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This week in Christian history: ROC pastor gets 40 years in prison, Francis McDougall becomes bishop

By Michael Gryboski, Editor

5 nuns martyred during French Revolution – Oct. 17, 1794

An 1804 illustration commemorating the 11 Ursuline sisters who were martyred during the French Revolution in October 1794. Also known as the Martyrs of Valenciennes.
An 1804 illustration commemorating the 11 Ursuline sisters who were martyred during the French Revolution in October 1794. Also known as the Martyrs of Valenciennes. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when five Catholic nuns belonging to the Ursuline convent in Valenciennes, France, were executed for their faith during the French Revolution.

While the nuns had initially moved their community to Belgium in response to the anti-clerical violence of the Revolution, they returned when Austrian counter-revolutionary forces had taken Valenciennes.

After French forces retook the city, five of the nuns were found guilty of violating a law against émigrés (the term for aristocrats and clergy who fled the country) returning to France and were guillotined the same day. A few days later, six other nuns from the Ursuline order were arrested and executed.

The 11 nuns would later be known collectively as the “Martyrs of Valenciennes” and were beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 1920.

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