Let us commemorate Martyrs of September

A group of 191 faithful Christians who were martyred at the hands of the French Revolution on September 2nd and 3rd, 1792.

After refusing to take an oath in support of the civil consititution of the clergy, an act condemned by the Vatican which placed Catholic priests under the authority and control of the state, these priests and religious brothers and sisters were imprisoned in a Carmelite convent and then massacred in the space of two days by bloodthirsty revolutionary mobs.

They were beatified on October 17, 1926 by Pope Pius XI

Among the martyrs were Louis and Francis de la Rochefoucauld, the bishops of Saintes and Beauvais respectively; Apollinaris of Posat; John Francis Burte; Charles de la Calmette; Augustine Ambrose Chevreux; Andre Grasset de Saint Sauveur; John Mary de Lau; Severin Girault; Julian Massey; and Louis Barreau de la Touche

They had been the helpless victims of wild revolutionary ideology. As usual, however, their heroism in the defense of the papacy was remembered long after the names of their blood-thirsty executioners had been forgotten. They saved the reputation of France as “eldest daughter of the Church.”