The Song at the Scaffold

I purchased this slender volume on a whim, when I read a scant aside from Saint Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) that it had helped to make the Carmelite Order better known. I really cannot recommend it highly enough. Based on a true story of a convent of Carmelite nuns who faced the persecution of all religious orders during the Reign of Terror in 18th Century France, it is a wonderfully written, brief, to the point, contemplation of what it means to make a deep sacrifice for one's faith. In addition to this little novel, the same story has been treated as an opera by Poulenc, titled "The Dialogue of the Carmelites".

This novel is set in the French Revolution. Blanche, the main character, is fictional, but the basic story is true. Some Carmelite nuns were guillotined during Robespierre's Reign of Terror, and shortly after that Robespierre was overthrown and executed. The relatively moderate five man Directory came to power, and the Reign of Terror ended.

Probably the best book never created about the Compiègne nuns. Far above from the Bernanos interpretation.

The true story of the Carmelite nuns beheaded during the last few days of the French Revolution. The heroine, Blanche, is the only fictional member of the history. The story questions the nature of extreme sensitivity and morbid fear in the face of the French Revolution and questions whether such fear is a matter of shame or a gift from God.