The Martyrs of the Paris Commune

The Rev. Fr. Captier, François-Eu Le R. P. Captier, François-Eugène Dominican prior of the Arcueil school, martyr. gène, in religion Brother Louis-Raphaël, was born in Tarare (Rhône), into one of the most honorable families in the region. After completing his studies at Oullins, he went to spend some time in Paris at the Saint-Sulpice seminary. Upon returning to Oullins, he conceived with some friends the idea of the Teaching Third Order of Saint Domin ic. On Octobe P. Lacordaire Famous Dominican preacher who visited Ars. r 10, 1852, Fr. Lacordaire, who was then pursuing the restoration of the Order of Saint Dominic in France, opened the first novitiate of the Teaching Third Order. After a year of laborious and austere novitiate, presided over by Fr. Lacordaire himself, the Teaching Dominicans took possession of the School of Oullins and pronounced their vows. Fr. Captier was assigned the duties of bursar and professor of philosophy. At the beginning of 1856, Fr. Lacordaire had him ordained a priest and entrusted him with the dual charge of master of novices and censor of the School of Sorèze. During the 1857 vacation, he sent him back to Oullins as Prior. He was then twenty-eight years old. Fr. Captier then revealed the treasures with which his heart was filled. Until then, only the virile and austere qualities that make a model religious and a rugged Christian were known of him; soon it was discovered that he also possessed the inexhaustible tenderness of spiritual fatherhood, and all the qualities and talents useful for working fruitfully in the education of youth. His activity renewed everything, his intelligence sufficed for everything, and his heart animated everything with an ardently and vigorously religious breath. In 1863, at the end of winter, his health visibly failing, he had to resign his position to take a necessary rest, which was as fruitful in works as his labor had been. After a few months, feeling his strength restored, he worked with perseverance, despite the persecution he faced from the imperial government, on the foundation of the Albert-le-Grand Scho ol. In 1868, he was c École Albert-le-Grand Educational institution founded by Father Captier. hosen by the unanimous vote of his brothers to represent his religious family at the general chapter in Rome, where the Teaching Third Order was definitively incorporated into the Order of Preachers. In addition to precious manuscripts and numerous letters, Fr. Captier left a series of speeches, the titles of which are: 1. On positive sciences; 2. On the free school and its relations with families; 3. The Christian college before modern society; 4. Some thoughts on national education; 5. Materialism and spiritualism; 6. On higher education and the family spirit; 7. Social reform through education; and 8. Speech on the freedom of higher education.

The Rev. Fr. Bourard, Louis-Ferdinand, in religion Brother Thomas, was born in Paris. He was one of the oldest and most distinguished religious of his Order. He was a qualified lawyer when, in 1841, he entered the family of Saint Dominic with the first companions of Fr. Lacordaire. Obliged by health reasons to suspend his novitiate begun at La Quercia, near Viterbo, he resumed it the following year under the cloisters of Bosco, illustrated by the memory of Saint Pius V. Following the restorer of the Order of Saint Dominic, he soon returned to France and began his course of preaching, sometimes interrupted by the duties of theological teaching. Sent to Corsica around 1857, he had built the convent of Corbara there. In the School of Arcueil, he held the title and performed the duties of chaplain. He was for everyone a consoler and a father, on whose lips one never found anything but words imbued with true charity and charming cheerfulness.

The Rev. Fr. Cotrault, Joseph, in religion Brother Henri, was the bursar of the School of Arcueil. Born in Saint-Amand (Cher), he had done his first studies at the minor seminary of Bourges, where he had the Teaching Dominicans as masters. He entered their Order as soon as it was given to him to know the will of God, and never ceased, from the first day, to progress in science, piety, and devotion to the common work. First a supervisor, then a professor, he knew how to win the hearts of his students: nothing is as touching as the memory they have kept of him. Later, when those qualities of prudence and practical wisdom that were the dominant character of his life were seen to develop in him in an unexpected way, he was entrusted with the difficult mission of administering the temporal affairs of Arcueil.

The Rev. Fr. Delhorme, Eugène, in religion Brother Constant, was one of the oldest and most deserving religious of the Teaching Third Order of Saint Dominic. He was born in Lyon in 1832 and was pursuing his ecclesiastical studies when he attached himself to the work recently founded by Fr. Lacordaire, whom he followed to Sorèze in 1854. Fr. Delhorme, an exact and cultivated mind, had great qualities as a professor, and even greater ones as an educator of youth.

The Rev. Fr. Chataigneret, Gabriel, in religion Pie-Marie, was born in Firminy (Loire). Having entered the Order only a few years prior, he was still only a subdeacon: he hid under sometimes slightly abrupt manners a character full of nobility and generosity.

Here are the names of the seven lay servants attached to the school who shared the prison and martyrdom of the religious of Arcueil: Gauquelin, Louis, petty officer, born in Cherbourg (Manche), married, assistant bursar of the school, thirty-eight years old; — Voland, François, born in Orgelet (Doubs), single, auxiliary teacher, forty years old; — Gros, Aimé, born in La Côte-Saint-André (Isère), single, servant of the school, thirty-five years old; — Marce, Antoine, born in Amblaise (Drôme), married, servant of the school, forty years old; — Cathala, Théodore, born in Rouvenac (Aude), married, tailor employed at the school, forty years old; — Dintruq, François, born in the Jura, single, servant of the school, forty years old; — Chemical, Joseph, born in Ville-en-Sallaz (Haute-Savoie), single, fifty years old.

