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diff --git a/45479-0.txt b/45479-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..087f8f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/45479-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,928 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45479 *** + +THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC THE WITCH--SAINT + +By M. M. Mangasarian + +Lecturer Of The Independent Religious Society + +From "The Rationalist," October, 1913 + + +[Illustration: 0003] + + +PAST NUMBERS OF THE RATIONALIST. + +No. 1. St. Francis, the Second Christ. + +No. 2. Marcus Aurelius. + +No. 3. Ships that Sink in the Night; or, God and the Titanic. + +No. 4. What has Christ Done for the World? + +No. 5. Lyman Abbott on Immortality. + +No 6. Voltaire in Hades. + +No. 7. The Gospel of Sport--What Shall I Do to Be Saved? Play! + +No. 8. A Poet's Philosophy of Happiness--Omar Khayyam. + +No. 9. A Rationalist in Home. (A Lecture in Three Parts.) Part 1 + +No. 10. A Rationalist in Rome. (A Lecture in Three Parts.) Part 2 + +No. 11. A Rationalist in Rome. (A Lecture in Three Parts,) Part 3 + +No. 12. Jew and Christian According to Shakespeare. + +No. 13 and 14. Christian Science and Common Sense. + +No. 15. A Message From Abroad. + +No. 16. The First Modern Man. + +No. 17. The Monk and The Woman in The Garden of Allah. + +No. 18. The High Cost of Living and the Higher Cost of Superstition + +No. 19. The Debate between Three Clergymen and a Rationalist. + +No. 20. Rationalism and Crime. + +No. 21. Women and Crime. + +No. 22. Was Jesus a Socialist? + +No. 23. The Catholic Church and the Socialist Party. + +No. 24. What is the Trouble with the World? + +The above 24 lectures will be sent to any address upon receipt of $2 + + +Volume 2 + +No. 1. Who Made the Gods? + +No. 2. Marriage and Divorce, According to Rationalism. + +No. 3. The American Girl. + +No. 4. The Catholic Church in Politics. + +No. 5. Christian and Turk. + +No. 6. The Gospel According to Bernard Shaw. + +No. 7 and 8. Morality Without God. + +No. 9. A Letter to My Flock. + +No. 10. A Missionary's Convert. + +No. 11. The Ex-Priest in Paris. + +The Rationalist + +Is published by the Independent Religious Society semi-monthly. Each +number is to consist of a lecture by M. M. Mangasarian. Price of +subscription, per annum, $2.00. Orders should be sent to +The Independent Religious Society, 922 Lakeside Place, Chicago + + + + +JOAN OF ARC + +This lecture on Joan of Arc, delivered some time ago, provoked a great +deal of criticism in Chicago. The people who protested against it and +wanted to punish its author were, naturally enough, the Roman Catholics. +What interests me in Joan of Arc is not the fact that the story of her +martyrdom and subsequent canonization could be used as a weapon +against the Church of Rome, but because the story in itself is so very +compelling. It is quite true that the story also illustrates how far +from infallible the Catholic Church has been in its dealings with the +Maid of Orleans--first, burning her at the stake as a witch, and, five +hundred years later, beatifying her as a saint. The statement in my +lecture which caused the greatest displeasure was to the effect that the +same church which had burnt Joan of Arc as a witch in fourteen hundred +thirty-one had sainted her in nineteen hundred and nine. The Catholics +deny that they were at all responsible for the terrible death of +the deliverer of France. This lecture will throw some light on that +question. + +As related in a former lecture, it was at her shrine, in the Church of +the Sacred Heart, in Paris, last summer, that I promised myself the +task of presenting to the American people the truth about Joan of Arc. +I shall speak very plainly in this lecture, but, I am sure, without +any trace of bitterness in my heart toward anyone. I shall speak with +feeling, of course, for it is impossible not to be moved to the depths +by the events which brought a girl of nineteen to the stake--but my +passion is free from anger or prejudice. I can weep for this young woman +without gnashing my teeth on her fanatical persecutors. I am sure I can +tell the truth without lying about the Catholic Church. + +But I do not wish to be sentimental, either. I have not forgiven the +unrepentant destroyers of the innocent. To convert a heretic into +a saint by trying to prove that she was not a heretic at all is not +repentance; it is sophistry. To deny that Joan suffered death at the +hands of, and by the authority of, the Vicar of Christ on earth is not +a sign of regret for the past, but a defiance of history. When +the Catholics shall admit that, through ignorance, and urged on by +circumstances they could not control, they committed the act which they +have since atoned for by offering her a heavenly crown--when, I say, the +Catholics shall shed over her body tears as genuine as those which black +Othello shed over the woman he had smothered--then we will forgive them. + +But the Catholic Church will have to choose between securing our +forgiveness and retaining her infallibility. If she should repent of a +single act ever committed by her officially, she would lose her claim +to infallibility--for how can the infallible err? If, on the other hand, +she should hold to her infallibility, how can she be sorry for anything +she has ever done? If I had any influence with the Catholics I would +advise them to sacrifice infallibility for the respect of humanity. +It is much more divine to say, "I am sorry," than to say, "I am +infallible." But the Catholic Church will not take my advice. + +The shrine of Joan in the Paris church is almost as eloquent as her +stake in Rouen. I have seen them both--that is to say, I have seen the +spot on which she was consumed, marked by a white slab; and I have seen +the marble figure of Joan, as a girl, in the attitude of prayer, now +in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Paris. As I stood at her shrine in +this great white church it seemed to me that, even though Joan of Arc +has, at last been made a saint, there was still a prejudice against her +on the part of the people, as well as of the priests. This is only an +impression, and I hope I am mistaken. But let me present the evidence +on which I base my misgivings: In the first place, Joan is not given +the preference in the shrine set apart for her. St. Michael, whoever he +might be, occupies the whole front of the altar, and only on the windows +and the side walls do we find any mention of Joan and the events of her +heroic career. There is also, at one end of the enclosure, as intimated +before, a small marble figure of Joan on her knees. Why does St. Michael +usurp the place of honor over the altar? Who is he? What has he done for +France? In the second place, there was not a single lighted candle at +her shrine. St. Mary's altar, a little distance