Jean-Marie du Lau and 190 companions

The collective work of this group lies in their peaceful and unanimous resistance to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of July 12, 1790, condemned by Pope Pius VI in April 1791. The priests who refused the oath, known as "refractory," were deprived of their ministry and then targeted by a deportation decree. After August 10, 1792, approximately 350 ecclesiastics were arrested in Paris and locked up in makeshift prisons (Carmes convent, Saint-Firmin seminary, Saint-Germain-des-Prés abbey, La Force prison). The group of 191 martyrs includes 3 bishops, 181 priests, 2 deacons, 1 cleric, and 4 laypeople, including Brother Salomon Leclercq.

On September 2, 1792, rioters entered the Carmelite convent. Mgr Jean-Marie du Lau was one of the first to be struck down. Before a tribunal improvised by Stanislas-Marie Maillard, each prisoner refused to take the oath and affirmed his fidelity to the Catholic Church before being executed. 95 martyrs died at the Carmelites that day. On September 3, the massacres continued at the Saint-Firmin seminary (72 martyrs), at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (21 martyrs), and at the La Force prison (3 martyrs). In 1867, the bones from the Carmelite well were exhumed and placed in the crypt of the Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes church.

Venerated from the day after the tragedy, the martyrs were the subject of a diocesan process opened in 1901 by Mgr Richard and closed in 1906. The cause was introduced by Benedict XV in 1916. The decree on martyrdom was promulgated on October 1, 1926, and the beatification was celebrated by Pope Pius XI on October 17, 1926, in Rome. Although the group remains blessed, Brother Salomon Leclercq was canonized individually by Pope Francis on October 16, 2016, following the recognition of a miracle in Venezuela.

The spirituality of the martyrs rests on the total offering of self out of love for Christ and fidelity to the unity of the Church, affirming the primacy of faith over civil power. The survivors testified to their peace and serenity in the face of death. Today, the crypt of the Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes church in Paris preserves their bones and relics, where the faithful can venerate these witnesses whose skulls bear the stigmata of the blows received.