Saint Joan of Arc

## THE CELLAR.

The cellar door is in the middle of the wall, opposite the small window of Joan's room. A small air vent, looking out onto the garden, brings a dim light into it.

At the back of the kitchen, on the right, one can see the location of a door that served as an entrance to the room of Jacques d'Arc's sons. This room now has its entrance on the side of the church, and serves as a bakehouse for the sisters, who run a school and a boarding school founded in honor of Joan of Arc for the young girls of Domremy, Greux, and other communes.

The house of Joan of Arc is situated in the middle of a garden filled with trees and flowers of all kinds, cultivated with the greatest care. A wild vine and other shrubs, intertwining their branches, carpet it in greenery. Young pines raise their tops above its walls. It is surrounded by lawns covered in grass that is always fresh. Countless paths, bordered by rosebushes and flowers, allow one to traverse the garden in every direction; a stream, flowing in cascades, crosses it entirely.

To the right of the gate, which closes the enclosure containing Joan of Arc's cottage, the garden, and all the structures built since 1818, is a building whose two main rooms are what are called the reception halls.

In the larger of these two rooms, one can see a magnificent painting representing the martyrdom of Joan of Arc; the heroine, tied to the stake on the fatal pyre, appears completely detached from the earth; she seems to await the moment when her soul, escaping from her body, will be able to fly off to the abode of happiness that her actions and virtues have earned for her. — Another painting, painted in oil, which is in no way inferior to the first, represents the heroine with her standard and bandaging an Englishman. Joan, her gaze raised toward heaven, seems to fervently ask for the salvation of the soul of this poor dying man. — On another painting, nearby, Joan is represented in the church of Tours offering her sword to the Blessed Virgin. — On a fourth painting, one sees Joan of Arc kneeling at the foot of an altar dedicated to the Archangel Saint Michael. She is about to leave her peasant clothes and prepare for her departure with a fervent prayer. — A fifth painting represents the warrior in the great tower of Rouen, at the moment when her cruel jailers, h aving Rouen Norman city where Simeon stayed and founded a monastery. taken away her women's clothes, force her to put on men's clothes that they have thrown to her on purpose. The half-open prison door reveals the sinister figures of her guards and her judges. — To the right, upon entering the room, one also sees a magnificent standard, an exact copy of Joan's standard, artistically crafted and sent by the ladies of Orléans to the house of Joan of Arc on May 8, 1863, the four hundred and thirty-fourth anniversary of the deliverance of Orléans. — One also notices on a painting Joan of Arc kneeling before the parish priest of Vaucouleurs and the Sire de Baudricourt, to be tested. — In the second room, one sees a statue representing Joan of Arc at her first vision. Her distaff and spindle are at her side. — Another small bronzed statuette represents Joan of Arc in the figure of a person barely out of childhood. She is armed and holds her standard in her hands. — A painting, painted in oil, represents Joan of Arc in chains and at the moment when her death sentence is read to her.

The church of Domremy, of remarkable simplicity, dates from the 13th century and was repaired in 1585. Beside the modest altar located in the choir are two painted stained-glass windows, one representing the Apparition of the Archangel Saint Michael to Joan of Arc, and the other the heroine kneeling at the foot of a statue of the Virgin. For several years, the altars and the bell tower of the church have been moved: the entrance, which was where the high altar is now, is located opposite the bridge built over the Meuse. To the right is the chapel of Notre-Dame de la Pucelle. The altar is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and the statue placed on this altar is, according to the elders, that of the Sainte-Marie Hermitage. At the top of the altar, one can see angels each holding a shield with the arms of the du Lis.

The main festival of the year is the Feast of the Maid, which is celebrated on the day of the Nativity of the Virgin, that is to say, the Sunday immediately following September 7th. Joan of Arc is considered the patroness of the villa saint Remi Patron saint of the village of Domrémy. ge, after Saint Remi; on the day of her feast, the church is filled with a crowd of people from the village and strangers, and resounds with songs in honor of the Mother of God and the virgin who saved France.

A monument has been erected in Domremy in honor of Joan of Arc, where all peoples are invited to come and pay their respects. Gathered in the Artistic and Literary Museum of Joan of Arc are all the compositions inspired by the Liberator of France, and everyone hastens to add a stone to the edifice raised to the glory of the Virgin of Domremy.

