On Saturday, April 22, the Church celebrated the beatification of five priests murdered during the Paris Commune (a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris in 1871). They are among ten religious executed by firing squad on Rue Haxo, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, on May 26, 1871, after a detention of nearly two months. The celebration was presided by Cardinal Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

The Paris Commune, an anticlerical insurrection

Following elections to the National Assembly after the overthrow of 1870, Parisians revolted against a two-thirds royalist party. The government fled to Versailles, and the insurgents proclaimed “the Commune” in the abandoned city. For several months, the assets of the Church were confiscated and the clergy were declared an enemy of the people. The priests were detained as hostages. When the Versaillese retook the city at the end of May 1871, dozens of hostages were shot in retaliation.

Who are the 5 new beatified priests and martyrs of the Commune?

Fr. Henri Planchat

Born in La Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée) on November 8, 1823, he was ordained a priest in 1850. Faced with Parisian misery from a very early age, he devoted his life to serving the poorest. He then entered the Religious of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, a congregation at the service of the poor and young people. Sent as chaplain to the Patronage Sainte-Anne in 1861, then on the outskirts of Paris, his work was a shining example of service to others. Tirelessly, he would build a library, a chapel, and classrooms. During the war of 1870, he even established an ambulance which came to the aid of wounded soldiers. He was arrested in April 1871, spent 40 days in prison and was shot to death on May 26, 1871.

Fr. Ladislas Radigue

Originally from the diocese of Séez, he entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in 1843, at the age of 20. Ordained a priest 5 years later, he would train novices for 20 years. He was elected Prior of the mother house of the congregation in 1868. It was there that he was arrested by the insurgents in 1871.

Fr. Polycarpe Tuffier

Born in 1807 in Malzieu (Lozère), he arrived in Paris in 1820 and took his religious vows at the age of 16. He was ordained a priest in the middle of the 1830 revolution. After ministry in the diocese of Rouen, in Paris then Laval, Cahors and Mende, where he had attended college, he was appointed procurator of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in 1863, alongside Father Radigue. He would be arrested and suffer martyrdom at the same time as his Prior.

Fr. Marcellin Rouchouze

Also a religious of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Father Rouchouze was born in Saint-Julien en Jarez (Loire) in 1810. His brother and sister were also notable religious of the same congregation. Considering himself unworthy of becoming a priest, he made vows in the novitiate in 1837 and then became Brother Marcellin for 15 years. He first taught philosophy then was sent to Belgium where he worked at several colleges. He was ordained a priest in 1852, after meeting the Curé d’Ars. Secretary general of his congregation during the events of the Commune, he suffered martyrdom in the same circumstances as the other leaders.

Fr. Jean-Pierre-Eugène Tardieu

Originally from Chasseradès (Lozère), he entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in 1837. He was ordained a priest in 1840; he was director of the Novitiate of Vaugirard and then sent to Louvain (Belgium), and finally Issy-les-Moulineaux. He became a member of the general council of his congregation in 1860, and as such was one of the hostages executed in 1871.
Fuente: https://www.ktotv.com/article/beatification-5-pretres-martyrs-commune-paris