Marie Durand’s 18th century church community cannot be understood apart from the Saint Bartholomew’s Massacre of 1572. What were the 16th century French Religious Wars and how did they affect the dreadful decisions Durand had to make?

What were the social and geographical roots of the 16th-century French Reformation, that great work of Christ that freed some one-and-a-half million men and women from the shackles of medieval Catholicism? This is Marie Durand’s heritage, and her life and letters cannot be understood apart from it.

In 1730 French authorities arrested 19-year-old Marie Durand, shaved her head, and imprisoned her without trial for her Protestant faith in a medieval fortress. Many have held up Durand as an inspiring heroine for their own causes, but what did she truly stand for?