off, was ablaze. St. +Joseph's, too, was honored by lighted candles. But no one was on her +knees and no flame twinkled before the sainted Joan of Arc. They say +that it is almost impossible to outlive the charge of heresy. In former +times, quite frequently, even heretics who repented of their heresies +were put to death, nevertheless. To have ever been accused, even, or +suspected of heresy, is an unpardonable crime. Joan was suspected, at +least, of rebellion against Rome, and it seemed to me, as I reflected +upon what I observed in the church, that the Catholics had canonized +this village maid reluctantly, and only under pressure, and after five +hundred years of dillydallying. + +But before I left the Church of the Sacred Heart there was a lighted +candle upon her altar. I lighted it. Approaching one of the candle +tables, of which there are half a dozen in the building, I purchased a +long, tapering candle, white as the lily, and I touched it with fire--I +kindled it and set it in one of the sockets to burn before the kneeling +Joan. I left my flaming candle in the Church of the Sacred Heart! I, +a non-Catholic, offered my fire to Joan, not because she had been +canonized--for I never wait for the consent or the approval of the Pope +before paying homage to anybody--but because her sweet, sad story is one +of the most moving of modern times, and her vindication one of the most +stupendous conquests of modern thought. + +The Church of the Sacred Heart is one of the most beautiful in Paris. It +is built on the highest point in the city and commands a wonderful +view. As I have told you before, I have two friends who dwell on this +summit--really, a superb location. It is approached by a long flight of +stairs, or by a cog-wheel train. Before it, and all around it, sweeps +the Paris of to-day, as did the Paris of Clovis and Charlemagne, nearly +fifteen hundred years ago; the Paris of Julian, Emperor of Rome, older +still; the Catholic Paris, when kings and parlements bowed low to kiss +the great toe of the Italian Christ, or his vicar; the Paris of the +Medici--red and bloody; the Paris of the Huguenots, of Henry of Navarre, +of Conde and Colligny--sad, desolate, and in the throes of a new faith; +and the Paris of the philosophers, whose smile softened its barbarities, +lit up its darkness, and made it a city of light--_La ville Lumiere!_ +There, on that splendid elevation, live my two young friends. They are +both at the age of nineteen. One of them a lad, the other a maid. The +girl is housed; the boy is exposed. Joan of Arc lives in the church--the +cathedral is her home. The Chevalier de La Barre stands on the edge of +the hill, with sun and shower falling upon his head. The Catholic Church +burnt them both at the stake--the boy and the girl; the one because +he did not tip his hat to the priest at a street procession, the other +because she believed in herself! But modern thought has vindicated +both of these outcasts. Joan now dwells in a white church, perfumed and +lighted; and the Chevalier crowns the brow of the hill with his youthful +figure and appealing gesture. The chain which tied these children to the +stake in a dark age has flowered! Is not that wonderful? I believe in +the forces, the ideas, the movement--the thought that can cause a chain +to flower! + +I am not going to speak this morning of the Chevalier de La Barre, to +commemorate whose memory the nationalists of France have erected this +monument, close to the Church of the Sacred Heart. He will be my theme +on another occasion. In this lecture I shall confine myself to the story +of Joan of Arc. And a strange story it is! A young girl of seventeen +marches at the head of a dilapidated and demoralized army, and leads it +on to victory against the best fighters of the world, the English, who, +in the fifteenth century, were trying to annex France to England; she +is captured by traitors, sold to the enemy for ten thousand pounds; and +then she is handed over to the church to be tried for heresy. She is +tried, convicted, and sentenced to be burned alive. This sentence, the +most revolting on record, is carried out in all its literalness, and in +broad daylight, and under the shadow of the Christian cross, and at +the very doors of a great cathedral. All this transpired in the city of +Rouen, on the thirtieth day of May, fourteen hundred thirty-one. + +In order that I may enter into the spirit of the thrilling events of +which Rouen was the stage, I repaired to that city, and reverently +visited the scenes of the trial and the martyrdom of this latest saint +of the Catholic world. Words cannot convey to you the emotions which, +like a storm, burst upon me suddenly as the conductor on my train called +out, "Rouen!" It was then about a half hour to midnight, and, jumping +into a carriage, I was quickly driven to my hotel. What thoughts, and +how they crowded in upon me, as soon as I laid my head upon my pillow. +My brain was too active to permit of sleep. I imagined I was living in +_the year fourteen hundred thirty-one_, and that I had just reached this +city on the eve of the martyrdom of Joan. "To-morrow," I whispered +to myself, "Joan of Arc will be led to the stake." Again and again I +repeated to my pillow this shuddering intelligence. "What," I exclaimed +to myself, "a young woman who saved France by her courage is going to +be committed to the flames in this very city _tomorrow!_" I could not +believe it possible. I could not believe that there was folly enough, +or hatred enough, or stupidity enough, in the world for so desperate a +deed. But, alas, it was true. With my eyes closed, I fancied I saw +the throngs marching through the streets--consisting of peasants, of +merchants, of priests, of princes--to see a girl of nineteen burned in +the fire, and in all that throng there was not one who had either a kind +word or thought for her--her who had given them a country to live in. +Abandoned, hated and spat upon, she was left to suffer the cruelest +punishment that human _inhumanity_ could devise, or the most perverse +imagination invent. A girl of nineteen burned alive! "Oh, God!" The +words escaped my lips in spite of me. Then I turned about and called +upon _Humanity_. But in the fifteenth century God and Humanity were both +hard of hearing. Then I called upon _Science_ and _Reason_. But these +were not yet born. "There is no help then," I whispered to myself, and +my heart swelled within me with indignation, and I became desperate, +realizing my helplessness. + +With my head upon my pillow during that first night I spent in Rouen, +I tried to penetrate into the motives for the persecution of Joan. This +brave girl was feared because she was superior to her age. She provoked +the jealousy of her inferiors. Her independence and originality alarmed +both the Church and the State. Her ability to take the initiative, and +her courage to disagree with her spiritual teachers was a menace to the +authority of the priest with the keys, and the king with the sword. The +English would not admit that a mere girl, a Domremy peasant, tending +her father's cows, could have the genius to whip them--the most powerful +warriors of Europe. