3.9.11

O Massacre de Setembro e os seus mártires

Uma lição de história, daquela que não se ensina nas nossas escolas quando se fala da Revolução Francesa.

Mártires de Setembro, rogai por nós!

Amplify’d from www.regnumnovum.com

Imagine a slaughter of over 1,200 people in two days, almost 200 hundred of them Catholic priests. Imagine a slaughter performed by a maddened mob, a slaughter justified by the hope for a godless future where only the mind was of import. Well, this is what is commemorated on this day for the Feast of the Martyrs of September.

In the rancor of the late Summer of 1792, the revolutionaries who were building their great society in France were becoming more and more impatient with the pace of change. It seemed clear to many that King Louis XVI was only stalling on reforms in the hope that foreign monarchs might come to his rescue. Fredrick Wilhelm II of Prussia, for instance, didn’t want this revolution business spreading and saw the unrest in France as a chance to take Alsace and Lorraine.

Invasions into France by Prussia and Austria had already began in the Spring, and the French had already mobilized a larger but less organized army to meet the oncoming forces. Indeed, it was at this time that Roget de Lisle wrote “The Marseillaise,” which is today the French National Anthem.

Back in Paris various revolutionary factions came to an agreement that with war in the Northeast and so close to the capital, extreme measures needed to be taken against any royalist sympathizers. Though the constitution allowed for salaries for priests, the Legislative Assembly voted to strip priests and religious of their funds and throw them all into jail.

At the King’s palace, known as Château Tuileries, huge crowds demanded the King reverse his vetoes protecting the priests and imprison them as they were doubtless collaborators with the invading armies. One man, with sword pointed at the King who sat at a large outdoor table calmly and mildly perturbed, said,

I demand the sanction of the decree against the priests; …either the sanction or you shall die!

“Liberty, equality and fraternity” was the motto for the French Revolution but those words applied only to some. Despite the law, mobs of revolutionaries led by men like Georges Danton and Jean-Paul Marat rounded up priests and sent them off to be imprisoned at various monasteries within the city.

This was June, and the Assembly decided the King needed to be gotten rid of, so they called for national guards. The contingent from Marseilles sang “The Marseillaise” all the way to Paris, which is why it has its name.

In July, the city received a shock. The Duke of Brunswick-Lüneberg, Charles William Ferdinand, issued a manifesto pledging that the armies of the King of Prussia had their sites on Paris in order to liberate King Louis XVI from the revolution. He wrote:

The city of Paris and all its inhabitants shall be required to submit at once and without delay to the King…. Their Majesties declare…that if the Chateau of the Tuileries is entered by force or attacked, if the least violence be offered to…the King, and the Queen, and the royal family, and if their safety and liberty be not immediately assured, they will inflict an ever memorable vengeance by delivering over the city of Paris to military execution and complete destruction.

The response from the revolutionaries? On August 10, a mob of nine thousand persons, eight hundred of whom were national guards, were sent by Marat and the Commune of Paris – a kind of city council – to depose the King.

Louis XVI was being protected by about 900 Swiss guards. In order to avoid bloodshed, he opened the gates to the Tuileries in order, one imagines, to try to calm the crowd down and listen. The mob refused to be swayed, though. The Swiss guards pressed them back. A shot was fired, and hell let loose. The Swiss were slaughtered or imprisoned, where they were later tortured and killed anyway. The cooks and servants at the palace were all killed. It was a festival of violence, and the Legislative Assembly charged with maintaining the constitution did nothing. The King and his family were imprisoned in the Temple.

The next day the Assembly ended all Catholic schools in Paris. The day after that it outlawed the wearing of religious habits or vestments in public. On August 18, the Assembly passed a national suppression of all Catholic institutions and religious orders, and ordered that any priests who did not swear an oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which in 1790 had already banned monastic vows, and had seized all Church property for the State, would have two weeks to leave the country. Some 25,000 priests left then, and so it was that the French Revolution had begun to supplant the Catholic faith in France with a new religion, a new faith in the State.

At this same time Marat and others in the Commune of Paris were pressuring the Legislative Assembly to just dispatch the prisoners right away. On August 19 he wrote in his newsletter:

The wisest and best course to pursue is to go armed to the Abbaye [a prison], drag out the traitors, especially the Swiss officers [of the royal guard] and their accomplices, and put them to the sword. What folly it is to give them a trial.