At the moment when the civil war broke out in Paris, the Dominicans of Arcueil, who had turned their school into an ambulance during the siege of the capital, continued their duties as ambulance workers. Vying with one another in zeal, they traversed the battlefields to collect the wounded and provide burial for the dead. In the early days, these efforts of self-denial were respected by the revolutionaries; but on May 19, between four and five o'clock in the evening, the citizens Léo Meillet and Lucy Piat, delegates of the Commune and wearing the red sash, went to the School of Arcueil, which then contained twenty wounded men collected the previous night on the battlefield. After having all the exits guarded by the 101st and 120th battalions, they presented to Fr. Captier, founder and prior of the school, a warrant from the Commune alleging neither complaint nor legal motive, but signifying to all members of the community that they must place themselves at the disposal of the delegates. Shortly after, the fatal journey was organized. The Fathers, surrounded by soldiers, set out for the Bicêtre fort, where they arrived at seven o'clock in the evening. The captives were first locked in a narrow room, where they had to wait, amidst the coarsest insults, for their turn to appear before the governor of the fort for the booking formalities; then in a casemate that barely contained a few remains of damp straw, already chopped up by the stay of the Commune's soldiers. For two whole days, the prisoners were deprived of food, and they were even refused a glass of water.

On Wednesday the 24th, an execution was carried out in the courtyard of the fort before their eyes: there was a redoubling of threats and cruel allusions regarding this. During this long week of agony, a sweet cheerfulness never ceased to reign among the prisoners: they had made the sacrifice of their lives to God for France. The religious multiplied their usual prayers; they encouraged one another and exhorted their companions. Each evening the rosary was said in common, and a remembrance for the absent brothers was added to the ordinary formulas. Sometimes Fr. Captier, broken by privations and overwhelmed with worries, veiled his head in a fold of his cloak. People would then fall silent around him, out of respect for this silent meditation, and all associated themselves from the bottom of their hearts with the prayer he offered to God for his brothers and his children. At other times, he would rise from his bed of straw to address words of life and salvation to those of whom he was the leader. From outside, the federates watched and insulted these acts of religion. On Thursday, May 25, at daybreak, an armed troop appeared, very agitated, at the door of the casemate, broke it down with rifle butts, and ordered the captives to leave immediately with the column that was returning to Paris: "You are free," they were told, "only we cannot leave you in the hands of the Versaillais: you must follow us to the Gobelins town hall; then you will go into Paris wherever you wish."

The journey was long and arduous; death threats were uttered at every moment. They descended towards the Porte d'Ivry. Arrived at the Gobelins town hall, amidst the cries of death from the crowd panicked by the proximity of the regular army, the prisoners spoke in vain of the freedom they had been promised. "The streets," they were told, "are not safe; you would be massacred by the people, stay here." They were brought in and made to sit on the ground in the courtyard of the town hall, where shells were raining down, and where the federates brought the corpses of their victims, in order to show them how the Commune treats its enemies. After half an hour, an officer arrived and led them to the disciplinary prison of the ninth sector, 38 Avenue d'Italie. Upon entering, the captives of Arcueil recognized the 101st battalion and the citizen Cerisier, that is to say, the same men who had carried out their arrest. It was then ten o'clock in the morning. Around two-thirty, a man in a red shirt suddenly opened the door of the room. "Cassocks," he said, "get up, we are going to take you to the barricade." The Fathers indeed went out and were led towards the barricade erected in front of the Gobelins town hall. There they were offered rifles to fight. "We are priests," they said, "and furthermore we are neutralized by our status as ambulance workers: we will not take up arms. All we can do is care for your wounded and pick up your dead." — "Do you promise?" asked the officer of the Commune. — "We promise." At these words, they took the road back to the disciplinary prison, with an escort of federates and women armed with rifles.

Locked up again and threatened from all sides, the prisoners thought only of preparing themselves for the supreme passage. All knelt to offer the sacrifice of their lives one last time, all confessed and received absolution. At about four-thirty, a new order from Cerisier. All the prisoners went out and filed into the dead-end street that precedes the prison, while the federates of the 101st battalion loaded their weapons with a too-significant noise. Already everyone was at their post: platoons were placed at all the exits of the neighboring streets. On the avenue, the colonel of the thirteenth legion was seated in a carriage, with a woman at his side: this is how he presided over the high works of the Paris Commune. Then the command rang out: "Go out one by one into the street!" Fr. Captier turned halfway towards his companions: "Come on," he said, "my friends, for the good God!" Immediately the massacre be gan. Fr. Cotr Le P. Captier Dominican prior of the Arcueil school, martyr. ault went out first and fell mortally wounded. Fr. Captier was hit by a bullet that broke his leg, and went to fall, pierced by another bullet, more than a hundred meters away, towards the place where, in 1848, the June insurgents shot General Bréa. Fr. Bourard also, after being hit, was able to take a few steps in the same direction, then he collapsed under a second volley. Frs. Delhorme and Chataigneret fell struck down. Mr. Gauquelin fell with them. Messrs. Voland, Gros, Marce, Cheminal, Dintroz, and Cathala, having left the dead-end street following the Fathers, had time to cross the Avenue d'Italie, but they were struck dead before having found a refuge.