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, would not +forgive Joan for distinguishing herself without their help. For a woman +to eclipse the Holy Church and humiliate a powerful State, was a crime +punishable by death. + +In less than two years' time Joan had saved France, after the prayers of +the Church and the armies of the nation had failed ignominiously. In the +opinion of the world of that day there was only one power, the devil's, +that could outwit the Church. It was not denied that Joan had driven +the victorious armies of the enemy out of France, and made a conquered +people free again; but it was argued that she had achieved this triumph, +not by the help of God, but by the instrumentality of the devil. In +those days, anything, however praiseworthy, if accomplished without the +permission and cooperation of the Church, was the work of the devil. +Joan had consulted her own heart, instead of the village confessor. +That was her heresy. Joan had seen visions and heard voices on her +own account. That is the independence which, if encouraged, or even +recognized, would overthrow the Catholic Church. No one is allowed to +receive revelations at first hand. Even God is not permitted to speak +except through his vicar on earth. In short, Joan was a _protestant_, +inasmuch as she not only had direct relations with heaven, but she +refused to allow the Church to be the judge as to whether her voices +were from God or from Satan. During all the agony of her long trial, +every effort was made to induce her to allow the Church to be the judge +of the nature of her visions. Joan refused the test. There was no doubt +about her heresy. She believed herself capable of judging. That was her +unpardonable sin. + +Still imagining myself in Rouen, in the year fourteen hundred +thirty-one, I said to myself, "I must arise early in the morning and go +to the old market place to catch a glimpse of the wonderful woman when +she leaves the tower for the stake." As the picture of what I would see +on the following day arose before my closed eyes, I trembled. "I will +not let them burn her," I cried passionately. But, alas, what could one +man do against king, pope, and the mob! And I tossed in my bed like one +in a cage who is conscious of his helplessness against iron bars. + +Suddenly, a thought struck me, as the lightning strikes a tree. "This +is fourteen hundred thirty-one," I repeated to myself. "I must get up at +once and repair to the palace of the Bishop of Beauvais, the priest who +holds in the hollow of his hand the fate of the bravest maid in history. +If I could only have a half hour with him," I said, "to pour into his +ears my protest, my pleadings, my scorn, my prayers; or, if I could tell +him of the time when Joan will have a shrine in a Catholic Church!--he +might relent and hearken unto reason?" With these thoughts in my mind +I jumped out of my bed, I lit the candle, I put on my clothes. Then, in +haste, I walked out into the night, seeking my way in the streets of the +strange city now deserted. By the help of the moon and the stars of +that night in May, _fourteen hundred thirty-one_, I traced my way to the +imposing Cathedral of St. Ouen, standing like a towering shadow in +the cold light of the night, and close to which lived the Bishop of +Beauvais. + +I knocked upon the Bishop's door. "Open, open," I cried, as in the dead +of night I kept pounding upon the door. "I wish to come in," I cried. "I +wish to save the Church from an indelible stain, I wish to protect the +honor of humanity." "Open, open," I cried, again and again, and in the +stillness of the night the noise of my blows reached far and wide. +Louder and louder still I cried to the Bishop to open the door. "I wish +to rescue France and England from committing an act of infamy; I wish +to save history from an unspeakable shame. Let me in, Bishop! I come +to protect you against the execration of posterity, against eternal +damnation! Open, open the door!" I shouted. I kept pounding upon the +door, long and loud, on the eve of that foul day in fourteen hundred +thirty-one. I grew impatient with waiting for the door to open, and my +voice, which a moment before swept up and down the whole gamut of hope +and despair--pleading, shouting, sobbing--now became faint and feeble. + +I could not arouse the Bishop. He was fast asleep. Then I was silent +myself. Suddenly I heard a far away whisper. It did not come from the +Episcopal palace, nor from the Cathedral close by, yet I was sure +I heard some one speaking. I listened again. I could now hear more +clearly. "I am coming, I am coming," was repeated in caressing accents. +"I am coming, to open the door, to awaken the Bishop, to usher in a more +joyous day for humanity. I will extinguish the fires of persecution, +turn executioners into teachers, disarm superstition, and make the whole +world sane. In that day Joan will triumph over her foes and make their +churches her mausoleum." It was the voice of Reason! But it took five +hundred years for that faint whisper to swell into a mighty chorus, +swinging around the globe. That prophecy has been fulfilled, the +Bishop's door opened, and the Church yielded to the clamor of +civilization, and changed Joan's stake into the shrine where I lit my +candle in her honor, in the Church of the Sacred Heart. She is no longer +a heretic, she has become a saint. Her tears have changed into pearls, +her tomb into a cathedral, where she sleeps in pomp on the bosom that +once stung her to death. + +But I was not in Rouen in fourteen hundred thirty-one; I was there five +hundred years too late. The day after I arrived in the city, I went to +the market place, but, instead of a procession with candles and torches, +with stakes and fagots, I found commerce, industry, labor, in full +possession of the great square. Prosperous looking men and women met +and greeted one another pleasantly; farmers were selling fruit and +vegetables; the women, flowers. Even the priests one came across smiled +as they saw the happy countenances of the people. What a change! Common +sense has sweetened human nature and flooded the mind with the light +that destroys superstition and makes all men brothers. The guide pointed +out to me the white marble slab marking the spot on which Joan of Arc +met her death. "Upon this place stood the stake of Joan of Arc. The +ashes of the glorious virgin were thrown into the Seine." This is the +inscription on the slab which was placed there by the municipality in +eighteen hundred ninety-one. + +Close to this same spot the citizens of Rouen have erected a fountain, +in the form of a monument, to