Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle): Difference between revisions

The standard modern histories go with Joan's testimony and experiences about her Voices without affirming their reality. Presented with the final indictment from the Trial of Condemnation, which denied her visions, Joan instead resoundingly affirmed them:<ref>Murrayp. 357</ref>

Question: “Where is this mandrake of which you have heard?” Joan: “I have heard that it is in the earth, near the tree of which I spoke before; but I do not know the place. Above this mandrake, there was, it is said, a hazel tree.” Question: “What have you heard said was the use of this mandrake?” Joan: “To make money come; but I do not believe it. My Voice never spoke to me of that.”</ref></blockquote>Getting nowhere with the mandrake, the questioners turned back to the Saints. <blockquote>“In what likeness did Saint Michael appear to you?” </blockquote><blockquote>“I did not see a crown: I know nothing of his dress.”</blockquote><blockquote>“Was he naked?” </blockquote><blockquote>“Do you think God has not wherewithal to clothe him?” </blockquote><blockquote>“Had he hair?” </blockquote><blockquote>“Why should it have been cut off? I have not seen Saint Michael since I left the Castle of Crotoy. I do not see him often. I do not know if he has hair.” </blockquote><blockquote>“Has he a balance?”<ref>Saint Michael is commonly depicting the scales of judgment. (He is not himself the judge.)</ref></blockquote><blockquote>  

“I know nothing about it. It was a great joy to see him; it seemed to me, when I saw him, that I was not in mortal sin. Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret were pleased from time to time to receive my confession, each in turn. If I am in mortal sin, it is without my knowing it.”</blockquote>Always deferring to another topic when the prior line of questioning got them nowhere, and seizing on any point Joan made that could be twisted or used against her, her interrogators must have nearly jumped from their seats in glee at this one:<ref>Murray, p. 43</ref><blockquote>When you confessed, did you think you were in mortal sin?</blockquote>But they were up against a Saint. Joan replied,<blockquote>I do not know if I am in mortal sin, and I do not believe I have done its works; and, if it please God, I will never so be; nor, please God, have I ever done or ever will do deeds which charge my soul!</blockquote>Giving up, the interrogation turned to another topic, with which the court was obsessed, about the "sign" she had given the French king. She left them with an intriguing suggestion about "another, much richer" crown than the one he received at Reims.<ref>Murray, p. 44. From the register, "Had your King a crown at Rheims?" "I think my King took with joy the crown that he had at Rheims; but another, much richer, would have been given him later. He acted thus to hurry on his work, at the request of the people of the town of Rheims, to avoid too long a charge upon them of the soldiers. If he had waited, he would have had a crown a thousand times more rich." "Have you seen this richer crown?" "I cannot tell you without incurring perjury; and, though I have not seen it, I have heard that it is rich and valuable to a degree."</ref>

<blockquote>Afterwards, because she had said, in previous Enquiries, that Saint Michael had wings, but had said nothing of the body and members of Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, We asked her what she wished to say thereon.</blockquote>Joan responded,<blockquote>I have told you what I know; I will answer you nothing more. I saw Saint Michael and these two Saints so well that I know they are Saints of Paradise. </blockquote><blockquote>Did you see anything else of them but the face? </blockquote><blockquote>I have told you what I know; but to tell you all I know, I would rather that you made me cut my throat. All that I know touching the Trial I will tell you willingly. </blockquote><blockquote>Do you think that Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel have human heads? </blockquote><blockquote>I saw them with my eyes; and I believe it was they as firmly as I believe there is a God.</blockquote><blockquote>Do you think that God made them in the form and fashion that you saw? </blockquote><blockquote>Yes. </blockquote><blockquote>Do you think that God did from the first create them in this form and fashion? </blockquote><blockquote>

You will have no more at present than what I have answered. </blockquote>Time to move on, then, now to whether her voices told her she will escape, another argument they used against her as she had attempted to escape from her original capture by the Burgundians.  

