New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-04-18
IA SAINTF PUCELLE.

To-day will witness an episode in the history
Of JOAN daughter of Jacques dare Of Dom
remy which will be by no means the least
noteworthy of all which have made her story
extraordinary. To-day, amid all the solemnities
and magnifcenCe which are possible in such
a ceremonial at st. Peters, the Church OF Rome
will complete the long process Of her beatinca-
ton and enroll her among those worthy of
final canonization II is within three years OF
five centuries since she born; it is just
$50 years this month since she bore victory
into Orleans and won the title by which she
Is best known, the Maid of Orleans; it is AS
years since under the condemnation of pref
ate of the very Church which now acclaims
her as q saint, she was burned to death a
creature of the devil; and 1t is more than four
and half centuries since the better judgment
Of that Chnrch's head reversed the finding
which had condemned her, and declared that
she had died q martyr. Yet it was not until
our own time, just third of a century ago.
that her beatifcation was suggested, by
Bishop Dupanloup, Of Orleans, and it was not
until twelve years ago that the Pope approved
the prosecution OF inquiries which were TO
determine her fitness for that rite. In June,
1895 the first inquiry was completed, and it
was declared that she had never been an object
of public worship. In 1904 the second inquiry
established the fact that she had practised the
cardinal and divine virtues on an heroic scale.
Finally, IN November, 1905 the third inquiry
was ended, and it was solemnly proclaimed
that miracles had been wrought in her name or
through her intercession.
'St. Joan of Arc" may seem a trife strange
to our nomenclature but there will be in it no
incongruity Of thought The speedy disaster
and destruction which overlook those respon-
sibIe for her death were matched by the
promptness and completeness with which her
good fame was indicated and her name was
held in universal honor-most of all. perhaps,
in the literature and among the people of the
very country against whose army she had
warred and by whose unworthy agents she
had been made a sacrifice. For many genera
tons she has been regarded as approximatng
the miraculous and supernatural perhaps more
closely than any other human being for a thou
sand years Reason and science falter at try
ing to account for her marvellous career In
SEPARATION of a rare and exceptionally effective
character she indisputably possessed. and with
1t the no less unusual faculty Of imparting that
inspiration 10 or impressing it upon others, even
those Of the most antipathetic type If a GER
tain line OF or less eminent critics In
France itself, beginning with Voltaire and In
Guiding in our own time Anatole France have
striren TO depreciate her greatness and te at
tribute her achievements 10 circumstances
rather than 10 inspiration. that is because of
their general attitude of nil GdmirarI and their
unwillingness TO concede the existence of such
things as inspiration and genius in anvhody
There are those who would deny genius 10 a
Raphael. a Shakespeare. a Beethoven. a New
ton. But with them IL would be idle to argue
the case OF Joan of Arc
Inc ceremonies Of today Will be generally