The Irish standard., 1901-08-17

as the flames began to ascend, she be-
came alarmed for their safety and inn
plored them to go down, only entreat-
ing them to hold the cross before her
eyes. Until the last she declared that
her voices came from God and had not
deceived her; that her revelations came
to her from God; and that everything
she had done she done by the COM
mand Of God"
And so, whatever may have been the
text and purport of the words dragged
from her that morning in the prison
(words which were the cost paid by
her for the joy Of receiving the body
Of her Lord it is clear from positive
evidence that at the last hour trans
ported by the efficacy of the holy sac
rament and by the approach of her
martyrdom, wherein faith taught her
to see her triumph, at this last hour
she became herself again; she saw the
heavens open and she indicated her
voices; mo, my voice did not deceive
me-" At the first CLEAN of the burn
ing faggots the martyr understood.
''The salvation promised to her by
the voices was the paradise which was
opening to her ravished gaze. The
ignoble death was the conservation of
her mission. Following in the foot
steps Of her divine Savior she tri-
umphed in death.
''In the midst Of the flames she new
er once ceased confessing in loud
voice the holy name of Jesus, contin-
ually, imploring and invoking the help
of the saints in paradise; and finally
as she breathed her last and bowed
her head, she uttered the name Of
Jesus in so loud tone that this last
cry was heard at the further end of
the square,"
AS soon as she had expired the Eng
fish caused the fire to be scattered
so as to dispense the smoke and allow
everyone to see that she was actually
dead and had not been permitted to
escape. Immediately after the exc
cution, the eXecutioner came to the
two monks who had ministered to her,
overcome by marvellous repentance
and terrible remorse, fearing in his
despair that he would never be able
to obtain pardon and mercy from God
for what he had done to this holy
woman.
-Four hours after nones he still
maintained that he had never dreaded
| any execution so much, firstly, be-
cause of the great renown and fame of
this woman, and secondly, because of
the cruel way of binding and exposing
her. For the English had had so lofty
a scaffold constructed that he could
not easily reach her or dispatch her,
on which account he grieved sorely and
was full of pity for the cruel manner
in which they made her de-" In like
manner Jean Tressart, secretary to
the king of England, displayed great
sorrow and deep emotion on returning
from the execution. eve are lost"
he groaned, 1--WE have burned a saint
One of the English soldiers had
taken an oath to add faggot to the
pile. He carried out his intention, but,
on hearing Joan of Arc cry Jesus"
he became dumfounded, tainted away
and was carried to a taven close to
the Old Market to be revived An
other declared that when Joan expired
he had seen dove fly from the stake
And so it came to pass that hard
hearts of some of her enemies were
moved to little pity at the sight Of
her martyrdom. The crime was, new
ertheless, carried out to the bitter end
Joan's ashes, with her heart and
entrails (Which, according to the state
ment of the executioner, had not been
consumed) were thrown into the Seine
along with the remains of the stake.