Feb. 1 – Martyred Daughters of Charity

The Feast of two Daughters of Charity –  Blessed Mary Ann Vaillot DC and Odile Baumgarten DC  – is celebrated on February 1..   Both were martyred in France in 1794. They were declared Blessed in Rome on  February 19, 1984, by Pope John Paul II as part of a group of ninety-nine persons who died for the faith in Angers, France.   The picture shows the two Sisters being escorted to the place where they were to be executed by firing squad.

From the website of the Daughters of Charity … In 1640, Louise de Marillac herself led a little community of 6 sisters to Angers to look after the sick in the hospital of Saint Jean.  At the time of the French Revolution there were 39, among them Sr Mary Anne Vaillot and Sr Odile Baumgarten.  On refusing to take the required oath in support of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, these two sisters were imprisoned, condemned to death and shot with a large number of Christians on February 1st, 1794 outside the town in the field of La Haie aux Bonshommes, now called the “Martyr’s field”.   The above photo shows the two sisters being escorted to the place where they were executed.  Photo courtesy of Australian CM website.  They were declared blessed in Rome on February 19th, 1984 by Pope John Paul 11. 

For more details visit Father John Carven’s article in the Vincentian Heritage Journal (pdf) Martyrs for the Faith (Word format of same article)

See also the Martyrs of Arras,  Angers  – also Fr. Davitt’s full article about the Angers history

For more on recent  20th century martyrs of the Daughters of Charity visit Martyrs in Madrid  and Martyrs of Valencia

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Tags: Arras, Baumgarten, Daughters of Charity, Madrid, martyrs, Vaillot