A group of armed fighters surround the convent,
demanding the nuns leave the premises and renounce their faith. When the
sisters refuse, they are publicly beheaded, saying prayers and singing hymns
with their last breaths. Although it sounds like the latest atrocity from the
Islamic State group, it’s actually a scene playing out nightly here in “Dialogues
of the Carmelites,” a 1957 opera by Francis Poulenc now featured at the Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts. The opera is based on the martyrdom of 16
members of the Carmel of Compiegne convent killed in 1794, during the French
Revolution. The stirring and brutal portrayal contrasts with the romanticized
revolution of “Les Miserables,” and
reminds us that as many as 40,000 French citizens were killed — many beheaded — in just one year during
the Reign of Terror. A disproportionate number were priests and nuns, killed by
their fellow citizens in what was officially a Christian nation. Read complete
article at -- http://www.religionnews.com/2015/02/27/death-16-nuns-allure-terrorism-commentary/
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
Comments
Post a Comment