Text and Illustrations: RORATE CÆLI
“Dialogues Des Carmelites”.
Available on YouTube
Pope Francis yesterday approved the Equipollent Canonisation of the Sixteen Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne, who can now be honoured as Saints.
On the day following Her Feast, The Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel would receive her dear French daughters, Martyred for their Faith in Her Son and for their loyalty to His Church.
The revulsion caused in the general populace, by their
calm acceptance of the guillotine, was so great that their Martyrdom finally put an end to The Reign Of Terror.
Ten days after their death, it was the turn of the
demonic Robespierre, and the end of the bloodiest
days of the Satanic Revolution.
O, Glorious Martyrs of Compiègne, Pray for us !
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.
The Martyrs of Compiègne were sixteen members
of The Carmel of Compiègne, France:
Eleven Discalced Carmelite Nuns;
Three Lay Sisters;
Two Externs (or Tertiaries).
They were executed by the guillotine towards the end of
The Reign of Terror, at what is now the Place de la Nation, Paris, 17 July 1794, and are Venerated as
Ten days after their execution, Maximilien Robespierre
himself was executed, ending The Reign of Terror.
Their story has inspired a novella, a motion picture, a television movie, and an opera, “Dialogues Des Carmelites”, written by French composer Francis Poulenc.[1]
Thank you, Zephyrinus, for this very good news: The story of the 16 Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne is a truly amazing story: how 16 supposedly “weak” consecrated women religious stood up to all the power of Revolutionary France and the insatiable thirst for blood by the dreaded “Committee for Public Safety,” headed by Maximilian Robespierre. The historical record shows they specifically offered their lives “to quell the terror,” and as Zephyrinus knows, their story was skillfully retold in the 1931 quite prophetic (with WW2 and the Third Reich looming) novella by German writer Gertrude Von le Fort (“Die Letzte am Schafott,” (1931), translated as “The Song at the Scaffold.” The story is told by a French noble woman, Blanche de La Force (likely a stand-in for “Le Fort”), in a letter. (Part I, comment by Dante P)
ReplyDelete“The Song at the Scaffold, cont., Part II) Catholic literary critics see the focus of the factionalized novella on the theme of paralyzing fear: the postulant, Sr. Blanche, is overwhelmed by anxiety and fear, although she wants to commit herself to the Carmelite life. Those critics see elements of the traditional Catholic Mass in her struggle: “ Quia tu es, Deus, fortitúdo mea: quare me repulísti, et quare tristis incédo, dum afflígit me inimícus?” Also Ps. 4:1: “invocante me exaudi me Deus iustitiae meae in tribulatione dilatasti mihi miserere mei et exaudi orationem meam
ReplyDeletecum invocarem exaudivit me Deus iustitiae meae in tribulatione dilatasti mihi miserere mei et exaudi orationem meam
When I called upon him, the God of my justice heard me: when I was in distress, thou hast enlarged me. Have mercy on me: and hear my prayer.”
Blanche, overcome with terror, runs away when the whole convent is captured by the revolutionary forces and imprisoned to await execution. But finally in the end she returns to join them at the scaffold and their “song.”
Although Le Fort’s story is fiction, It very skillful brings to life in a very personal manner the struggle of each person who professes to follow Christ, to stay with Christ during persecution and not run away, like 11 of the apostles. (Part 2, Comment by Dante P)
(Part 3) One more interesting feature. One of the great mainstays of opera since WW2 has become Francois Poulenc’s (d. 1964) Dialogues des Carmélites. It is truly a miracle that ever came to be composed. The great French novelist Georges Bernanos (d. 1948) worked on a screenplay for a film production, but it was deemed unacceptable and not likely to be successful. Bernanos then untimely passed away: but the executor of his estate found the screenplay, and obtained permission for the production rights from Le Fort: Bernanos’ widow and children were in dire straits, and Le Fort signed over her royalties for the novella also to the family. No one really thought it would be successful, but the executor had it modified into a play. This play, now re-named Dialogues des Carmélites, was fortuitously performed in Vienna in 1953, and well-known choreographer and former ballerina, Margaret Wallman, happened to see it. Wallman’s husband was the president of the highly influential Italian opera publishing house, Ricordi. Ricordi was also Poulenc’s publishing firm, and so she asked Poulenc to write an oratorio based on the play and Novella. However, Poulenc, who had already written a highly personalistic psychologically-driven opera ( “Le Voix Humaine, 1958), seeing the psychological depth and power of the Le Fort story, wrote it as the compelling intensely focused opera it is today.
ReplyDeleteDue a contract rights dispute, Poulenc suspended work on the opera until the legal issues were resolved, and it finally debuted at the famed La Scala opera house of Milan in January, 1957 in an Italian version. That summer, the French libretto we know now which has become standard, was performed in Paris by the Opéra National de Paris with voices personally chosen by Poulenc. It has remained an opera mainstay to the present day (Comment by Dante P)
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What an outstanding Tour de Force from our Opera Correspondent, Dante P, for which we are most grateful.
DeleteThe Dialogues des Carmélites is a saga so terribly sad to recount, but important to remember. The total Evil of The French Revolution was so hideous that it took the unjustified execution of sixteen innocent Nuns to finally move the consciences of the French people.
Poetic justice, indeed, that the perpetrator of such hideous demonic actions, Robespierre, was himself beheaded subsequently.
May the new Saints, The Martyrs Of Compiègne, Pray for us and watch over us and protect us from evil. Amen.
You are most welcome,Zephyrinus. This poor correspondent only tries to attempt to ascend to the high level of your Catholic blog.
DeleteThe opera “Dialogues des Carmélites” is one of those rare occasions when art, libretto, and music —and a truly inspired composer—-combine with the substance of a powerful true story to deliver an intensely awe-inspiring message about Eternal Truths to the opera audience. (As you might guess, this reader has the complete CD, the VHS tape, and the complete musical score and libretto, so awestruck is he by this work.) —Comment by Dante P