The point of all this focus on the clothing and bodies of the Saints was to prove heresy by stating that she physically interacted with the Saints, when the Church held that angels and saints were not corporeal. From the charges filed against her by the Rouen court,<ref>Murray, p. 355</ref> <blockquote>Article XLI I. Jeanne hath said and published that Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret and Saint Michael have bodies — that is to say, head, eyes, face, hair, etc. ; that she hath touched them with her hands ; that she hath kissed them and embraced them. </blockquote>Skeptical historians make much of Joan's testimony on the physicality of her Saints and the Archangel Michael, saying that it was a theological trap that the ignorant girl fell into, as if she should have molded her testimony to match their doctrine. Then, they say that she made it all up to feed the judges imagined details to throw them off... from what, is unclear, as what these historians would have wanted her to do here is, at best, not relate her experiences truthfully, or, the worst of them suggest, quit making up stories about them. Again, it ignores the record. At the Trial of Rehabilitation, Augustinian Bishop Jean Lefevre, who was at Rouen, told the examiners,<ref>Murray, p. 210, from May 9, 1452</ref> <blockquote>Jeanne answered with great prudence the questions put to her, with the exception of the subject of her revelations from God: for the space of three weeks<ref>I.e., that she was not always divinely inspired. Lefevre's testimony, as posted in Murray, is short and rarely referenced in other works on Saint Joan. Several of the participants at the Rouen Trial of Condemnation who testified to the Trial of Rehabilitation retained a bit of their animosity or disbelief in her that they had exercised vehemently at the trial. To Lefevre's credit, Massau recollected the Lefevre was worried that Joan "was being too much troubled" by the constant questioning regarding "whether she was in a state of grace." Lefevre makes a big point about this incident in the trial, opening his statement at the Rehabilitation Trial with, "When Jeanne was asked if she were in the Grace of God, I, who was present, said it was not a suitable question for such a girl. Then the Bishop of Beauvais said to me, "It will be better for you if you keep silent." Murray states that Lefevre objected to Joan's confinement in a military not ecclesiastic prison (Murry, p. 338).</ref> I believed her to be inspired. She was asked very profound questions, as to which she showed herself quite capable; sometimes they interrupted the enquiry, going from one subject to another, that they might make her change her purpose. The Examinations were very long, lasting sometimes two or three hours, so that the Doctors present were much fatigued. </blockquote>Lastly, the historians claim that she made up stories about the Saints and Michael the Archangel, since the [[Poitiers Conclusions]]<ref>Murray, p. 247</ref> mention only that she had instructions "from God." Several pieces of evidence point to the contrary.  

First, at the Rouen Trial, on February 27, Joan was pressed about her "Voice." It was this day she revealed the names of Saints Catherine and Margaret:<ref>This and subsequent quotations from Murray, pp. 23-25</ref><blockquote>Are these two Saints dressed in the same stuff?</blockquote><blockquote>I will tell you no more just now ; I have not permission to reveal it If you do not believe me, go to Poitiers. There are some revelations which come to the King of France, and not to you, who are questioning me.</blockquote><blockquote>Are they of the same age?</blockquote><blockquote>I have not leave to say.</blockquote><blockquote>Do they speak at the same time, or one after the other?</blockquote><blockquote>I have not leave to say ; nevertheless, I have always had counsel from them both.</blockquote><blockquote>Which of them appeared to you first?</blockquote><blockquote>I did not distinguish them at first. I knew well enough once, but I have forgotten. If I had leave, I would tell you willingly : it is written in the Register at Poitiers. I have also received comfort from Saint Michael."</blockquote>

Again she referred the court to the "Register at Poitiers,"<blockquote>" I will tell you no more just now ; I have not permission to reveal it If you do not believe me, go to Poitiers. There are some revelations which come to the King of France, and not to you, who are questioning me. </blockquote><blockquote>I did not distinguish them at first. I knew well enough once, but I have forgotten. If I had leave, I would tell you willingly : it is written in the Register at Poitiers. I have also received comfort from Saint Michael.</blockquote>Joan knew the court had investigated her extensively<ref>For example, on March 3, the Rouen court asked her, "What did you do in the trenches of La Charité?" Joan already knew what they were getting at, and shut down the line of inquiry before it could be asked: "I made an assault there; but I neither threw, nor caused to be thrown. Holy Water by way of aspersion." The questioner then moved on, asking, ""Why did you not enter La Charité, if you had command from God to do so?" Joan replied indiganantly, "Who told you I had God's command for it?" (Murray pp. 53-54).  She knew the games they were playing.</ref>, so she had no reason to assume they had no access to the "Register at Poitiers," which was a transcript of her interviews by the "Doctors" at Poitiers on behalf of the Dauphin in early 1429. She even begged the court to get a copy of it, saying to her interrogator, Beaupère,<blockquote>I wish you could get a copy of this book at Poitiers, if it please God.<ref>Murray, p. 25</ref></blockquote>Thus hers was a statement of fact, not a deferral. (The "Register" disappeared, likely destroyed by her enemies at the Court of Charles VII, most likely by the Archbishop of Reims, who opposed her.)

