EIGHTH and NINTH PRIVATE EXAMINATION

The following Saturday, March 17th

Present: Jean Delafontaine, Commissary, assisted by Nicolas Midi, and Gerard Feuillet, in the presence of Ysambard de la Pierre and of Jean Massieu.

The said Jeanne was required to take the oath already made by her. Afterwards, she was again interrogated:

“In what form, kind, size, and dress did Saint Michael come to you?”

“In the form of a true honest man [‘prud homme’ ]; of his dress and the rest I will say nothing more. As to the Angels, I saw them with my eyes; you will hear naught else about it. I believe the deeds and words of Saint Michael, who appeared to me, as firmly as I believe that Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered Death and Passion for us. And that which makes me believe it, is the good counsel, comfort, and good doctrine which he has given me.”

“Will you, in respect of all your words and deeds, whether good or bad, submit yourself to the decision of our Holy Mother the Church?”

“The Church! I love it, and would wish to maintain it with all my power, for our Christian Faith; it is not I who should be prevented from going to Church and hearing Mass! As to the good deeds I have done and my coming to the King, I must wait on the King of Heaven, who sent me to Charles, King of France, son of Charles, who was King of France. You will see that the French will soon gain a great victory, that God will send such great doings that nearly all the Kingdom of France will be shaken by them. I say it, so that, when it shall come to pass, it may be remembered that I said it.”

“When will this happen?”

“I wait on Our Lord.”

“Will you refer yourself to the decision of the Church?”

“I refer myself to God Who sent me, to Our Lady, and to all the Saints in Paradise. And in my opinion it is all one, God and the Church; and one should make no difficulty about it. Why do you make a difficulty?”

“There is a Church Triumphant in which are God and the Saints, the Angels, and the Souls of the Saved. There is another Church, the Church Militant, in which are the Pope, the Vicar of God on earth, the Cardinals, Prelates of the Church, the Clergy and all good Christians and Catholics: this Church, regularly assembled, cannot err, being ruled by the Holy Spirit. Will you refer yourself to this Church which we have thus just defined to you?”

“I came to the King of France from God, from the Blessed Virgin Mary, from all the Saints of Paradise, and the Church Victorious above, and by their command. To this Church I submit all my good deeds, all that I have done or will do. As to saying whether I will submit myself to the Church Militant, I will now answer no more.”

“What do you say on the subject of the female attire which is offered to you that you may go to Mass?”

“I will not take it yet, until it shall please Our Lord. And if it should happen that I should be brought to judgment, [and that I have to divest myself in Court.]1I beseech the lords of the Church to do me the grace to allow me a woman’s smock and a hood for my head; I would rather die than revoke what God has made me do; and I believe firmly that God will not allow it to come to pass that I should be brought so low that I may not soon have succor from Him, and by miracle.”

“As you say that you bear a man’s dress by the command of God, why do you ask for a woman’s smock at the point of death?”

“It will be enough for me if it be long.”

“Did your Godmother who saw the fairies pass as a wise woman?”

“She was held and considered a good and honest woman, neither divineress nor sorceress.”

“You said you would take a woman’s dress, so that you might be free: would this please God?”

“If I had leave to go in woman’s dress, I should soon put myself back in man’s dress and do what God has commanded me: I have already told you so. For nothing in the world will I swear not to arm myself and put on a man’s dress; I must obey the orders of Our Lord.”

“What age and what dress had Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret?”

“You have had such answers as you will have from me, and none others shall you have: I have told you what I know of it for certain.”

“Before today, did you believe fairies were evil spirits?”

“I know nothing about it.”

“Do you know if Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret hate the English?”

“They love what God loves: they hate what God hates.”

“Does God hate the English?”

“Of the love or hate God may have for the English, or of what He will do for their souls, I know nothing; but I know quite well that they will be put out of France, except those who shall die there, and that God will send victory to the French against the English.”

“Was God for the English when they were prospering in France?”

“I do not know if God hated the French; but I believe that He wished them to be defeated for their sins, if they were in sin.”

“What warrant and what help do you expect to have from Our Lord for wearing this man’s dress?”

“For this dress and for other things that I have done, I wish no other recompense than the salvation of my soul.”

“What arms did you offer at Saint Denis?”

“My whole suit of white armor [‘album harnesium suum;’ Gallice, ‘un blanc harnoys,’] as becomes a soldier, with a sword I had won before Paris.”

“Why did you make this offering?”

“In devotion, and as is the custom of soldiers when they have been wounded. Having been wounded before Paris, I offered them at Saint Denis, because that is the war-cry of France.”

“Did you do it that these arms might be worshipped?”

“No.”

“What was the purpose of these five crosses which were on the sword that you found at Saint Catherine of Fierbois ?”

“I know nothing about it.”

“Who prompted you to have painted on your standard Angels with arms, feet, legs, and clothing?”

“I have already answered you.”

“Did you have them painted as they came to see you?”

“No, I had them painted in the way they are painted in the Churches.”

“Did you ever see them in the manner they are painted?”

” I will tell you nothing more.”

“Why did you not have painted the brightness that comes to you with the Angels and the Voices?”

