BISHOP CAUCHON (in accents of hypocritic compassion)--"These reverend priests, doctors of theology, and myself, have come to visit you in your prison, out of which you are at present unable to move. We come to bring you words of consolation. You have been questioned by the most learned clerks of canonical law. Your answers, I must tell you paternally, have so far borne the stamp of most damnable error, and if you persist in these errors, errors so prejudicial to the salvation of your soul and the safety of your body, we shall see ourselves compelled to give you over to the secular arm." JOAN DARC (in a feeble voice)--"I feel so ill and so weak, that it seems to me I am about to die. If it must be so by the will of God I request communion before death, and sacred soil for my body after death." A JUDGE--"Submit yourself to the Church. The more you stand in fear of death, all the more should you mend your ways." JOAN DARC--"If my body dies in prison, I request of you a sacred sepulchre for it. If you refuse that to me, I shall appeal to God. May His will be done." BISHOP CAUCHON--"These are grave words. You appeal to God. But between you and God stands His Church." JOAN DARC--"Is it not all one--God and His Church?" BISHOP CAUCHON--"Learn, my dear daughter, that there is a _Church triumphant_ where God is with His saints, His angels and the saved souls; there is, besides, the _Church militant_ composed of our Holy Father the Pope, vicar of God on earth, the cardinals, the prelates, the priests and all good Catholics, the which Church is infallible, in other words, can never err, can never be mistaken, guided as it is by the divine light. That, Joan, is the Church militant. Will you submit to its judgment? Will you, yes or no, acknowledge us as your judges, us, members of the Church militant?" JOAN DARC (recalls the advice of the canon; there can be no doubt, she thinks, that a snare is being laid for her; her mistrust being in accord with her naïve faith, she answers with all the firmness that her weakness allows)--"I went to the King for the sake of the salvation of France, sent to him by God and His saints. To that Church (making a sublime gesture), to that Church on high, do I submit in all my acts and words!" BISHOP CAUCHON (with difficulty restraining his joy)--"You will not, then, accept the judgment of the Church militant upon your acts and words?" JOAN DARC--"I shall submit to this Church if it does not demand the impossible from me." THE INQUISITOR--"What do you understand by that?" JOAN DARC--"To deny or repudiate the visions that I have had from God. For nothing in the world shall I deny or repudiate them. I shall not consent to save my life by a falsehood." BISHOP CAUCHON (in a blandishing voice)--"If the Church militant were to declare those visions and apparitions illusory and diabolical, would you still refuse to submit to its judgment?"