Martyrs of September, Blessed (SETTEMBRE, MARTIRI DI, BEATI) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XI, p. 279

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

SETTEMBRE, MARTIRI di, beati. - This is the designation given to the group of 191 martyrs, headed by the Archbishop of Arles, Jean-Marie du Lau, and by the bishops of Beauvais, LA ROCHEFOUCAULD-BAYERS, PIERRE (v.) and Pierre-Louis de la Rochefoucauld

Article illustration — (courtesy of V. Pugliese C.R.L.)

SETTE FRATELLI MACCABEI, santi - Early Christian sarcophagus containing the relics of the S. F. M., found under the high altar of the basilica of S. Pietro in Vincoli on September 2, 1876. The scenes represented therein from left to right are: Resurrection of Lazarus, Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, Samaritan Woman at the Well, Announcement to Peter of his Denial, Traditio Legis - Rome, basilica of S. Pietro in Vincoli.

BAYER (v.), who were killed for the faith in the prisons of Paris on September 2 and 3, 1792, and beatified by Pius XI on October 17, 1926.

With the overthrow of the throne by the assassination of Louis XVI (August 10, 1792) and the establishment on the same day of the "Insurrectionary Commune," the fury of the revolutionaries led them to arrest numerous laymen and especially members of the clergy who had refused to take the oath imposed by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, condemned by Pius VI on March 10, 1791. The blessed, taken prisoner, were locked up in the Carmelite convent, in the Seminary of S. Firmino, in the abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés, and in La Force prison, and in the afternoon of September 2 and the night of September 3 they were all massacred in various ways: 95 in the Carmelite convent, 72 at S. Firmino, 21 at S. Germano, 3 at La Force. At S. Firmino some were thrown from the windows and left to the cruel rage of the bloodthirsty mob. Belonging to the group of 191 are, in addition to the 3 bishops, many priests and religious, and 4 laymen. In the prisons, the scenes of the catacombs had been renewed. Unable to celebrate Mass, they united in spirit with that celebrated by the Pope in Rome, devoted themselves to prayer and pious readings, and at the supreme moment absolved one another and recited the litanies and prayers for the dying.

BIBL.: list and classification of individuals in the decree on martyrdom of October 1, 1926, in AAS, 18 (1926), pp. 415-25 and in Bénédictins de Paris, Vies des saints et des bienheureux, IX, Paris 1950, pp. 57-70. For information, in addition to civil and ecclesiastical histories of the French Revolution, one may consult: G. Lenôtre, Les massacres de Septembre, Paris 1908; J. Perrin, Les martirres de Septembre 1792, ivi 1919; G. Lenôtre, La maison des Carmes, ivi 1933; J. Hérissay, Les journées de Septembre, Paris 1945; for the martyrs in the individual prisons, or of the individual religious Orders, V. BIBLICA. in: Vies des saints cited above, pp. 70-71. Celestino Testore