Notre-Dame de Bermont Notre-Dame de Bermont Pilgrimage site frequented by Joan of Arc. in Belmont, half a league from Domremy, is an ancient and famous pilgrimage site, whose primary glory is to have received the frequent visits of Joan of Arc. It was there, as we have already said, that the Virgin of Domremy, accompanied by her sister, came, often during the week and very precisely every Saturday, to lament the evils of the kingdom, to ask for their end, and to have candles burned before the image of Our Lady. It was there above all that she received from Mary, the patroness of France, the sublime inspirations that made her fly to the rescue of Orleans, and the assurance that, after having driven out the English, she would place the crown on the h ead of Char Charles VII King of France reconciled with the Duke of Burgundy. les VII at Reims. Bermont, also called Belmont or Beaumont, was formerly a leper colony, which was founded at the end of the 13th century by Pierre de Bourlémont, lord of Domremy, at the time when leprosy, brought back from the Orient, was widespread throughout Europe. In the 14th century, Bermont depended on the hospital of Neufchâteau, and at that time, the chapel of Bermont was served by a priest of the Order of the Holy Spirit, who lived in Caussey, a village located between Domremy and Neufchâteau. In the time of Joan of Arc, it is probable that Bermont still belonged to the hospital of Neufchâteau; but in the 16th century, it passed to the counts of Salm; at that time there were no more lepers: a sort of religious community inhabited it. Travelers whom need or fatigue forced to stop were received there. A small bell, which served to call the inhabitants of the hospital to prayer, still exists today. It bears the following inscription, written in initial letters:

A.V.E.M.P.E.I.A. † D.E.A.A.P.M. † A.N.G.T. † which means:

Ad virginem e manibus populi extrahentem imperium anglicani † dedicatum est apud agrum post mortem † ad nominis gloriam tintinnabulum.

At the end of the 16th century, Bermont no longer had great importance; it was inhabited by hermits, who remained there until 1793. At that time, Bermont was sold as state property. There was then only the chapel and the hermit's dwelling; the rest had been destroyed at an unknown time. The chapel of Bermont was, until 1806, a famous pilgrimage site. People came from all sides in procession to seek the protection of Saint Thiébaut, patron of this chapel, when a great drought or continuous rains prevented the fruits of the earth from growing and ripening. The last procession that took place at Bermont occurred in 1806. Next to Bermont, in a narrow valley, there is a spring called the fountain of Saint-Thiébaut, whose waters, it is said, are sovereign for the healing of all kinds of fevers. Each pilgrim, when going to visit Notre-Dame de Bermont, did not fail to provide themselves with a vessel and fill it with water, which they used at home when needed.

In 1834, the chapel, which was falling into ruins, was purchased by M. Sainière, of Vaucouleurs: he immediately had it restored. The top of the entrance door of the chapel is formed by two very elongated pointed arches. One can see in the choir of this chapel the statue of the Blessed Virgin, at the foot of which Joan went to pray every Saturday. This statue is made of extremely hard oak, and is so heavy that it weighs sixty kilograms, even though it is at most one meter in height.

The tourist who travels through the places illustrated by Joan of Arc attaches no less value to the country that saw her birth than to those where she displayed her superhuman valor in combat. After Domremy , it is Vau Vaucouleurs Town where Joan began her military epic. couleurs, its castle and the chapel where Joan prayed, afflicted by the first refusals of the Sire de Baudricourt to have her taken to the 'gentle Dauphin'.

The castle is now but a memory, it is true, and the chapel, barely a ruin. There remains enough, however, to gather a holy emotion at the memory of the heroine who saved France. Poor houses, humble as that of the d'Arc family, have been built on the very ground of the castle chapel, and, in coming to seek a blessed space, have brought the support of their modest walls to the precious fragments of the edifice. Without this providential arrangement, one would undoubtedly see no remains of it at all.

Portions of windows, exterior walls, pillars with the springings of vaults, in the 14th-century style, are found throughout the group of rustic constructions, as well as a lower chapel, or crypt, partially preserved. It is enough to succeed, in imagination, in recreating the aspect of the monument which, from the top of the hill, dominated the plain and 'the fields of Vaucouleurs'.