the same heroic maiden. I stood and +watched the playful waters as they fell with a liquid plash into the +marble basin below. Presently, a woman came along with her pitcher. The +stake at which Joan of Arc was burned to death has become a fountain, +to which the people now come to slake their thirst. Walking up to the +woman, I said, "What fountain is this?" + +"Ah, monsieur," she exclaimed, "behold the fountain of Joan of Arc." + +"But she was a heretic," I remarked. I can never forget her smile. The +sun had arisen in her eyes. "We live in the twentieth century," she +replied. And, unconsciously, we both heaved a sigh of relief. I +rubbed my eyes to be sure we were not living in the middle ages, when +Rationalism was still a babe in swaddling clothes, and Theology was +lord of all. This is the twentieth century--for we are drinking at the +fountain of Joan of Arc instead of carrying fagots to her stake! One +of the sunniest spots in my memory will be my meeting with this peasant +woman, with her pitcher, at the fountain of Joan of Arc. + +But my object in this lecture is to help clear some obscure questions in +connection with the trial, martyrdom and subsequent canonization of this +girl of nineteen. I wish to bring about a more intelligent appreciation +of the story of a young shepherdess, beginning from the day she left her +home in Domremy, to the fiery scaffold; and thence to a place among the +saints in the Catholic calendar. This is the only instance in Catholic +history of a person once destroyed as a heretic who has afterwards +received the highest honors within the gift of the Church. In fourteen +hundred thirty-one an infallible body of ecclesiastics pronounced this +young woman to be "a child of perdition, a sorceress, a seducer, a +harlot and a heretic." Five hundred years after, another infallible +body of ecclesiastics belonging to the same church pronounced the same +"harlot" and "heretic" to be "angelic" and "divine." One infallible +pope allowed her to be burned in fourteen hundred thirty-one; another +infallible pope denounced her murderers as detestable criminals--which +shows how fallible is infallibility. + +A great many untruths are being circulated to help clear this +contradiction. The clergy are proclaiming from the housetops that it was +not the church that tried and condemned Joan of Arc to torture and death +in fourteen hundred thirty-one; on the contrary, it was the church, they +say, which has just vindicated her memory and beatified her with superb +ceremonies. History, however, gives a different version of the affair. +Before proceeding to describe the trial and condemnation of Joan of Arc, +let me state the attitude of the Rationalist toward Joan of Arc's claims +to inspiration. We can do justice to a woman of her description without +believing in miraculous predictions. Joan of Arc claimed to have seen +visions and to have heard voices, which assured her of her divine +mission. She was thirteen years of age, according to her testimony, when +she felt her first thrill. The visions were repeated. One day, at about +noon, in the summer time, and while working on her father's farm, close +to the whispering trees, she saw a radiance out of which came a voice +which she fancied was the voice of an angel or of a saint. It was not at +all strange that she should hear voices. All her education had prepared +her for them. She had been told how others had seen angels and heard +voices. The literature of the Church was full of the miraculous in those +days. It was the ambition of every believer to receive visits from the +other world, and to be told secrets. Joan, the little Domremy girl, +shared these ambitions. In her case the wish was father to the vision. +She heard the voices and saw the faces which her heart coveted. How do +we explain her "voices" and her "visions"? The question is a very simple +one, unless we have a leaning for theology. The voices that Joan heard +were those that came from her own heart. It was her own dreams she saw +in the sunlight. + +The young woman had mused over the acts of brigandage of the invading +army and their French allies; she had seen the smoke of the burning +villages and had heard the wail of her peasant neighbors. The distress +of her people had often melted her into tears and wrung many a sigh from +her lips. She imagined the whole country summoning her to the rescue. +So earnest was she that her thoughts assumed form and shape, and became +vocal. Thus, out of the substance of her own soul she fashioned the +visions which she beheld. She felt herself set apart to be the saviour +of France. The brilliance of that thought darkened every other object in +life--home, parents, money, marriage! + +To those who will not be satisfied with this explanation, I beg to say +that if the voices were really supernatural, then they should be held +responsible for the cruel death to which they led or drove the young +woman. Why did her voices, if they were divine, desert her when she +needed their help most? Why did they not save her from prison and the +stake? And which of us would like to be guided to the chambers of the +inquisition, and the flames of the stake by "heavenly voices"? Moreover, +if these voices came from God, why did they not speak to the English +king, or to the Roman pope, in behalf of Joan, when she called on them +for help? Why did they not assume the responsibility for the acts for +which she was destroyed? Voices and visions which induce a young girl to +go to the help of a perishing country only to use her victories for the +benefit of a depraved and imbecile prince like Charles VII, and desert +the young woman herself to be "done" to death! Defend us against them! + +Returning to the question of the responsibility of the Catholic Church +for the fate of Joan, there are these points to be touched upon. Being +a matter of history that on the last day of May, fourteen hundred +thirty-one, this young woman was publicly burned in the City of Rouen, +in the square of the cathedral, the question arises: Who put her to +death? Another important question is: Why was she put to death? And when +we have answered these questions we will be in a position to discuss the +much more important question of: Why Joan of Arc was recently translated +into a saint by the pope. + +Twenty-five years after the burning of Joan, when the city of Rouen was +restored to the French king, and the English were finally driven across +the Channel, it was decided to review the evidence upon which the Maid +had been convicted and put to death. This was done; and with the result +that she was acquitted of all the charges of heresy, insubordination to +the Church, adultery, witchcraft, etc. What do you think was the motive +of this revision? The French king had begun to realize the disgrace to +which he had been exposed by the condemnation of the Maid as a witch. +Being exceedingly pious--piety