What folly indeed.

On Sunday, September 2, news reached Paris that the Prussians had taken Verdun. The path was open for the Duke of Brunswick to come and enforce the terror he had -promised if the King were harmed. Thus, it was now or never. A force had to be sent to meet the oncoming army, but the soldiers in Paris would not leave while all the sympathizers in prison still lived. Their new faith would not allow such heresy to remain. This is how William and Ariel Durant put it:

On September 2 [the new religion] put on its Sunday clothes, and expressed its devotion in diverse ways. Young and middle-aged men gathered at recruiting points to volunteer for service in the Army. Women lovingly sewed warm garments for them, and grimly prepared bandages for prospective wounds. Men, women, and children came to their section centers to offer weapons, jewelry, money for the war. Mothers adopted children dependent upon soldiers or nurses who were leaving for the front. Some men went to the prisons to kill priests and other enemies of the new faith.

Danton, a mountain of a man who’s ugliness was rivaled only by his remarkable ability with rhetoric, addressed the Legislative Assembly and asked for the permission to kill. He said,

The tocsin we shall sound is not the alarm signal of danger; it orders the charge on the enemies of the France. To conquer we have to dare, to dare again, always to dare – and France is saved.

Dare they did. At 2:00pm that same day thirty priests were being transported to the Abbaye jail. As the carriages arrived, they were attacked. The guards joined in and all the priests were killed. But the mob had only started. They continued to the former Carmelite convent at which 150 priests, religious and one layman were being held.

Blessed John Mary de Lau, the Archbishop of Arles, Blessed Francis Joseph de la Rochefoucauld, the Bishop of Beauvais, his brother Blessed Peter Louis, the Bishop of Saintes and several others were praying Vespers in the chapel when the mob attacked. Nearly all were killed with only about 40 who were let go or who managed to escape. Says Fr. Butler:

Among the victims were Blessed Ambrose Augustine Chevreux, superior general of the Maurist Benedictines, and two other monks; Blessed Francis Louis Hébert, confessor of Louis XVI; three Franciscans; fourteen ex-Jesuits; six diocesan vicars general; thirty-eight members or former members of the Saint-Sulpice seminary; three deacons; an acolyte; and a Christian Brother. The bodies were buried some in a pit in the cemetery of the Vaugirard and some in a well in the garden of the Carmes.

At one point the mob brought the priests forward to face a mock judge and to be invited to take the oath once again. When the oath was refused, the priest was sent down a gauntlet of swords, pikes, cudgels, foul language and spittle.

Eventually these demonic actors became tired. So they stopped, only to take up the work the next day. The mob went to the Lazarist seminary where many other priests were held. They too lost their life, one of them being thrown out a window. When there were no more priests, the mob moved on to other prisoners. All in all, the September Massacre lasted three days, with death figures between 1,247 and 1,368. Of these 191 were Catholics who refused to compromise their faith, and so were beatified in 1926 by Pope Pius XI.

I thought you should know that Jean-Paul Marat was murdered by a young woman named Charlotte Corday on July 13, 1793 while he was taking a bath. As she was taken up to the guillotine to die, she is reported to have said, “I killed one man to save 100,000.” Well, perhaps we might forgive her her moral relativism. It was a tumultuous time.

As for Georges Danton, he converted to the Catholic Faith thanks in part to his wife. He was arrested by the revolution for daring to demand that the continued massacre of people end. So on April 5, 1794 he was guillotined, though not before prophesying the mess left behind. He said:

I leave it all in a frightful welter; not a man of them has an idea of government. Robespierre will follow me; he is dragged down by me. Ah, better be a poor fisherman than meddle with the government of men!

The “poor fisherman” remark was probably a reference to St. Peter, and Robespierre was also executed just was a few months later.

I leave you with the list of the beatified, commemorated on this day.

