in effect, chanted Vespers, Compline and the Office of the Dead in addition to a large number of hymns including the [i]Miserere[/i] and the [i]Salve Regina[/i]. Since I have [i]To Quell the Terror[/i] in my hands I might as well simply quote directly from it:

[i]Tonight, however, there was the austere chanting of the 16 nuns wearing habits and it continued, unabated. The silence that had accompanied their passage suddenly engulfed the crowd. Mounted on its high scaffold, stark against the still bright midsummer evening sky, the realism of the naked blade defied the courage of the would-be martyrs. The resourceful prioress allowed no time, however, for inner battles with fear. As we have seen, she was prepared for this fateful moment and greeted the scaffold's uncompromising reality with the equally uncompromising theological reality of the [/i]Te Deum[i]. [...]After the singing of the [/i]Te Deum[i], the devotions of Madame Lidoine were those normal for a dying Carmelite. If possible, the dying nun, after the Holy Spirit had been invoked, renews her monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, her hands between those of the prioress. Thus is explained the hymn next sung before the guillotine: the [/i]Veni Creator Spiritus [i][...] Monseigneur Jaffret specifies that with this hymn of invocation complete, the nuns renewed their vows [...] It is reported that it was after rising from her knees to face the machine, as she started up the steps of the scaffold that Sister Constance intoned the first line of the psalm [/i]Laudete Dominum omnes gentes[i]. It was the psalm sung by Saint Teresa of Avila at the foundation of a new Carmel. In 1604, Mother Anne of Jesus, just arrived from Spain under the escort of Cardinal de Bruelle, had introduced this Teresian custom into France [...] Now, 190 years later, in that same city where Christian civilization seemed to be in its death throes as the old order collapsed, the familiar verses, spontaneously begun by Sister Constance at the foot of the guillotine, were again taken up by the surprised nuns "with greater fervor than harmony". They would continue throughout the community's immolation, punctuated by the recurring fatal thud cutting short voice after voice. As the Teresian psalm of foundation paradoxically announced the end of the original, earthly foundation of Compiegne's Carmel, it mystically signaled the inauguration of its eternal foundation in the Kingdom of the Lamb. There, in the constellation of those who shed their blood for the Lamb, it would shine forever. Had he himself not said "those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them are lost?" (Jn 17:12)

[/i]Also[i]:

O praise the Lord all you nations!
Praise him all ye people!
FOR HIS MERCY IS CONFIRMED UPON US
And the truth of the Lord endureth forever!
Praise the Lord!

Spontaneously bursting from the lips of Sister Constance as she, designated the first to die, started up the scaffold steps, the austere chanting of the psalm was in fact taken up and carried forward by the others until the end. Thus as the implacable blade cut short each nun's voice and effusion of blood, the chanting of women's voices insistently proclaimed before men and angels (1 Cor 4:9) that God's [/i][u]mercy[/u][i] was being confirmed upon them. Such was their final statement, their final word, their final witness. No protest was lodged against the new totalitarian terrorist government, no denunciation of its disgusting daily cult of blood sacrifice. [...] Naught but their austere chant of high, solemn joy that after some 20 months of daily consecrating themselves for this hour, God's mercy was allowing them to make their act of holocaust to restore peace to France and to her church. [...] As they offered up to the Lord and Giver of Life the one mortal life he had given them, their voices announced that God's mercy to his creatures is great and that whatever may be the vicissitudes accompanying human destiny in this fallen world, within the mystical Body of Christ all remains subservient to the mystery of that mercy.[/i]

[quote] Either way, they were amazing women who showed that God can call anyone to be a martyr.
[/quote]

Agreed!!! :like:

And regarding that other book you read on the Compiegne martyrs, if it was an English translation of [i]Le Sang du Carme[/i]l, please tell me about it!! I was under the impression that other history of the martyrs was only available in French.

And I would love to travel to Stanbrook Abbey some day to see the relics of the Compiegne martyrs. This House of Brede is the first book on Catholicism I ever read and according to Wikipedia, Rumer Godden based much of her material on Stanbrook Abbey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanbrook_Abbey

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tnavarro61

[quote name='JenDeMaria' timestamp='1304878412' post='2238740']
I must confess it bothers me a twee bit that Jesus' own grandparents are being listed as lesser known saints. Gracious, who do you need to be connected to around here? :rolleyes:


[url="http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Leseur"]Servant of God, Elizabeth Leseur[/url]


[/quote]

Her life is the best!! And his husband!!

Thanks for sharing this!

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faithcecelia

[quote name='JenDeMaria' timestamp='1304892753' post='2238816']
And regarding that other book you read on the Compiegne martyrs, if it was an English translation of [i]Le Sang du Carme[/i]l, please tell me about it!! I was under the impression that other history of the martyrs was only available in French.

And I would love to travel to Stanbrook Abbey some day to see the relics of the Compiegne martyrs. This House of Brede is the first book on Catholicism I ever read and according to Wikipedia, Rumer Godden based much of her material on Stanbrook Abbey [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanbrook_Abbey"]http://en.wikipedia....Stanbrook_Abbey[/url]
[/quote]


i think it may have been, we definately has it in French, but mine is too poor to read in it. I will ask next time I have a chance to talk to my old prioress about anything other than psychiactric assessments!:rolleyes:

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InPersonaChriste

[quote name='MargaretTeresa' timestamp='1304812955' post='2238528']
St Margaret of Scotland. Very hard to find any info on, but a wonderful loving person.
[/quote]

She is my Patron Saint! I have a whole booklet on her life. She actually was considering religious life during the time when she met her future husband.

As for the question,
My favorite not well known saints are:
St. Gemma Galgani
St. Peregrine
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi
Blessed Pier Giorgo
Blessed Imelda

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FutureSister2009

I like Blessed Miguel Pro and St. Gemma. I have to look for more that I don't know very well. St. Monica, my Confirmation Saint is not as well known as her son St. Augustine but I do still pray to her.

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[quote name='FutureSister2009' timestamp='1304961084' post='2239151']
I like Blessed Miguel Pro and St. Gemma. I have to look for more that I don't know very well. St. Monica, my Confirmation Saint is not as well known as her son St. Augustine but I do still pray to her.
[/quote]

I loveeeee St. Monica!!!!!!!!!!
[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10482a.htm"]http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10482a.htm[/url]

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TeresaBenedicta

[url="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=43"]St. Dominic Savio[/url]

He's my confirmation saint, and while many know his teacher, St. John Bosco, few are familiar with little Dominic. But I love him dearly! It was his feast day just the other day. :-)

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Piccoli Fiori JMJ

+JMJ

Blessed Marie Celine of the Presentation, P.C.C.

Blessed Laura Vicuna

I'd have to think about the rest...

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Piccoli Fiori JMJ

[quote name='MargaretTeresa' timestamp='1305069290' post='2239849']
What does PCC stand for?
[/quote]

Poor Clare Colettine :) I'm going to be joining her family soon!

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TeresaBenedicta

[quote name='Piccoli Fiori JMJ' timestamp='1305069896' post='2239855']
Poor Clare Colettine :) I'm going to be joining her family soon!
[/quote]

I just got a letter from a friend of mine who is a Poor Clare :love:

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