JOAN OF ARC.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 27, 6 July 1899, Page 24

JOAN OF ARC.

♦ THE STORY OF A GREVT CATHOLIC HEROINE. AN ARTICLE THAT EVERY CATHOLIC SHOULD READ.

One of the many hopeful signs of the French public life of later years is the fast growing interest and enthusiasm which is aroused in the breasts, not alone of Catholics, but of people of every creed and non-creed and of almost every shade of political thought, by the annually recurring festival which takes place at Orleans in honour of Joan of Arc. A special interest attaches to this year's festival on account of the noble panegyric of the sainted maiden that was pronounced by the great American golden-tougued orator, Archbishop Ireland, to whose effort reference is made elsewhere in our columns of this date. As far back as IS;>2 the firtt steps were taken to secure the canonisation of the noble maiden. One day we may venerate her upon our altars— a tit emblem of the sacred spirit ot patriotism inspired from above, and bles-sed by the Spouse of Christ upon earth. The story of the brief but glorious career of the girlwarrior is invested witb a deep and peculiar interest, and recalls a succession of strange and momentous events that form a unique epoch in the history of France. We have, therefore, thought it well to prepare and lay before our readers in and out of New Zealand the following brief sketch of the remarkable story of the bright particular star of that stirring period, the heroic Maid of Orleans. 'At the time of which we write Henry VI. had been declared King of England and France by his General the Duke of Bedford. The northern provinces of the latter kingdom had openly declared their allegianoe to the new and youthful king ; those of the centre and south adhered to the fortunes of Charles VII., their legitimate sovereign, who had been proclaimed at Poitiers. War was declared between the contending parties. The English and Burgundians, who made common cause, reaped a harvest of easy conquests over the poverty and weakness of the French Monarch, and at the battle of Verneuil inflicted upon him a blow which almost proved the utter downfall of his rapidly-declining power. Orleans, the last support of his tottering throne, was at length besieged, and, despite the gallantry of its brave defenders, was on the point of falling into the hands of the English ; the king himself was about to retire for personal safety to the mountains of Languedoc, when it pleased Divine Providence to make Joan of Arc the instrument of one of those unexpected revolutions, which, confounding the pride of earthly conquerors, set at naught the calculations of human wisdom and lead back people's thoughts to the foot of the only throne that is immovable, of the only power that is eternal. EABLY LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC. Joan of Arc, whose birth took place in 1411, was one of five children that blessed the union of a pious couple who lived in the Tillage of Doniremi, situated at a distance of two leagues from the town of Neuf chateau. Her early education was in keeping with the humble circumstances in which her pious parents lived. She