Blessed Ambroise-Augustin Chevreux

Blessed Andé Angar

Blessed André Grasset de Saint-Sauveur

Blessed André-Abel Alricy

Blessed Anne-Alexandre-Charles-Marie Lanfant

Blessed Antoine-Charles-Octavien du Bouzet

Blessed Antoine-Mathieu-Augustin Nogier

Blessed Apollinaris of Posat

Blessed Armand de Foucauld de Pontbriand

Blessed Armand-Anne-Auguste-Antonin-Sicaire Chapt de Rastignac

Blessed August-Dénis Nezel

Blessed Bernard-François de Cucsac

Blessed Bertrand-Antoine de Caupenne

Blessed Charles Carnus

Blessed Charles-François le Gué

Blessed Charles-Jéremie Bérauld du Pérou

Blessed Charles-Louis Hurtrel

Blessed Charles-Regis-Mathieu de la Calmette de Valfons

Blessed Charles-Victor Véret

Blessed Claude Bochot

Blessed Claude Cayx-Dumas

Blessed Claude Chaudet

Blessed Claude Colin

Blessed Claude Fontaine

Blessed Claude Ponse

Blessed Claude Rousseau

Blessed Claude-Antoine-Raoul Laporte

Blessed Claude-François Gagnières des Granges

Blessed Claude-Louis Marmotant de Savigny

Blessed Claude-Silvain-Raphaël Mayneaud de Bizefranc

Blessed Daniel-Louis André Des Pommerayes

Blessed Denis-Claude Duval

Blessed Éloy Herque du Roule

Blessed Étienne-François-Dieudonné de Ravinel

Blessed Étienne-Michel Gillet

Blessed Eustache Félix

Blessed François Balmain

Blessed François Dardan

Blessed François Dumasrambaud de Calandelle

Blessed François Lefranc

Blessed François Varheilhe-Duteil

Blessed François-César Londiveau

Blessed François-Hyacinthe lé Livec de Trésurin

Blessed François-Joseph de la Rochefoucald-Maumont

Blessed François-Joseph Monnier

Blessed François-Joseph Pey

Blessed François-Louis Hébert

Blessed François-Louis Méallet de Fargues

Blessed François-Urbain Salins de Niart

Blessed Gabriel Desprez de Roche

Blessed Gaspard-Claude Maignien

Blessed Georges Girault

Blessed Georges-Jérôme Giroust

Blessed Gilbert-Jean Fautrel

Blessed Gilles-Louis-Symphorien Lanchon

Blessed Guillaume-Antoine Delfaut

Blessed Guillaume-Nicolas-Louis Leclerq

Blessed Henri-August Luzeau de la Mulonnière

Blessed Henri-Hippolyte Ermès

Blessed Henri-Jean Milet

Blessed Jacques de la Lande

Blessed Jacques Dufour

Blessed Jacques Friteyre-Durvé

Blessed Jacques-Alexandre Menuret

Blessed Jacques-Augustin Robert de Lézardières

Blessed Jacques-Étienne-Philippe Hourrier

Blessed Jacques-François de Lubersac

Blessed Jacques-Gabriel Galais

Blessed Jacques-Jean Lemeunier

Blessed Jacques-Joseph Le jardinier desLandes

Blessed Jacques-Jules Bonnaud

Blessed Jacques-Léonor Rabé

Blessed Jacques-Louis Schmid

Blessed Jean Charton de Millou

Blessed Jean Goizet

Blessed Jean Lacan

Blessed Jean Lemaître

Blessed Jean-André Capeau

Blessed Jean-Antoine Guilleminet

Blessed Jean-Antoine Savine

Blessed Jean-Antoine Seconds

Blessed Jean-Antoine-Barnabé Séguin

Blessed Jean-Antoine-Hyacinthe Boucharenc de Chaumeils

Blessed Jean-Antoine-Joseph de Villette

Blessed Jean-Baptiste Bottex

Blessed Jean-Baptiste Jannin

Blessed Jean-Baptiste Nativelle

Blessed Jean-Baptiste-Claude Aubert

Blessed Jean-Baptiste-Marie Tessier

Blessed Jean-Baptiste-Michel Pontus

Blessed Jean-Charles Caron

Blessed Jean-Charles Legrand