and crime were united in him as in many +others of that day--he was tormented by the thought that the young woman +who had assisted him in his war against the English, and had been the +means of securing for him the crown of France, and had also officiated +at his coronation in the cathedral of Rheims, was condemned as an agent +of satan by the Church; which, if true, it would make him not only the +target for the ridicule and derision of the whole Christian world, but, +also, an illicit king of the French, who might refuse their allegiance +to him because he was made king by a witch and not by an apostle of +God. It is no wonder that a superstitious man like Charles VII, in a +superstitious age, trembled, not only for his crown, but, also, for +his life. Therefore, in order to make his succession legitimate it was +necessary to prove that Joan was not a witch, but a true messenger of +God. For if Joan was a witch, Charles VII was not king "by the grace of +God," but by a trick of the devil. In self-defense the king of France +was not only compelled to reopen the case against Joan, now that he was +free from English dictation, but he also indicated in advance to the +ecclesiastics the conclusion they would have to arrive at. The +king could not have allowed, and he would not have allowed, the +ecclesiastical council, convened at his request, to arrive at any other +verdict than the one which would prove to France and Christendom that +he was made king at Rheims, not by a witch who was excommunicated by the +Church and flung into the fire, but by a real and inspired apostle of +God. + +Of course, it is a matter of history that it was by the help of Joan +that Charles VII became King of France. + +As already intimated, at the coronation ceremony Joan was not only +present, but she assisted the Archbishop when the latter placed the +crown upon the king's head. The inauguration was practically the work +of Joan. It was the fulfillment of a prediction she had repeatedly made, +that she would conquer the English and crown the French king in the City +of Rheims. If she was a witch the coronation was invalid. The ceremony +of the anointing of a king is one of the most solemn in the Catholic +Church. The condemnation of Joan as a witch had not only stripped this +ceremony of its sacredness, but it had also made it null and void, nay, +more, a blasphemy. How could a king, anointed by the help of a witch, +be the king of a Christian nation? To appreciate this argument we +must remember how bigoted the people were in the Middle Ages. In +self-defense, therefore, Charles VII was compelled to prove to the +French, and to the whole world, that the woman to whom he owed his +elevation to the throne was not a heretic. + +Let us recapitulate. The King of France ordered the Church to make out a +new certificate for Joan. The Church obeyed the French king, even as the +same Church twenty-five years earlier had obeyed the King of England and +condemned Joan to death. When the English were masters of France, the +Catholic Church pleased them by delivering up the conqueror of England +to be burned alive; when the English were driven out of the country and +the French were again in control this sentence was reversed and Joan was +proven to have been a dutiful child of the Church. Thus it will be seen +that the Church swung with the English when the English ruled the land, +and she swung with the French when the French had driven the English +out of the country. The Church was with England at one time, and she was +with France at another--but never with Joan. I am milder in my criticism +than the facts warrant. I am making strenuous efforts to speak with +immoderation of an "infallible institution." + +But why was it to the interest of the English to have Joan declared a +witch? Their motives were as personal as those of the French king. The +English felt humiliated to think that a mere woman had whipped them, +and therefore they were determined to prove that she was more than a +woman--an agent of the devil. There was no secret about this. Their +motive was very plain. It was to their interest to show that Joan was +the personification of satan, and that consequently the English should +not be blamed for running away from her presence, because who could +withstand the devil? The English army did not go down before a girl, but +before a sorceress. Even as the King of France did not wish it said that +he owed his victory over the English to a witch, or that he was made +king by an apostate, the English did not wish it said that they were +conquered by a saint, for that would make God the enemy of the English. +One king wanted Joan damned, and the Church accommodated him by damning +her; another wanted Joan beatified, and the Church beatified her. + +It is admitted that the English could not have burned Joan as a witch +without the consent of the Church. They could have burned her as a +prisoner, but that would not have answered their purpose--she must be +declared a witch in order to vindicate the amour propre of the English +people. It is the exclusive prerogative of the Church to decide +questions of orthodoxy or heresy. No king has the right to admit or +exclude any one from the communion of the Church. Whether or not Joan +was a witch was a theological question and could only be decided by the +ecclesiastical court. Neither could the King of France declare Joan of +Arc innocent of heresy without the consent of the Church. It follows +then that the principal actor in the trial, the condemnation and +the death of the young woman under the English, and her subsequent +vindication and beatification, was the Church of Rome, since without its +consent the English could not have made a heretic of her, nor the French +a saviour and a saint. A secular government may declare who shall be its +military heroes, or who shall be court-martialed and disgraced, but only +the Church enjoys the right to damn or to canonize. This point is so +clinching that even the most zealous papist must admit that at one time, +when all Europe was Catholic--England as much so as France--and the pope +was as supreme in one country as in the other, a girl of nineteen, who +had rendered heroic services to her oppressed country, could not +have been declared a heretic and cast into the fire at the door of +a cathedral, in the presence of bishops, priests, a cardinal and a +representative of the holy Inquisition, without the knowledge and +consent of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. + +An attempt has been made to throw the entire blame of the proceedings +against Joan of Arc upon the English. There is no doubt about the +anxiety of the English to punish the Maid who had robbed them of the +spoils of their victory over the French and brought dishonor upon their +arms. But a mere military punishment, as already intimated, would +not have been sufficient to satisfy the