THEY were tried and convicted of being “fanatics,” “enemies of the people” and “annihilators of public freedom” on July 17, 1794 in revolutionary Paris.
Their true crime was leading a quiet life of prayer, never repudiating in words or actions the King of France or his family.
In his book To Quell the Terror, William Bush described the civil trial of the 16 Carmelite nuns, known as the Martyrs of Compiègne, who were guillotined that same day. Their story is instructive today as to how the language of equality and freedom can be used to justify terror against innocent people. To be accused of being “fanatics” and “annihilators of public freedom” by people who truly were fanatics and annihilators of public freedom is a fascinating example of projection and a warning as to just how dangerous the intoxicating slogans of freedom can be.
From the book:
Armed with a mass of giant keys, and accompanied by huge mastiffs and lantern-bearing assistants, the jailer escorted the bailiff and his gendarmes through the maze of grilles partitioning off the cold, humid vaults stretching into the bowels of the earth. Creaking grilles echoed piercingly throughout the vast spaces as the procession was formed at the still-dark hour. The bailiffs gendarmes herded the accused together as they came forward in response to his rough repeated shouts of the names on Fouquier-Tinville’s list.
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The Revolutionary Tribunal’s major courtroom, used in the thirteenth century by Saint Louis himself, had been rechristened the “Courtroom of Freedom” by the Revolution.Its capacity outstripped by the number of accused tried each day, an adjoining courtroom, christened the “Courtroom of Equality,” had been inaugurated. Both operated simultaneously to dispatch the ever-swelling influx of provincial prisoners dispatched to Paris for trial since the passing of the lawof 22 Prairial. On that July 17, 35 people were tried in the “Courtroom of Freedom,” 19 in the “Courtroom of Equality.” As we have seen, 40 of these 54 accused would be guillotined at the Place of the Throne before nightfall.
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Scellier ignored her bravura and passed to the second item: “You have dared expose the Blessed Sacrament underacanopy shaped like a royal cloak.”
The prioress’s reply would lead us to think that she had heard of the talk of their being part of a conspiracy, perhaps again from remarks she overheard Fouquier-Tinville make to his deputies. The Committee of Revolutionary Surveillanceof Compiegne, in their original accusations against theCarmelites, had actually preposterously tried to link the nuns with Catherine Theot, a deranged Parisian concierge who called herself the “Mother of God” and to whom Robespierre’s en-emies tried to link him while precipitating his downfall.
In disbelief the prioress retorted: “That canopy is an old altar furnishing. Nothing in its shape distinguishes it from any other such canopy. Certainly it is in no way whatsoever related to this conspiracy in which you want to implicate us because of it. I fail to understand how you can seriously inferthat our possessing it can be a crime.”
This time Scellier answered her: “That altar furnishing indicates your attachment to the monarchy and, therefore, to Louis XVI and his family.”
Sister Marie’s account of this exchange, borrowed from the Abbe Guillon’s, repeats his observation that the prioress might at this point have held her tongue, even though their monastery had been bound by close ties to the royal family from its foundation. But her great and generous soul exacted unashamed loyalty to France’s “most Christian” kings. Even trying to save her daughters was secondary to that. Thoughtfully she answered from her heart and with her whole soul:”Well, Citizen, if that be a crime, then all of us are indeed guilty and you will never be able to take from our hearts our devotion to Louis XVI and to his august family. Your laws can never impinge upon that feeling: they cannot dominate the affections of our souls. God and God alone has the right to judge such things.”
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The Tribunal, after having heard the Public Prosecutor’s conclusions on the application of the law, condemns to death all those named in the declaration of the jury cited heretofore, being 30 in number, in 192 “Enemies of the People” conformity with the disposition of Articles IV, V, and VII of which reading has been given and thus presented:
“THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL EXISTS TO PUNISH THE ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE.
THE ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE ARE THOSE WHO SEEK TO ANNIHILATE PUBLIC FREEDOM, WHETHER BY FORCE OR BY SUBTERFUGE. FOR ALL THESE CRIMES OF WHICH THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL HAS TAKEN COGNIZANCE, THE PENALTY IS DEATH.”
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