THE MAID OF ORLEANS THE CEREMONY OF BEATIFICATION

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 15, 15 April 1909, Page 572

THE MAID OF ORLEANS THE CEREMONY OF BEATIFICATION

On Sunday, April 25, the Beatification of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, takes place in St. Peter's, Rome. Beatification is the second step in the procedure in raising a saint to the altar.- The first step is that of declaring the saint venerable — i.e., one worthy of veneration on account of some remarkable traits in his or her life and work. To get to the second step of beatification, which; has now been conferred on the Maid of Orleans, it must _be proved that, not only was the life a blameless one, and the death of an edifying character, but that miracles have been - worked through the intercession of the person honored.

The cause of the beatification of Joan of Arc was begun in 1876, when Monsignor Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, began the process in his diocese; it was continued by his successor, Monsignor Coiiillie, Cardinal-Archbishop of Lyons, who completed the diocesan examinations, arid

had Father Captier, the General of the Sulpicians, ■ appointed as Postulator of the" Process:." The English' Cardinal Howard gladly assumed "the^ office- of Ponent of tho Cause. - ~ After a time it was formally admitted to- the Congregation of Rites, and from that - moment Joan 'hecame 'the Venerable Servant of God.' Four years later, on June 28, 1898, the Tribunal of the Sacred Beta -pronounced a favorable sentence" on th« question of the <s non cultus.' The second stage of the process was' practically terminated in 1903, when/ Leo XIII., a few months ' before his death, assembled in the Vatican a meeting of the Sacred Congregation 4>i Rites to decide concerning the heroic virtue of the Venerable Joan. On January 6, 1904, Pius X. presided over a solemn assembly of the Congregation of Rites for the' first time since his election, - and the occasion was^the reading of the Decree pronouncing that the Maid of Orleans had practised virtue in the heroic degree. Then came the examination of the three miracles alleged to have been wrought through her intercession. On November 24 the miracles were approved. On Sunday, December 13, 1908, the decree Tuto was promulgated. That meant that there was no doubt .with regard to l Joan of Arc's heroic virtues, which Lad been confirmed by * miracles, and there was no longer any obstacle to her .beatification. Replying to an eloquent address delivered by the. Bishop of Orleans, Monsignor Touchet, th« Pope ' said : — ' And to speak of her who is best known to alLof you, the Maid of Orleans — in her own humble village, as amid the ..licentiousness of the soldiery, she kept' herself pure as the angels ; brave as a lion amid* the press of battle, and always pitiful towards the miserable and unhappy. Simple as a cliild in the stillness of the fields and in „ the tumult of war, she is ever recollected in God, and burning -"with love for the Virgin and me Most Holy Eucharist — aIL this you have well said, venerable brother.j' " .Called by the f Lord to defend her country she answered her vocation for an undertaking which everybody, and . she herself , deemed impossible ; but what is impossible for men. is always possible with the help of God. Le^ us not exaggerate, then, the difficulties, of doing what . faith commands us to^ do, what duty entails upon us, or the exercise of the fruit^ ful apostolate of example which the Lord expects from every one 'of us.'

The Story of Her Life.

The story of Joan of Arc (says. a writer in the Boston Pilot), while stranger than fiction, rests on the basis of historical truth, "as will be seen in this brief sketch of her divine mission to save Orleans and to secure the coronation of King Charles VII., at Rheims. Never was the national independence of France in greater peril than at the time when Joan of Arc made her appearance. During the previous few centuries there had existed a fierce rivalry between the Kings of England and the Kings of France. This rivalry had at one time issued in favor of France on the battlefield of Bou vines, wlien Philip 11. (Auguste) defeated the English, Flemish, and German troops; and at another time it had issued in victory for England on the "memorable fields of Crecy and of Poitiers. But in the year 1415, four years after the birth f . of Joan o| Arc, the power of France was shattered, and her greatness brought down to the dust by the armies of Henry V. of England on the plains of Agincourt. The blood shed by France on that disastrous October day was drawn from the veins of the noblest . of her sons. The historian Green tells us that eleven- thousand Frenchmen lay dead on the field. Among the . slain were numbered one hundred princes, and among the prisoners taken were the Dukes of Orleans and of Bourhon, the Count of- Vendome, and the Constable and the Admiral of France. ,At the time when the arms of England won this battle, France was suffering from calamities sufficient to paralyze the strength and effect the ruin of any nation, no matter. how noble and how powerful. The French throne was then occupied by Charles VI. and by his Queen, Isabella of Bavaria. In his youth Charles had displayed all the courage and talent for military -pursuits then so indispensable to the King of a- martial people. Having, however, while still in the Vigor of manhood, suffered from a sunstroke, he became /so impaired in mind that ever afterwards he. was subject' to fits of derangement. Under this gloomy, shade the noxious weeds of courtly plots and party combinations soon obtained an expansive and baleful growth. And unfortu--nately to those 'plots and combinations the- ambitious Queen lent her ear. ■ At first the two great rivals for the - exercise of kingly patronage, and power were the Duke of Orleans' and' the Duke of Burgxindy. Their Tespeotive pretensions and interests were zealously supported and defended by- bands of armed partisans. And when, an assassin's dagger 'had taken .the Duke of Orleans out of the way, there sprang