never knew how to read or write, but the words and examples of the authors of her existence instilled into her youthful mind those principles of exalted virtue which she displayed in so eminent a degree throughout her short and eventful life. All are of accord in representing her as endowed with the most admirable qualities, and adorned with every virtue ; modest, patient, submissive, devoted to the poor and eick, and timid to such a degree as to be disconcerted by being simply spoken to. Work and prayer engrossed her time. After her daily toil, instead of joining in the merry pastimes of her companions, nhe quietly slipped away to the village church, where, in a shady corner, she poured forth to her Saviour all the affection of her yonng and guileless heart. It might truly be said that she prayed always ; whether labouring on her father's little faiin, or tending the flocks, or at her household duties, her communion with heaven was tender and constant. The young people blamed her for what they chose to term her ' excessive devotion' — it was the only reproach of which bhe was ever the subject in her native hamlet of I Domremi. Thus she lived till her fourteenth year, unknown to the I world and knowing it not, acquainted only with the limited circle of human wisdom conformable to her sex and condition, and far from dreaming of being called to raise and reconsolidate the throne of the Louis that had received such a rude bhock from the united strength of foreign and internal enemies. I am well aware that some very smart people will refuse to attribute a heaven-sent misßion to Joan of Arc. and will try to explain away, after their own fashion, facts which no one can call into question. But let them remember that no profane history is based on materials so certain and authentic as that of the Maid of Orleans, which is made up for the most part of judicial informations, and the sworn depositions of hundreds of witnesses of every age, profession, and condition. For us, we are convinced that God, when He thinks proper, intervenes in the affairs of the world, and that it pleases Him to make use of what is apparently the weakest instrument to manifest His power and justice, and confound, at the same time, the folly of merely human pride and wisdom. HER FIRST SUPERNATURAL VISION. J Shejms in her fourteenth year when she was favoured with her firstr supernatural communication with heavenly spirits, and vowed to consecrate her virginity to God. At short intervals during the rebt of her life these celestial visitors, but especially St. Michael the Archangel, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret, came in visible form to direct and encourage her, both in her humble home at Domreini, in the midst of her conquests, and in the changed fortune? that preceded her immolation on the altar of English cruelty and hatred. The principal missions confided to her were the relief of Orleans and the crowning of King Charles VII. in the ancient city of Rheims. After having overcome difficulties which would have disheartened the bravest person of the stronger sex, she set out for Chmon, where Charles was then staying. It was winter time. Her only escort was her brother Pierre and seven cavaliers. Her path lay through a country occupied by the enemy, and traversed by deep and swollen rivers. Yet, as if by a miracle, she reached, in perfect safety, her journey's end, and announced her wonderful minion in a letter to the King, saying that she ' had traversed fi\ c hundred leagues to come to him, and knew many things that would please him.' She arrived at Chinon at a moment when the French monarchy seemed to be in its death throes, when Orleans was about to fall, and divine assistance alone could have led on its cause to triumph. She was in Ler eighteenth year, and described by eye-witnesses as endowed with uncommon beauty. When speaking of the mission with which she was charged, her I language was noble, dignified, and even sublime ; did she treat of j other subjects she ex pressed her thoughts in the artless language of a simple, uneducated, peasant girl. The fame of her high destiny and the extraordinary sanctity of her life inspired the people with new confidence, and recalled to their minds the words of an old prophecy, which told that' a virgin would come ta the aid of France, which a woman (Isabel of Bavaria) would have destroyed.' But the enthusiasm with which she inspired the multitude was in no way shared by the King and his counsellors. A thousand delays and difficulties were thrown by them in her path, and it was only after the most minute precautions, reports Irom Domremi, decisions of ecclesiastical and parliamentary commissions, and every other measure which human prudence could suggest, that she was allowed to fight her country's battles and fulfil her high and noble mission. • Most noble Dauphin,' said Joan, when at length admitted to the royal presence, ' I am sent on the part of God to bring succour to your kingdom. lam ready to go to war with the English.' Four of her most celebrated prophecies were made at this period, and were subsequently carried out even in their minutest details. HOW SHE SAVED THE CITY OF ORLEANS. She was charged with the relief of Orleans. She girt on a sword that was said to have been used by Charles Martel against the Saracens. Blasphemy, licentiousness, and other abuses, were, by her prudent regulations, banished from the midst of her soldiery ; numerous chaplains were introduced, and devotional exercises called down Heaven's blessing on her little army. She never desecrated Sundays or festivals by bloodshed or the clang of arm?. Her banner was the crucified ; she always bore it in her hand, so as not to use her sword, which she unsheathed only in the last extremity, and even then only for the sake of defence. ' I never killed a man,' said she to her interlocutors during her subsequent captivity at Rouen. Though altogether without previous training, she displayed c onsummate skill in riding, running the tilt, artillery practice, and every sort of military exercises then in use. The route marked out by her for the relief of Orleans, as well as most of her subsequent tactics, were warmly opposed by King Charles' officers, as contrary to the dictates of human prudence, but the event invariably proved that her enlightenment proceeded from a source far superior to merely human knowledge or foresight. On her arrival at Orleans she thus summoned the English generals to raise the seige :

