THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC

THE WITCH—SAINT

By M. M. Mangasarian

Lecturer Of The Independent Religious Society
From "The Rationalist," October, 1913

PAST NUMBERS OF THE RATIONALIST.

No. 1. St. Francis, the Second Christ.

No. 2. Marcus Aurelius.

No. 3. Ships that Sink in the Night; or, God and the Titanic.

No. 4. What has Christ Done for the World?

No. 5. Lyman Abbott on Immortality.

No 6. Voltaire in Hades.

No. 7. The Gospel of Sport—What Shall I Do to Be Saved? Play!

No. 8. A Poet's Philosophy of Happiness—Omar Khayyam.

No. 9. A Rationalist in Home. (A Lecture in Three Parts.) Part 1

No. 10. A Rationalist in Rome. (A Lecture in Three Parts.) Part 2

No. 11. A Rationalist in Rome. (A Lecture in Three Parts,) Part 3

No. 12. Jew and Christian According to Shakespeare.

No. 13 and 14. Christian Science and Common Sense.

No. 15. A Message From Abroad.

No. 16. The First Modern Man.

No. 17. The Monk and The Woman in The Garden of Allah.

No. 18. The High Cost of Living and the Higher Cost of Superstition

No. 19. The Debate between Three Clergymen and a Rationalist.

No. 20. Rationalism and Crime.

No. 21. Women and Crime.

No. 22. Was Jesus a Socialist?

No. 23. The Catholic Church and the Socialist Party.

No. 24. What is the Trouble with the World?

The above 24 lectures will be sent to any address upon receipt of $2

Volume 2

No. 1. Who Made the Gods?

No. 2. Marriage and Divorce, According to Rationalism.

No. 3. The American Girl.

No. 4. The Catholic Church in Politics.

No. 5. Christian and Turk.

No. 6. The Gospel According to Bernard Shaw.

No. 7 and 8. Morality Without God.

No. 9. A Letter to My Flock.

No. 10. A Missionary's Convert.

No. 11. The Ex-Priest in Paris.

The Rationalist

Is published by the Independent Religious Society semi-monthly. Each number is to consist of a lecture by M. M. Mangasarian. Price of subscription, per annum, $2.00. Orders should be sent to The Independent Religious Society, 922 Lakeside Place, Chicago

JOAN OF ARC

This lecture on Joan of Arc, delivered some time ago, provoked a great deal of criticism in Chicago. The people who protested against it and wanted to punish its author were, naturally enough, the Roman Catholics. What interests me in Joan of Arc is not the fact that the story of her martyrdom and subsequent canonization could be used as a weapon against the Church of Rome, but because the story in itself is so very compelling. It is quite true that the story also illustrates how far from infallible the Catholic Church has been in its dealings with the Maid of Orleans—first, burning her at the stake as a witch, and, five hundred years later, beatifying her as a saint. The statement in my lecture which caused the greatest displeasure was to the effect that the same church which had burnt Joan of Arc as a witch in fourteen hundred thirty-one had sainted her in nineteen hundred and nine. The Catholics deny that they were at all responsible for the terrible death of the deliverer of France. This lecture will throw some light on that question.

As related in a former lecture, it was at her shrine, in the Church of the Sacred Heart, in Paris, last summer, that I promised myself the task of presenting to the American people the truth about Joan of Arc. I shall speak very plainly in this lecture, but, I am sure, without any trace of bitterness in my heart toward anyone. I shall speak with feeling, of course, for it is impossible not to be moved to the depths by the events which brought a girl of nineteen to the stake—but my passion is free from anger or prejudice. I can weep for this young woman without gnashing my teeth on her fanatical persecutors. I am sure I can tell the truth without lying about the Catholic Church.

But I do not wish to be sentimental, either. I have not forgiven the unrepentant destroyers of the innocent. To convert a heretic into a saint by trying to prove that she was not a heretic at all is not repentance; it is sophistry. To deny that Joan suffered death at the hands of, and by the authority of, the Vicar of Christ on earth is not a sign of regret for the past, but a defiance of history. When the Catholics shall admit that, through ignorance, and urged on by circumstances they could not control, they committed the act which they have since atoned for by offering her a heavenly crown—when, I say, the Catholics shall shed over her body tears as genuine as those which black Othello shed over the woman he had smothered—then we will forgive them.

But the Catholic Church will have to choose between securing our forgiveness and retaining her infallibility. If she should repent of a single act ever committed by her officially, she would lose her claim to infallibility—for how can the infallible err? If, on the other hand, she should hold to her infallibility, how can she be sorry for anything she has ever done? If I had any influence with the Catholics I would advise them to sacrifice infallibility for the respect of humanity. It is much more divine to say, "I am sorry," than to say, "I am infallible." But the Catholic Church will not take my advice.

The shrine of Joan in the Paris church is almost as eloquent as her stake in Rouen. I have seen them both—that is to say, I have seen the spot on which she was consumed, marked by a white slab; and I have seen the marble figure of Joan, as a girl, in the attitude of prayer, now in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Paris. As I stood at her shrine in this great white church it seemed to me that, even though Joan of Arc has, at last been made a saint, there was still a prejudice against her on the part of the people, as well as of the priests. This is only an impression, and I hope I am mistaken. But let me present the evidence on which I base my misgivings: In the first place, Joan is not given the preference in the shrine set apart for her. St. Michael, whoever he might be, occupies the whole front of the altar, and only on the windows and the side walls do we find any mention of Joan and the events of her heroic career. There is also, at one end of the enclosure, as intimated before, a small marble figure of Joan on her knees. Why does St. Michael usurp the place of honor over the altar? Who is he? What has he done for France? In the second place, there was not a single lighted candle at her shrine. St. Mary's altar, a little distance off, was ablaze. St. Joseph's, too, was honored by lighted candles. But no one was on her knees and no flame twinkled before the sainted Joan of Arc. They say that it is almost impossible to outlive the charge of heresy. In former times, quite frequently, even heretics who repented of their heresies were put to death, nevertheless. To have ever been accused, even, or suspected of heresy, is an unpardonable crime. Joan was suspected, at least, of rebellion against Rome, and it seemed to me, as I reflected upon what I observed in the church, that the Catholics had canonized this village maid reluctantly, and only under pressure, and after five hundred years of dillydallying.

But before I left the Church of the Sacred Heart there was a lighted candle upon her altar. I lighted it. Approaching one of the candle tables, of which there are half a dozen in the building, I purchased a long, tapering candle, white as the lily, and I touched it with fire—I kindled it and set it in one of the