> [[09-figures|↑ Back to TOC]] # Blessed Leonard Duverneuil and Companions, Martyrs of Rochefort ## Biography Fr. Leonard Duverneuil (b. 1737 at Limoges), Fr. Michael-Aloysius Brulard (b. 1758 at Chartres), and Fr. Hubert of Saint Claude Gagnot (b. 1753 at Frolois), were among a group of 64 Martyrs beatified 1st October 1995, victims of the French Revolution who came from 14 French dioceses and from various religious Orders. In their loyalty to God, the Church and the Pope, they refused to take the oath of the Civil Constitution for the Clergy imposed by the Constituent Assembly of the Revolution. As a result, they were imprisoned, massed like animals, on a slave-trader ship in Rochefort Bay, waiting in vain to be deported into slavery. During 1794, the first two Carmelites died on board ship: Fr. Leonard on 1st July, and Fr. Michael-Aloysius on 25th July, both being buried on the island of Aix. After the plague broke out on the ship, those remaining disembarked on the island of Madame, where Fr. Hubert died and was buried on 10th September. Noted for their loving ministry to their fellow prisoners and their patience in accepting every type of outrage, privation, and cruelty, not to mention the vicissitudes of weather, hunger and sickness, our three Discalced Carmelite priest martyrs and their companions in martyrdom gave unsurpassed Christian witness to their faith and love. *Source: OCD Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours, August 18* ## Notes - OCD priests; beatified October 1, 1995, among 64 Martyrs of the French Revolution - Imprisoned aboard the slave-trader ship *Les Deux Associés* in Rochefort Bay, 1794 - Leonard Duverneuil (b. 1737 at Limoges): died on board ship July 1, 1794; buried on the island of Aix - Michael-Aloysius Brulard (b. 1758 at Chartres): died on board ship July 25, 1794; buried on the island of Aix - Hubert of Saint Claude Gagnot (b. 1753 at Frolois): died September 10, 1794, on the island of Madame - [[08-18-blesseds-leonard-jean-baptiste|OCD Proper]]