2 September – Blessed John du Lau and Companions.

[Rich]

2 September – Blessed John du Lau and Companions.
The September Martyrs of the French Revolution

They were massacred by a mob on 2 September and 3 September 1792 and
Beatified on 17 October 1926 by Pope Pius XI.

A group of 191 Martyrs who died in the French Revolution. They were
imprisoned in the Abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés, Hôtel des Carmes in
the Rue de Rennes, Prison de la Force and Seminaire de Saint-Firmin in
Paris, France by the Legislative Assembly for refusing to take the
oath to support the civil constitution of the clergy. This act placed
Priests under the control of the state, and had been condemned by the
Vatican.

In 1790, the revolutionary government of France enacted a law denying
Papal authority over the Church in France. The French clergy were
required to swear an oath to uphold this law and submit to the
Republic. Many priests and religious took the oath but a sizable
minority opposed it. The revolutionary leaders’ primary target was the
aristocracy but by 1792, their attention turned to the Church,
especially the non-jurors within it.

In August, in the name of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, those who
had refused the oath were rounded up and imprisoned in Parisian
monasteries, emptied for that purpose.

Blessed John du Lau, Archbishop of Arles, was born on 30 October 1738
at the Château de la Côte at Biras in the Dordogne, in the Diocese of
Périgueux, of an aristocratic family which had fed many members into
the higher ranks of the clergy. His father was Armand du Lau, seigneur
de La Coste and his mother Françoise de Salleton. Refusing to take the
oath to the civil constitution, he had been brought to Paris and cast
into the prison of the Cannes, formerly a Carmelite Monastery.

Blessed Pierre-Louis de la Rochefoucauld, Bishop of Saintes and a
vigorous antagonist of Jansenism, and his brother, Francois-Joseph de
la Rochefoucauld, Bishop of Beauvais, were sons of Jean de La
Rochefoucauld, Lord of Maumont, Magnac and other places, Knight of the
military orders of Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel and St-Lazarre de
Jérusalem and Marguerite des Escots. Both brothers were imprisoned.

In September “Vigilance Committees” were set up and mobs sent to the
make-shift prisons. On 2 September, a season of bloodshed and
slaughter began. The inmates were cut-down in cold blood. All of the
prisoners, even the old and disabled, were put to the sword. The
executions at the old Carmelite monastery in Paris were recorded.

Among the Martyrs was Blessed Alexander Lenfant, a Jesuit. Just a few
minutes before he died, he had been hearing the confession of a fellow
priest. Both were killed moments later. The rioters then went to the
Carmelite church which was also being used as a prison.

The mob called out, “Archbishop of Arles!” Archbishop John du Lau of
Arles (Jean-Marie du Lau d’Alleman) was praying in the Chapel. When
summoned, he came out and he said, “I am he whom you seek.” Thereupon,
they cracked his skull, stabbed him and trampled him underfoot. Then
the leader set up a “tribunal” before which the imprisoned were herded
and commanded to take the oath. All refused; so, as they passed down
the stairway, they were hacked to pieces by the murderers.

The Bishop of Beauvais had earlier been wounded in the leg. When
summoned, he answered, “I do not refuse to die with the others but I
cannot walk. I beg you to have the kindness to carry me where you wish
me to go.” For a moment, his courtesy silenced the assassins. But,
when he, too, refused the oath, he was killed like the rest.
On 3 September the same mob went to the Lazarist Seminary. It was also
a temporary prison, with ninety Priests and religious. Only four
escaped death.

According to Nicolas-Edme Restif de la Bretonne, “The number of active
killers who took part in the September massacres was only about 150.
The rest of Paris looked on in fear or approval, or stayed behind
closed shutters.”

Earl Gower, a British diplomat, wrote in his dispatches: “These
unfortunate people fell victims to the fury of the enraged populace
and were massacred with circumstances of barbarity too shocking to
describe. The mob went afterwards to the prison of the Abbaye and
having demanded of the jailors a list of the prisoners, they put aside
such as were confined only for debt and pulled to pieces most of the
others. The same cruelties were committed during the night and
continue this morning in all the other prisons of the Town. When they
have satiated their vengeance, which is principally directed against
the refractory Priests,… it is to be hoped the tumult will subside but
as the multitude are perfectly masters, everything is to be dreaded.”

https://anastpaul.com/2021/09/02/

Saint Quote:
The more we see that any action springs not from the motive of
obedience, the more evident is it that it is a temptation of the
enemy; for when God sends an inspiration, the very first effect of it
is to infuse a spirit of docility.
--Saint Teresa of Avila

Bible Quotes:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear
from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land." (2
Chronicles 7:14) "


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Short Prayers

Let not the partaking of Thy Body, O Lord Jesus Christ,
which I, all unworthy, presume to receive, turn to my judgment
and condemnation, but through Thy loving kindness may
it be to me a safeguard and remedy for soul and body.
Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof;
but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.

The cross is my sure salvation.
The cross I ever adore.
The cross of the Lord is with me.
The cross is my refuge.