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'f JHEST7S MABIA f

King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself Regent of the Kingdom of France ; you, William De la Pole, Count of Suffolk ; John, Sir of Talbot, and you Thomas, Sir of Scales, who call yonrself Lieutenant of the aforesaid Duke of Bedford ; render account to the King of Heaven ; surrender to the Maid, who is sent here on the part of God, King of Heaven, the keys of all the good cities which you have taken and violated in France, etc.' This summons was thrice repeated. The English, however, elated by a long course of victories, and confiding in the superiority of their numbers and position, laughed the 'cow-girl' to scorn, and loaded her with abusive epithets. But repeated defeats soon taught them that the weak arms of the Maid and her little band of warriors were nerved from on high. ' One would have believed,' says Hume, ' that a superhuman power held them ohained within their entrenchments.' Within five days (as she had prophesied), on the 9th of May, 142'J, the English army was in full retreat. Five days sufficed for a simple peasant girl to change tne face of a nation, and raise up the throne of its legitimate sovereigns. The fame of this exploit went rapidly abroad, and loyal Frenchmen vied with each other in their enthusiastic tokens of respect and admiration for the youthful heroine. But such expressions of popular feeling deeply afflicted her. The simplicity and humility of the peasant girl never once forsook her in her changed fortunes. Her food was a crust of bread soaked in water. Her prayers, penances, prophesies, and visions increased. When dangerously wounded at Orleans, and asked to suffer herself to be healed by a charm, ' I would rather die,' she indignantly exclaimed, ' than do anything sinful and contrary to the will of God.'

THE VICTORY ACHIEVED BY JOAN OF ARC.

Despite, however, the sanctity of her life and the humility of her deportment, her very successes exposed her to the envy of the high officers of the Royal troops : but shameful defeat and slaughter taught them to confide less in their own insufficient wisdom, and to submit, however unwillingly, to the Omniscient Power that chose to work its wonders through the apparently feeble ministry of the warrior girl. At Beaugency, where the overwhelming- numbers of the enemy made the Duke D'Alencon think retreat a matter of primary necessity, he was asked by the Maid : ' Have you good spurs V 'Oh ! we must then take flight 1 ' exclaimed the bystanders. ' No,' she replied, ' the English will not defend themselves at all, and will be conquered, and we shall want spurs to pursue them.' And her words were literally verified. Victory after victory in rapid succession, continued to add new laurels to her brow : Jargeau, Chalons, Patay, Troyers, Gien, etc. . and lastly Rheims, fell into her hands. Immense numbers of the enemy's troops lay mouldering on the plains. Talbot, Suffolk, and others of the leading English generals, were prisoners or slain ; and within the short space of two months foreign power in France had received its death-blow from the Heaven-sent Maid of Orleans. The uniform success that attended her every movement inspired at length unbounded confidence in her guidance. Projects that made men stare, like that of the taking of Gien, were by her boldly undertaken and brought to a happy isbue. The star of France's royal house was once more in the ascendant.

THE CROWDING OF KINO CHARLES VII

The solemn entry of King Charles VII. to Rheims took place July 16, 1429, and the following day hia coronation was celebrated. By his side stood the youthful heroine, in her hand the banner she had borne through so many glorious conflicts. 'It had taken its part in the trouble,' she told her judges at Rouen ; 'it was but just that it should have its share in toe glory also.' At the close of the ceremony she saluted Charles King of France, declared her mission accomplished, and besrged leave to return to her home in Douireuii. But she had wrought go many wonders for him that he could not consent to deprive himselt of her assistance, and so she was detained, despite her earnest wishes to depart. ' Would to God,' said she to the Archbishop of Rheims, ' that I could now depart, and go serve my father and mother, tending the sheep with my sister and my brothers, who would so rejoice at seeing me.' Patents of nobility were conferred on her family ; bhe was at the summit of human glory but appeared more humble, modest, and prayerful than ever. •I have but done the part of a minister,' ehe of'en repeated ; and when people said : ' Never were such deeds heard nor read of even in books,' her answer was : ' My Lord has a book in which no clerk can write, however learned he may bo.' The Sire d'Aulon, to whom the King had confided the care of the Maid, was accustomed to declare that she was the chastest woman in the world, and the English themselves, says their historian, Hume, never reproached her on