However, the accomplished massacre did not satisfy the fury of the assassins: they rushed upon the corpses, uncovered them to insult them in a more odious manner; with bayonet blows and axes, they broke the limbs and the bloodied skulls. For more than fifteen hours, the corpses of the martyrs remained exposed to every imaginable outrage.

The next morning, the victims were collected and transported all together to the house of the Brothers on the Rue du Moulin-des-Prés, and from there to Arcueil. They would have liked to bury them within the grounds of the school; but there were long formalities to fulfill, and the bodies were so crushed that there was not even time to make coffins for them. The humble cart that contained them, followed by a crowd trembling with grief, was led to the communal cemetery. There, in a single grave, they were laid one next to the other, having for their only shroud their bloodied clothes.

The Rev. Fr. Armand Radigue, in religion Ladislas, was born on May 8, 1823, at Saint-Patrice du Désert, in the diocese of Séez. He completed his humanities at the minor seminary of Séez. His tender piety and his amiable, gentle, and open character won him the esteem and sympathy of all. Feeling called to religious life and strongly inclin ed toward the Congregation of Congrégation des Sacrés-Cœurs Religious congregation based in Picpus. the Sacred Hearts, he yielded to the powerful impulse of grace and generously made the sacrifice that God asked of him. On July 19, 1843, he made his resolutions at the novitiate of the Sacred Hearts, then located at Vaugirard. After his profession, which took place on March 7, 1845, he completed his theological studies and received Holy Orders at the motherhouse. On October 19, 1848, he was appointed director of the novitiate, which had just been transferred from Vaugirard to Issy. The General Chapter of 1863 promoted him to the office of master of novices. The Chapter of 1868 elevated him to the position of prior of the main house. It was in this capacity that he was called to govern the Congregation, ad interim, after the death of the Rev. Fr. Rouchouze. A serious illness that he suffered at that time did not slow his zeal for the good of the Congregation. As a director of souls, he possessed a precious quality: prudence and moderation. "Let us not go so fast," he would say to the young brothers whom he saw as too eager; "by wanting to scale heaven, one risks breaking one's legs. He who goes slowly goes far. I myself, when starting, wanted to walk too fast. I have recognized by experience the disadvantages of exaggerated ardor." His virtue had nothing austere about it. Severe with himself, he was full of indulgence for others, and knew how to sympathize with the infirmities of human weakness. He held as a principle that the best practice of mortification for a religious is subjection to the common life. His respectful and devoted affection toward his superiors is one of the distinctive characteristics of his virtue. He always lent them the most active and intelligent assistance; and, although he was not entirely recovered from the illness he had just had, he resumed the work of the general administration during the trip that the Rev. Fr. Bousquet made to Rome after his election. He also held the place of his superior general in Paris when the latter, taking advantage of the armistice, went to visit the provincial houses. And it was at this post of honor and duty that he was seized by the Revolution.

The Rev. Fr. Jules Tuffier, in religion Polycarpe, was born at Le Malzieu (Lozère), on March 14, 1807. Placed from an early age at the College of Adoration held in Mende by the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts, the seeds of piety that maternal education had sown in his heart did not take long to develop. He was only twelve years old when one day, in the middle of a recreation, he heard these words ring in his ear: "Go to the novitiate." It was the voice of Fr. Régis Rouchouze. The child did not hesitate for an instant, and, like the young Samuel, he replied from the bottom of his heart: "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." The novices were surprised to see him in their ranks; they wanted to send the little intruder away; but Fr. Régis prevented them. "Let this child come," he told them. Arriving in Paris on May 3, 1820, he made his vows there on May 14, 1823. Ordained a priest when the revolution of 1830 broke out, he was placed at the parish of Martinville, near Darnetal, in the month of February 1831. He discharged the mission entrusted to him with dignity. Recalled to Paris on September 24, 1840, he was sent to Yvetot as chaplain to the Sisters on November 10 of the same year. From there he was placed in Laval, still as chaplain, in September 1842. After five years of residence in that house, he was sent to Cahors, where he exercised the functions of superior of the Petit-Carmes college from 1847 to 1858. He neglected nothing that could stimulate the students' ardor for work and maintain good order. He knew how to encourage efforts and repress abuses with a fatherly kindness that won him all hearts. From Cahors he went to Mende, where he resumed the functions he had exercised in Yvetot and Laval. Returning to Laval in 1862, the General Chapter elevated him the following year to the position of procurator of the main house, a position he occupied until his death. One admired his kindness and his condescension, the patience with which he bore the faults of childhood, and the charity that often led him to excuse them. Nothing could express the filial devotion he showed toward his superiors, even when he had raised them. Here is what the Rev. Fr. Bousquet, superior general, wrote about him, who better than anyone else could tell us what was good in this rich nature that grace had so delighted to adorn: "Fr. Tuffier was a soul of elite; to a lively and ardent nature he knew how to join an excessive kindness. Impetuous and active, he was endowed with exquisite common sense and a very sure judgment. He united in his nature great and rich qualities. He had solid instruction, a sure and extensive theological science. He knew how to know men and win their confidence. God had given him great faith. Under a very open and cheerful exterior, he hid a heavenly virtue."