Do these debris, respected by time, await a glorious hour to emerge from the dust and rise from the ruin? Will it be given to France one day to pray in this renewed sanctuary, in the very place where the holy shepherdess of Domremy shed so many tears? Let us dare to hope so; for it will be the sign of a better time and a precious pledge of our regeneration.

The city of Orléans possesses a bronze statue of Joan of Arc, based on the one in the Versailles museum, by Princess Marie d'Orléans. Inside the City Hall, one can see a portrait of Joan of Arc, from 1581, restored; and a copy of Ingres's Joan of Arc, an equestrian statuette by Princess Marie. The White Tower, on Rue des Africains, is a remnant of the towers made famous by the siege of 1429. The house of Joan of Arc, located at 35 Rue du Tabourg, is a historical monument. On the Place du Martroy is the statue of the Maid of Orléans, by Foyatier. Among the main paintings in the Museum, one distinguishes that of Joan of Arc making her entry into Orléans.

The most remarkable monument that the city of Rouen possesses conc ernin Rouen Norman city where Simeon stayed and founded a monastery. g the illustrious Virgin of Domremy is the keep of the castle of Philip Augustus, built at the beginning of the 13th century (after 1203). It is in this castle that Joan of Arc was imprisoned. She occupied one of the towers placed toward the fields, a tower that disappeared in 1888. The keep itself was threatened with destruction in 1841; but it was restored and consolidated around 1842. In 1866, through a sublime movement, it was purchased for 60,000 francs by a national subscription: its restoration is being completed at this moment (1874). The keep represents today the prison of Joan, for it is the only remnant that remains of the castle. On the site of the pyre where she was burned, there exists a stone fountain with an inscription on black marble. This fountain is surmounted by a statue of the heroine, in the style of the 18th century: the fountain and the statue were executed in 1775. Previously, there was a Gothic fountain from the 15th century. In 1870, the name of Joan of Arc was given to the Rue de l'Impératrice, the most beautiful in Rouen, built since 1860; already, in 1868, the name of Boulevard Jeanne d'Arc had been given to the Boulevard Beauvoisine.

Paris Paris Place of birth, ministry, and death of the saint. , after having allowed a statue to be raised to the one who had sought to tarnish the purest glory of France, to the friend of Frederick II, King of Prussia, to the author of La Pucelle, Voltaire Enlightenment philosopher who criticized the miracle of the legion. to Voltaire in short, Paris, we say, enlightened by the misfortunes of France, has just repaired this outrage by the erection of a statue to Joan of Arc, in the middle of the small Place des Pyramides, facing the Rue de Rivoli and the private garden of the Tuileries. The inauguration took place on February 19, 1874, in the presence of a considerable crowd. The statue is made of bronze. Joan of Arc is represented on horseback. Her physiognomy, although modest, reveals courage and energy. The base, which is made of red marble, bears this simple inscription engraved on the eastern face of the pedestal, in characters 10 centimeters high: To Joan of Arc. An oval sidewalk, 8 meters by 5, has been traced around the base and will form a sort of refuge in the middle of the Place des Pyramides.

To compose this biography, we have used: the History of Joan of Arc, by Quicherat; the Popular History of Joan of Arc, by M. Huin, curator of the Joan of Arc Museum in Domremy; the History of the Church, by Rohrbacher; the History of Joan of Arc, by Wallon; the Panegyric of Joan of Arc, delivered in the cathedral of Orléans on May 8, 1867, by Mgr Freppel; the History of Joan of Arc, by Lebrun des Charmettes; the History of the Catholic Church in France, by Mgr Jager; the History of the Dukes of Burgundy of the House of Valois, by M. de Barante, member of the French Academy; the History of the Cult of the Blessed Virgin in Lorraine, by Abbé Guillaume, chaplain of the ducal chapel of Nancy; Our Lady of France, by Abbé Hamon, pastor of Saint-Sulpice; local notes provided by the kindness of Abbé Cochet, of Rouen; M. E. Birglin, architect and curator of the Museum of Bar-le-Duc, and Abbé Bourgaut, pastor of Domremy-la-Pucelle.