the score of morality. Thus neither prosperity, nor praise, nor the tumultuous life of a camp, nor the corrupted atmosphere of a court, could stain the spotless innocense, nor shake the humility of this inspired and saintly heroine.

Her mission ended, she acted no longer therfileof a commander. but meekly obeyed the orders of the King. She had turned the tide of victory in favour of her countrymeD, and it continued rolling onward till it swept the last English soldier off the soil of France. She still distinguished herself in many a brilliant feat of arms. At S. Pierre-le-moutier, while the French troops were beating a hasty retreat before the overwhelming numbers of the 1 enemy, Joan remained alone and immovable on the field. Her shield- bearer, seeing her danger, came swiftly to her rescue, and asked her : ' Why do you remain alone and not retire like the others ?' 'lam not alone,' she replied, disengaging her helmet, ' I have fifty thousand men with me, and will not depart till the city is taken.' The flying French returned, recommenced the asßault, and the city fell into their hands.

SHE FALLS INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY.

The change in her career had now arrived. As had been previously revealed to her, she fell into the hands of her English enemies at the moment that she gained the victory of Comp^igne. The news was received with dismay by the French ; by the English with an enthusiastic outburst of delight. A solemn Tc Deum was sung in the English camp in thanksgiving for this glorious event and everyone ran to get a glimpse of the Maiden warrior that had gained such a series of splendid victories, and made a nation of valiant warriors tremble. She was removed from prison to prison and at last immured at Rouen, where the English King and Parliament were then assembled. In prison Joan was bound by three heavy chains and a great block of wood. Her guards were five archers, three of whom stayed by night within her cell, and maltreated her. Even the nobles, Luxemburg, Warwick and Straff ord, joined the soldiery in heaping new indignities on the innocent and saintly girl. ' I well know,' said she to them. ( that the English will put me to death, hoping afterwards to gain the Kingdom of France ; but were there a hundred thousand more blasphemers (so the English were then deservedly called) than at present, they will never obtain possession of this Kingdom.' Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, forgetful of his high and sacred dignity, took part with Joan's enemas, though his aversion to her was, as he subsequently proved, tempered with some of the milk of human kindness and compassion. Though but 18 yeurs old at this time, Joan of Arc displayed throughout her mock trial a courage, calmness, energy, and pointedness in replying, that struck even her persecutors with astonishment. When asked if she were in the state of grace — ' It is a great matter,' she replied, •to answer such a question. If lam not, may God give it to me ;if I am, may he preserve me in it.' When many questions were pressed upon her by a number of persons speaking at the same time, she said gently : ' Good sirs, speak one after another.' She was asked what virtue lay in her banner, and replied : ' I said : go in boldly among the English, and I went myself the first of all,' ' Alas !' said she sadly on another occasion, ' you write down what is said against me, and you will not write what is in favour of me,' as she noticed one of the many vile arts which her judges made use of to compass her certain destruction. The moral torture of these interrogatories lasted long. The counsellors and witnesses who dared to take her part were* loaded with innumerable insults and menaces, and finally, for the greater dispatch of judiciary formalities, the proceedings were confided to a small and select clique of Joan's bitterest enemies. Despite their arts, however, they felt themselves reluctantly obliged to abandon the ridiculous charge of witchcraft, and to limit their accusation to two headings : the crime of wearing male apparel, and refusal to submit to the Church — charges which they well knew to be utterly false and untenable.

