ST. JOAN OF ARC

THE LIFE-STORY OF THE

MAID OF ORLEANS .

by

REV. DENIS LYNCH, S.J.

Author of "The Story of the Acts of the Apostles"

 

New York, Cincinnati, Chicago

Benziger Brothers

Publishers of Printers of The

Benziger Magazine Holy Apostlic See

1919

 

Imprimi Potrst. A. GYR, S.J., sup. Reg. Missionis Bombayensis

 

Nthil Obstat ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, S.T.D., Censor Librorum

 

Imprimature. + PATRICK J. HAYES, D.D.,

Archbishop of Now York.

New York, July 28, 1919.

 

Copyright, 1919, By Benziger Brothers

 

 

JOAN OF ARC

 

"The name and fame of Jeanne d'Arc are ‘in the catalogue of common things,’ like the rainbow; of things so familiar that an effort of the imagination is needed before we can appreciate the unique position of the Maid in history. The story of her career, as one of her learned French historians has said, ‘is the most marvelous episode in our history, and in all histories'

"She was the consummation and ideal of two noble human efforts toward perfection. The peasant's daughter was the Flower of Chivalry, brave, gentle, merciful, courteous, kind, and loyal. Later poets and romance-writers delighted to draw the figure of the Lady-Knight; but Spenser and Ariosto could not create, Shakespeare could not imagine, such a being as Jeanne d 'Arc.

"She was the most perfect daughter of her Church; to her its Sacraments were the very Bread of Life; her conscience, by frequent confession, was kept fair and pure as the lilies of Paradise. Ina tragedy without parallel or precedent the Flower of Chivalry died for France and the chivalry of France, which had deserted her; she died by the chivalry of England, which shamefully entreated and destroyed her; while the most faithful of Christians perished through the celestial science' and dull political hatred of priests who impudently called themselves 'the Church!'

"She came with powers and with genius which should be the marvel of the world while the world stands. She redeemed a nation; she wrought such works as seemed to her people, abd wekk might seem miraculous. Yet even among her own people, even now, her glory is not uncontested."

Andrew Lang.

The Maid of France. Introduction.

"Such is the power of this story, such its tyranny over the heart, its magnetism to draw tears, that, well or ill told, it will ever make the hearer weep, be he young or old, chilled by the growing years or steeled by the hardness of life. Let no one blush for tears like these, for their cause is fair. No recent sorrow, no personal affiction of any kind, may so justly thrill an upright heart.

+ + + + + + + + + + +

"By roads infested with brigands she traverses France; she wins the court of Charles VII; she throws herself into the war; and in the camps which she had never before seen, in the combats which she had never shared, she is surprised at nothing. She rushes intrepidly into the midst of the fray; she is wounded, but she never wavers; she animates the veteran soldiers; she transforms the multitude into a military array, and no one knows any longer the meaning of fear. The youthful form of the maiden blunts the point of the lance and breaks the foeman's sword: with her stainless bosom she shields the heart of France.

"Her recompense? Betrayed and subjected to outrage, and judged unjustly, in her last and most fearful struggle she is as constant as in those that went before; and the words caught from her dying lips will cause tears to flow forever more.

". . . Abandoned by her king and by her people, whom she saved, by the cruel path of flame she returns to the bosom of God. . . . No ideal that man has conceived ever approached this most certain reality."

MICHELET.

Jeanne d'Are. Introduction.

 

 

"Thy country's sin, the insult, and the shame,

The scaffold's doom, the faggot and the flame—

All these shall pass and be remembered not; Fair

Charity with kindly tears shall blot

From France's shield the black corroding stain,

Caught from thy blood, 0 Lily of Lorraine!

The hero's heart shall lose its thirst for fame,

And truth be dead, and virtue but a name, shall

Ere men cease to honor thee who gave

To France, to liberty, to truth ---

In battle's bloodiest trenches undismayed,

'Neath insult meek, in persecution brave.

Thy love, thy life, thy stainless youth,

0 Virgin, Patriot, and Martyr Maid!"

by COLEMAN.

 

CONTENTS

 

CHAPTER I

Page

INTRODUCTORY 13

Section I.—Recent Studies 13

Section 2.—Joan, Her Own Historian . . 20

Section 3.—The Church and Joan . . . 21

CHAPTER II

The Mission of Joan

Section 1.—General View 23

Section 2.—The Supernatural in the Mission of Joan . 24

Section 3.—Her Prophecies 28

Section 4.—Joan's Pre-eminent Sanctity 32

Section 5.—Joan's Military Genius 35

CHAPTER III

Christendom At The Time of Joan of Arc

Section 1.—General View 39

Section 2.—England and France 42

Section 3.—Dissensions of the French Princes 44

CHAPTER IV

Charles, the VII 51

CHAPTER V

Condition of the People 55

CHAPTER VI

Joan’s Early Years

Section 1. —Her Birthplace 59

Section 2.—Joan's Family and its Condition Her House and Name 62

Section 3.—Her Birth and the Chronology of Her Life 69

CHAPTER VII

The Unfolding of The Flower - Joan's Manner of Life at Domremy

Section 1.—As She Appeared to Others 73

 