English--she had to be +excommunicated from Christendom as one possessed of the devil. That was +the only way to save the English of the disgrace of having been beaten +by a woman, and the records show that the Church, instead of reluctantly +carrying out the wishes of the English, was more than pleased to +bring Joan to the stake. Letters were written from the office of the +Inquisition to the English king, complaining against his lukewarmness +in the matter of prosecuting the young woman. The Catholic University +of Paris, also, sent a special communication to King Henry of England +to remind him of his duty to help the Church to put down heresy. The +English were urged to hand Joan over to the bishop and the Inquisition, +that the ecclesiastics might proceed with her trial without delay. And +when finally Joan faced her judges, forty in number, every one of them +was an ecclesiastic, and out of the forty, thirty-eight were Frenchmen. + +Moreover, the Archbishop of Rheims, who was also Chancellor of France, +wrote a letter which is still in existence, in which he congratulated +the French upon the capture of Joan of Arc, whom he denounces as a +heretic--"a proud and rebellious child who refuses to submit to the +Church." Being the superior of the Bishop of Beauvais, who was in charge +of the trial, the Archbishop could have stopped the prosecution if +he had the least sympathy or pity for the Maid. But to try to save +a heretic would be the worst kind of heresy. That explains the utter +desertion of Joan by all France--people, priest and king. + +In this connection a comparison should be made between the zeal of +the clergy to bring Joan to trial for heresy and the slowness and +indifference with which the Church proceeded to obey the summons of +the King of France twenty-five years after to reinstate her into the +fellowship of Catholic Christendom. The records show that it required +considerable urging and manoeuvring on the part of the French government +to bring about a revision of the ecclesiastical sentence against the +Maid. As long as Nicholas V was pope nothing was accomplished. The case +was reopened under Pope Calixtus. Not until it was realized that further +delay in the matter would greatly irritate, not only the French king, +but also the populace, now freed from English dominion and seeking to +live down the evil reputation of having harbored an apostate in their +midst, did Rome stir itself in the matter. It will be seen that it was +not the pope nor the Church that took the initiative in behalf of Joan +of Arc. The Church only yielded to the pressure from the State, that had +now become powerful. Had the English remained in control of France the +Maid of Orleans would never have been remembered by the Catholic Church, +much less restored to honor and immortality. + +"We do not deny," answer the defenders of the Church, "that _some_ +bishops and even cardinals persecuted Joan of Arc to death. But is +it just to hold the whole Church responsible for the crime of an +insignificant minority?" This is the main defense of the Catholics +against the arguments of the Rationalists and the facts of history. Be +it noted that I am not trying to abuse the Catholics; I am only sorry +that they should be unwilling, even at this date, to say, "We are +sorry." To commit mistakes is human. But why should the Church move +heaven and earth to prove that it has never committed a mistake? The +attempt is also made to prove that the ecclesiastics who are responsible +for the death of Joan were wicked men and have been repudiated by the +Church. To this is added the further defense that it was the gold of the +English which corrupted these priests. But such a defense, I regret to +say, does not reflect credit upon the intelligence or the honor of the +Church of Rome. In this day of general information it is impossible for +anyone to wrap up the facts of history in a napkin, as it were, and put +them away where no one may have access to them. The judges of Joan +were all ordained ministers of the Church. The presiding priest was +a bishop--the bishop of Beauvais. He was assisted by a cardinal, a +vice-president of the Inquisition, and a number of other ecclesiastics +who were connected with the University of Paris. Is it reasonable to +suppose that the Inquisition and the Catholic University of Paris, and +all the clergy of England and France represented only a discredited +section of the Church? + +It is the pride of the Catholics that their church has never been +divided or schismatic, and that it has been one and indivisible "always +and everywhere." How is this claim to be reconciled with the excuse that +a considerable portion of the Catholic Church in the fifteenth century +openly ignored the authority of the pope and did as they pleased without +incurring the displeasure of the Hierarchy for their insubordination? +Furthermore, if only a part of the church persecuted the young woman, +what did the rest of the church do to save her? We would like the names +of the priests who interceded in her behalf. It does not give me a bit +of pleasure to prove the Catholic Church responsible for this as for +many other burnings at the stake, but it gives me pleasure to be able to +show that any institution claiming infallibility, to defend that +claim must persecute. And why do I take pleasure in proving this to be +inevitable? It might open the eyes of the religious world to the danger +of supernaturalism. If the Christians no longer burn people they do not +like, it is not because their Bibles have been altered, but because they +no longer believe in them as they used to. It is good news to report +that supernaturalism is waning, for it means the progress of science and +sanity. + +There is still another point to be touched upon: When all Europe +heard of the fate that had befallen a girl of nineteen through the +machinations, let us say, of a few naughty Catholic priests--what +did Rome do to these same priests who had so disgraced their "holy" +profession, as well as brought lasting shame upon civilization? Is not +this a pertinent question? Joan's trial lasted for four months. Not only +France and England, but all Christendom was interested in the outcome. +During all this time not only was there not a word of protest from Rome, +but what is more significant, shortly after the trial and condemnation +of Joan, the pope rewarded her accusers and persucutors with +ecclesiastical promotion. Again, I must hasten to explain that I am +not interested in embarrassing the Catholics; my point is to strike at +_dogma_--which turns hearts into stone, and makes of the intellect a +juggler's instrument. Joan was sacrificed, nay,--the honor of France, of +Europe, of civilization, of humanity--was flung into the fire with Joan, +to save--what? Dogma! + +Not only did the church fail to punish a single one of the forty +ecclesiastics who tried Joan, not to