France church attackers gave sermon in Arabic before murdering priest

Two men who stormed a Catholic church in France filmed themselves as they preached in Arabic around the altar and then murdered an 85-year-old priest, said a nun who escaped.

Sister Danielle said she managed to escape unnoticed at the church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen, Normandy after the attackers interrupted the Tuesday morning mass celebrated by Fr. Jacques Hamel for three nuns and two parishioners.

She described the scenes before she fled the Catholic church.

"Everyone was shouting 'stop, stop you don't know what you're doing,'" the nun said on BFM television, according to the The Guardian. "They forced him to his knees and obviously he wanted to defend himself and that's when the drama began."

She said two other hostages managed to escape as the attackers were pre-occupied.

"They were busy with their knives," Sister Danielle recounted. "They were filming themselves preaching in Arabic in front of the altar. It was a horror. Jacques was an extraordinary priest. He was a great man, Father Jacques."

The hostage-takers had already slit the throat of Fr. Hamel before the police gunned them down as they rushed out of the church.

The Islamic State terrorist group quickly claimed responsibility for the church attack as they released a statement through the Amaq news agency where they identified the attackers as their "soldiers."

French police also identified one of the suspects as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, a local placed under house arrest with electronic surveillance bracelet after he attempted twice to cross Syria last year under a fake identity. Kermiche's allowed to deactivate the bracelet every morning, according to a police who spoke anonymously.

The second suspect remains to be identified.

A tribute to the murdered priest referred to him as the "first priest-martyr of Western Europe in the 21st century." Fr. Hamel served the parish for over a decade and skipped retirement.

"His desire was to spread a message for which he consecrated his life," Philippe Maheut, Rouen diocese official, told the Associated Press. "And he certainly didn't think that consecrating his life would mean for him to die while celebrating Mass, which is a message of love."