Act I
In Paris in 1789, the French Revolution is brewing. The
Marquis de la Force and his son are discussing Blanche, the
Marquis’ fearful daughter. Blanche enters, frightened by an
encounter with an angry mob and convinced that the world is
“an alien place in which I cannot live.” Believing that she
will be safer at a convent, she announces that she has
resolved to join the Carmelite order.
During her interview with Madame
de Croissy, the Carmelites’ ailing Prioress, Blanche is
warned that the order is not a protection from life but a
house of prayer.
Now a
novice, Blanche scolds the young novice Sister Constance for
chattering while they work, as their beloved Prioress lies
dying. Constance confides her premonition that she and
Blanche will both die young and on the same day.
The dying
Prioress consigns Blanche to the care of the loyal Mother
Marie. The Prioress suffers a feverish vision of their
chapel being ravaged and then succumbs to an agonizing
death.
Act II
Blanche and Constance keep vigil over the bier of the
deceased Prioress. When left alone, Blanche is overcome by
fear and tries to leave but is intercepted by Mother Marie,
who leads her back to her cell.
Blanche
tells Constance that she was shocked to see their beloved
Prioress suffer such a wretched death. Constance suggests
that God gave the Prioress a death much too “small” for her
so that someday a lesser person might be surprised how
bravely he can face death.
The
Carmelite sisters assemble to pledge obedience to their new
Prioress, Madame Lidoine. She warns the sisters that their
days of security may soon be over and that unforeseen trials
may await them.
Blanche ’s
brother, the Chevalier, arrives at the convent to tell
Blanche that, as an aristocrat, he must flee France, and
warns her that she, too, is in danger from the escalating
Terror. He urges her to leave the convent, but she tells
him that she now relies on God’s will.
The
Chaplain informs the sisters that he has been relieved of
his duties by the revolutionary regime and now must leave
them. A revolutionary mob gathers outside the convent, and
officials enter and read a decree ordering the dissolution
of all religious orders. After they leave, Sister Jeanne
tells the sisters that their Prioress is leaving for Paris
on business and then entrusts to Blanche a statue of the
Infant Jesus. Traumatized by the noise of the anger crowd
outside, Blanche drops the statue and it shatters on the
floor.
Act III
The
Carmelite sisters secretly gather in their ruined chapel
convent with their Chaplain. Mother Marie, in charge during
the Prioress’ absence, proposes that the sisters take a vow
of martyrdom, which would be binding only if it were
unanimous. When a secret vote is held, all suspect Blanche
of casting the sole dissenting vote, but Constance announces
that is was she who dissented but now wishes to reverse
herself to make it unanimous. As the sisters complete the
vow, Blanche flees from the convent.
In the
ravaged home of her father, who has fallen to the
guillotine, Blanche toils as a servant. Mother Marie, also
in civilian dress, arrives to try to persuade Blanche to
rejoin her sisters. Blanche refuses, feeling safer where
she is.
The
Carmelites have been imprisoned in the Conciergerie.
Constance tells her sisters she has dreamt that Blanche will
rejoin them. After a jailer reads the sisters their death
sentence, the Prioress gives them her final maternal
blessing.
Mother
Marie learns from the Chaplain that her sisters are to be
executed immediately. She feels obligated to rejoin them,
but the Chaplain counsels her to let God decide her fate.
At the
Place de la Revolution, the Carmelite sisters mount the
scaffold one by one, singing the Salve Regina. Just as
Constance, the last of them, is about to go to the
guillotine, Blanche makes her way through the crowd of
onlookers. Finally free from her fears, she takes up the
unfinished hymn and goes to meet her fate. |