mention hundreds of others who +cooperated with them to bring about her destruction, but, as intended, +gifts were conferred upon the principal actors in this awful drama. +Roussel, one of the ecclesiastics who figured prominently in the +proceedings, was given the archepiscopacy of the city of Rouen--the very +city in which a girl not yet twenty, and who had served France on the +battlefield, and brought victory to her flag, was beaten and burnt to +death. Pasquier, an ordinary priest when he was serving as one of the +judges, was made a bishop after the execution of Joan. Two others, +Gilles and Le Fevre, were also advanced to upper ranks in the church. +Thomas Courcelles, one of the most merciless judges of Joan--who voted +in favor of subjecting the prisoner to physical torture to compel her +to admit she was a witch--this priest with the unenviable reputation was +also promoted to a lucrative post in the famous church of Notre Dame, in +Paris. Finally, the man who engineered the trial, who presided over +the sessions, and to whom Joan said, "You are the cause of my +misfortunes"--the Bishop of Beauvais, the man whom all Catholics justly +execrate today--even he was rewarded by the "Holy Father"; he was given +the episcopal seat of Lisieux. Does it look as though the crime against +Joan were the work of a discredited minority in the Catholic Church? I +repeat, it was dogma, it was revelation, it was infallibility, it +was supernaturalism, and not this or that priest--that should be held +guilty. + +To meet these arguments the Catholic apologists call attention to the +fact that the church "has a horror of blood," and that it has never +put anyone to death for any cause whatever. But this is true only in +a Pickwickian sense. It is like the head saying to the hands, "I have +never committed the least violence against anyone." The hands, it is +evident, commit the acts, but whose hands are they? The hands only +obey the head, and for the head to blame the hands for carrying out its +orders, realizing its thoughts and wishes, would not even be amusing, +much less convincing. It is the judge, or the court, that takes the +life of the culprit, for instance, and not the executioner. The Catholic +Church demands the death of the heretic. Is this denied? Read Thomas +Aquinas, the most honored saint and theologian of Catholicism; read the +decrees of the general councils of the church and the encyclicals of +St. Peter's successors, and a thousand, thousand proofs will be found +in them to substantiate the statement. It is the Bible that commands the +death of the heretic. No church founded on the Bible can afford to be +tolerant. The theory of Christianity as well as of Mohammedanism is that +the sword which the king carries has been blessed and put in his hands +that he may put down the heretics. The civil authorities then, in +bringing Joan of Arc to the fire were carrying out the instructions of +the forty ecclesiastical judges who condemned her to death. Had these +judges found her innocent, the state could not have destroyed her life; +it was the will of the priestly court that she should die, and the +secular authorities fulfilled its wish. + +But was Joan a heretic? Strenuous efforts are made to show that she was +not. This point is a vital one. The church, in self-defense, is bound to +produce arguments to prove that Joan of Arc was an orthodox, obedient, +and submissive child of the church. If she was not orthodox, then the +church has sainted a heretic in the person of Joan of Arc. One of the +questions they asked her at the trial was whether she would be willing +to submit the question of her "visions" to the church; that is to say, +would she consent to the findings of an ecclesiastical court concerning +herself and her mission? To this the answer was that she held herself +responsible only to God. This was considered a rebellious answer, and it +was--from the church's point of view. According to Catholic theology +the church is divided into two branches,--the church militant, which +is composed of the pope, the priests and their flock; and the church +triumphant, which is presided over by God and the saints in glory. Joan +said she was prepared to submit to the church triumphant--the church +on high, that is to say, to God, but to nobody else. This also was a +heresy. Her clerical judges insisted that to be a good Catholic she +must bow to the will of the church on earth--the pope and his +representatives. Her heresy then was both real and serious. She appealed +from the pope to God. She placed her own conscience above the authority +of the church. She believed in private judgment, the exercise of which +is forbidden by the church. In refusing to let the pope act as the +middleman between God and herself she was threatening the very existence +of the papacy. There is then no doubt that both by her independent +conduct and by her original answers Joan attacked the very fundamentals +of Catholicism. It follows, then, that the pope a few years ago made a +saint out of a heretic. + +Although Joan was an uncultivated girl, able neither to read nor write, +she was gifted with good common sense. She saw at a glance that if she +were to submit to the church she would thereby be casting doubts upon +the genuineness of her "visions." She preferred to go to the stake +rather than do that. She was really between two fires: the priests +threatened her body; God in her conscience threatened her soul. She +decided to obey the voice within. The decision cost her her life. + +Some of the questions put to her and the answers which Joan made are +really remarkable. They show the craft of her judges, on the one hand, +and the courage and common sense of the victim, on the other. + +"Will you not submit to our holy father, the Pope?" they asked her. +"Bring me before the Pope, and I will answer," she replied. In other +words, they were trying to have her admit that she had no right to think +for herself or to exercise any independence at all. But she was too +serious and earnest a person to subscribe to any such doctrine. She had +never understood that to be a Catholic meant to be a bondswoman. "Take +care," she said, turning her fiery glance upon her inquisitors, "take +care that you do not put yourselves in the place of God." By such an +answer, the young woman, still in her teens, had shot the Catholic +Church in the heart. + +The nature of the charges against Joan as formulated by her judges also +goes to prove that she was considered a heretic and condemned to death +for that offense. The eleventh charge against her reads: "She has adored +her saints without taking clerical advice." Charge twelfth reads: "She +refuses to submit her conduct and revelation to the church." When asked +if she would obey the church, her reply was, "God first being served." +Luther said no more than that--and the Catholic church was split in +two. Everything goes