36 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



and wiU so endure to the end of time. She is the Won- 

 der of the Ages. All the rules fail in this girl's case. In 

 the world's history she stands alone — quite alone. . . . 

 There is no one to compare her with, none to measure her 

 by. . . . There is no blemish in that rounded and 

 beautiful character. . . . Taking into account all the 

 circumstances — her origin, youth, sex, illiteracy, early 

 environment, and the obstructing conditions under which 

 she exploited her high gifts and made her conquests in 

 the field and before the courts that tried her for her life, 

 — she is easily and by far the most extraordinary person 

 the human race has ever produced. ' ' 



Reversing the Twcuty ycars after the martyrdom it was concluded to 

 attempt to revise the process. The then reigning pope 

 pronounced the charges against Joan to be utterly false. 

 He appointed the Archbishop of Rheims and two prelates 

 to inquire into the trial, aided by an inquisitor to attend 

 to that work. The decision of the prelates was that her 

 visions came from God. They pronounced her trial at 

 Rouen to have been wicked, and that she was free from 

 any blame. The church had decided against the maid, 

 and now it concluded to turn around. Thus the investi- 

 gation resulted in the declaration of her innocence, or re- 

 habilitation. In 1431 she was pronounced to be in league 

 with the devil, a heretic, an idolatress, and was burned at 

 the stake. In 1456 the French clergy, with the sanction 

 of the pope, declared the memory of Joan of Arc free from 

 all taint of heresy and idolatry. And now, by that same 

 church, which would claim so illustrious a personage as 

 its own, Joan has been canonized as a saint. 



It is in view of all the facts that Joan of Arc is called 

 a genuine Protestant martyr, although the term Protestant 

 had not then come into use. She embodied the Protestant 

 principle, as did Huss and Savonarola and Wycliff. As 

 an American writer says : 



iu^hei-"** " Jo^" ^^ ^^^ '^^^ t^^^ i^ *^^ same position before this 



tribunal that Luther was before the Diet of Worms. Her 



