Marguerite Rutan was born in Metz, France on April 23, 1736, the eighth child in a family of 15 children. Her father was an architect and contractor. Noticing her intelligence, Marguerite’s father took charge of her education at an early age and taught her the principles of his trade. Marguerite grew up with her brothers and sisters in a happy home in an atmosphere of honesty, courage and Christian convictions. She also discovered the works of the Daughters of Charity in her city. At age 18, Marguerite wrote a letter asking to enter the Daughters of Charity. After a delay of three years, she began her postulancy at Saint-Nicholas Hospital in Metz. On April 23, 1757, at age 21, Marguerite began her Seminary at the Motherhouse in Paris. Five months later, she was sent to the local community at Pau where nine Sisters served the patients in a hospital that was experiencing financial difficulties. Using her administrative skills and her genuine good sense, she contributed to improving the state of the hospital.

Ten years later, Sister Marguerite was sent to various houses where her organizational and management skills allowed her to help restore order to certain situations. In 1779, she was sent to Dax, a small city in the Landes region where St. Vincent had completed his secondary school studies, for the work involved in a new hospital. At age 43, she became the Sister Servant of the local community.

With the onset of the French Revolution in 1789, the administration of the hospital faced serious difficulties. In April 1791, a “constitutional bishop” appointed by the revolutionary government tried to exercise his authority over the Sisters and take over the administration of the hospital. By September 1791, the hospital was nearly at the point of collapse due to lack of financial resources. The Sisters concentrated on continuing their services in the hospital. The community of the Daughters of Charity was suppressed in 1792, along with all other religious congregations. Extreme measures were now applied, including imprisonment of those who refused to take the “oath of liberty and equality.”

By September 1793, the “Reign of Terror” had spread across France to the region of Landes. On October 3, 1793, a new law obliged all women in religious orders to take an oath of liberty and equality. Sister Marguerite emphatically refused to do so. She exhorted her Sisters to do the same and encouraged them to make ever greater sacrifices. When Sister Marguerite refused to take the oath, she was declared “unpatriotic . . . and contrary to the principles of the Revolution,” and was arrested in December 1793. In prison, she discovered the terrible treatment suffered by the prisoners. In addition to constant abuse and repeated harassment, there was also a severe shortage of food.

On April 8, 1794, the judges in the “extraordinary revolutionary commission” brought Marguerite to trial. The presider read the indictment formulated against her: counter-revolutionary propaganda, political accusations posing a threat to general safety . . . all the while hiding the real motives for her condemnation: her fidelity to the Catholic Church and her unwavering refusal to take the oath. Sensing that she had been condemned from the beginning, she knew that any justification was useless. Impassive in the presence of her judges, she heard her death sentence without a word, and without showing any indignation or resistance.

On April 9, which happened to be Wednesday of Holy Week, the condemned Sister Marguerite was tied back to back with one of the local pastors, Father Lannelongue, in a cart. They were brought in this manner, to the accompaniment of a drum beat, to the public square where a guillotine was set up. Father Lannelongue was the first one to be executed. Then, Sister Marguerite climbed up the scaffold without betraying any emotion. She took off her coat and headscarf herself, and when the executioner wanted to remove the scarf around her neck, she pushed him away, saying, “Let me do this myself. A man’s hand has never touched me.” With outward peacefulness, she walked over to the guillotine, knelt down, leaned over, and received the final blow.

On October 31, 1794, the six Sisters from the hospital, imprisoned for six months, were released in the interests of the hospital patients.

The suffering and death of Marguerite Rutan call to mind all the men and women who, in our day as well as in the past, are victims of mass killings resulting from fanaticism of all kinds.

Sister Marguerite Rutan will be beatified on June 19, 2011 in Dax.