to show that the Domremy peasant girl was a private +thinker, that is to say, a heretic. Listen to this: "I will believe that +our Holy Father, the pope of Rome and the bishops and other churchmen +are for the guarding of the Christian faith and the punishment of +heretics, _but as for me and my facts, I will only submit to the church +of heaven_." To be sure that is insubordination; it is placing herself +not only on an equality with the pope, but even above him. Of course, +Joan was not a Rationalist--far from it--but she was an independent +Catholic--that is to say--not subject to the church--and that is heresy. +Is it any wonder that her sentence read: "Therefore we pronounce you +a rotten limb, and as such to be lopped off from the church." And the +reason this sentence gave satisfaction to the Catholics all over +the world was because such initiative and self-respect as Joan had +manifested, if tolerated, would bring about the collapse of the +infallible authority of the church. The University of Paris wrote to the +pope, to the king of England and the bishops, lauding the priests who +had purged the church of this dangerous girl with her "I think so," or +"I believe so,"--with the emphasis on the "I." In this same letter the +Bishop of Beauvais, the evil genius of Joan, to whom she said, when she +saw the stake awaiting her, "Bishop, I die through you!" is commended +for "his great gravity and holy way of proceeding, which ought to be +most satisfactory to all." + +It took five hundred years for the Catholic Church to discover that the +young woman burnt as a heretic was really a saint. But the church did +not make this discovery until modern thought, benign and brave, had +taken the outcast girl under its protection. The French nation had +already made a national heroine of her, when the Vatican decided +to enroll her name among the hallowed ones in its calendar. The +beatification of Joan was brought about ostensibly by the report that +certain sufferers from cancer, and other incurable maladies, had been +completely cured by praying to Joan of Arc for help. The Maid had become +a miracle worker, and hence worthy to receive a medal, as it were, from +the pope. Joan is now a new income as well as a saint. + +Joan owes her Vindication to the Rationalists of France. The man in +recent years whose books, position and influence did more than anything +else to bring about a new attitude toward Joan of Arc, was Marcelin +Berthelot, who now sleeps in the Pantheon as one of the glories of +his country. A few years ago, I received an invitation to visit him at +Bellevue near Paris. To give you an idea of the great man who did so +much to rejuvenate Europe and throw its whole weight on the side of +justice to the Martyr--woman of France. I shall reproduce in this +connection what I said about him after my interview with him: + +"Who are the Rationalists?" is one of the questions frequently asked. +Well, they are the intellectual leaders of the world, as what I learned +about Berthelot clearly shows. He was the man upon whom two European +sovereigns had conferred the highest decorations in their power for +services rendered to human progress,--whom his own countrymen had +honored by making him a senator for life; who twice had been appointed +minister of foreign affairs; who had been elected an honorary member +of all the scientific associations of the world; upon whom the Royal +Scientific Society of London has bestowed its most coveted honors; who +is the perpetual secretary of the Academy of Science of Paris; a member +of the Academy Française, and, therefore, one of the immortals; and +whose volumes, inventions, discoveries and contributions have placed +modern civilization under inexpressible obligations to him. With all +these dignities and titles, richly deserved, M. Berthelot is as gracious +in his manners, as unassuming, as childlike and modest, as one could +desire. He displays all the charms of the real man of worth--the man of +genius. + +Though in his seventy-sixth year, the sage and diplomat still possessed +the vigor of a man of fifty, pursuing his studies and interesting +himself in the politics of his time, with the ardor and fervor of youth. +The accumulation of his years and his indefatigable labors had by no +means impaired the faculties of his mind, being still regarded by his +countrymen as one of the most fertile brains and sanest intellects of +modern Europe. + +Two years previously all France, one might say, had met in Paris to +celebrate at the Sorbonne the completion of Berthelot's fifty years of +intellectual labor. It was on this occasion that the foreign potentates +sent their delegates and decorations to him. Every civilized country +was represented at the festivities by its foremost men of letters +and diplomats, while all the senators of France, the president of the +republic, the members of his cabinet, and all the heads of the colleges +were assembled to applaud the _master_ whose half a century of study and +service had so greatly augmented the horizon of man and increased the +light of the world. + +When this distinguished scientist was admitted into the French Academy, +Jules Lemaitre, in his address of welcome, declared that Berthelot was +the real creator of the modern industrial era, which had multiplied the +resources of man a hundredfold. He called Berthelot the discoverer of +modern chemistry, which has in so short a time transformed the face of +the earth, and which holds the secret of the solution of the social and +economic problems of the day. "'Chemistry" declares Berthelot, "'is a +new gospel, which brings tidings of great power to mankind.'" "It +will put an end to the cruel struggle of classes, and make of warlike +politics, now one of the scourges of nations, a lost art. It will do +this by placing within the reach of all an inexhaustible wealth of food +and raiment, thereby curing man forever of the disease of discontent." + +"There are only two things worth living for," said M. Berthelot, in an +address at the Palais de Trocadero before six thousand Frenchmen--"the +love of truth and the love of one's fellows." + +That _love of truth_ opened for Joan the doors of the Catholic Church, +shut against her five hundred years ago and it opened to Berthelot the +doors of the Pantheon--the Temple of the Immortals! + +A final word. I have as much compassion and sympathy for the Catholics +as I have for the martyred girl--indeed more, since they need more. Joan +has been vindicated by the broader and more benign thought of this! age. +The same serene and sweet power will transform the Catholic Church +and make it one of the most progressive forces of our America. I have +delivered this lecture to hasten that lovely day! + +[Illustration: 0042] + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Joan of Arc, by M. M. Mangasarian + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45479 *** |