During the French Revolution, sixteen Carmelites were martyred. A convent in Compiegne, France, built in 1641, was home to twenty-one discalced Carmelites when the revolution began in 1789. The Revolutionary government ordered the monastery closed in 1790, and the sisters were excommunicated.

In 1794, sixteen sisters were charged with belonging to a religious organization. They were taken into custody on June 22 and held captive at a Compiegne Visitation convent. They continued their religious life in public there. The Carmelites were transported to Paris on July 12, 1794, and were given a death sentence five days later. Singing the Salve Regina, they proceeded to the guillotine. In 1906, Pope St. Pius X declared them to be beatified.

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