The Executioner's Knife; Or, Joan of ArcSue, Eugène
General
The Executioner's Knife; Or, Joan of Arc
Sue, Eugène
Biographical fiction; Christian fiction; Christian women saints -- Fiction; Joan, of Arc, Saint, 1412-1431 -- Fiction
The mob beats Joan's defender to death. As to herself, her condition is
now such that she no longer is aware of aught she hears or says. She has
practically lost consciousness. She barely has enough strength to
respond mechanically, "I confess it," each time she hears Bishop Cauchon
ask her, "Do you confess it?" In the midst, however, of her weakness and
the wandering of her mind, one thought she is fully conscious of, the
thought that her agony cannot last long; within a short time she would
be dead or free! Poor martyr!
Bishop Cauchon continues to read: "'Fifthly, I, Joan, confess that I
grievously sinned in claiming that all my acts and all my words were
inspired to me by God, His saints and His angels, while in truth I
despised God and His sacraments and I constantly invoked evil
spirits.'--Do you confess it?"
"I confess it!"
"She confesses that she is a witch!" cries a voice from the mob.
"By St. George, she has exterminated thousands of my countrymen by her
sorceries! And shall she escape the fagots!"
"She will be burned later! Our captains have promised us!"
"They deceive us! We shall burn her ourselves, now!"
Bishop Cauchon reads: "'Sixthly, I, Joan, confess that I grievously
sinned by being a schismatic.'--Do you confess it?"
"I confess it!"
Bishop Cauchon continues reading: "'All of which crimes and errors, I,
Joan, having returned to the truth, by the grace of our Lord, and also
by the grace of our holy and infallible doctrine, my good and reverend
Fathers, I now renounce and abjure.'--Do you renounce, do you abjure
these crimes and errors?"
"I renounce! I abjure!"
Bishop Cauchon reads on: "'In the faith and the belief of all of which,
I declare that I shall submit to the punishment that the Church may
inflict upon me, and I promise and swear to St. Peter, the prince of the
apostles, and to our Holy Father the Pope of Rome, his vicar, and to his
successors, and to you, my seigneurs, and to you, my reverend father in
God, Monseigneur the Bishop of Beauvais, and to you religious person,
Brother John Lemaitre, vicar of the Inquisition of the faith, I, Joan,
swear to you, to all of you my judges, never again to relapse into the
criminal errors that it has pleased the Lord to deliver me from! I swear
ever to remain in the union of our holy mother the Church, and in
obedience to our Holy Father the Pope!'--Do you swear?"
"I swear--and I am dying!"
Bishop Cauchon beckons to one of the registrars. The latter takes a pen
out of his portfolio, dips it in ink, hands it to the prelate, and holds
up his square cap for a desk. The prelate places the parchment on the
cap, and continues to read from it in a loud voice:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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