Oh, What A Wonderful Thing The French Revolution Was.

Sacred Heart patch of The Vendean Royalist insurgents. Insignia of The Royalist insurgents during The War in The Vendée (1793). The French motto “Dieu, le Roi” means “God, the King”.

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The War in The Vendée (1793; French: Guerre de Vendée) was an uprising in The Vendée region of France during The French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately South of The Loire River in Western France.

Initially, the War was similar to the 14th-Century Jacquerie Peasant Uprising, but quickly acquired themes considered by the government in Paris to be Counter-Revolutionary, and Royalist. The Uprising, headed by the self-styled Catholic and Royal Army was comparable to The Chouannerie, which took place in the area North of The Loire.

The Départments included in the Uprising, called The Vendée Militaire, included the area between The Loire and The Layon Rivers: Vendée (Marais, Bocage Vendéen, Collines Vendéennes), part of Maine-et-Loire, West of The Layon, and the portion of Deux-Sèvres, West of The River Thouet.

The deficiencies of The Vendean army became apparent. Lacking a unified strategy (or army) and fighting a defensive campaign, from April onwards the army lost cohesion and its special advantages. Successes continued for some time: Thouars was taken in early May and Saumur in June; there were victories at Châtillon and Vihiers. After this string of victories, The Vendeans turned to a protracted siege of Nantes, for which they were unprepared and which stalled their momentum, giving the government in Paris sufficient time to send more troops and experienced generals.

Tens of thousands of civilians, Republican prisoners, and sympathisers with The Revolution, were massacred by both armies. Historians such as Reynald Secher have described these events as "genocide", but most scholars reject the use of the word as inaccurate. Ultimately, the Uprising was suppressed using draconian measures.

The historian François Furet concludes that the repression in The Vendée "not only revealed massacre and destruction on an unprecedented scale, but also a zeal so violent that it has bestowed as its legacy much of the region's identity. The War aptly epitomises the depth of the conflict between Religious Tradition and The Revolutionary foundation of democracy."

“Dialogues des Carmélites”.

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English: The Carmelite Nuns of Compiègne face The Guillotine.

Français: Les carmélites de Compiègne face à la guillotine. Illustration extraite de Louis David (o.s.b.), Les Seize Carmélites de Compiègne, leur martyre et leur béatification, 17 juillet 1794 - 27 mai 1906, Paris, H. Oudin, [1906].

Date: 6 July 2013.

Source: Louis David osb, Les Seize Carmélites de Compiègne [...], Paris - Poitiers, Oudin, 1906.

Author: "Une" Carmélite.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Today is the Anniversary of The Martyrdom of The Carmelites of Compiègne.

The Martyrs of Compiègne were the sixteen Members of The Carmel of Compiègne, France: Eleven Discalced Carmelite Nuns, three Lay Sisters, and two Externs (Tertiaries of The Order, who would handle the Community's needs outside the Monastery).

During The French Revolution, they refused to obey the Civil Constitution of The Clergy of The Revolutionary government, which mandated the suppression of their Monastery. They were guillotined on 17 July 1794, during The Reign of Terror and buried in a mass grave at Picpus Cemetery.