THE SEVENTY ARTICLES Wednesday, March 28, 1431 ARTICLE 51 Jeanne had not feared to proclaim that Saint Michael, the Archangel of God, did come to her with a great multitude of Angels in the house of a woman where she had stopped at Chinon; that he walked with her, holding her by the hand; that they together mounted the stairs of the Castle and together gained the Chamber of the King; that the Angel did reverence to the King, bowing before him, surrounded by this multitude of Angels, of which some had crowns on their heads and others had wings. To say such things of Archangels and the Holy Angels is presumption, audacity, lying, as in the holy books we do not read that they did a like reverence, a like demonstration, to any saint - not even to the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God. Jeanne had said that the Archangel Saint Gabriel had often come to her with the blessed - Michael, and sometimes even with thousands of Angels. She had also proclaimed that the same Angel, at her prayer, did bring in this company of Angels a crown, the most precious possible, to place upon the head of her King a crown which is today deposited in the treasury of the King; that the King would have been crowned at Reims with this crown, if he had deferred his consecration some days: it was only because of the extreme haste of his coronation that he received another. All these are lies imagined by Jeanne at the instigation of the devil, or suggested by demons in deceitful apparitions, to make sport of her curiosity, she who would search secrets beyond her capacity and condition. ARTICLE 52 By all these inventions, Jeanne had so seduced Christian people that many have in her presence adored her as a Saint, and in her absence do adore her still, composing in her honor masses and collects; yet more, going so far as to call her the greatest of all the Saints after the Virgin Mary, raising statues and images to her in the Churches of the Saints, and bearing about them medals in lead or other metal representing her - exactly as the Church does to honor the memory and the recollection of the canonized Saints publicly proclaiming that she is sent from God, and more Angel than woman. Such things are pernicious to the Christian religion, scandalous, and prejudicial to the salvation of souls. ARTICLE 53 In contempt of the orders of God and the Saints, Jeanne, in her presumption and pride, had gone so far as to take command over men; she had made herself commander-in-chief and had under her orders nearly 16,000 men, among whom were Princes, Barons, and a number of Gentlemen: she had made them all fight, being their principal captain. ARTICLE 54 Jeanne did behave in an unseemly manner with men, refuses the society of women, wishes to live with men only, to be waited upon by them, even in her own room and in the most private details: a like thing had never been seen nor heard of a chaste and pious woman. ARTICLE 55 Jeanne had abused the revelations and prophecies that she said she had from God, to procure for herself lucre and temporal profit; by means of these pretended revelations, she had acquired great riches, a great show and great estate in officers, horses, and attire; she had obtained great revenues for her brothers and relations, imitating in this the false prophets, who, to acquire temporal gain or to obtain the favor of kings, were accustomed to pretend that they had had revelations from God on things which they knew would be to the taste of their princes; abusing the divine oracles, she had thus attributed her lies to God. ARTICLE 56 Jeanne had many times proclaimed that she had two counselors whom she calls 'Counselors of the Well,' and who have come to her since she had been taken captive, as appears from the declaration made by Catherine de la Rochelle before the Officials in Paris. This Catherine had said that Jeanne, if she be not well guarded, will get out of prison, by the help of the Devil. ARTICLE 57 The day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, Jeanne did assemble the whole army of Charles, to make an attack on the city of Paris; she did lead the army against the city, affirming that she would enter it on that day that she knew it by revelation: she directed all the arrangements possible for the entry. And, nevertheless, she is not afraid to deny it before us here in court. And at other places also, at La Charite-sur-Loire, for example, at Pont L'Eveque, at Compiegne, when she attacked the army of the Duke of Burgundy, she affirmed and foretold that which, according to her, would take place, saying that she knew it by revelation: now, not only did the things predicted by her not come to pass, but the very contrary happened. Before you she had denied having made these predictions, because they were not realized, as she had said; but many people worthy of trust report to have heard her utter them. At the time of the assault on Paris, she said that thousands of angels were around her, ready to bear her to Paradise if she should be killed: now, when she was asked why, after the promises made to her, not only did she not enter Paris but that many of her men and she herself had been wounded in a terrible manner and some even killed, she answered "It was Jesus, who broke His word to me." ARTICLE 58 Jeanne did cause to be painted a standard whereon are two Angels, one on each side of God holding the world in His hand, with the words "Jhesus Maria" and other designs. She said that she caused this standard to be done by the order of God, who had revealed it to her by the agency of His Angels and Saints. This standard she did place at Reims near the Altar, during the consecration of Charles, wishing, in her pride and vain glory, that it should be peculiarly honored. Also did she cause to be painted arms, in the which she placed two golden lilies on a field azure; between the lilies a sword argent, with a hilt and guard gilded, the point of the sword pointing upwards and surmounted with a crown, gilded. All this is display and vanity, it is not religion nor piety; to attribute such vanities to God and to the Angels, is to be wanting in respect to God and the Saints. ARTICLE 59 At St. Denis in France Jeanne did offer and cause to be placed in the Church, in the most prominent place, the armor she wore when she was wounded while attacking the town of Paris; she desired that this armor should be honored as relics. In this same town, she did cause to be lighted candles, for the melted wax to fall on the heads of little children, saying that this would bring them happiness, and making by such witchcraft's many divination. ARTICLE 60 In contempt of the laws and sanction of the Church, Jeanne had several times before this tribunal refused to speak the truth: by this, she did render suspect all she had said or done in matters of faith and revelation, because she dares not reveal them to ecclesiastical judges; she dreads the just punishment she had merited and of which she appears herself to be conscious, when, on this question, she did in court urge this proverb, that "for speaking the truth, one was often hanged." Also she had often said: "You will not know all," and again, "I would rather have my head cut off than tell you all." |