The Rev. Fr. Jean-Marie Rouchouze, in religion Marcellin, was born on December 14, 1810, at Saint-Julien en Jarrets (Loire). In 1818, he entered the College of Adoration in Mende; then that of Cahors in 1819, and from there to that of Sarlat in 1825. Returning to Mende, he entered the novitiate there on August 24, 1834. On September 15, 1836, he came to Picpus, where he made his vows on February 2, 1837. He was employed there for two and a half years as a professor of philosophy. From Paris he was sent to Belgium in 1842, and from there to the college of Graves, near Villefranche de Rouergue (Aveyron). He became a member of the council there, then prefect of studies, and, on September 23, 1856, he was appointed superior of that establishment. In 1860, he exercised the functions of prior, prefect of studies, and professor in Poitiers, and for several years made this college a witness to his merits and virtues. In 1865, he filled the position of secretary general in Paris and was appointed a member of the council on August 22, 1870. He sat on several occasions in the general chapters, namely, as a delegate in 1853, 1858, and 1863, and by election of the superior general at the chapter of 1868. It was especially as a professor that Fr. Rouchouze was remarkable; his zeal and devotion knew no bounds. He was very methodical in his teaching; he knew how to put himself within the reach of children and did not tire of repeating the same things to them until they knew them well. In this, his patience was admirable. He prepared his classes exactly, corrected all assignments scrupulously. He attached his students to himself in a very special way by his kindness, his gentleness, his affable and always dignified manners, never allowing himself any improper familiarities. If he loved his students, he was even more loved by them. It can be said that he was the type of the good professor, the amiable, vigilant, and devoted professor. If there was a job in the house that no one wanted to take on, they had recourse to him, and one could be sure not to experience a refusal. What further increased the value of his services is that he rendered them with such good grace that one would have said it was simply a duty of his office that he wanted to fulfill. To all these virtues he added a humility so profound that he believed himself absolutely unworthy of the priesthood. Thus, he remained for long years in the lower rank of the subdiaconate. It was only with difficulty that he consented to bow his shoulders under this burden, which is formidable even to the angels.

The Rev. Fr. Jean-Pierre-Eugène Tardieu, in religion Frézal, was born at Chasseradez (Lozère), on November 18, 1814. He was received as a novice in Paris on June 2, 1837, and made his vows on April 24, 1839. From the month of October of the following year, he was sent as director to the novitiate of Vaugirard, and from there to that of Louvain on November 3, 1843. He was then appointed superior of that same novitiate on May 6, 1845. Recalled to Paris in 1858, he went as director to the novitiate of Issy. In 1860, he entered the council of the Superior General and taught dogma at the main house, a function he continued almost until his death. He was a delegate to the General Chapters of 1850, 1853, and 1858. He sat by right as a member of the council at those of 1863, 1868, and 1870, which maintained him in his position as councilor. As a professor, he was endowed with remarkable accuracy and clarity. His exquisite judgment had an excellent memory at its service. He knew how to make himself loved by his students; his approach was easy and his conversation always full of a graceful amiability. In the exercise of the holy ministry and the practice of good works, his virtues shone with the brightest luster. He had a very sensitive and compassionate heart, but it was especially for children, for the poor, and for the sick. His humility was profound; he loved to remain hidden. He spoke very little, and to hear him one would have thought him incapable of anything. However, at the holy tribunal, he gave proof of consummate experience. He knew how to push souls toward the summits of perfection. Upon leaving him, one felt transported with courage; his exhortations can be summarized in these two words: strength and suavity.

During the first siege of Paris, the Picpus house had been requisitioned for reasons of public utility, and four of the Fathers went to the battlefield to collect the wounded and offer them the succor of religion, while the Adoring Ladies, for their part, transformed their parlor into an ambulance and placed several sisters at the service of the wounded. These acts of patriotism and humanity, appearing under the guise of religious devotion and Christian charity, were far from being taken into consideration by the agents of the Commune. It was, on the contrary, one more reason for persecution on the part of an usurping and impious government. Indeed, on April 12, at four o'clock in the evening, the house of the Fathers was invaded by the insurgents who, previously, had seized the convent of the White Ladies (thi s is the name Dames Blanches Religious congregation based in Picpus. given to the religious of the Sacred Hearts in the neighborhood), and had committed the most horrible profanations there. There, the sacrilegious, under the leadership of a man named Lenôtre, after having vainly tried to open the door of the tabernacle with the point of a sword, had finally found the key, and, seeing no silver vase that their avarice coveted, they had unleashed their satanic rage on the adorable body of the Savior, even cutting several holy species in two. They had then laid hands on all the precious objects they could discover in the sacristy; chalices, ciborium, monstrance, crosses, veils, stoles, etc., everything became the prey of their rapacity.

