THE MAID OF ORLEANS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 16, 22 April 1909, Page 610

THE MAID OF ORLEANS

body of men under ttte command of General Dunois was assembled at Blois, in order to qonvey the necessary relief.

THE CEREMONY QF BEATIFICATION

(Concluded from last week.)

Joan entered the hall unembarrassed; she was not disconcerted either by the glare of the lights, "by^ the gaze of the spectators, or by the novelty of the scene. ' A-t a glance she singled out the Dauphin, whom she now "saw for the first time, and, walking up to him with a firm step, and bending her knee, she said : ' May God give you good life, gentle King.' Astonished at this recognition, he replied: 'I am not the King; he is there beyond,' pointing to a different part of the hall. ' Oh, no ! ' she exclaimed, 'In the name of God, it is not he, but you, -who are the King.' And she added : ' Most noble Dauphin, I am Joan the Maid, sent on the part of God to aid "you and the Kingdom, and by_ His order I announce to you that you will be crowned in the city of Rheims. 5

The following day she appeared before the mailed knights on horseback, and such was the skill with which she couched the-lance, put in her hand for the first time, that the Duke of Alencon, full of admiration, presented her with a charger of the highest mettle. Under all these circumstances it was natural for the Dauphin to feel the utmost eagerness to make use of the aid which, he believed, was sent to him from heaven, in the person of. Joan ; and, after a searching inquiry regarding her past life, ho committed his cause into her hands.

Her first care was to procure a sacred banner, mado of fine -lawn, -the folds of which were sprinkled with lilies,' and* embroidered with silk. On one side of this banner was emblazoned an image of Our Lord on -..a throne of clouds bearing a globe in His hand, and having on either side an angel presenting a fleur-de-lis, which He blesses. On the other side of the 'banner was " displayed the crowa of France upheld by angels. This banner was especially dear to Joan, and in all her engagements "with the enemy she bore it aloft at the head of her conquering soldiers. As the investing army of the English had now wellnigh encircled the city of Orleans, all communication with the outside country lecame extremely difficult. The French were hemmed in by sixty forts and bastiles, so that 'they began to feel all the horrors of famine. The first bold enterprise, then, which engaged the Maid was to make a desperate effort to get -a supply of provisions within the walls of the J amishing city. For this purpose a strong

Joan in Command.

But to Joan, now equipped in all knightly accoutrements, is given the direction of the expedition. She, however, will not suffer the army to be put in motion till all the soldiers prepare themselves for the combat by tlie exercises of religion. To march direct to Orleans was the prompt decision -of Joan, but some of the generals decided to a, circuitous and less dangerous road, so that when the Maid perceived what had been done she was deeply troubled, as she considered that the movement was proof of want of trust in hexself and want of confidence in God. Joan, much against her will, had to separate herself from most of her soldiers* who had eventually to return to Blois, and having pressed on the supply of provisions to the city, she with General Dunois and about two hundred men late' in the evening of April 29, 1429, entered the be-** leagured city.- Mounted on her snow-white charger, sho rode through' the streets of Orleans amidst the wildest acclamation of joy. The population thronged around her frantic with joy, and with blazing torches accompanied her to the Cathedral of St. Croix. From the hour of entrance the tide of battle that had run so long and so violently against the French, turned .and rushed more fiercely in their favor. .The " army so long attacked and besieged became the assailants, arid such was the bravery and dartng witli which they dashed against the English, that we are" assured by General Dunois, an eye-witness, that six hundred of the very men who a few days before would have run away from one hundred of the foe were now ready, in the presence of Joan, to face all the forces of the English army.

The Siege of Orleans.

