Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-03-03
The Maid of orleans.

At daybreak, on the 3Oth day of
of May, 1431, priest entered the cell
of a young woman at Rouen, and an
nounced that he come to prepare her
for death. Not that the prisoner was
ill-she was young, healthy, and in
| full possession of her faculties; the
death she was to suffer was a violent
one-she was to be burned alive =
Burned alive at one-and-twenty =
What could the poor wretch have
done? She had shivered the power
of the English in France; she had, by
means of an enthusiasm which rem
dered her obnoxious to the clergy,
reused the French nation from the
torpOr into which it had been thrown
by the stunning blows dealt to il. by
Henry V. of England, and she had
dared to thwart thepurpOses and brave
the anger of vindictiYe Churchmen
like the Bishop of Beauvais, and the
Bishop of Winchester, Cardinal
Beaufort. The prisoners name was
Jeanne Dare, or as she has been more
commonly, but enormously, called,
Jean of Arc. The priests announce
ment took the poor maiden entirely
by surprise. A week before she had
been led out into a public place in
Rouen, and compelled in a moment
of weakness, when surrounded by
enemies-not one kindly face among
the crowd-and under circumstances
of great excitement, to sign a dOcu-
ment disavowing and solemnly abju-
ring certain charges of heresy which
were preferred against her; and she
had been told on that occasion that
her life would now be spared, though
she must resign herself to a sentence
of perpetual Imprisonment. The ex-
cuse for breaking faith with the poor
girl was this: that since her abjura-
ton she had said that st. Catherine
and st, Margaret, with whom she
asserted she was frequently in direct
communion, had appeared to her, and
rebuked her for her weakness in yield
ing to the threats of violence. On
first hearing the announcements the
priest, Jeanne's firmness gave way :;
she wept and gave vent to piteous
cries, tore her hair, and appealed to
"the great Judge" against the cruel
wrongs done to her; but by degrees
her possession returned, and she list
ened to the ministratiOns of the priest
received the last sacrament from him,
and announced herself ready to sub
NIT to the will of God. At 8 o'clock
in the morning she was carried away
in the hangman's cart to the market
place of Rouen, where had been al
ready laid the funeral pyre on which
the young victim was to be sacrificed.
The Bishop of Beauvais, Cardinal
Beaufor, and several other prelates,
with the English military command
ers, were there, and a vast crowd had
come out to see 1.-THE Maid of Orleans"
die. In the center of the market
place, about the spot where now stands
a fountain surmOunted by figure of
Jeanne Dare, the stake was reared,
and around it were piled the faggots.
Soldiers guarded the place of execu-
ton. The ceremonial of death was
began on that beautiful May morning
by sermon in which the crime of
heresy was vehemently denounced,
then the sentence pronounced by the
shepherds of the flock upon the eve
lamb before them was published, and
the signal was given to proclaim the
last act of the tragedy. A soldiers
staff was broken and formed into a
rough cross, which "the Maid" clasp
ed to her breast. She was then bound
to the stake, the faggots were lighted,
the fire leaped up around her, and af-
ter suffering the agony indispensable
to death by burning, her spirit return
ed to God who gave it. The English
Cardinal watched the whole proceed
ings with unmOved face, and when
his victims life was beyond his reach
he ordered her ashes and bones to be
gathered up and to be cast into the
Seine.-[Cassells' ''New Popular Edu-
cator.n