After this operation, the leader of the band, named Clavier, calling himself a police commissioner, went to the Fathers' house with twenty-five of his henchmen and asked for the Superior. The latter being absent, Fr. Radigue, in his capacity as Prior, presented himself before the commissioner who ordered him to lead him to his room. Upon seeing Clavier and his satellites emptying his boxes and seizing his papers, Fr. Radigue said to them: "We do not engage in politics." — "It is not your politics that we fear," he was answered; "but you say Mass and you wear scapulars. We want no more of those superstitions." The federates, having spread throughout the house, committed the most sacrilegious outrages there. Not content with insulting Our Lord in the sacrament of his love, they insulted him in the images and relics of his Saints. They pierced the statue of Saint Peter with a bullet: as this holy image points a finger to heaven, these stupid sneerers made a sacrilegious game of putting an extinguisher on it. They broke the statues of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, of Saint Joseph carrying the Child Jesus, of the Archangel Saint Michael, and of the patriarch Saint Benedict. Not a crucifix, not a statue, not an image was respected. Picpus was perhaps, of all the communities in Paris, the one richest in relics: there were skulls, distinguished bones, entire holy bodies. A large part of these riches is lost forever. The federates broke the large reliquaries, piled the holy bones pell-mell, broke the seals, and burned or scattered the authentic documents. Several of these holy relics were thrown into the latrines with execrable blasphemies.

While these acts of vandalism were being carried out, the Fathers, declared prisoners of the Commune, were taken to the Conciergerie, and from there transferred to Mazas. It was from this prison that Fr. Radigue wrote, on May 3, to his Superior General: "... I have never been as happy in my life : I h Mazas Prison where the hostages were held before their transfer to La Roquette. ave experienced how good the Lord is, and what assistance he gives to those he tests for the glory of his name. I have understood a little, after having tasted it, the superabundo gaudio magno in omni tribulatione of Saint Paul. Is it not true, my Father, that in the eyes of faith we are not to be pitied? For me, I find myself very honored to suffer for the religion of Jesus Christ. I do not consider myself a political prisoner at all. I do not want to have any politics other than that of my Savior Jesus. I am therefore saintly proud to find myself in the footsteps of so many glorious confessors who have borne witness to Jesus Christ. I think of the glorious apostle Peter in the Mamertine prison; every day I kiss with love a facsimile of his chains that I am happy to possess. I think of the great Saint Paul, while reading his sufferings in the Acts and in his Epistles. What I suffer is nothing in comparison; it is a lot for me, because I am weak. I review so many other Saints who are praised for having suffered what I suffer, and I then ask myself why I should not find myself happy with what has made the happiness of the Saints. The feasts of each day provide me with further encouragement: how can one complain while saying the office of Saint Athanasius?

VIES DES SAINTS. — TOME XV. 24

And today, how can one not be glorious to carry a little of this cross whose triumph we celebrate?"

Fr. Tuffier felt only tender compassion for the authors of his woes. "My God!" he said, "will you then let so many victims of ignorance and thoughtlessness perish? How the populations are being perverted! In massacring us, they think they are doing good. Forgive them, they know not what they do." But nothing could alter his trust in God and his perfect submission to the decrees of divine Providence. Here are the terms in which he expressed himself on this subject in several of his letters: "The love of God softens the greatest pains. It is better to suffer than to be guilty. I suffer much, but God is there to sustain me. We are given hope that this will not last long. May God will it! However, his will above all. Our Lord has had much else to suffer from us every day. I do not have to drink, myself, gall and vinegar. My God, how favorable Mazas is to a meditation on the passion of Our Lord!" — "Let us accept the crosses that God sends us," he wrote again. "It is necessary that we, the ministers of a crucified God, participate in the cross of our divine Master... I am happy to have drunk a little from the chalice of his sorrows. One cannot be a true minister of Jesus Christ if one does not climb to Calvary with him... Let us bow our heads, God wants us to detach ourselves from everything. Well then! my God, with your grace, we will say to you from the heart: You and you alone, and then nothing more!"

On May 21, as the Versailles troops had entered Paris, their approach caused turmoil in the ranks of the federates, whom fear and fury drove to the last extremities. A delirious populace besieged the gates of Mazas, shouting cries of death. A troop of armed federates entered the prison and brought the Fathers out to lead them to La Roquette. The prisoners arrived ther e around ni la Roquette Place of detention and execution for numerous hostages. ne o'clock in the evening and were not booked until between ten and eleven o'clock, in cells of disgusting filth. There were already Mgr Darboy, M. Deguerry, Jesuit Fathers, and other hostages of whom we shall speak later. During the few days of detention in this prison, the Fathers of Picpus exhorted one another to martyrdom. Finally, on May 26, around four o'clock, a guard named Ramin arrived in the corridor leading to the cells and called the roll of the four Fathers. The victims answered courageously and came to line up around the guard as he called them: the chosen ones were going joyfully to their death.

