Joan of Arc

Take good care not to judge me wrongly, because you will put yourself in great danger...

Children say that people are hung sometimes for speaking the truth.

Jehanne Darc (1412 – 30 May 1431), also known as Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc), was a mystic visionary, military leader, martyr, saint and heroine of France. Executed by fire as a heretic after sentencing by a tribunal of pro-English clergy, she was later cleared of the charges during an appellate trial of the Inquisition on 7 July 1456, and canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on 16 May 1920.

Sourced quotes

• Of the love or hatred God has for the English, I know nothing, but I do know that they will all be thrown out of France, except those who die there.
  • Trial records (15 March 1431)

Simple: I do not know whether god loves or hates the English, but I do know that they will all be kicked out of France, unless they die here.

• You say that you are my judge. I do not know if you are! But I tell you that you must take good care not to judge me wrongly, because you will put yourself in great danger. I warn you, so that if God punishes you for it, I would have done my duty by telling you!
  • Jeanne's warning to Bishop Cauchon, Trial records (15 March 1431)

Simple: You say you are my judge. I am unsure that you are! But you must be careful to judge me well/fairly, because you will put yourself at risk. I warn you, so that if God punishes/disciplines you for it, I cannot be blamed for not telling you.

• Children say that people are hung sometimes for speaking the truth.
  • As quoted in World Famous Women: Types of Female Heroism, Beauty, and Influence from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time (1881) by Frank Boott Goodrich, p. 126

Simple: Kids say that people are killed sometimes for speaking the truth.

• About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter.
  • As quoted in The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994)

• If I am not in the state of grace, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.
  • Trial records

Simple: If I am not blessed by God, may God bless me; and if I am, may he keep me blessed

Unsourced quotes

• I learned to spin and to sew; in sewing and spinning I fear no woman in Rouen.
  • When asked about her childhood and what she did.

Simple: I learned to spin (wool) and sew; and I am as good as any woman at spinning and sewing in Rouen.

• What I said was: 'Go boldly among the English,' and I went among them, too!
  • Asked if she told her troops that copies of her pennant would bring luck.

• The poor folk gladly came to me, for I did them no unkindness, but helped them as much as I could.

Simple: The poor like me, for I caused them no harm, but helped them when I could.

• Ha! You take great care to put down in your trial everything that is against me, but you will not write down anything that is for me!

Simple: You take great care to record/write everything that goes against me in this trial, but you will not record/write down anything that agrees with me.

• I am a good Christian, properly baptized and I will die... a good Christian.

• I came from God. There is nothing more for me to do here! Send me back to God, from Whom I came!

Simple: I came from God. There is nothing more for me to do here! Send me back to God (kill me.)

• And if I were condemned and brought to the place of judgment and I saw the torch lit and the faggots ready, and the executioner ready to kindle the fire, and if I were within the fire, yet I would say nothing else and I would maintain unto death what I have said in this trial!

Simple: Even if I were about to be burned alive, I would say nothing else (confess) then what I have already said at this trial.

• I saw them with these very eyes, as well as I see you.
  • On how she recognized the saints of her visions.

• I am not afraid… I was born to do this.

• I fear nothing, except treason.
  • At the town of Chalons, speaking to a friend from Domremy

• I beg all of you standing here to forgive me the harm that I may have done you. Please pray for me.

• Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
  • Last words.

• I fear nothing, for God is with me.

Simple: Nothing can scare me when I am with God

Other websites

• Joan of Arc on Wikipedia
• Jeanne d'Arc on Wikimedia Commons
• Joan of Arc at NNDB
• Catholic Encyclopedia
• MaidOfHeaven.com Comprehensive site about Joan of Arc
• The Jeanne d'Arc Centre
• Jeanne-darc.dk Various materials including a complete English translation of the rehabilitation trial transcript.
• Joan of Arc in the First World War by B.J. Omanson, covers interest in Joan of Arc during the First World War.
• Joan of Arc Museum in Rouen, France.
• St. Joan of Arc Center of Albuquerque, New Mexico, maintained by Virginia Frohlick.