Song at the Scaffold

Started by jovan66102, July 24, 2015, 02:39:20 AM

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jovan66102

I've just finished 'Song at the Scaffold', by Gertrude von Le Fort, about Blessed Therese of St Augustine and her Companions, the Martyrs of Compiègne, Feast Day, 17 July (the day after the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose Order they belonged to).

I've been intending to read it for over 30 years, ever since I became a Carmelite Tertiary, just never got around to it! Has anyone else read it?
Jovan-Marya Weismiller, T.O.Carm.

Vive le Christ-roi! Vive le roi, Louis XX!
Deum timete, regem honorificate.
Kansan by birth! Albertan by choice! Jayhawk by the Grace of God!
"Qui me amat, amet et canem meum. (Who loves me will love my dog also.)" St Bernard of Clairvaux
https://musingsofanoldcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/

OCLittleFlower

I have a copy -- our women's society book club read it while I was out of the US.  I meant to read it, but it didn't make it into my luggage.   :(

Maybe I should pick it up again and give it a try.   :)
-- currently writing a Trad romance entitled Flirting with Sedevacantism --

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jovan66102

I thought it was absolutely excellent! I highly recommend reading it.
Jovan-Marya Weismiller, T.O.Carm.

Vive le Christ-roi! Vive le roi, Louis XX!
Deum timete, regem honorificate.
Kansan by birth! Albertan by choice! Jayhawk by the Grace of God!
"Qui me amat, amet et canem meum. (Who loves me will love my dog also.)" St Bernard of Clairvaux
https://musingsofanoldcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/

Bernadette

#3
SUCH a good book! I read it about six years ago, and remembered it ever since. :)

Edit: TAN Books has an ebook edition for $4.98: https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/martyrs/song-at-the-scaffold.html
My Lord and my God.

LausTibiChriste

Quote from: Bernadette on July 24, 2015, 09:52:06 AM
SUCH a good book! I read it about six years ago, and remembered it ever since. :)

Edit: TAN Books has an ebook edition for $4.98: https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/martyrs/song-at-the-scaffold.html

It seems like every time you post I'm whipping out my wallet to buy a book.


I don't know whether to thank you or scold you  ;D
Lord Jesus Christ, Son Of God, Have Mercy On Me A Sinner

"Nobody is under any moral obligation of duty or loyalty to a state run by sexual perverts who are trying to destroy public morals."
- MaximGun

"Not trusting your government doesn't make you a conspiracy theorist, it means you're a history buff"

Communism is as American as Apple Pie

Clare

Quote from: jovan66102 on July 24, 2015, 02:39:20 AM
I've just finished 'Song at the Scaffold', by Gertrude von Le Fort, about Blessed Therese of St Augustine and her Companions, the Martyrs of Compiègne, Feast Day, 17 July (the day after the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose Order they belonged to).

I've been intending to read it for over 30 years, ever since I became a Carmelite Tertiary, just never got around to it! Has anyone else read it?

Are you familiar with this, Jovan?

[yt]mkOK3aXzMpc[/yt]
Motes 'n' Beams blog

Feel free to play the Trivia Quiz!

O Mary, Immaculate Mother of Jesus, offer, we beseech thee, to the Eternal Father, the Precious Blood of thy Divine Son to prevent at least one mortal sin from being committed somewhere in the world this day.

"It is a much less work to have won the battle of Waterloo, or to have invented the steam-engine, than to have freed one soul from Purgatory." - Fr Faber

"When faced by our limitations, we must have recourse to the practice of offering to God the good works of others." - St Therese of Lisieux

jovan66102

Quote from: Clare on July 25, 2015, 06:28:09 AM
Quote from: jovan66102 on July 24, 2015, 02:39:20 AM
I've just finished 'Song at the Scaffold', by Gertrude von Le Fort, about Blessed Therese of St Augustine and her Companions, the Martyrs of Compiègne, Feast Day, 17 July (the day after the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose Order they belonged to).

I've been intending to read it for over 30 years, ever since I became a Carmelite Tertiary, just never got around to it! Has anyone else read it?

Are you familiar with this, Jovan?

