|THE HOLINESS OF SAINT JOAN OF ARC| stands alone in history.
Many women have found sanctity in the cloister, some have shown
bravery in battle, but no other ever trained herself to holiness
in a soldier's camp, and surely no female saint ever died at the
stake condemned by an ecclesiastical tribunal as a witch and a
heretic. Her story is incredible, but true: it rests on the most
abundant and clear evidence. She was a peasant girl of no
importance and before she was eighteen her intervention had
already changed the course of European history for centuries to
come. When she died at nineteen, thanks to her the French had
become conscious of being a nation, England had lost all hopes
of ever being a Continental power, and Burgundy, the arbiter of
the destinies of France, was soon again to be her vassal. We
cannot explain this by a mere recital of the diplomatic and
military history of the times. The hand of God clearly appeared
in these events. Joan of Arc was the tool He chose to accomplish
His work: she is the