Three days after, when the reinforcements from Blois, one hundred and thirty miles distant, had reached Orleans, active operations were commenced. Before, however, she would unsheathe the sword, she sent a final message to the English, entreating tliem to spare the shedding of more blood, and to withdraw in peace from Orleans. But as this offer was treated with scorn 1 and ribaldry, she directed all the generals and officers of the regiments to assemble before the Cathedral, and then sallying forth at the head of her troops she led them against one of the most formidable bastiles occupied by the enemy. For three hours the English held the forb; at length, fired by the voice and gesture of the Maid, who was ever in the foremost rank, the French broke through the ramparts and Joan planted her standard on the captured fortress of St. Loup. - This first success was hailed with rapturous joy by the troops as well as by the people of the city. Joan promised them that if the soldiers fought with her in the true spirit of Christia,n chivalry, the siege would be raised in five days. ~ And she kept her word. For, issuing forth day after day, and allowing no moment of repose" to the enemy, the French had soon in their hands nearly every fort and bastile. Such was the astonishing influence of Joan, that while her presence inspired, the hearts of her, own men with confidence and enthusiasm, it filled the hearts of the' enemy with terror and dismay. , It was in vain that the English generals and officers ""sought to animate the drooping courage of their soldiers; the bravest of them shrank from encountering the female champion^ They feared no mortal like themselves/ but to face the Maid was beyond their strength. But still one fortress — the impregnable fortress of ' Les Tourelles ' — was in the hand,s of the English. This was the key of the city and its environs. The day before the attack on it, Joan . requested her confessor, an Angustinian friar, to say Mass very early the following morning, and begged him also to be as close as possible by her side the whole of the morrow, as her toils would be severe, and as her own blood would have to flow for the .deliverance of France. Early the following morning she sallied forth at the head of her devoted soldiers, and coming to the gates she commanded them to be- instantly opened. The attack began at 6 o'clock in the morning on May 8, and for seven long the Maid was in the hottest of the conflict. At midday, just as she was planting a ladder against the wall, an arrow passed through an opening in her corslet, and fixed itself between her chest and shoulder. For a moment the stout feelings of the heroine gave way to the soft and tender emotions of the woman. She wept when she saw blood streaming from her wound. Her companions conveyed her to an adjoining~vineyard; her wound was dressed, and she was left to rest a while. — Soon, however, she is rejoined- by General Dunois, ono of the ablest of the generals, and he tells her that so discouraged are the soldiers by her disaster that all further attempts to take the fortress would be unavailing. She continued in prayer for a quarter of an hour, when she called for her horse, and mounting into the saddle she is

once more at the head -of her troops, holding aloft her baauer. Her reappearance startles and dismays the enemy, while it transports the French soldiers with joy and inflames them with the wildest enthusiasm.

The Liberation of Orleans.

Once more the assailants are on the walls of the city; with redoubled efforts they scale them on every side., till at length, after a most desperate and terrible struggle, the triumphant shouts of , victory which fill '-.the air announce that the fort is won. Within a' few hours "the remnant of the English army was seen retreating in confusion, leaving as iree as the. breeze the fair city of Orleans. It was by this exploit that the obscure peasant girl of Domremy won for herself the imperishable and resplendent title of the Maid of Orleans. - -- .- " Having accomplished with signal success her mission to raise the siege of Orleans, she now felt impatiently eager to prepare to conduct the Dauphin to Itheims to be crowned. Her stay in 'the delivered city was consequently as brief as possible. Amidst the joyful tears, the jubilant thanksgiving and prayers of all its inhabitants, Joan left Orleans the second day after the "flight of the enemy, and hastened to Tours to meet the Dauphin. She sent messengers to him to call out all his men-at-arms to accompany her .to- Rheims. But his indolent, inert nature x made him averse to the daring enterprise of Joan. In the councils of war, which he then held-, every plaiisible reason was advanced to defeat her lofty purpose. Rheims, it was alleged, was a-bout two hundred miles distant ; the country was traversed by deep rivers, and thickly interspersed with castles ' in the hands of the English soldiers who had retreated from Orleans. Nothing daunted, • however, Joan sought out the brave General Dunois and went- with him to Chateau Lodes, thirty miles from Tours, where the Daupliin had gone with his court- The Dauphin at length decided to place an army under the command of the Duke of Alencon, with orders to undertake no movement without the approval of the Maid. As the English were still occupying fortified places an the Loire, no movement was made towards -Rheims till the enemy was encountered and beaten. In one short week the French army,- under the command of Joan of Arc and General Dunois, won the battles of Jargean 3 Bangenci 3 and Patay, where great carnage took place berorethe English were overthrown. The effects produced by those rapid and brilliant victories were marvellous. Hitherto, the jealous courtiers who surrounded the Dauphin had been able to thwart, in many ways, the fulfilment- of Joan's mission. But after the battle of Patay, such was the fame of Joan., and such the enthusiasm which the very mention of her name infused into all classes, that -it was impossible for the court favbrites to resist any longer her determination to bring the Dauphin — Charles the Fifth's own son, the • legitimate heir to the • throne — to" Rheims, to receive Koly consecration. From the proud nobles, issuing in polished armor from their battlemented castles, clown to the simple peasants, abandoning their fields and their ploughs to take up arms, the cry that now- rang out louder and louder was, ' To Rheims, to Rheims; follow the Maid of Rheims!' It was on June 29, the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, ' that the expedition, consisting, of no less than twelve thousand men-at-arms, with a large number of priests, set out for Rheims. /Though it was predicted by Joan's opponents that every difficulty and disaster would beset their journey, yet the advance of this multitude went ori so unimpeded that their movement was like a long triumphal march. When, however, they came before the city of Troyes, stout resistance was- threatened. The place was well fortified', and had a strong garrison^ of English and Burgundian soldiers. To take such a city without siege artillery could s not, be expected, and the army of the Dauphin had no such means of attack. For six days the immense army remained outside, in their encampment, in the vahi expectation that in obedience to the summons sent to the garrison, the city would open its gates to its lawful master. But as this was not done it was proposed in a council of war that the Dauphin and his forces should retrace tlieir steps to the Loire. This was arranged without consulting Joan of Arc. When sho heard of this she told them that if they believed in her they should not stir, but remain before tie gates of the ■ city for two days more, and. then it would be theirs. And so it actually happened; for when every preparation had-been made to assault the city, some of the citizens,' with the Bishop and magistrates, were seen issuing from the gates, coming with a flag of 'truce to the Dauphin, to ascertain the terms of capitulation. And -thus, on the very day that the Maid had promised, the Dauphin entered Troyes amid the acclamation of the people. The' road was now open to Rheims. Four days later the towers of the magnificent Cathedral gladdened the sight of the advancing host. The English army fled before the Dauphin came, and so he entered it, as the Maid

