The Mass Graves at Cimitiere Picpus

Finally, I reached the wall behind which were dumped the bodies of the martyred Carmelites and the other victims of the Terror. Visitors had recently placed (thrown?) flowers through the gate to honor them.

Memorials on the wall named the victims:
I also found the gate through which their bodies had been brought:

With this detail about how it was used:

Then I noticed this little statue of St. Michael the Archangel: And then I left Cimitiere Picpus:

The Birth of Margaret Tudor

The eldest daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York was born on November 28, 1489.

Gareth Russell discussed her life on his blog while commemorating her death in October and referenced this blog's discussion of her political significance.

The Grounds of Cimitiere Picpus

Entering another gate to the left of the chapel, I saw a narrow long expanse of lawns and trees ahead of me, with the cemetery grounds at the end to the right. A nicely dressed lady came toward me and left the grounds. For awhile I was alone. When I entered the cemetery proper, I saw another narrow space, crowded with grave markers.

The grave of the Marquis de Lafayette and his wife (whose mother and sister were guillotined and buried in one of the mass graves behind the wall to the left):

The Polignac family monument and chapel:

I also saw the grave marker of Francoise Pauline de Lamoignan de Malasherbes, the daughter of Guillaume-Chretien de Lamoignan de Malasherbes who defended King Louis XVI.

For more detail on the monuments in Picpus, see this site from Northwestern University.

I'll conclude this story in my Monday, November 29 post.

A Visit to a Site of Martyrdom

Last Tuesday while in Paris, I visited Place de la Nation, the site of the guillotine near the end of the Terror. There the Carmelites of Compiegne were executed within sight of the great Avenue du Trone. On either side of the Avenue du Trone there are tall pillars with statues of St. Louis and Louis-Augustus, the great crusading kings of France. The kings of France would enter along this avenue into Paris to the Place du Trone.

During the Revolution, the Place du Trone was renamed Place du Trone Renverse (turned upside down) demonstrating the fall of the monarchy. The sixteen Carmelites were executed there on Jully 17, 1794. There bodies were then transported to Cimitiere Picpus and dumped into one of two mass graves there.

I walked along Avenue du Trone to take a couple of pictures of the statues; then returned to the Place de la Nation to photograph the statue of the Republic in the center of the circle. After lunch at one of the restaurants ringing the Place I walked to Cimitiere Picpus, one of very people visiting during their open hours that mardi, starting at 2 p.m. I pushed a button to open the gates and stepped inside.

Upon entry I saw the chapel straight ahead with a very neatly raked secton of gravel between an old well and the church steps. There was no caretaker present so I entered the chapel. Inside the rather spartan chapel, two huge tablets on either side of the altar displayed the names of the guillotine's victims. (This picture may be a little a dark, but it gives you an idea how massive these lists are).



When I came out, the caretaker and his little jack russell terrier greeted me. The former requested I pay two euros to enter the cemetery and gave me a little flyer with a map. The latter sniffed at my skirt and heels and asked, "Who are these dogs? Where are these dogs?" until his master called him off.

While I toured the cemetery, I heard the laughter of children at playtime in the school next door--and the racket of some construction in the area. Inside the cemetery grounds, leaves and broken branches covered the pathways, creating an eternal stillness. I found the memorial to the Carmelite martyrs, the grave of Lafayette ("Lafayette, we are here!"), the door through which the bodies were brought, and many other interesting monuments.

Please see tomorrow's post for more.

Updates on Interviews

Saturday, November 26--"The Good Fight" will repeat my discussion with Barbara McGuigan and Richard "Doc" Geraghty this holiday weekend on EWTN radio.

Tuesday, November 30--I'll be on the "Son Rise Morning Show" on Sacred Heart Radio/EWTN Radio at 7:45 a.m. Eastern/6:45 a.m. Central to discuss November 30, 1554, when Reginald Cardinal Pole led a solemn service of repentance and reconciliation between England and the universal Catholic Church.

Three English Converts and Our Lady of Victory

Last week I visited Notre Dames des Victoires near Place des Victoires with the statue of Louis XIV in the center of the ring. His father, Louis XIII, commissioned this Notre Dame in thanksgiving for all his military victories in 1629. The church is filled, however, with ex voto plaques from believers thankful for more personal favors and miracles: healings, conversion, marriage, health, birth, happiness--just "Thank You".

There is one plaque I saw on a previous visit, but because the Benedictine sisters working in the parish were instructing some students I did not want to interrupt by taking a picture (so I waited a couple of years!): "A Thank Offering From. Three. English. Converts.":

I am stilll researching who A.R., I.A., and I.G. are, but notice that they are placing this rather large plaque in response to the urging of George Spencer, and that they are praying for the conversion of the English nation, commending this intecession to Mary's care. This ex voto is close to the statue of Notre Dame des Victoires.

Back Home again from Paris

I'll have some posts in the next few days on some historic sites in Paris--a few that even have a connection to the English Reformation. My husband and I arrived hom late on our flight from Chicago to Wichita (weather delays in Chicago, of course). After downloading pictures from our two Canons, I'll have some fun posts.

Thomas Tallis

The English composer Thomas Tallis died on November 23, 1585. He composed and performed music at Court as a Gentleman of the College Royal for four of the five Tudor monarchs: Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. He adapted his style to the desires of each monarch, but remained a Catholic. Before serving at Court he had been a musician at Dover Priory and Holy Cross Abbey (the second until the Dissolution of the Monasteries) and at Canterbury Catheral.

Both Mary I and Elizabeth I honored Tallis with very profitable arrangements: Mary granted him lease on a manor in Kent, while Elizabeth gave him (and William Byrd) monopolies and printing patents.

Gramophone magazine published a CD interview between Catherine Bott and Peter Phillips of the Tallis Scholars covering his career noting that he may never have heard an adequate performance of one of his most famous works during his lifetime: Spem in alium. There probably weren't the musical forces available to deliver eight five-voice choirs; I recall that Phillips said instruments might have provided some of the voices for this motet.

Mary of Guise, Mother and Regent

Born November 22, 1515--doesn't that portrait look like a real person? You know what I mean--sometimes the faces look like the ideal of an era. You see her Frenchness--her will--her whimsy, even. She is Mary, of the house of Guise, and none other.

She was the second wife of James V of Scotland, mother of two boys who died young, and then mother of a little girl who became Queen of Scotland as an infant when her father died after being defeated in a battle with England.

Mary of Guise was part of a great family of France often at odds with the reigning house of Valois. Because of her family ties, her daughter Mary was betrothed to the Dauphin of France when Henry VIII of England wanted to arrange a marriage between his son Edward and Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary of Guise pretended to go along with Henry VIII's wishes (which at one time included his marriage to HER) but escaped to Stirling Castle. This led to the "Rough Wooing" of Scotland by English forces--that is, military attacks, inncursions, murders, etc.

Once the marriage between Mary and Francois, the Dauphin of Henri II and Catherine de Medici was arranged, the young Queen went to France while her mother, Mary of Guise, remained in Scotland, serving as Regent.

Mass in St. Germain-en-Laye

My husband enjoyed the trip outside of Paris to Chartres so much today that he wants to leave town again tomorrow--and so we intend to travel via RER A to St. Germain-en-Laye to attend Sunday Mass at either 10 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. at the parish church where the praecordia of James II, Mary Beatrice and their daughter Louise are interred. Then we plan to visit the chateau, which today houses the Musee des Antiquities Nationales.