JOAN OF ARC

Hokitika Guardian, 12 July 1929, Page 7

JOAN OF ARC

INSPIRING CERE AI ON Y. ORLEANS, May 16. The most imposing of to-day’s celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of the raising of the siege of Oreleans by Joan of Arc took the form 'of State and religious ceremonies of a magnificence which can have few parallels. al. Doumergue, President of the Republic; M. Poincare, the Premier; Sir William Tyrell, British Ambassador to France; members of the Government the French Academy, and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and many foreign and French delegations participated. Shortly after daybreak the citizens and thousands of visitors were awakened by the booming of guns, followed by the pealing of the bells of all the churches. By eight o’clock the gorgeously decorated streets were thronged with people, among whom was a strong leaven of peasantry, all awaiting the presidential procession from the railway station to the Hotel de Ville, where M. Doumergue and members of the Government were officially welcomed. The greeting, in a lavish setting, at the Hotel de Ville was brief, and the scene shifted to the cathedral where a panegyric of the- Maid was delivered jy the Archbishop of Rouen, Monseigneur ae la Villerabel, and a Mass was said by Cardinal Lucon, Archbishop ol Rheims. The scene here was one of splendour nnd solemnity. The lofty nave was richly dressed between the sweeping arches in the gold and crimson colourof the city and the blue of Joan.

CARDINALS’ PROCESSION. First came tlje cardinals in their scarlet robes and trains. They were led by Cardinal Lucon, and included Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminister, and the Right Rev. Donald Martin, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles. Cardinal Lepicier, the Papal Legate, occupied a throne near the altar, and ~j.. Doumergue sat in a raised purplecovered pew in the middle of the transept near the pulpit. A body of pages dressed in loth century costumes accompanied the bearer of Joan’s standard to the foot of the altar and remained there till the end of the Mass. The Archbishop of Rouen’s panegyric was prefaced by gracious references to the English people and the work they "lid Hie French had done singly and jointly for the advance of civilisation, md he rejoiced at the presence of Sir William Tyrrell and Cardinal Bourne.

COMPARED WITH FOCH. .• T - . He then delivered a most eloquent and graphic description of the raising of the siege' of Orleans, praising the -Maid’s purity, foresight, courage, and mthusiasm as the power behind it. Je compared her military genius to that of Alexander the Great, Napoleon, md Focli.' It was raining in the afternoon when ‘.lie procession formed of all the coroorate bodies of the city churches and schools, firemen, military, gymnastic societies, dignitaries of the Church, and listinguislied visitors marched from the Place Saint Croix through the city, and then to the Hotel de Ville, where Joan of Arc’s standard was handed back to the Mayor of Orleans. At the close of this ceremony the cortege massed on the Place du Martroi around the monumental equestrian ■statue of the Maid, where a second address was delivered by M. Gabriel llanotaux, of the French Academy. B.y this time the rain had ceased, and the sun appeared and aeroplanes flew over the city. A banquet in honour of the president and the other notable guests closed the proceedings.