HER FIDELITY TO THE CATHOLIC CHUBCH.

To the first the Maid replied that she had assumed male attire by order of Heaven, and that she kept it still to defend her chastity against the outrages of her voluptuous gaolers. As to the second, never was there a more devoted daughter of the Church than the Maid of Orleans, but her protestations of adherence, unbounded fidelity, and submission to Catholic teaching and practice, were utterly unheeded by the prejudiced individuals who sat in judgment againbt her. During all this lolemn mockery of justice she wai denied every consolation of religion, a privation which greatly embittered the numberless other sorrows of her prison-life. Once when being dragged before the tribunal, her way led by a churoh in which the Blessed Sacrament was exposed. She besought her con-

ductor, Massieu, with so many tears, to suffer her to pass a few moments in adoration, that he at length consented ; but his indulgence was immediately afterwards reprehended in terms so harsh and menacing that he never again dared alleviate in the shghte-t the refined barbarity which daily and hourly embittered her existence. When at length Bhe fell sick people suspected that an attempt had been made to carry her off by poison, but ' not for the world,' said Warwick, 'would the King have her die a natural death ; he has bought her po dearly that he means to have her burned. Let her be cured as speedily as possible.' The ' finding ' of the Commission was summed up in 12 articles, and the sentence finally passed. Before its execution the Commission endeavoured by every means to extort from Joan an admission of the justice of her condemnation, but in vain.

JOAN LCD I'OliTH TO EXECUTION.

On the 2 tth of May, 1 131, she was led forth to the cemetery of Rouen, wheie, in presence of a vast concourse of t-pectators, a gross and flagrant tirade was made against her and King Charles VII. 1 Speak of me,' she exclaimed, ( but speak not of the King ; he is a good Christian, anck loves most the Faith and the Church. He is by no means such as you represent him.' ■ Make her hold her tongue,' shouted fiercely Pierre Cauchon. They tried once more to make her deny her heavenly mission. ' I have acted well in doing what I have done,' was her firm and constant reply. At last they partially triumphed over her resistance. ' I will,' said she, 'do ail that the Church wishes ; and since Churchmen tell me that my visions are not to be believed, I will not sustain them.' ' Sign then, or die at the stake.' A secretary of the English King who stood near Joan had, in the meantime, put aside the declaration which had ju-t been made to her, and in its place substituted a long abjuration, in which she was represented as declaring all her former answers false and lying, and as begging God to forgive her this heinous crime. She unknowingly put her cross to the bignature, and was, for the moment, saved from the fire, to the joy of the French and the fury of the English troops. She was, however, sent back to prison. Her fetters were as firmly riveted as before on her tender limbs, and she was bound to assume the costume of her sex. She observed this condition with the utmost exactness, although her guards, acting on superior orders, resorted to the mo-t odious arts and brutal tr--it-ment to drive her to despair and force her to don again her male attire Finally, one morning they moved her female dre-s, substituted for it that of the other sex, and commanded hi r to rise instantly from her little couch. Forced at last to obey their order*, she was obliged to assume the only outer clothing at her disposal. Warwick, who was immediately apprised of this incident, exclaimed ' She's caught,' and, followed by a numerous throng of partisans-, made his way to the prison. Andre Marguerie, who incautiously ventured an inquiry into the cause of the Maid's appearance in the forbidden dress, was met with a fierce ' shut your mouth, in the d — l's name,' and had scarcely time to save himself, by a precipitate flight, from the blow of a ponderous battle-axe. Joan now understood the cause and purpose of her recent treatment. ' I have never,' she declared, ' said or done anything contrary to the faith. I have revoked nothing but ou the supposition that it was pleasing to God. In a word, if the judges wish, I will aj;ain aoaume my woman's dress, but I will do nothing more.'

