Blessed Marguerite Rutan

Another martyr of the guillotine was recently beatified. According to Zenit:

Marguerite Rutan was born in 1736 in Metz, France, the eighth of 15 children. Her father was a stonecutter, master mason and architect, and her profoundly Christian mother gave each of her children a serious religious education and the example of a selfless life. In 1757, at the age of 21, Marguerite began her novitiate in the motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity in Paris. In 1779, she was sent to serve in the Hospital of Dax. The sister soon became a pioneer of social action, opening a school and working to provide a home for abandoned girls.

In 1789, the French Revolution began, which ushered in a perior of social and political turmoil in the country. In 1792, Sister Marguerite and her community of sisters were accused of theft, and on Christiamas Eve in 1793, Sister Marguerite was denounced and imprisoned. At the height of the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), she was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Tribunal on April 9, 1794, and guillotined on the same day for refusing to deny her faith. It is estimated that between 16,000-40,000 people were guillotined during this period of history. (Read entire article.)

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