They are the sixteen Discalced Carmelites: eleven nuns, three lay sisters and two externs of the monastery of the Incarnation of Compiègne (France). As soon as the French revolution degenerated into terror, they offered themselves to God as victims of atonement to implore peace for the Church and their country.

Arrested and chained on June 24, 1794, they had the strength to communicate their joy and faith to others. Condemned to death for their fidelity to the Church and consecrated life and for their devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, they were guillotined in Paris on July 17, 1794, while singing hymns and after having renewed their vows in the hands of the prioress, Teresa of St. Augustine.

The decree on martyrdom was promulgated on June 24, 1905. The beatification ceremony was held on May 27, 1906.

La celebrazione delle SS. Teresa di S. Agostino e compagne, vergini e martiri di Compiègne viene elevata al grado di Memoria obbligatoria.”

Decreto

She was born in Abellin (Nazareth) on January 5, 1846 to a Greek-Catholic family. She was baptized with the name Mariam. Orphaned at the age of two, she was adopted by her uncle with whom, in 1854, she went to Alexandria in Egypt. When she was twelve years old, a marriage was arranged for her without her knowledge; to prevent the wedding she cut off her hair, arousing the ire of her uncle and aunt who banished her among the servants. A former Muslim servant, knowing the harassment she suffered from her relatives, invited her to renounce her faith and become a Muslim, she immediately protested: «I am a daughter of the Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church». The reaction was a scimitar blow to the throat. Then, wrapped lifeless in a sheet, she was abandoned on the street. She woke up in a cave, assisted by a ‘nun dressed in blue’ – Miriam said it was the Virgin – who prophesied her future. Healed, she wandered for thirteen years working as a maid in Alexandria, Jerusalem and Beirut.

In 1863 with the Naggiar family she moved to Marseilles, where she felt the call to the consecrated life. In 1865 she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition who, however, did not admit her to Profession, frightened by the extraordinary phenomena that Mariam considered a disease: kidnappings, visions and, from March 29, 1867, the stigmata. On 14^th of June 1867, she entered the Carmel of Pau where on 27 July she took the habit with the name of Mary of Jesus Crucified. In 1870 he left for Mangalore for the foundation of a monastery, but two years later she returned to Pau due to misunderstandings which, together with a painful diabolical infestation, constituted her great purification.

In 1872 Sister Mariam confided to her superiors that the Lord wanted a Carmel in Bethlehem: she arrived there on September 11, 1875 as architect and construction manager and with the generous collaboration of Berta Dartigaux. On August 22^nd, 1878 she fell, fracturing an arm that became gangrenous. On August 26, she died a holy death.

The beatification ceremony was held on November 13, 1983. The solemn ceremony of canonization on May 17, 2015. 

María Maravillas Pidal y Chico de Guzman, was born in Madrid on November 4, 1891. From childhood she wanted to consecrate herself to God and dedicated her youth to helping those in need.

Attracted by the spirituality of Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint John of the Cross and moved by her love for the Virgin Mary, she entered the El Escorial Carmel on October 12, 1919, taking the name of Sr Maravillas of Jesus.

In 1924 she founded a Monastery of Discalced Carmelites in Cerro de los Angeles, the geographical centre of the Iberian Peninsula, next to the monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as a place of prayer and sacrifice for the Church and for Spain. 

During the religious persecution, Mother Maravillas shone for her spirit of reparation, her fortitude, serenity and trust in the Lord. As a sign of fidelity to St. Teresa she proceeded to  found ten other Carmelite convents, recovering traditional places of St. Teresa and St. John. Prioress for many years, she formed her sisters with the witness of her virtue and was distinguished by her mystical life, apostolic zeal and goodness, combined with firmness towards her nuns, who considered her a true mother. She died in the Carmel of La Aldehuela, on December 11, 1974, pronouncing the following words: «What happiness to die a Carmelite»!

The beatification ceremony was held on May 10, 1998. The solemn canonization ceremony on May 4, 2003.

Joseph Kalinowski was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1835,

He was a military engineer and captain of General Staff. He worked on building railways and fortresses. He participated, albeit reluctantly, in the Polish-Lithuanian uprising against the Russians. Because of this, he was condemned to forced labour in Siberia, where he brought with him the Gospel, the «Imitation of Christ» and a crucifix, comforting those whom he met. Finally set free, he entered the Carmel of Graz at the age of forty-two. Having become Br Raphael of Saint Joseph, he went to Poland, to Czerna, where he spent his days exercising the ministry of Confession for hours upon hours. He would have liked to stay there, but his Order called him to found new communities in the country.

The last one to be founded was in Wadowice, where he died in 1907.

The beatification ceremony was held on June 22, 1983. The solemn ceremony of canonization on November 17, 1991.