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Perrine Dugué

Perrine Dugué (c. 1779[a] – 22 March 1796) was a French teenager who was murdered by Chouans while she was traveling to the fair in Sainte-Suzanne in 1796. She was targeted for allegedly bringing information to her brothers, who were working with General François Joseph Westermann's army during the ongoing conflicts of the war in the Vendée. The local authorities had no power to seek justice on her behalf, and she was buried in secret due to fears of reprisal from the Chouans. After her burial, rumors spread of her grave having miraculous healing powers. A cult quickly formed around her memory, and her grave became a popular pilgrimage site. Using donations collected from pilgrims, her family built a chapel and transferred her body to it under the cover of night. Though never officially recognized by the Catholic Church, Dugué was venerated as a revolutionary martyr and referred to as "the saint with tricolor wings."

Perrine Dugué
Engraving of Perrine Dugué carrying a basket in the foreground. In the background to her left her murder is depicted, as a man on horseback swings to cut her down. The right side shows her tomb, where a woman has dropped her cane and is saying "miracle."
Engraving of Perrine Dugué, 1796
Bornc. 1779[a]
Épineux-le-Seguin, Kingdom of France
Died22 March 1796(1796-03-22) (aged 16–17)
Saint-Jean-sur-Erve, First French Republic
Known forA murder victim and revolutionary martyr whose grave was rumored to have miraculous healing powers

Early life

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Born c. 1779,[a] Dugué was the daughter of farmers from either Thorigné[2] or Épineux-le-Seguin in the Mayenne department of northwest France.[1] Her family of staunch republicans included her father Jean, her mother Marie Renard, one sister, and five brothers.[1] Her community lived in extreme poverty due to rampant looting by Chouans and nearby armies.[3]

Murder

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During the war in the Vendée and the Virée de Galerne, Chouans joined with counter-revolutionary royalist armies that were advancing toward Granville, plundering as they went.[1] After their defeat by General François Joseph Westermann,[4] the royalist troops retreated in disarray toward Maine.[1][5] Peasants in the area, encouraged by the presence of Westermann's republican troops, defended their homes and livestock on 12 December 1793 and captured many of the fleeing royalist troops.[1][6] Two of Dugué's brothers were involved in this effort; afterwards, they took refuge in Sainte-Suzanne, fearing they might be targeted by Chouans.[7] The brothers were then conscripted into Westermann's army and tasked with continuing to hunt Chouans roaming the area.[7]

Dugué visited her brothers at the barracks frequently.[1] To get there, she would pass near a forest called la Grande Charnie, which was controlled by a group of Chouans connected to Louis Courtillé [fr], called "Saint-Paul".[8] Her travels to and from the barracks drew their attention, and they claimed that she was transporting intelligence.[1][7] They threatened to kill her if they caught her on the road leading to the barracks again.[1][7]

On 22 March 1796 (2 Germinal, Year IV), Dugué planned to attend the fair in Sainte-Suzanne, ignoring the protests of her mother and neighbors who were concerned for her safety.[2][9] She declared, "Le diable lui-même ne me retiendrait pas!" (transl. "The devil himself would not hold me back!") and set out on horseback with several companions.[7][9] Along the road just north of Saint-Jean-sur-Erve, the group was stopped by the Chouans, who forced Dugué to dismount and compelled her companions to leave her with them.[7][9] The Chouans cut Dugué down with their sabers and left her to bleed to death at the foot of an oak tree.[7][9] She was discovered a day later, barely alive, but later died due to the severity of her wounds.[9] Her community did not bury her for several days out of fear of reprisal from the Chouans.[9]

Tracing of the epitaph from Perrine's tombstone.
Dugué's epitaph which reads, in part: CITOYENNE PERINE DUGUÉ… DECEDE LE 22 MARS 1796… AGE DE 17 ANE. (transl. "Citizen Perine Dugué… died 22 March 1796… 17 years-old.")

The local authorities had no power to enforce the law or seek justice for Dugué.[9] Counter-revolutionaries claimed that she was killed by hussars.[10] However, the identities of her murderers were known to be Chouans,[9] and two of them were from the nearby community of Saint-Jean-sur-Erve.[10] Historians Michel Lagrée [fr] and Jehanne Roche write in Tombes de mémoire that the Chouans who murdered Dugué were taking revenge for their leader, Courtillé, who had been killed earlier that year.[7]

Saint with tricolor wings

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Chapel de Perrine Dugué
File:Chapelle Perrine.JPG
Chapel de
Perrine
Dugué[11]
The chapel is located on farmland between Saint-Jean-sur-Erve and Sainte-Suzanne in the Mayenne department of France.[11][12]

One of the women who buried Dugué claimed that she was miraculously healed, and the rumored healing powers of her grave quickly spread.[7][13] An ephemeral "culte bizarre" (transl. bizarre cult) emerged around her for eighteen months after her death,[14] and her grave became a popular pilgrimage site, with one thousand to fifteen hundred visitors flocking there at one point.[13] People would lay down on the ground near her grave and rub themselves with dirt to be healed.[13] Herbs that only grew on the "sépulture des bienheureux" (transl. tombs of the blessed) were rumored to grow around her grave.[7]

In 1797, her family used donations from pilgrims to purchase a plot of land and build a chapel in her honor.[13][12] The chapel measured 9.4 m (31 ft) by 5.1 m (17 ft) and approximately 7 m (23 ft) in height.[5] They transferred her remains to the chapel at night to avoid being attacked by Chouans.[13] During the ceremony, a hundred people held candles and watched silently.[13]

Dugué was venerated as a popular "saint" and revolutionary martyr.[13][15][16] Oral traditions in her community say that her soul ascended to heaven with tricolor wings when she breathed her last breath.[13][10] A popular portrait engraving was made of Dugué, though it presented an incorrect version of events by depicting her murderer as a hussar.[7][10] Three rhymed ballads, likely written by a local priest, were printed in her honor.[17] However, despite her popularity at the time, she was never officially recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.[2][18]

See also

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Notes

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  1. 1 2 3 Some sources say her birthday was 10 April 1777, while others say 1779. The inscription that her family put on her tombstone says that she was 17 years-old when she died, which would mean she was born after 1777.[1]

References

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Citations

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Charmelot 1983, p. 457.
  2. 1 2 3 Soboul 1985, p. 220.
  3. ↑ Charmelot 1983, p. 458.
  4. ↑ Chisholm 1911, p. 539.
  5. 1 2 Lagrée & Roche 1993, p. 92.
  6. ↑ Lefebvre 1949, p. 337.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Lagrée & Roche 1993, p. 93.
  8. ↑ Lagrée & Roche 1993, pp. 92–93.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Charmelot 1983, p. 459.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Lefebvre 1949, p. 338.
  11. 1 2 "Chapelle de Perrine Dugué (la sainte tricolore)" [Chapel of Perrine Dugué (the tricolor saint)]. journees-du-patrimoine.com (in French). Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  12. 1 2 Lagrée & Roche 1993, p. 94.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Charmelot 1983, p. 460.
  14. ↑ Société historique et archéologique du Maine 1894, p. 308–309.
  15. ↑ Dović & Helgason 2016, pp. 28–29.
  16. ↑ Tallet 1996, p. 127.
  17. ↑ Société historique et archéologique du Maine 1894, p. 309.
  18. ↑ Dović & Helgason 2016, p. 29.

Bibliography

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