- Guillotined in Cambrai on 26 June 1794
- Beatified on 13 June 1920
- Liturgical feast – 26 June
The House of Charity of Arras was a hive of activity. Seven Sisters ensured the care of the sick, the visitation of poor families and the education of children. The service was highly valued by the local population.
As everywhere else, the Revolution came to put everyone to the test in his or her fidelity to Jesus Christ and to the Church. Sister Coutacheaux quickly decided to return to her family. The Superior was concerned about the two youngest Sisters. What fate will the revolutionaries have in store for them? She encouraged them to take refuge in Belgium. Sister Rose Michau and Sister Jeanne Fabre did not wish to flee, but when the Reign of Terror spread to Arras, they followed the advice they had received and left for exile. They would return to the Company of the Daughters of Charity when it could be reestablished.
By the end of 1793, four Sisters were maintaining the activity of the House of Charity.
Sister Marie-Madeleine Fontaine, a native of Etrépigny, Eure, had entered the Company in 1748 at the age of twenty-five. The Sister Servant of the local community, her wisdom and competence were greatly appreciated. Sister Marie-Françoise Lanel was born in 1745 in Eu, Seine-Maritime. She was nineteen years old when she entered the Company of the Daughters of Charity. Sister Thérèse Fantou was born in Miniac-Morvan, Ille-et-Mala, in 1747. She had entered the Daughters of Charity at the age of twenty-four. Sister Jeanne Gérard, born in Cumières (Meuse) in 1752, had entered the Company of the Daughters of Charity in 1776.
The arrival in Arras of a new district manager, Joseph Lebon, brought an atmosphere of violence and fear to the city. The House of Charity became a “House of Humanity,” and a rigorous director was installed to oversee the activity of the Sisters. The harassment intensified. False accusations multiplied. On 14 February 1794, the Sisters were arrested and taken to Saint-Vaast Abbey. Close to the prisoners, helpless in the face of the uncertainty of their future, they offered them a listening ear and compassion. The Sisters underwent their first interrogation on 4 April. They again refused to take the oath as contrary to their conscience.
All of a sudden on the afternoon of 25 June, the order was given to transfer these four Daughters of Charity to Cambrai “at a galloping pace.” The cart set out at one o’clock in the morning and arrived in Cambrai at eight-thirty. The Sisters were locked in the chapel of the former Seminary: in this place that was once a place of prayer, they gather to pray.
Then came a new trial and an immediate death sentence. Waiting for the cart that would take them to the guillotine, the Sisters prayed the rosary. The guards took these “amulets” from them and, not knowing what to do with them, put them on their heads in the form of a crown. Thus the Sisters crossed through the city, singing the Ave Maris Stella. At the foot of the scaffold, Sister Marie-Madeleine Fontaine reiterated the prediction already made to the condemned women: “We will be the last victims.” This surprising prediction came to pass. The fall of Robespierre, on 27 July 1794, marked the end of the Reign of Terror.