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SUFFERING FOR THE FAITH.

A Series of Narratives.

THE MARTYRS OF THE CARMES.

THE history of the Church of Christ scarcely exhibits more sublime pictures of Christian heroism than arose out of the French Revolution. With a devotion worthy of primitive times, the great body of the priesthood of France refused the constitutional oath, and at the risk of confiscation and death persevered in rejecting it. These brave ecclesiastics thus became the objects of the most violent persecution. In Paris the citizens were immediately engaged in a struggle with the crown, so that at first the priests suffered less there than in the provinces; but on the 10th of August 1792 the Tuilleries was stormed; and this was the signal for a fiercer onslaught on the champions of religion than they had yet sustained. Robespierre and the other sanguinary leaders of the people were then at the zenith of their power; and a horrible scheme for the wholesale massacre of the recusant clergy was arranged. Some of the details of this awful catastrophe we now propose to relate, as illustrative of the grace and courage with which in every age and under all circumstances the Christian faith has inspired its martyrs.

On the night of the 10th of August lists of the pro

scribed bishops and priests were sent to the different sections of Paris, with orders to arrest them at once, and commit them either to the convent of the Carmes or to the seminary of St. Firmin. The alleged ground for this illegal act was, that the clergy named had been seen with the Swiss guards of the palace firing upon the people. The accusation was false; but as the clergy of Paris had uniformly abstained from the slightest interference with political questions, it was necessary for their enemies to invent a charge in order to accomplish their ruin. The more to excite the fury of the populace, they caused a head to be carried through the streets on a pike as the head of the Abbé Rengard, curé of St. Germain l'Auxerrois; and the bearers were made to cry as they went, "So does the nation punish the refractory priests and traitors who dare to take part against her with the Swiss." Yet even this decree was based on a lie, for the Abbé Rengard was alive, and a month after, to the confusion of the authorities, applied for his passport.

The arrests began in the section of Luxembourg. Armed bands were sent into the parish of St. Sulpice to hunt out, as the people were told, the enemies of their country. With list in hand, these soldiers traversed the quarter and knocked at the priests' doors, and led their victims off in triumph amid the hootings of the people. Ecclesiastics the best known for their learning, piety, and zeal, nay even for their kindness to the poor, were the chief objects of their search. Such were the brothers De la Rochefoucauld, bishops of Beauvais and Saintes. Such also was the Abbé Sicard, who had devoted himself to the instruction of the deaf and dumb. But of all the nonjuring clergy none were more hateful to the republican authorities than the Archbishop of Arles, on account of his high rank, his unbounded influence, his great holiness, and his quiet but firm defence of his persecuted brethren. He had displayed throughout the troubles a prudence and a moderation which ought to have placed him beyond the reach of injury; for, opposed as he had been, like

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all his colleagues, to the civil constitution, he had never been known to mount the tribune; and, after the closing of the Constituent Assembly, he had remained in Paris rather than give a pretext to fresh disturbances by his presence at Arles. But in an address to the king he entered a solemn protest against the law for the deportation of the clergy, and by this act of mercy he incurred the vengeance of the authorities. He was among the first to be arrested, and was imprisoned in the Carmes.

One hundred and twenty priests were confined with him, most of whom were arrested in the parish of St. Sulpice. No accommodation had been provided for the prisoners, nor had they any means of obtaining even the necessaries of life. Touched with their forlorn condition, a sectionary, who had been up to that point one of the most violent against them, gave orders to the guards to admit whatever might be brought for the use of the prisoners, provided all precautions were taken against the clandestine introduction of arms; and he even went himself to the neighbouring houses to solicit charity in their behalf. As soon as it became generally known to the faithful that they might offer to the necessities of the priests, comforts of every kind, beds, linen, and food, were liberally sent in. Arrangements were also made for their regular maintenance.

One

munificent lady, who would not allow her name to transpire, made herself responsible for the support of twenty priests so long as their confinement should continue. Alas! the call upon her charity was of short duration. The prisoners were also permitted to receive the visits of their friends at certain hours; and at the desire of the physician they had liberty to take exercise in the convent garden. Here they used to walk for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, either all together or in separate divisions, according to the caprice of their keepers. At the extremity of the garden was a little oratory, which in winter served for an orangery. There they used to pray before an image of the Blessed Virgin. Little thought they, as they

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