CHAPTER VIII

Joan Enters On Her Military Career – She Goes to Vaucouleurs . 84

CHAPTER IX

Joan Goes To The King At Chinon 91

Section 1.—Across France 91

Section 2.—With the King at Chinon 93

Section 3.—At Poitiers and Tours. - Her Sword and Banner 100

Section 4.—Joan's Attire and Appearance 106

 

CHAPTER X

The Land, The Parties And The Men – When Joan Comes

Section 1.—The Land 109

Section 2.—The Parties, National and Anti-national 110

Section 3.—Some of the Men with Joan 114

 

CHAPTER XI.

War In Joan’s Time – Her Army

Section 1.—Manner of Warfare 117

Section 2.—Joan's Army 120

 

CHAPTER XII

The City of Orleans At The Time of The Siege 122

CHAPTER XIII

The Siege, Until The Coming of Joan 126

CHAPTER XIV

Joan Comes To Orleans

Section 1—The Convoy Made Ready at Blois.

Joan's Letter to the English 134

Section 2.—The Revictualing of Orleans 137

Section 3.—Joan Enters the City 141

CHAPTER XV

Joan Raises The Siege 143

CHAPTER XVI

The Campaign Of The Loire

Section 1— Joan Goes to Meet the King 157

Section 2.—Preparation for the Campaign 159

Section 3.—The Taking of Jargeau 161

Section 4.—Meung, Beaugency and Patay 164

CHAPTER XVII

Joan Leads The King To Be Crowned

Section 1.—Slow to Move 167

Section 2.—What Might Have Been 171

Section 3.—Joan's Manner of Warfare 173

Section 4.—A Bloodless March Through Foes 176

CHAPTER XVIII

The Crowning 184

CHAPTER XIX

After The Coronation

Section 1.—Duplicity and Treason 188

Section 2.—Advance and Retreat 191

CHAPTER XX

To Paris!

Section 1.—Advancing to Battle. Joan's Position. Joy of the People 197

Section 2.—A Drawn Battle 199

Section 3.—Further Successes and Vain Negotiations 202

Section 4.—Joan Leaves Compiegne. Message of Count d’Armagnac 203

Section 5.—Joan Marches 205

CHAPTER XXI

The Fight for Paris 206

CHAPTER XXII

The Great Retreat and After

Section 1.—The Retreat 212

Section 2—Joan Parted from Alencon. Subsequent Movements 213

Section 3. —Joan at Bourges 215

Section 4. —.Joan Unmasks Catherine of La Rochelle 216

Section 5.—The Taking of St. Pierre-le-Moustier 217

Section 6. —Failure at La Charite 218

Section 7.—The Ennobling of Joan's Family 219

Section 8. Winter and Spring 220

CHAPTER XXIII

Joan’s Last Campaign

Section 1.— She Comes to Lagny Defeat and Execution of Franquet d’ Arres 222

Section 2.—The Prediction of Joan’s Capture 224

Section 3.—The Position of Burgundy and the English 225

CHAPTER XXIV

The Siege of Compiegne 227

CHAPTER XXV

The Sortie and Capture of Joan 233

CHAPTER XXVI

Was Joan Betrayed? 238

CHAPTER XXVII

Position of Joan as Captive 241

CHAPTER XXVIII

Joan in Captivity. From Compiegne to Rouen 264

CHAPTER XXIX

Joan’s Last Prison 254

CHAPTER XXX

Some of the Sanhedrin 258

CHAPTER XXXI

General View of the Trial 262

CHAPTER XXXII

Preparing for the Trial 270

CHAPTER XXXIII

The Examination of Joan 274

CHAPTER XXXIV

A Change of Procedure 286

CHAPTER XXXV

Between The Examination and The Trial 294

CHAPTER XXXVI

The Trial 297

CHAPTER XXXVII

The Question of Torture 304

CHAPTER XXXVIII

The Pretended Abjuration 307

CHAPTER XXXIX

The Quitting and Resumption of Male Attire 315

CHAPTER XL

Interbogatory of May 28th 318

CHAPTER XLI

The Sentence and Execution 321

CHAPTER XLII

After The Death of Joan 328

CHAPTER XLIII

Did Joan Die a Martyr? 333

CHAPTER XLIV

What did Her Party Do to Save Her? 335

CHAPTER XLV

The Rehabilitation 336

CHAPTER XLVI

Joan Through The Vista of The Years 340

CHAPTER XLVII

Joan’s Beatification 342

CHAPTER XLVIII

Canonization - St. Joan of Arc 344