Jeanne d'Arc, Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France: Being the Story of Her Life, Her Achievements, and Her Death, as Attested on Oath and Set Forth in the Original Documents
History
Jeanne d'Arc, Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France: Being the Story of Her Life, Her Achievements, and Her Death, as Attested on Oath and Set Forth in the Original Documents
Joan, of Arc, Saint, 1412-1431 -- Trials, litigation, etc.
“Will Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret take bodily vengeance for this
offence?”
“I do not know, and did not ask them.”
“You have asserted that, for speaking the truth, men were sometimes
hanged: do you, then, know any crime or fault in yourself for which you
should die, if you confessed it?”
“I know of none.”
_The following Saturday, March 17th:—Present: Jean Delafontaine,
Commissary, assisted by Nicolas Midi, and Gerard Feuillet, in the
presence of Ysambard de la Pierre and of Jean Massieu._
The said Jeanne was required to take the oath already made by her.
Afterwards, she was again interrogated:
“In what form, kind, size, and dress did Saint Michael come to you?”
“In the form of a true honest man [‘_prud homme_’]; of his dress and the
rest I will say nothing more. As to the Angels, I saw them with my eyes;
you will hear naught else about it. I believe the deeds and words of
Saint Michael, who appeared to me, as firmly as I believe that Our
Saviour Jesus Christ suffered Death and Passion for us. And that which
makes me believe it, is the good counsel, comfort, and good doctrine
which he has given me.”
“Will you, in respect of all your words and deeds, whether good or bad,
submit yourself to the decision of our Holy Mother the Church?”
“The Church! I love it, and would wish to maintain it with all my power,
for our Christian Faith; it is not I who should be prevented from going
to Church and hearing Mass! As to the good deeds I have done and my
coming to the King, I must wait on the King of Heaven, who sent me to
Charles, King of France, son of Charles, who was King of France. You
will see that the French will soon gain a great victory, that God will
send such great doings that nearly all the Kingdom of France will be
shaken by them. I say it, so that, when it shall come to pass, it may be
remembered that I said it.”
“When will this happen?”
“I wait on Our Lord.”
“Will you refer yourself to the decision of the Church?”
“I refer myself to God Who sent me, to Our Lady, and to all the Saints
in Paradise. And in my opinion it is all one, God and the Church; and
one should make no difficulty about it. Why do you make a difficulty?”
“There is a Church Triumphant in which are God and the Saints, the
Angels, and the Souls of the Saved. There is another Church, the Church
Militant, in which are the Pope, the Vicar of God on earth, the
Cardinals, Prelates of the Church, the Clergy and all good Christians
and Catholics: this Church, regularly assembled, cannot err, being ruled
by the Holy Spirit. Will you refer yourself to this Church which we have
thus just defined to you?”
“I came to the King of France from God, from the Blessed Virgin Mary,
from all the Saints of Paradise, and the Church Victorious above, and by
their command. To this Church I submit all my good deeds, all that I
have done or will do. As to saying whether I will submit myself to the
Church Militant, I will not now answer anything more.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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