MEMORIAL OF SAINT ALEXIUS OF ROME, CONFESSOR AND THE BLESSED CARMELITE MARTYRS OF COMPIEGNE ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 17TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Alexius of Rome, Confessor and the Blessed Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases, we pray for God’s divine healing upon them. We pray for those going through difficulties during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINT ALEXIUS OF ROME, CONFESSOR: St. Alexius of Rome or Alexius of Edessa (or Alexis) is known as the “Man of God.” St. Alexius was a native of Rome, the son of Euphemianus, a wealthy Christian Roman of the senatorial class. He was born in Rome in the fourth century, was the only son of his parents pre-eminent among the Roman nobles for both their virtue and their great wealth. They were particularly noted for their almsgiving; three tables were prepared every day for all who came for assistance — pilgrims, the poor and the sick. Their son, St. Alexius fruit of their prayers, lived in poverty and service to the poor, despite wealthy upbringing and worldly opportunity. His parents arranged a marriage for him, but he had a divine calling to a higher vocation. St. Alexis was married with splendid feasting to a noble young lady of the imperial family, but on his wedding night, by God’s special inspiration, with permission from his fiance, he secretly fled Rome to Edessa in Syria to live in poverty and obscurity as a holy ascetic where he could serve God alone. He gave away all that he had brought with him, disguised himself as a beggar, unrecognized by all, he was content thereafter to live by alms at the gate of Our Lady’s church in that city. His family, in the deepest grief, could not fathom the mystery of his disappearance, and would have been consoled if God had taken him instead through death. It came to pass that the servants of Saint Alexius, whom his father had sent in search of him, arrived in Edessa, and seeing him among the poor at the gate of Our Lady’s church, gave him alms, not recognizing him. Whereupon the man of God, rejoicing, said, I thank You, Lord, who have called me and granted that I should receive for Your Name’s name’s sake an alms from my own slaves. Deign to fulfill in me the work You have begun. St. Alexius lived in this way for seventeen years.
After seventeen years spent at the portico or gateway of the church of Our Lady, a miraculous icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary (later this image was called Madonna of St Alexius) singled him out as a “Man of God”. His sanctity was miraculously confirmed by the Blessed Virgin, speaking through Her image to an officer of the church. When the fame of his sanctity spread in Edessa, once more he sought obscurity by flight, he moved back to Rome so that he could continue his hidden life. On his way to Tarsus contrary winds drove his ship to Rome. There no one recognized him, in this pale and tattered mendicant, the heir of Rome’s noblest house, not even his sorrowing parents, who had vainly sent throughout the world in search of him. From his own father’s charity St. Alexius begged a miserable shelter in his palace, he lived as a beggar under the very staircase of his father’s palace, with the leavings of his table as food, his true identity completely unknown to anyone. He lived in this way for another seventeen years bearing patiently the mockery and ill usage of his own servants, and witnessing daily the still inconsolable grief of his spouse and parents. He was befriended by other Christians, shared his alms with the poor, and taught catechism to children. At last, when death had ended this cruel martyrdom, they learned too late after his death, in the year 404, who it was that they had unknowingly sheltered. His identity was revealed through a document that he secretly carried on his person. A voice was heard by all in attendance at the Pope’s Mass, saying: Seek the man of God, he will pray for Rome, and the Lord will be favorable to it; he will die Friday. All the city undertook in vain to find this unknown Saint. But God had commanded St. Alexius himself to write down his life story and sign it, in this way He Himself confirmed His servant’s sanctity, when he was found lifeless in his retreat, holding that document in his hand. The Pope read aloud what was written on the parchment of the Saint, and everywhere in Rome there was a single cry of admiration, impossible to describe. The house of St. Alexius’ father Euphemianus was later transformed into a church dedicated to Saint Alexius in his honor.
REFLECTION: St. Alexius faith and piety was attested to by the Blessed Virgin, who spoke through a holy painting, revealing him to be a “Man of God” to those who regarded him as a beggar. The life of Saint Alexius reminds us that appearances are not what is important to the Lord, but rather the holy fire burning within the heart and soul of the faithful. He’s the Patron Saint of beggars and pilgrims. St. Alexius’ feast day is July 17.