After a long wait, the Fathers saw the prison gates open before them. A compact crowd of men, women, and children stood in the square. Fierce cries greeted the prisoners upon their appearance; they were lined up two by two. A man on horseback went ahead to incite the populace. He performed this mission with zeal. While the victims climbed painfully to the summit of their Golgotha, savage vociferations rang in their ears: "Down with the cassocks! Death to the priests!" The women seemed even more animated than the men. "If I had them," said one of these furies, "they would all pass through it from the first to the last." Led to the town hall of the 20th arrondissement, they left it after a half-hour wait through the door that opens onto the Rue de Belleville. The Fathers found themselves in front of the church: they were able to salute one last time the hidden God whom they were about to glorify by the shedding of their blood. The funeral march had taken on a more solemn and sinister aspect. One could see at the head a canteen woman on horseback, with a fierce and impudent look: an officer accompanied her. The hostages were between two rows of bayonets. Fr. Tuffier appeared more suffering than the others: the deprivations of the prison had singularly weakened him. He could barely drag himself along and leaned, while walking, on the shoulder of a confrere. Far from inspiring any pity, the sight of his sufferings only ignited the thirst for blood in these tiger-like hearts. One even heard a child of fourteen or fifteen years old who exclaimed upon seeing him pass: "I would really like to pay for this old man!" However, there were some people who spoke differently. To suppress the murmurs that were beginning to be heard in the crowd, the federates took care to sow under their feet infamous slanders against the victims they were about to immolate. "They are brigands," they said, "we just caught them at the Boulevard du Prince-Eugène, where they were making barricades with human corpses. Let us finish it, since we have them." And they promised new executions, of which this one was only the prelude.

As they approached the place of execution, the march of the executioners became faster: the condemned were calm. They were directed toward the enclosure of the sector opening onto the Rue Haxo: it was the last refuge of the leaders of the Commune. A man then climbed onto a cart, holding a red flag in his hand: "Citizens," he said, "the devotion of the population of B ellevill rue Haxo Site of the massacre of the hostages of Picpus and Belleville. e deserves a reward. Here are hostages that we bring to you to pay you for your long sacrifices. To death! To death!" — "Bravo! Bravo!" they shouted from all sides. "Long live the Commune! To death! To death!" Immediately the victims were introduced into the sector; the officer who closed the march pressed them with the point of his sword, while a man of extraordinary strength dealt each one a violent punch as he crossed the gate. Fr. Tuffier having then stumbled, the punch knocked him face down, and soon a blow from a rifle butt forced him to get back up. Arrived at the end of the alley facing the gate, the hostages were penned in a sort of courtyard while awaiting execution. Ten minutes passed in this expectation. As the assassins seemed hesitant, suddenly a leader climbed onto a small retaining wall and spoke with violence while brandishing his saber. This was the signal for the butchery. The canteen woman advanced first, shouting: "No cassocks!" and she fired. A second shot followed the first; it was soon followed by a third and then a fourth. There were then for nearly twenty minutes successive discharges of poorly sustained platoon fire. During this barbaric execution, the women, gathered in a crowd on the small perimeter wall, insulted the victims and applauded their murderers. Fr. Tuffier was still standing. "Three shots for that one," shouted some furies. "He spent his whole life teaching us error." Then this venerable Father raised his hand toward heaven, undoubtedly wishing to send up a final prayer for his executioners. This gesture was not understood by these men transported by a satanic fury. "He is asking for mercy!" they shouted; and a new discharge made him fall. As he was still breathing, he rose convulsively and tried to lean against the wall; but the assassins threw themselves upon him and finished him off at point-blank range. The martyr fell face down. A kick turned him onto his back, and a final gunshot struck this innocent victim again at the moment he was exhaling his last breath.

The sacrifice completed, the federates contemplated these heroes lying on the ground and bathed in their blood, and seemed unable to satiate themselves with this spectacle. Like the victim of Calvary, the venerable confessors were saturated with opprobrium and pain. So that the resemblance would be more complete, God permitted their clothes to be divided. Their very bodies were not spared from the rapacity of the cannibals. The canteen woman boasted of having wanted to tear out Fr. Tuffier's tongue; but she admitted she had not succeeded. On Saturday, May 27, the federates thought of burying the corpses they had left lying on the ground, in order to erase the traces of their crime. Having found a small vaulted pit at the scene of the execution, they made a narrow opening in it and piled the corpses inside. It was there that they were discovered by Abbé Raymont, vicar of Belleville, who had them transported to the Belleville cemetery, where they remained in a tomb until June 8, the time at which they were transferred, through the care of the Rev. Fr. Bousquet, superior general, to the Issy cemetery, where they rest while awaiting a more honorable burial.

Mgr Georges Darboy Mgr Georges Darboy Archbishop of Paris, hostage and martyr of the Commune. was born in Fayl-Billot, the chief town of the canton in the Haute-Marne department, on January 16, 1813. Ordained a priest in 1836, he was successively appointed vicar of the Notre-Dame parish in Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne); professor at the major seminary of Langres in 1840; second chaplain of the Collège Henri IV in Paris in 1846; first chaplain of the lycée in 1851; Bishop of Nancy on August 16, 1859; and Archbishop of Paris on January 10, 1863. Eminent in talent, rich in all the gifts of intelligence and knowledge, and sincerely devoted to the sacred interests of the Church and his vast diocese, he knew how to make himself esteemed and loved by his clergy.

