Thérèse Fantou
Feast: 26 June (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Marie-Thérèse Fantou was a French Daughter of Charity in the community at Arras, a house founded in the lifetime of Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint Louise de Marillac. During the Revolution she stayed in Arras with her superior, Marie-Madeleine Fontaine, and two other sisters, and would not leave the poor and sick in their care.
Refusing the so-called oath of liberty and equality, the four sisters were imprisoned, taken to Cambrai and condemned to death. They went to the scaffold praying the Rosary and singing the Ave Maris Stella, and were beheaded at Cambrai on 26 June 1794. Benedict XV declared them Blessed on 13 June 1920.
The miracles
As a martyr she was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A Daughter of Charity who stayed with the poor during the Revolution and died for refusing an oath against her conscience.
Connected on this site
- Vincent de Paul Saint“Therese-Madeleine Fantou was a religious with the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul martyred during the French Revolution.” — Wikipedia
- Acta Apostolicae Sedis 12 (1920), pp. 281-287 - Apostolic letter of Benedict XV declaring Blessed the Daughters of Charity of Arras and the Ursulines of Valenciennes, 13 June 1920
- Wikidata Q3527348 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Therese-Madeleine Fantou (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.