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Iler enemies rejoiced at the success of this infamous plot, and, without further judiciary proceedings of any kind, decided to burn her at the stake on the following- day. Her last hours were, by au unusual relaxation of her persecutors' cruelty, spent with a confessor, a kindly old man who deeply sympathised with her misfortunes. On the ,'sOth of May, li:U,hhp was led forth to execution, surrounded by ei^ht hundred English soldier*. At this moment Nicholas l'Oiseleur, one of her judges, seized with remorse of conscience, threw himself at her feet to crave her pardon, but was roughly repulsed by the guards, and ordered by Warwick to quit the city immediately if he valued his life. Alon^ the route the youthful maiden prayed for all, even her bitterest enemies, with such devotion, and in accents so touching-, that she drsw tears and Bobs from almost every witness of this had spectacle. At the place of execution she exclaimed : • O Rouen, Ruuen, is it here that I must die ? ' A cro«s was. at her request, presented to her. She embraced it devoutly, and continued praying with wonderful calmness and fervour. The English men-at-arms, impatient at the delay, cried for her immediate execution, and two ot their number dragged her to the pile. On a tall cap, placed on her head, were inscribed, in large characters, the words, ' heretic, relapsed, apostate, idolater,' and on a board close to the pile still more offensive terms, which were intended to blacken her fair fame and deprive her of

that generous and hearty sympathy which the French inhabitants manifested towards her. When the pyre was lighted she pronounced tho Most Holy Name, an 1 caloily addressing her confessor, said! •Get down below : hold thp cross of the Lord high up before me so that I may see it till I die, and continue to exhort me loudly, so that I may be able to hear you.' The fire and smoke enveloped hershe was heard from amidst the fiames invoking her Saviour and continued thus, till, with a clearer and stronger voice, she'pronounced once more the holy name ' Jesus ! ' This was the last word that escaped her lips. Even after her death fresh indignities were offered to her \irginal W>dy. 'When they had seen her to their satisfaction quite dead,' says a contemporary chronicler, 'the executioners s, t fire under her body and reduced it to ashes,' which were thrown into the waters of the Seine or carried away by the winds of heaven.

Thus perished, at the age of nineteen years, after twelve months' moral and physical torture, this extraordinary and saintly girl, this heroine who had saved the French monarchy from inevitable ruin.

THE niI.VND OK INFAMY.

The subsequent efforts of the enemies of Joan of Arc to obtain even the popular approbation of these guilty proceedings were utterly ineffectual. • The judges and those who took part in the death of Joan,' &ay the sworn depositions of Bnis-Guillaume, ' incurred a brand of infamy which singled them out and loaded them with maledictions.' The special protection of the King of England saved them, indeed, from the wild justice of the infuriated populace, but it did not screen them from the visible judgments of heaven, as manifested in the sudden, violent, or unhappy deaths of all who directly or indirectly were instrumental in taking her life away. About twenty years after her execution Charles VII. applied to Pope Calixtusll fora revision of the infamous process. Hia prayer was granted in mi. The next commission of inquiry, composed of learned and holy men, pronounced their sentence, after a long and careful examination ot documents and witnesses, Their judgment cancels the twelve articles as false, calumnious, full of deceit, inconfonnable with the avowals- of Joan, and condemns them to be judicially torn in shreds. All considered, and hay-ing (.iod alim.MU view, we say that the process, the abjuration, an 1 the two pi i^.nenN pronounced against Joan of Arc contain the must in.miit l i rand, calumny, and iniquity, with errors both in point ot law -tiKi i ii point of tact , and consequently, it is entirely declared null an 1 void. s 0 that everything which has come of it is, a- iar ;is is ivce-wiry. cancelled and annulled as having neither force nor eilicacy. Such are the principal points of a judgment as celebrated as it is just. It was a tardy and in-ullicient reparation for such an atrocious crime, but it was all that, under the circumstance*, human justice could do. Another and supremely just Tribunal had long since pronounced its irrevocable sentence in favour of the saintly and deeply-injured Maid of Orleans.