As the disastr ous days o Mgr Darboy Archbishop of Paris, hostage and martyr of the Commune. f the Commune approached, Mgr Darboy could have fled, but he wished to remain at his post and watch over the sheep and lambs entrusted to his care. Arrested on April 4, he was taken to the prefecture depot and transferred a few days later, in a prison van, to Mazas, where he remained until May 22. The heroes of the Commune, forced to retreat into the center of Paris, understood that their power was at an end and that their reign was about to finish. In a secret meeting held on the evening of May 22, they unanimously decreed the death of the hostages and sent the order to transfer them to La Roquette, where they arrived at eight o'clock in the evening. On Wednesday the 24th, Mgr Darboy and five other detainees were led to the patrol path, amidst the most coarse and revolting insults. Arriving at the place of execution, Mgr Darboy was placed, along with the others, along the perimeter wall. While he held his hands raised toward heaven, he received the fatal blow and collapsed: he was struck by three gunshots. His body and those of the five other hostages were taken the next morning to the Père Lachaise cemetery, from where they were later removed. The body of Mgr Darboy rests in the sepulchral vault of the Archbishops of Paris, at the church of Notre-Dame.

Mgr Surat, first vicar general of Paris, apostolic protonotary. Born in Paris to pious parents, Mgr de Quélen took an affection for him, had him complete his studies, and after he was ordained a priest, attached him to his person as chaplain. Appointed vicar general of the diocese by Mgr Sibour, he retained these high functions until his death. Arrested by the federates on the same day as his archbishop, he was transported with him to the police prefecture depot, then to Mazas, and from there to La Roquette. Having managed to escape from the prison for a moment on May 27, he was almost immediately recaptured by a band of fanatics who dragged him back to La Roquette. Their rage was such that they threw themselves upon the unfortunate prelate and mutilated him horribly. His body was not found until two days after M. Deguerry Curé of La Madeleine, executed by firing squad with Mgr Darboy. that of his archbishop.

M. Deguerry, pastor of the Madeleine. Born in Lyon in 1797, he began his studies at the seminary of that city and finished them at the college of Villefranche, where he distinguished himself as much by his solid and brilliant qualities as by the frankness and loyalty of his character. Ordained a priest at twenty-three, he taught philosophy and theology with the greatest success. In 1824, he made his debut in the pulpit in Lyon itself, and the following two years he preached in Paris. Appointed chaplain of the 6th regiment of the royal guard by Charles X in 1827, he followed his regiment until 1830 to Orléans, Rouen, and Paris. From 1830 to 1839, he evangelized most of our great cities. Appointed titular canon of Notre-Dame in 1841, he became its archpriest in 1844; the following year, he moved to the parish of Saint-Eustache, then, in 1849, to that of the Madeleine, where he won the high esteem and deep sympathies of all, by always keeping himself above political agitations and passions, by removing from his priestly ministry all human elements that could have weakened its action, and by seeking above all, not what pleases men and flatters their sympathies or antipathies of the moment, but what is important for the glorification of God, the triumph of the Church, and the salvation of souls. He founded numerous charitable works in his parish and distributed many alms around him. Called to the see of Marseille in 1861, he refused the heavy burden of the episcopate. On April 5, 1871, he was arrested by national guards, taken to the prefecture, then imprisoned at Mazas and from there to La Roquette, from where he only left to be shot with his archbishop.

M. Décourt, pastor of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle. Born in the diocese of Arras, he came to Paris and was appointed vicar at the church of Saint-Séverin, where he distinguished himself by his ardent zeal and lively piety. Called then to the parish of Dugny, then to that of Puteaux, and finally to that of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle, he occupied himself with such solicitude for the spiritual interests of his flock that he knew how to conquer in a short time the esteem and affection of his parishioners. When the persecution against the clergy broke out in Paris, his many friends urged him to escape the dangers that threatened him; but the zealous pastor constantly refused. "If they want to arrest me," he said, "they will find me in my rectory." He believed he owed this sacrifice to Jesus Christ, and this example to his parishioners. M. Décourt was arrested on April 11, taken to the Conciergerie, and later to La Roquette. Having managed to leave on May 27, in the company of Mgr Surat, he was soon recognized by the insurgents; surrounded by them and led back to La Roquette amidst the imprecations of the crowd and the most barbaric treatment, he was shot there on the spot.

The Rev. Fr. Houillon, of the Society of Foreign Missions. Having recently returned from China, he was arrested on April 4, 1871, in the Panthéon district by national guards of the 204th battalion, who took him to the station and from there to the police prefecture. He remained there for a few days and was transferred, like all the other priests, to Mazas, then to La Roquette. He managed to escape from prison on May 26; but having failed to find a refuge, he was arrested again and massacred. His body was buried in the Montmartre cemetery.

