Pope Francis has approved a special cause for the canonization of the 16 Carmelite martyrs who died at Compiegne during the French Revolution, inspiring works such as The Song of the Scaffold and the Dialogue of the Carmelites.

The 16 Carmelites, who sang hymns as they were led to the guillotine, were beatified in 1903. At the request of the French bishops’ conference, agreed to a cause that would allow for “equipollent canonization”—a rare procedure in which the ordinary process is waived and the Pope declares the candidates saints, after an investigation by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.