Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/390

 that their commandant himself was scandalized, and silenced them with a horrible oath, saying, "You are here to shoot these men, not to insult them."

The arms were then charged, and the prisoners placed against the wall. Father Allard was the first victim, then Monseigneur Darboy fell, and each of the others was shot in turn, all showing the greatest courage and fortitude.

After this tragical execution, which was attended only by a few bandits, the bodies of the unhappy victims were placed, dressed as they were, in a carriage of the Company of Lyon, which had been requisitioned for the purpose, and conveyed to the Cemetery of Père-Lachaise. Here they were placed in the common trench, one beside the other, not even covered with earth, and here they remained until the cemetery was captured by the Versailles troops, when the bodies were removed to receive funeral honors.

Monseigneur Darboy was fifty-eight years of age. He was born in a village of the Upper Marne, at Fayl-Billot, the 16th of January, 1813.

George Darboy was educated at the Seminary of Langres, where he passed most brilliant examinations. In 1836 he was ordained priest, and sent as Vicar to Saint-Dizier, near Vassy. A little later he was recalled to the Seminary of Langres, where he was given the Professorship of Philosophy, and afterwards that of Dogmatic Theology. In two years' time he came to Paris, where the death of one of his predecessors, Monseigneur Affre—victim, like himself, to revolutionary fury—caused him to be named Almoner to the Lyceum Henri IV, and later, Honorary Canon of the Metropolis.

He was called by Monseigneur Sibour to the direction of the Moniteur Catholique. He then became first almoner of the Lyceum and honorary Vicar General, with