Fr. Allard, a former missionary and ambulance chaplain. He was born in Andrazé (Maine-et-Loire). This priest, an ardent and zealous apostle, did not hesitate for an instant to offer to God the spontaneous sacrifice of the shedding of his blood. As an apostolic missionary in Lebanon and Syria, he suffered the ill-treatment of the Bedouins on several occasions; stripped and mistreated by them, his ardor for preaching the faith did not waver. In Russia, in Tiflis, in Georgia, he preached the true faith without fear to schismatics; seized by the Russian police, he underwent the terrible flogging of the knout until he was judged dead. From there he was taken to Saint Petersburg, between two henchmen, like a criminal, and finally expelled and brought back to Le Havre. A force of which he was undoubtedly unaware drew him toward Paris. During the siege, he was in the midst of the national guards. Under the reign of the Commune, he continued to devote himself to the service of the ambulances. He was arrested on April 4, while returning from visiting the federated wounded, on the Rue de Vaugirard, not far from the house where he lived. A battalion of federates was returning to Paris from the ramparts. At the sight of Fr. Allard, who was wearing a cassock, they rushed toward him, shouting: "Death to him, he is a priest." This cry, as well as this remark by Raoul Rigault addressed to Mgr Darboy: "You have been imprisoning us for eighteen hundred years, it is time for it to end," show clearly that it was in hatred of the faith that the hostage priests were massacred. A very large number of national guards wanted to shoot him in the street; but others intervened to take him to the police prefecture. From there he was transported to Mazas, then to La Roquette, where the insurgents took it upon themselves to pay this priest, as humble as he was zealous, the debt of gratitude that France, in the person of its defenders, had contracted toward him: they shot him on the evening of May 24, with Mgr Darboy. Throughout his entire life, Fr. Allard had endured the most terrible trials without weakness; at the supreme hour, he saw death face to face with manly courage, and he walked as a hero toward the crown of martyrdom. Transported to the Père-Lachaise cemetery by the assassins of the Commune, he was exhumed when the search for the bodies of the victims shot at La Roquette on May 24 was conducted on Pentecost Sunday. Placed in the cemetery chapel, he was from there transported to the church of Bonne-Nouvelle, then buried next to the Rev. Fr. Houillon in the Montmartre cemetery. It is there that Fr. Perny managed to find him after long searches. After being exhumed again, the body was transported to Andrazé.

Mr. Sabatier, vicar of Notre-Dame de Lorette since 1856, was originally from Auvergne. Having learned in time of the arrest warrant issued against him, he wished, following the example of his archbishop, to remain courageously at his post: he was, in every sense of the word, a man after God's own heart. He was massacred on May 26, in a closed courtyard on the Rue Haxo, with thirteen of his confreres and thirty-six guards of Paris. The bodies were thrown into a sort of deep cellar at the foot of a large wall.

Mr. Planchat, chaplain of the Sainte-Anne patronage. He was martyred on Rue Haxo on May 26, with Father Sabatier. The hostages had been taken from all ranks of the ecclesiastical hierarchy: everything that wore a cassock was doomed by them to a violent death; nothing stopped them, not even a life of devotion spent amidst the most continuous privations and under their very eyes. Father Planchat, indeed, in his asylum only concerned himself with poor children; he instructed them, prepared them for their first communion, and when these children were in apprenticeship, he gathered them on Sundays in order to snatch them from the dangers of bad company.

Mr. Seigneret, a seminarian of Saint-Sulpice. Detained on April 6 as a prisoner at the police prefecture, where he had gone without suspicion to seek his passport, he was from there taken to Mazas, then to La Roquette, and finally, with a large number of other hostages, into a closed courtyard on the Rue Haxo, where, after being horribly mistreated, they were shot on May 26.

The Reverend Jesuit Fathers Ducoudray and Clerc were massacred on May 24; and the Reverend Fat hers De Olivaint Jesuit priest and martyr, associated with a post-mortem miracle. Bengy, Olivaint, and Caubert on May 26. Their mortal remains were transported from the Montparnasse cemetery to the church owned by the Society of Jesus on Rue de Sèvres. This private translation was marked by a most extraordinary event. A twenty-one-year-old girl had an ailment in her knee which, given the circumstances, was considered incurable (ankylosis, white swelling, etc.), and which had compromised her general health to the point of making her condition desperate. Afflicted with a very serious peritonitis, she had been receiving the last rites for a fortnight. The establishment's doctor had declared that there was no hope left. However, the patient was praying fervently to Fr. Olivaint, who had prepared her for her first communion. Novena followed novena, and she had recently finished her fifth. Brought by carriage, she was carried in arms to the coffin, for she was unable to make a movement. Scarcely had she touched the casket when her legs straightened (one had been short); she was suddenly standing and walking behind the coffin as it was carried into the church. There, she threw herself onto her knees without support and remained in that state for about ten minutes. Soon, seeing the congregation sprinkling holy water, she stood up, walked a long way around, and went all by herself to the tomb; finally, when everything was finished, she returned home on foot, that is to say, as far as the Rue Notre-Dame des Champs. Since then, she has returned every day to pray. The peritonitis disappeared at the same time as the leg ailment.

Cf. Les Martyrs de Pâques, by the Rev. Fr. Perderan; Vie et Œuvres de Mgr Darboy, by Mgr Fèvre, apostolic protonotary; Les Martyrs de la seconde Terreur, by the Viscount de la Vauverin.