Blessed Jean-Charles-Marie Bernard du Cornillet

Blessed Jean-François Bonnel de Pradal

Blessed Jean-François Bousquet

Blessed Jean-François Burté

Blessed Jean-François-Marie Benoît-Vourlat

Blessed Jean-Henri Gruyer

Blessed Jean-Henri-Louis-Michel Samson

Blessed Jean-Joseph de Lavèze-Bellay

Blessed Jean-Joseph Rateau

Blessed Jean-Louis Guyard de Saint-Clair

Blessed Jean-Marie du Lau d’Alleman

Blessed Jean-Michel Philippot

Blessed Jean-Philippe Marchand

Blessed Jean-Pierre Bangue

Blessed Jean-Pierre Duval

Blessed Jean-Pierre Le Laisant

Blessed Jean-Pierre Simon

Blessed Jean-Robert Quéneau

Blessed Jean-Thomas Leroy

Blessed Joseph Bécavin

Blessed Joseph Falcoz

Blessed Joseph-Louis Oviefre

Blessed Joseph-Marie Gros

Blessed Joseph-Thomas Pazery de Thorame

Blessed Jules-Honoré-Cyprien Pazery de Thorame

Blessed Julien le Laisant

Blessed Julien Poulain Delaunay

Blessed Julien-François Hédouin

Blessed Laurent

Blessed Louis Barreau de La Touche

Blessed Louis le Danois

Blessed Louis Longuet

Blessed Louis Mauduit

Blessed Louis-Alexis-Mathias Boubert

Blessed Louis-Benjamin Hurtrel

Blessed Louis-François Rigot

Blessed Louis-François-André Barret

Blessed Louis-Jean-Mathieu Lanier

Blessed Louis-Joseph François

Blessed Louis-Laurent Gaultier

Blessed Louis-Remi Benoist

Blessed Louis-Remi-Nicolas Benoist

Blessed Loup Thomas-Bonnotte

Blessed Marc-Louis Royer

Blessed Marie-François Mouffle

Blessed Martin-François-Alexis Loublier

Blessed Mathurin-Nicolas de la VilleCrohain le Bous de Villeneuve

Blessed Mathurin-Victoir Deruelle

Blessed Michel Leber

Blessed Michel-André-Sylvestre Binard

Blessed Michel-François de laGardette

Blessed Nicolas Bize

Blessed Nicolas Clairet

Blessed Nicolas Colin

Blessed Nicolas Gaudreau

Blessed Nicolas-Claude Roussel

Blessed Nicolas-Marie Verron

Blessed Olivier Lefebvre

Blessed Philibert Fougères

Blessed Pierre Bonzé

Blessed Pierre Brisquet

Blessed Pierre Brisse

Blessed Pierre Gauguin

Blessed Pierre Landry

Blessed Pierre Ploquin

Blessed Pierre Saint-James

Blessed Pierre-Claude Pottier

Blessed Pierre-Florent Leclercq

Blessed Pierre-François Hénocq

Blessed Pierre-François Pazery de Thorames

Blessed Pierre-Jacques de Turmenyes

Blessed Pierre-Jacques-Marie Vitalis

Blessed Pierre-Jean Garrigues

Blessed Pierre-Louis de la Rochefoucauld-Bayers

Blessed Pierre-Louis Gervais

Blessed Pierre-Louis Joret

Blessed Pierre-Louis-Joseph Verrier

Blessed Pierre-Michel Guérin

Blessed Pierre-Michel Guérin du Rocher

Blessed Pierre-Nicolas Psalmon

Blessed Pierre-Paul Balzac

Blessed Pierre-Robert Regnet

Blessed René Nativelle

Blessed René-Joseph Urvoy

Blessed René-Julien Massey

Blessed René-Marie Andrieux

Blessed René-Nicolas Poret

Blessed Robert le Bis

Blessed Robert-François Guérin du Rocher

Blessed Saintin Huré

Blessed Sébastien Desbrielles

Blessed Thomas-Jean Montsaint

Blessed Thomas-Nicolas Dubray

Blessed Thomas-René Dubuisson

Blessed Urbain Lefebvre

Blessed Vincent Abraham

Blessed Vincent-Joseph le Rousseau de Rosencoat

Blessed Yves-André Guillon de Keranrun

Blessed Yves-Jean-Pierre Rey de Kervisic

Read more at www.regnumnovum.com
 

Sem comentários: