The Song at the Scaffold

By Gertrud von le Fort

Book Overview

July 17, 1794: French Revolutionaries are out to crush the Catholic Church in their nation, and the latest targets of their brutality are the Carmelites of the convent of Compi gne. Sentenced to death for their faith, they kneel at the foot of the guillotine, renew their vows, and begin chanting Veni, Creator Spiritus, while each one mounts the scaffold to be beheaded.

The Song at the Scaffold is an historical novella based on the gripping story of these brave heroines who offered their lives as a witness to Christ. Written for adults, this 1931 classic has been supplemented with extensive study aids that make it suitable as well for high school students, including footnotes, questions for literary analysis, a glossary, an historical timeline, and an author biography.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1618904027
• ISBN13: 9781618904027
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: TAN Books
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 5 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 6

Customer Reviews

To Quench the Terror

I purchased this slender volume on a whim, when I read a scant aside from Saint Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) that it had helped to make the Carmelite Order better known. I really cannot recommend it highly enough. Based on a true story of a convent of Carmelite nuns who faced the persecution of all religious orders during the Reign of Terror in 18th Century France, it is a wonderfully written, brief, to the point, contemplation of what it means to make a deep sacrifice for one's faith. In addition to this little novel, the same story has been treated as an opera by Poulenc, titled "The Dialogue of the Carmelites".

An inspiring novel

This novel is set in the French Revolution. Blanche, the main character, is fictional, but the basic story is true. Some Carmelite nuns were guillotined during Robespierre's Reign of Terror, and shortly after that Robespierre was overthrown and executed. The relatively moderate five man Directory came to power, and the Reign of Terror ended.

Romantic and spiritual review of the story of Compiègne nuns

Probably the best book never created about the Compiègne nuns. Far above from the Bernanos interpretation.

A book about the nature of courage and fear

The true story of the Carmelite nuns beheaded during the last few days of the French Revolution. The heroine, Blanche, is the only fictional member of the history. The story questions the nature of extreme sensitivity and morbid fear in the face of the French Revolution and questions whether such fear is a matter of shame or a gift from God.