The Life of Blessed Pierre-René Rogue, C.M.

Presentation based on an essay by Thomas Davitt, C.M. on the life of Bl. Pierre-René Rogue, C.M., martyr of the French Revolution. Read the complete article on vincentians.com.

Pierre-René Rogue was the third beatified confrere of the Revolution. He was a native of Vannes in Brittany, France. He did all his priestly ministry in that town and was guillotined there on 3 March 1796. Fr. Davitt explains:

In France the period of the Revolution is complex and difficult to understand in detail. For our purposes it is enough to say that it gradually took on a very anti-religious aspect, and in particular an anti-clerical one. There were various oaths which priests were asked to take, about loyalty to the State. These meant rejection of the Holy See and loyalty to a State-sponsored Church. Eventually, the penalty for not taking these oaths, or for working as a priest without having taken the oaths, was death.