tl *?nH medi ® isely ttn °ther party— the Armagnacs— fired with BtUl fiercer zeal to dispute with the Burgundians for ascendancy.-, > _ ' And thus it happened that in one of the most critical periods of her history France found her throne occupied by an imbecile King,, and the entire country ravaged by civil strife. Taking advantage of this deplorable condition of France, Henry V. of England, who had just been crowned, lost no time in laying claim to the French crown, m virtue of an obscure title which came to him from Edward 111. He soon invaded the French, shore with ten thousand men, crossed the Somme, and fought and won the battle of Agincourt 'upon St. Crispin's Day.'

Subjection to England.

Following up this victory, King Henry, in 1420, compelled the French King and "his Parliament to sign a treaty in. the town of Troyes, w.hich acknowledged Henry V. of England as" Regent of France, and declared the illegitimacy of the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VII. But fortunately the crown of France never encircled the brow of Henry. Within two years h-e was seized by an incurable disease, and died. When dying, Henry directed that his brother, the Duke of Bedford, should be the Regent <f France. But the vast majority of the French peopie proclaimed Charles' disinherited son as their sovereign, under the title of King Charles VII. The unhappy country, being thus divided into two hostile camps, was soon enwrapped in the flames of war. For five years the country endured all the horrors of this internecine conflict. Towns were taken and retaken"; castles and strongholds captured and recaptured. At length the English determined on striking a decisive blov. The river Loire was the line of demarcation between the two parties. To cross that river and. seize the city of Orleans was the plan of the English commander, Lord Salisbury.- On October 12, 1428, this general, at the head of an enormous army, having already reduced several cf the towns that lay in tße route of his march, laid siege to the important towri of on the right bank of the Loire. Within this city at" the time, and occupying the defences around it, were all the forces which the French King could muster to his standard; on the fortunes, then, of Orleans were staked all his hopes. The siege lasted for seven dreadful months. At length, notwithstanding the prodigies of valor performed by its defenders, the French King felt constrained to sue for terms. If the cwty is- to be surrendered, better to see it, he thought, in the hands of a Frenchman, though an enemy, than to deliver it up to the English. °

The Intervention of the Maid.

Precisely at this juncture, it was, when all hopes had vanished from the cause of the French King, that at the Chateau dv Milieu, outside the town of Chinon, thirty miles from Tours, was seen the strange presence' of a young, girl, clad in male attire, her Hack hair falling in thick clusters on her shoulders. A presence so extraordinary, in such a place and at such a time, startled every beholder. . This was the renowned Joan of Arc. In the company of an escort of seven men, one of whom was her brother, she had journeyed on horseback more than three hundred miles, and she is riow in the Grand Logis of tliia beautiful Chateau, seeking an audience of the Dauphin (King Charles VII.) that he may hear the high message which she feels herself commissioned to deliver.

Let us for a moment take a glimpse of this maiden before she left the humble and rural homestead of her family. The waters of^the Moselle in their upper course flow tranquilly between tWo chains of hills and knolls forming a Valley of great beauty. On the right bank of this river lies the rich province of Lorraine, and from the left bank, stretching away in gentle folds, are seen the fertile plains of the champagne country. It is on the sunny eminences, and in the sheltered valleys of this district that the luxuriant vineyards are cultivated which yield the costly wine. This beautiful valley is covered with the richest verdure; such is the profusion of wild flowers coloring -its weadows, such the variety of tint of its blossoming shrubs when they are in bloom, that the chief town of the district takes- its name from the very loveliness of those colors. Vancouleurs, as the town is called, comes from the Latin words Vallis Color urn, or Valley of Colors. We are now in the Valley of the Meuse. Ten or twelve miles from Vancouleurs we come to the little station of Domremy— Maxey-sur-Meuse, and now the goal of our, journey is all but reached. From the station a walk of half an hour brings us to the actual village of Domremy-la-Pucelle, a humble and unpretending little place, hidden far away from the bustling world, in the midst of a grove of poplars But insignificant as the village, is, it still holds that indescribable * atmosphere ' which fervent spirits seem to leave behind them in the places' where they dwelt. Here, on January 6, 1412, Joan of Arc was born.

Her parents were simple, hard-working country -folk 1 heir family consisted of three sons and two daughters. Joan being the elder .of the two. In the accounts given or her youth, nothing is mentioned to distinguish our heroine much from the other peasant girls who -were her companions. - * - She was;of a gentle and retiring nature. " She was very industrious; the distaff was constantly in her hand yet she often joined with a merry heart in the rustic sports or her young neighbors. Her figure was slender: graceful, and comely. Her father's little farm lay adjoining the village church and the graveyard around it. Joan was often observed to steal -away from her playmates fco enter this little church, and' would be found on lier kneos berore a favorite statue of the Blessed Virgin.

