第79章 THE PUBLIC EXAMINATION.FEBRUARY,(7)

She was asked what was the age of her saints,but replied that she was not permitted to tell.Asked,if both saints spoke at once or one after the other,she replied:"I have not permission to tell you:but I always consult them both together."Asked,which had appeared to her first,and answered:"I do not know which it was;I did know,but have forgotten.It is written in the register of Poitiers.""She then said she had much comfort from St.Michael.Again,asked,which had come first,she replied that it was St.Michael.Asked,if a long time had passed since she first heard the voice of St.Michael,answered:"I do not name to you the voice of St.Michael;but his conversation was of great comfort to me."Asked,again,what voice came first to her when she was thirteen,answered,that it was St.

Michael whom she saw before her eyes,and that he was not alone,but accompanied by many angels of Heaven.She said also that she would not have come into France but by the command of God.Asked,if she saw St.

Michael and the angels really,with her ordinary senses,she answered:

"I saw them with my bodily eyes as I see you,and when they left me Iwept,desiring much that they would take me with them."Asked,what was the form in which he appeared,she replied:"I cannot answer you;I am not permitted."Asked,what St.Michael said to her the first time,she cried,"You shall have no answer to-day."Then went on to say that her voices told her to reply boldly.Afterwards she said that she had told her King once all that had been revealed to her;said also that she was not permitted to say here what St.Michael had said;but that it would be better to send for a copy of the books which were at Poitiers than to question her on this subject.Asked,what sign she had that these were revelations of God,and that it was really St.

Catherine and St.Margaret with whom she talked,she answered:"It is enough that I tell you they were St.Catherine and St.Margaret:

believe me or not as you will."

Asked how she distinguished the points on which she was allowed to speak from the others,she answered,that on some points she had asked permission to speak,and not on others,adding,that she would rather have been torn by wild horses than to have come to France,unless by the license of God.Asked how it was that she put on a man's dress,she answered,that dress appeared to her a small matter,that she did not adopt that dress by the counsel of any man,and that she neither put on a dress nor did anything,but according as God,or the angels,commanded her to do so.Asked,if she knew whether such a command to assume the dress of a man was lawful,she answered:"All that I did,Idid by the precepts of our Lord;and if I were bidden to wear another dress I would do so,because it was at the bidding of God."Asked,if she had done it by the orders of Robert de Baudricourt,answered "No."Asked,if she thought that she had done well in assuming a man's dress,answered,that as all she did was by the command of the Lord,she believed that she had done well,and expected a good guarantee and good succour.Asked,if in this particular case of assuming the dress of a man she thought she had done well,answered,that nothing in the world had made her do it,but the command of God.

She was then asked whether light always accompanied the voices when they came to her,she answered,with an evident reference to her first interview with Charles,that there were many lights on every side as was fit."It is not only to you that light comes"(or you have not all the light to yourself,--a curious phrase).Asked,if there was an angel over the head of the King when she saw him for the first time,she answered:"By the Blessed Mary,if there were,I know not,I saw none."Asked,if there was light,she answered:"There were about three hundred soldiers,and fifty of them held torches,without counting any spiritual light.And rarely do I have the revelations without light."Asked,if her King had faith in what she said,she answered,that he had good signs,and also by his clergy.Asked,what revelations her King had,she answered:"You shall have nothing from me this year."Then added that for three weeks she was cross-examined by the clergy,both in the town of Chinon and at Poitiers,and that her King had signs concerning her,before he believed in her.And the clergy of his party had found nothing in her,in respect to her faith,that was not good.Asked,whether she gone to the church of St.

Catherine of Fierbois,answered:"yes,"and that she had there heard three masses in one day,and from thence went to Chinon;she added that she had sent a letter thence to the King,in which it was contained that she sent this to know if she might come to the town in which the King was;for that she had travelled a hundred and fifty leagues to come to him and to bring him help,for she knew much good concerning him.And she thought it was contained in this letter that she should recognise the King among all the rest.