Francijntgen, Grietgen, and Maeyken Doornaerts, in the Year 1556

At Belle, in Flanders, three women were arrested for the testimony of the truth, namely, an old woman named Francijntgen, a young woman named Grietgen, who was her niece, and another young woman, named Maeyken Doornaerts, all of whom suffered much tribulation and torment. When they wanted to torture the old woman naked, she said to the lords: "Remember that you were born of women; therefore, do not put me to shame;" by which she was allowed to keep her shift on while on the rack. Great pains were taken to draw the young woman Grietgen away from her faith, since she was still very young; but it was all in vain, for she would much rather look for eternal joy in return for this temporary pain or suffering than buy this brief, passing pleasure with everlasting suffering.

The other young woman, Maeyken Doornaerts, also had to lie naked on the rack; and when no pain or suffering could make her fall away from her faith, they began to assail her with the question whether she was not ashamed to lie there so bare. She replied: "I did not put myself here naked; but you, who inflict this misery and disgrace on me, who am innocent, will afterward have to suffer eternal shame and pain for it." And though she was tortured so severely that her blood ran down along the rack, she still, through the grace of God, who always strengthens His own, remained steadfast in the faith. Then all three were sentenced to death and burned. Standing at the stake, Maeyken Doornaerts said: "This is the hour I have longed for so greatly, that it might put an end to all my tribulation." So these three heroines valiantly fought their way through, suffering all this because they were baptized upon their faith (according to the teaching of Christ), and afterward sought, in all simplicity, to serve and please the living God rather than mortal men; for which they also expect the joyful crown of eternal and imperishable life.