[yt]mkOK3aXzMpc[/yt]

I knew it existed, but I've never heard it. And right now Youtube is screwing up, but I'll listen to it soon (I was listening to Dame Vera Lynn when it decided to get screwy). Thanks, Clare.
Jovan-Marya Weismiller, T.O.Carm.

Vive le Christ-roi! Vive le roi, Louis XX!
Deum timete, regem honorificate.
Kansan by birth! Albertan by choice! Jayhawk by the Grace of God!
"Qui me amat, amet et canem meum. (Who loves me will love my dog also.)" St Bernard of Clairvaux
https://musingsofanoldcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/

Jayne

I liked Dialogues des Carmelites better before I found out how much historical detail had been changed to make it more "dramatic".  The actual history is very moving and the fictional aspects of the opera were not necessary.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.

Clare

Quote from: Jayne on July 25, 2015, 10:28:50 AM
I liked Dialogues des Carmelites better before I found out how much historical detail had been changed to make it more "dramatic".  The actual history is very moving and the fictional aspects of the opera were not necessary.
I've not heard it all, only the piece I posted, and it always makes my eyes leak a little!
Motes 'n' Beams blog

Feel free to play the Trivia Quiz!

O Mary, Immaculate Mother of Jesus, offer, we beseech thee, to the Eternal Father, the Precious Blood of thy Divine Son to prevent at least one mortal sin from being committed somewhere in the world this day.

"It is a much less work to have won the battle of Waterloo, or to have invented the steam-engine, than to have freed one soul from Purgatory." - Fr Faber

"When faced by our limitations, we must have recourse to the practice of offering to God the good works of others." - St Therese of Lisieux

Jayne

Quote from: Clare on July 25, 2015, 10:30:46 AM
Quote from: Jayne on July 25, 2015, 10:28:50 AM
I liked Dialogues des Carmelites better before I found out how much historical detail had been changed to make it more "dramatic".  The actual history is very moving and the fictional aspects of the opera were not necessary.
I've not heard it all, only the piece I posted, and it always makes my eyes leak a little!

It is beautiful, but not historically accurate.  They did sing while going to the guillotine, but it was a Psalm, not the Salve Regina.  And they went order of reverse seniority, so the Mother Superior saw all her daughters die. The opera has them going oldest to youngest.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.

jovan66102

Quote from: Jayne on July 25, 2015, 12:23:44 PM
It is beautiful, but not historically accurate.  They did sing while going to the guillotine, but it was a Psalm, not the Salve Regina.  And they went order of reverse seniority, so the Mother Superior saw all her daughters die. The opera has them going oldest to youngest.

Actually, from what I've read, it was not a Psalm, but the the Te Deum Laudamus, which makes sense, since it is sung both at Profession and at the Renewal of Vows. And you're right, Blessed Mother Therese was the last to die. In fact, I've read that as each Sister prepared to mount the scaffold, they asked Blessed Therese, 'Mother, permission to die?' THAT is obedience! May they all pray for us!
Jovan-Marya Weismiller, T.O.Carm.

Vive le Christ-roi! Vive le roi, Louis XX!
Deum timete, regem honorificate.
Kansan by birth! Albertan by choice! Jayhawk by the Grace of God!
"Qui me amat, amet et canem meum. (Who loves me will love my dog also.)" St Bernard of Clairvaux
https://musingsofanoldcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/

Non Nobis

Quote from: jovan66102 on July 25, 2015, 05:42:27 PM
Quote from: Jayne on July 25, 2015, 12:23:44 PM
It is beautiful, but not historically accurate.  They did sing while going to the guillotine, but it was a Psalm, not the Salve Regina.  And they went order of reverse seniority, so the Mother Superior saw all her daughters die. The opera has them going oldest to youngest.

Actually, from what I've read, it was not a Psalm, but the the Te Deum Laudamus, which makes sense, since it is sung both at Profession and at the Renewal of Vows. And you're right, Blessed Mother Therese was the last to die. In fact, I've read that as each Sister prepared to mount the scaffold, they asked Blessed Therese, 'Mother, permission to die?' THAT is obedience! May they all pray for us!