“It was not commanded me.”

NINTH PRIVATE EXAMINATION

The same day, March 17th, afternoon.

Present: The Bishop and the Deputy Inquisitor, assisted by Jean Beaupère, Jacques de Touraine, Nicolas Midi, Pierre Maurice, Gerard Feuillet, Thomas de Courcelles, Jean Delafontaine; in presence of Brother Ysambard de la Pierre and John Grey.

We interrogated the said Jeanne, as follows:

“Did the two Angels painted on your standard represent Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel?”

“They were there only for the honor of Our Lord, Who was painted on the standard. I only had these two Angels represented to honor Our Lord, Who was there represented holding the world.”

“Were the two Angels represented on your standard those who guard the world? Why were there not more of them, seeing that you had been commanded by God to take this standard?”

“The standard was commanded by Our Lord, by the Voices of Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, which said to me : ‘Take the standard in the name of the King of Heaven’; and because they had said to me ‘Take the standard in the name of the King of Heaven,’ I had this figure of God and of two Angels done; I did all by their command.”

“Did you ask them if, by virtue of this standard, you would gain battles wherever you might find yourself, and be always victorious ?”

“They told me to take it boldly, and that God would help me.”

“Which gave most help, you to your standard, or your standard to you ?”

“The victory either to my standard or myself, it was all from Our Lord.”

“The hope of being victorious, was it founded on your standard or on yourself?”

“It was founded on Our Lord and nowhere else.”

“If any one but you had borne this standard, would he have been as fortunate as you in bearing it?”

“I know nothing about it: I wait on Our Lord.”

“If one of the people of your party had sent you his standard to carry, would you have had as much confidence in it as in that which had been sent to you by God? Even the standard of your King, if it had been sent to you, would you have had as much confidence in it as in your own?”

“I bore most willingly that which had been ordained for me by Our Lord; and, meanwhile, in all I waited upon Our Lord.”

“For what purpose was the sign you put on your letters and these words: ‘Jhesus Maria’?”

“The clerks who wrote my letters put it; some told me that it was suitable for me to put these two words: ‘Jhesus Maria’.”

“Was it never revealed to you that if you lost your virginity, you would lose your happiness, and that your Voices would come to you no more?”

“That has never been revealed to me.”2

“If you were married, do you think your Voices would come?”

“I do not know; I wait on Our Lord.”

“Do you think, and do you firmly believe, that your King did right in killing, or causing to be killed, my Lord the Duke of Burgundy?”

“It was a great injury to the Kingdom of France; and, whatever there may have been between them, God sent me to the help of the King of France.”

“As you have declared to my lord of Beauvais that you will reply to him and his Commissioners as you would before our most holy Lord the Pope, and as there are many questions which you will not answer, would you reply before the Pope more fully than before us?”

“I have answered you all the truth that I know; and if I know anything which comes to my memory that I have left unsaid, I will tell it willingly.”

“Does it not seem to you that you are bound to reply more fully to our Lord the Pope, the Vicar of God, on all that might be asked you touching the Faith and the matter of your conscience, than you should to us?”

“Very well; let me be taken before him, and I will answer before him all I ought to answer.”

“Of what material was one of your rings, on which was written ‘Jhesus Maria’?”

“I do not exactly know; if it were of gold, it was not fine gold; I do not know if it were of gold or of brass; there were three crosses on it, and no other mark that I know of, except ‘Jhesus Maria.’ “

“Why was it that you generally looked at this ring when you were going into battle?”

“For pleasure, and in honor of my father and mother; I had that ring in my hand and on my finger, when I touched Saint Catherine as she appeared to me.”

“What part of Saint Catherine ?”

“You will have no more about it.”

“Did you ever kiss or embrace Saint Catherine or Saint Margaret?”

“I have embraced them both.”

“Did they smell good?”

“It is well to know, they smelled good.”

“In embracing them, did you feel any heat or any thing else?”

“”I could not have embraced them without feeling and touching them.”

“What part did you kiss – face or feet?”

“It is more proper and respectful to kiss their feet.”

“Did you not give them crowns?”

“In their honor, I often put crowns on their images in the Churches. As to those who appeared to me, I never gave any to them that I can remember.”

“When you placed crowns of flowers on the tree of which you spoke before, did you put them in honor of those who appeared to you?”

“No.”

“When these Saints came to you, did you do them no reverence? did you bend the knee before them? did you bow?”

“Yes: and, so far as I could do them reverence, I did; I know it is they who are in the Kingdom of Paradise.”

“Do you know nothing of those who came in the air with the fairies?”

“I have never done or known anything about them; but I have heard of them, and that they came on Thursdays; but I do not believe it; I think it is sorcery.”

“Did not they wave your standard round the head of your King when he was consecrated at Reims?”

“No, not that I know of.”

“Why was it taken to the Church of Reims for the consecration more than those of other captains?”

“It had shared in the pain, it was only right it should share in the honor.”

Footnotes

  1. (In the Minute.)
  2. (In the Minute: "et toute voyes de lout; je m'en attendaye a Notre Seigneur.")