Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1909-05-27

Beatlficatton o. Joan Of Arc : Rare
Spectacle.


lowing description Of that great
event will be Of interest;
Greatest Of medieval heroines, the
fame Of Joan Of Arc has been brought
down to the present and assured TO
the future by her recent beatifica-
ton.
The ceremony by which 1t was
celebrated a few weeks ago is to be
made the subject of number OF
great paintings, some of which will
be spread on canvas, others to be
put on the walls of churches Of Eu-
rope, where the worship Of the Maid
or Orleans will get stimulus from
the placing Of the peasant girl in
the calendar of saints.
Noted painters were present during
the services conducted by Cardinals
Rampolia and Martinelli in the pres
ence Of $4,000 pilgrims from France
and thousands more from other coun-
tries.
Their sketches and photographs
which were made at the time will
form the basis of art works which
will tell the future Of st. Peters
richly decorated and brilliantly IL
Illuminated, Of pilgrims, worshipers
and onlookers drawn by the cere-
mony with Its gorgeous and elaborate
ritual, perhaps the only one that
those present will ever have an op-
portunity to see.
It will also tell Of the pope COM
ing in the afternoon to bless the
relics and kneeling in the temple OF
the sacrament, before which the rel
les were placed, surrounded by the
seventy preIates Of the church who
attended him, and afterwards bless
ing the kneeling congregation.
It took 1000 soldiers to handle
the enormous crowd in the square,
and the changing Of every bell in the
churches of Rome, Of which there
are hundreds, was the music which
stirred the city with the knowledge
Of the great event consummated.
It was the Middle Ages brought
down to the present time, this cur
ious ceremony that seemed SO much
out Of a place with twentieth century
methods, and yet which was SO beau
tiful and impressive that the English
delegates present, descendants Of
those who burned Joan at the stake
in 1881, were just as profoundly Inn
pressed as their neighbors from
France.
And from Rome the pilgrims Jour-
neyed to Orleans whore, on May 8,
for the last $50 years, the memory
Of Joan has been invoked in a great
celebration.
Yearly since Joan forced the Eng
lish to lift the siege Of Orleans, the
dwellers In that town have 30 spon-
taneously perpetuated the ceremony
of her entry into the cathedral Inn
proyised by the common soldiers,
bourgeois, artisans and people of that
period.
1t was on May 7, 1929, that the
Maid attained the summit Of her
glory, for then 1t was that she carried
the Tourelles fort by assault, and
swept into it,with her banner and her
men-at-arms. The ancient st.
Croix basillca to which her thansgiv-
ing professions moved is now the
Cathedral. In leyeling a trolley line
the foundations of the Tourelles fort
were recently discovered. A little
behind them, in tiny square, visitt
ors are shown a cross. 1t indicates
the center Of the English redoubt.
Many relics were taken from Or
leans to Rome at the occasion of the
Qualification. There were plenty to
be found, for the famed Maid was
accounted supernatural at the time
Of the performance OF her great deeds
and everything connected with her
was esteemed 30 precious that much
has been preserved. Hundreds Of
cannon balls that were used In the
conflict are in the Agnes sorel house
devoted to relics Of Joan. The house
in which she dwelt in Orleans has
been spared by the passing Of time.
Everything connected with the
memory Of Joan has been almost a
matter for reverence for centuries.
Joan of Arc, pray for usl"
In these words the peasant Of
France has often invoked the mem
ory Of the warrior maid. He can do
50 right now. since the action Of the
Church of Rome, on April 1s, but
prior to that time before Joan had
become a saint, the act was not in
accord with religious propriety, but
It does show the depth of reverence
IN which she Is held in the country
she saved.