Saint Alexius of Rome, Confessor ~ Pray for us 🙏
THE BLESSED CARMELITE MARTYRS OF COMPIEGNE: The Blessed Carmelite martyrs of Compiègne, Mother Teresa of St Augustine and Companions, sixteen of them were executed on July 17, 1794 during the French Revolution. They were guillotined at the Place du Trône Renversé (now called Place de la Nation), in Paris. When the revolution started in 1789, a group of twenty-one discalced Carmelites lived in a monastery in Compiegne France, founded in 1641. The monastery was ordered closed in 1790 by the Revolutionary government, and the nuns were disbanded. Sixteen of the nuns were accused of living in a religious community in 1794. The Sisters had refused to comply with the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, a law passed in 1790, which subordinated the Catholic Church to the revolutionary government, confiscated all Church land and banned religious orders. The Carmelites of Compiègne resisted the suppression of their monastery and so were arrested in June 1794 and imprisoned at the former Visitation convent of Compiègne, where they offered themselves daily for the peace of France and the Church.
On July 12, 1794, the Carmelites were taken to Paris and five days later were tried and convicted of treason and sentenced to death by guillotine on July 17th. Providentially, they were wearing their outlawed religious habits, since their only secular clothes were being washed on the day of the trial. The Sisters were then transported in tumbrels among a group of 40 condemned prisoners to the place of execution at the Place du Trône, Paris. On the journey, the Sisters chanted the combined Offices of Vespers and Compline. This included the Miserere, the penitential Psalm 50: “Have mercy on me, O God, in your kindness…” and concluded with the Salve Regina (“Hail Holy Queen”) and Veni Creator (“Come, Holy Spirit”). Eyewitness accounts report that the usually hostile crowds along the route were strangely silent. On reaching the place of execution, Mother Teresa intoned the Te Deum, and then the Veni Creator Spiritus. On reaching the scaffold, all the Sisters renewed the vows of their Baptism and religious profession and Sr Constance, the youngest and still a novice, joined in, thus making Profession before mounting the scaffold. Sr Constance was the first to die, after kneeling for the blessing of her Prioress, and kissing a small staute of Our Lady. As she approached the guillotine, she intoned Laudate Dominum Omnes Gentes(Psalm 117) : “O praise the Lord, all you nations; acclaim him all you peoples. Strong is his love for us; he is faithful for ever.” This was taken up by all the Sisters, who continued to sing, then as they individually went forth to give their lives for their Divine Bridegroom they kept singing “Praise the Lord, all you nations” in steadily diminishing chorus. They thus bore a unique collective witness to Christ, with a joy that no one could take from them! Usually executions were accompanied by shouting and cheers but there was only silence. Sr Constance waved aside the executioner and his two assistants and approached the guillotine unaided. It is likely that the executions continued in order of religious profession. We know that Mother Teresa was the last. The 78 year old Sr Mary of Jesus Crucified was heard to say to the executioners “I forgive you, my friends. I forgive you with all that longing of heart with which I would that God forgive me!” The bodies of the Carmelites were buried in a Mass grave at Picpus Cemetery.
Many believe that the sacrifice of Mother Teresa of St Augustine and her community brought about the end of the ‘Reign of Terror’, which happened just 10 days later on July 27, 1794. Their story has captured the popular imagination, inspiring a novella by Gertrud von le Fort, a play by Georges Bernanos and an opera by Francis Poulenc. They were beatified by Pope St Pius X on May 27, 1906. There is a British connection with the Compiègne Martyrs. The English Benedictine community of Cambrai were ejected from their monastery in 1792 and imprisoned at Compiègne. From June 1794, the Carmelites joined them, although they were detained separately. The Benedictine community testified to the holiness of the Compiègne sisters and believed that the Carmelites’ martyrdom saved their own lives. It may also be that their English nationality prevented them from being executed for treason. They remained in prison until April 1795, and were then banished to England, where they eventually settled at Stanbrook Abbey. Their only ‘possessions’ were the secular clothes of the Carmelites, which they wore. The surviving pieces of cloth and one espadrille are now venerated at Stanbrook as relics.
PRAYER: God, You surround and protect us by the glorious confession of Your holy Martyrs. Help us to profit from their example and be supported by their prayers. Amen 🙏
Leave a Reply