Anatole de Bengy

A martyr of the French Commune, b. at Bourges, 19 September, 1824; d. in Paris, 26 May, 1871. He spent nine years in residence at the Jesuit College of Brugelette, and in 1834 entered the Society of Jesus. During the Crimean War he served as chaplain to the French soldiery and thereafter until 1870 devoted his life to college work. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, he again sought and obtained the post of Chaplain. He rendered signal service to the sick and wounded during the siege of Paris. After the war he retired to the school of Sainte-Geneviève to resume his work as professor, but he did not long enjoy the tranquillity of school-life. At midnight, 3 April, a battalion or National Guards surrounded the school and placed all the Jesuit inmates under arrest as hostages of the Commune. De Bengy cheered his companions during the dark days of anticipated death. On Friday, 26 May, with two Jesuit companions and some forty other victims, he was led to the court of the Cité Vincennes, Rue Haxo, where he met his death joyfully amid the frenzied shouts of the maddened Communists.

Bibliography: De Ponlevoy, Actes de la captivite et de la mort des RR. PP. Olivaint, Ducoudray, Caubert, Clerc, de Bengy (15th ed., Paris, 1882).

By D. J. Kavanagh.