One page in Wikipedia says:

"the community jointly renewed their vows and began to chant the Veni Creator Spiritus, the hymn sung at the ceremony for the profession of vows. They continued their singing as, one by one, they mounted the scaffold to meet their death. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs_of_Compi%C3%A8gne

Whatever hymn was sung, what beautiful Christian heroism!
[Matthew 8:26]  And Jesus saith to them: Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? Then rising up he commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm.

[Job  38:1-5]  Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said: [2] Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words? [3] Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me. [4] Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding. [5] Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee! Save souls!

jovan66102

Quote from: Non Nobis on July 26, 2015, 01:13:32 AM
One page in Wikipedia says:

"the community jointly renewed their vows and began to chant the Veni Creator Spiritus, the hymn sung at the ceremony for the profession of vows. They continued their singing as, one by one, they mounted the scaffold to meet their death. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs_of_Compi%C3%A8gne

Whatever hymn was sung, what beautiful Christian heroism!

I read that. However, Carmelite sources say they renewed their vows at the foot of the scaffold and sang the Te Deum as they ascended the steps.
Jovan-Marya Weismiller, T.O.Carm.

Vive le Christ-roi! Vive le roi, Louis XX!
Deum timete, regem honorificate.
Kansan by birth! Albertan by choice! Jayhawk by the Grace of God!
"Qui me amat, amet et canem meum. (Who loves me will love my dog also.)" St Bernard of Clairvaux
https://musingsofanoldcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/

Michael Wilson

Anybody interested in reading the true and moving story about the Carmelites of Compeign can purchase this book; I read it and it was very good.
http://www.amazon.com/Quell-Terror-Carmelites-Compiegne-Guillotined/dp/0935216677
Quote

To Quell the Terror: The Mystery of the Vocation of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiegne Guillotined July 17, 1794
; Paperback – November 1, 1999
by William Bush (Author)


By William Bush (Professor Emeritus of French Literature at the University of Western Ontario). Recounts the dramatic true story of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Compiegne, martyred during the French Revolution's 'Great Terror' and known to the world through their fictional representation in Gertrud von Le Fort's Song at the Scaffold and Francis Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites. Includes index and 15 photos. At the height of the French Revolution's 'Great Terror' a community of sixteen Carmelite nuns from Compiegne offered their lives to restore peace to the church and to France. Ten days after their deaths by the guillotine, Robespierre fell, and with his exectuion on the same scaffold the Reign of Terror effectively ended. Had God thus accepted and used the Carmelites' generous self-gift? Through Gertrud von Le Fort's modern novella, Song at the Scaffold, and Francis Poulenc's famed opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites, (with its libretto by Georges Bernanos), modern audiences around the world have become captivated by the mysterious destiny of these Compiegne martyrs, Blessed Teresa of St. Augustine and her companions. Now, for the first time in English, William Bush explores at length the facts behind the fictional representations, and reflects on their spiritual significance. Based on years of research, this book recounts in lively detail virtually all that is known of the life and background of each of the martyrs, as well as the troubled times in which they lived. The Compiegne Carmelites, sustained by their remarkable prioress, emerge as distinct individuals, struggling as Christians to understand and respond to an awesome calling, relying not on their own strength but on the mercy of God and the guiding hand of Providence.
"The World Must Conform to Our Lord and not He to it." Rev. Dennis Fahey CSSP

"My brothers, all of you, if you are condemned to see the triumph of evil, never applaud it. Never say to evil: you are good; to decadence: you are progess; to death: you are life. Sanctify yourselves in the times wherein God has placed you; bewail the evils and the disorders which God tolerates; oppose them with the energy of your works and your efforts, your life uncontaminated by error, free from being led astray, in such a way that having lived here below, united with the Spirit of the Lord, you will be admitted to be made but one with Him forever and ever: But he who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit." Cardinal Pie of Potiers

jovan66102

Thanks, Michael! I just ordered it.
Jovan-Marya Weismiller, T.O.Carm.

Vive le Christ-roi! Vive le roi, Louis XX!
Deum timete, regem honorificate.
Kansan by birth! Albertan by choice! Jayhawk by the Grace of God!
"Qui me amat, amet et canem meum. (Who loves me will love my dog also.)" St Bernard of Clairvaux
https://musingsofanoldcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/