Her Religious

Fervor.

And as it was. then (and is still) the pious custom of the villagers to say their evening prayers in the church, Joan was sure to be there when the^ Angelus . bell tolled Indeed, such was her punctuality in attending that if' the beadle happened to be late or absent, she, it. is related used to ring the bell. She also was adcustomed to visit every Saturday a , little _ solitary chapel which lay in a sequestered nook a few miles from Domremy, and which was called the Hermitage of the Virgin. There- she used to bring garlands of flowers and hang them up before tho statue or Our Lady. It was while leading a life such as I have pictured— a lite so simple, so' artless, and so tranquil; and while pursuing such homely employments as herding the little flock of her father, and spinning for hours at the side" of her mother, that Joan felt herself called to take up arms for France. Already, indeed, she had witnessed a littlo of the sufferings and of the horrors of the war that was then desolating her fair country; and this little impressed her mind deeply and painfully. As the people of the Duchy -of Lorraine had espoused the cause of the Duke of Burgundy/: a zealous adherent of the English party, they crossed the- Moselle on one occasion, and attacking the— inhabitants of Domremy, who sided with the Armagnacs — the national party — they set fire to many of the houses. of the village. This scene of fratricidal fury, together with the harrowing accounts of similar scenes throughout, the kingdom, must, no doubt have wrung her soul with anguish. ' It was in the year 1425, when she was only thirteen years of age, that Joan heard for the iirst time a voice from above calling her to her strange mission. ■ This happened on a beautiful summer's day; just as the midday Angelas bell was ringing, while she was in her father's garden. A bright and pleasing light -shone at the same time about the place, causing her great fear and alarm. This voice was addressed to her three different times before she' knew it was the voice of the Archangel Michael. This heavenly spirit, she said, appeared to her soon after in person,- in the company of a shining trqop of angels. In reference to this vision, Joan, when" on her trial, made before her judges the most emphatic and positive assertions — ' I saw them,' she said, 'with the eyes. , of my body; as" distinctly and as certain as I see you now; arid when they went aVay, I wept, for I longed to be taken away with them." These visions became more frequent as the fortunes of the French grew more desperate and hopeless.- Then they took place three times a week ; and her constant and "most familiar visitants were St. Catherine and St. Margaret. To these, her patron saints, was given the charge to instruct her in the things which Heaven intended lo accomplish by her for the safety of France. She was commanded to hasten with all I . speed to the aid of-- the French King, as it was through her hands, and through her hands alone, that his enemies would be driven* from the walls of Orleans, and that his own brow would be crowned with the crown of St. .Loviis.

But how was she — a simple peasant gfcrl, dressed* «n her coarse red petticoat, and with no one to protect lier — to make a .journey of three hundred miles across' a -difficult and dangerous country. These difficulties- and "all- others lying in her way, would be overcome, she was told'v when she. presented liersolf to the chief military commandant in Vancouleurs. Forthwith she set off for the house •of her uncle, who lived near this town.

Her Proposal to Free Her Country.

She soon prevailed on him to accompany her to the Sire de Baudricourt, then acting as ' captain of the town for the Dauphin. When the girl told Baudricourt that she was commissioned to go in all haste to raise the siege of Orleans and to conduct the Dauphin to Bheims to be crowned, the soldier, in the rough style of men ■of his calling, laughed to scorn the words of- the peasant ■ girl. This rebuff was borne with great meekness. Baudricourt advised her uncle to send her back to her father. She returned home and resumed her accustomed occupations.

ln_ the meantime, what had occurred in Vancouleurs was noised abroad; and so enraged- was her father by the reports which reached him, that he threatened to drown her in the Moselle. Nevertheless, such was the force of the voices which kept ringing in her soul, that, finding, no rest, she quitted her father's home for ever, and returned to her uncle. Again she sought the Dauphin's representative, anl though again repulsed she said she would depart no more. There happened to be two officers present at this interview, and so struck were they by her appearance and by her words, that they declared themselves ready to make with her the journey' to OrleansT This created such a feeling of enthusiasm in her favor jthat her .departure was assented to by the commandant.

At once a horse was brought to her, men's clothes were procured, and an escort for the journey was equipped. And now, on the eve of her departure,- there flashed across the mind of Joan a -vivid and terrible picture of the enterprise on which she was entering. So appalled was she by this picture, that she uttered these prophetic words: ' Oh, that I might remain always by my mother's side 1 t would rather be torn asunder than to engage in this undertaking of my own accord. But I must go.' After a -weary journey Joan, and her companions arrived at Chinon, and, after much deliberation on the part of the royal councillors, she was admitted into the Chateau. She was ushered into the Grand Logis, or reception hall, lighted up with one hundred torches, and crowded with some hundreds of courtiers and mailed knights,- among whom the Dauphin, without any mark of his dignity, had taken care to mix himself, .and to pass unnoticed.

(To be concluded.)