/ had promised, without "the slightest opposition. The Archbishop of Ghartres, at the head of the corporation, camo forth to meet him, while vast throngs of the citizens greeted him with loud acclamations of joy. On the following day, Sunday, July 17, 1429, the Coronation took place.

The Coronation in Rheims.

In the Convent of St. Remy, .not far distant from Rheims, was preserved as a precious relic the little flagon of sacred oil which, according to an old tradition/ came' down from on high -when Saint Remy was about to anoint his convert Clovis, the first Christian King of France. This sacred vessel was now to be conveyed to the Cathedral with great solemnity. An escort, mounted on horses richly caparisoned, and consisting of the Admiral of France, a Field Marshal of Trance, and the Grand Master of the Archers, was appointed to accompany the Abbot to> the Convent, as he, under a veil and robed in the richest vest- 1 * meats, bore the consecrating oil to the portals of the Cathedral. There it was handed to the Archbishop, and in a solemn procession, composed of- the Canons- of the Chapter, it was carried by him to the high altar, while trumpets were sounding,, and the swelling tones of the organ reverberating through the aisles of the venerjable building.

According to ancient./ usage, the King at this ceremony should be encircled by twelve of the peers of France. On the present occasion this number was wanting to add' to the pomp of the function. instead of the absent peers, a personage was there on whom all eyes were riveted, and whose appearance gave to this ceremony of crowning a halo of glory- The peasant girl — the shepherdess of Domremy — was there, standing near the altar, by the side of the King, with her victorious banner in her hand. She seemed like the angel of France summoning from the tomb the Kingdom she had saved. *

'Joan's Address to the King.

When the crown was placed on the head of Charles the Seventh, and when the holy rites were ended, Joan laid aside her banner, and falling at his knees, said to 3iim: ' Gentle King, now -is accomplished God's good pleasure in your behalf. He wished you to come here and to receive this holy -unction, that it might appear to all that you are the true prince and the rightful heir of this realm. 5 While she spoke the vast assembly was hushed into deathlike silence; but when the King stretched out his hands to raise her up, a burst of the wildest enthusiasm, wilh loud sobs and tears, gave vent to the feelings of all present. In this hour of her glory no selfish thoughts found a place in the breast of the heroic maid. After the newlycrowned King had conferred a. patent, of nobility on his benefactress and on her family, she asked that the little village where she was born, and whose poor people used to be ground down by oppressive imposts, should henceforth be free from taxes. This request was immediately granted. And in the Register of revenues in the French Record Department there stands opposite to the name of the village of Domremy this simple entry: / Nothing — for the Maid's sake.' In this blaze of triumph, with no shadow of the impending tragedy, closed the mission which Joan was destined to accomplish. The story of Joan of Arc's life, as told by the writer in the Pilot, ends here. The remainder is summarised by Home as follows : — In the annals of war no achievement is more remarkable than that which culminated in the solemn coronation of Charles in Rheims on July 17, 1429. Joan's heavenly enterprise for France ended here, as she herself declared at the time, but she was given -two years longer to become more perfect through tribulation. She was to be_ delivered, perhaps through treachery, into the hands of the recreant Duke of Burgundy, to be by him sold to the enemies she had so marvellously conquered, to be tried on a charge of practising black arts, to be condemned as -a ' relapsed lieretic' by an unhappy Bishop of the true Church for which she was ready to give her life, and to be burnt with ignominy as a witcli by the English at Rouen in her 20th year on May 30, 1431. What a marvellous story! A simple, illiterate country girl; a general of superhuman skill and power, a heroine whose' name was blessed by millions; a spotless virgin amid the lusts and brutalities of war ; a tender woman who never shed a, drop *of "blood a heretic, a witch, abandoned by the king and the people she had saved, and burned amid execrations in the public market-place ,and now after nearly five hundred years about to be numbered among the Blessed to the exultation of the whole Catholic world!