In her [[Joan of Arc letter to the English|letter to the King of England]], Joan stated, <blockquote>I am sent here by God, the King of Heaven </blockquote>Memories of her arrival to Chinon also recall her stating that she was sent by God with no mention of the Saints -- but it is a distinction without a difference, as, and according to Church dogma, any Divine visitor is of God in whatever form.  Nevertheless, Joan told the Rouen court that she did not speak of the Voices to anyone except Baudricourt (at Vaucouleurs) and the Dauphin. Asked if she had spoken of them to a priest, she said,<ref>Murray, p. 63</ref> <blockquote>No; only to Robert de Baudricourt and to my King. It was not my Voices who compelled me to keep them secret ; but I feared to reveal them, in dread that the Burgundians might put some hindrance in the way of my journey ; and, in particular, I was afraid that my father would hinder it.</blockquote>At the Trial of Rehabilitation, testimony consistently mentions that she spoke of a "Voice" coming from the "King of Heaven", such as the Squire Bertrand de Poulengey recollected her having said to his Captain, Baudricourt,<ref>Murray p. 229.  Others testified similarly</ref><blockquote>"But who is this Lord of whom you speak?" asked Robert of her. "The King of Heaven," she replied.  </blockquote>Finally, Joan's testimony at Rouen about Saints Catherine and Margaret is extensive and detailed, and not just regarding questions about their physical appearance. She relates exchange with them going back to her early Voices at Domrémy, and on through her military campaigns and capture at Campiègne and subsequent imprisonments.<ref>See Murray, pp. 43, 52-54, 58, 6374-75, 129-131, among places.</ref> She relates in perfect detail the event, mentioning the Saints in relation to those events, and not as an aside or divergence, as historians suggest. We cannot infer that her absence of mention of the Saints before her Trial at Rouen means that she made it up there. In history, an absence of evidence is not proof; we just need to go with what we have. In this case, we have her plain testimony that she had spoken of the Saints and the Archangel Michael at Poitiers.

From her testimony at Rouen, we learn must about her relationship with the Saints, and not just their interactions of guiding, consoling, and redirecting her. After being threatened with torture, Joan turned to them:<ref name=":2" /> <blockquote>I asked counsel of my Voices if I ought to submit to the Church, because the Clergy were pressing me hard to submit, and they said to me: ‘If thou willest that God should come to thy help, wait on Him for all thy doings.’ I know that Our Lord hath always been the Master of all my doings, and that the Devil hath never had power over them. I asked of my Voices if I should be burned, and my Voices answered me: ‘Wait on Our Lord, He will help thee.’</blockquote>Joan knew full well the consequences of condemnation for heresy, so the stake was on her mind, likely throughout the ordeal. The court brought it up to her directly, though, in the public assembly at the cemetery of St. Ouen, where she was read the documents of abjuration.<ref>''ab-'' (off or out of) + ''jure'' (swear) = to swear off, or deny under oath. </ref> After his public sermon in which he admonished Joan, the priest Guillaume Érard, who was as violently against Joan as any, including the Bishop of Beauvais, read the charges that she was to abjure, adding that were she not to admit it, she'd burn. From the testimony at the Trial of Rehabilitation by the scribe, Father Jean Massieu,<ref>Murray, p. 173.  Nicolas de Houppeville also testified, "Then Maître Guillaume Érard said : 'Do it now, otherwise you will end in the fire today.'" (Murray p. 206)</ref> <blockquote>To which Jeanne replied, that she did not understand what abjuring was, and that she asked advice about it. Then Érard told me to give her counsel about it. After excusing myself for doing this, I told her it meant that, if she opposed any of the said Articles, she would be burned. I advised her to refer to the Church Universal as to whether she should abjure the said Articles or not. And this she did, saying in a loud voice to Érard: “I refer me to the Church Universal, as to whether I shall abjure or not.” To this the said Érard replied: “You shall abjure at once, or you shall be burned.” And, indeed, before she left the Square, she abjured, and made a cross with a pen which I handed to her. </blockquote>There is much argument as to whether or not in the abjuration Joan knowingly denied the Saints.<ref>Thus she was to "abjure" or deny all that she had testified to. It is unclear what, exactly Joan had knowingly abjured, although she knew specifically that as a result of the abjuration she was to wear women's clothing.</ref> We know she had earlier disobeyed her Voices when she leapt from captivity from the Burgundians,<blockquote>About four months. When I knew that the English were come to take me, I was very angry; nevertheless, my Voices forbade me many times to leap. In the end, for fear of the English, I leaped, and commended myself to God and Our Lady. I was wounded. When I had leaped, the Voice of Saint Catherine said to me I was to be of good cheer, for those at Compiègne would have succour.<ref>Another prophesy Joan received from her Voices was that the town of Compiègne, which she was defending when she was captured on May 23, 1430, would be saved, which happened in October of 1430 when the Burgundians gave up on trying to take it. </ref> I prayed always for those at Compiègne, with my Counsel.</blockquote>So perhaps facing the threat of the fire -- understandably so -- she signed the paper.

A few days after her abjuration, she was brought back to the Rouen court for a "relapse" trial for having put back on the men's garments. It gave the court the opportunity to not only accuse her of breaking her vow to wear women's clothes but to force her into a denial of her recantation of the Saints. Now imminently facing the stake, Joan admitted that by signing the abjuration document she had betrayed the Saints:<blockquote>They said to me: "God had sent me word by St. Catherine and St. Margaret of the great pity it is, this treason to which I have consented, to abjure and recant in order to save my life! I have damned myself to save my life!" Before last Thursday, my Voices did indeed tell me what I should do and what I did on that day. When I was on the scaffold on Thursday, my Voices said to me, while the preacher was speaking: ‘Answer him boldly, this preacher!’ And in truth he is a false preacher; he reproached me with many things I never did. If I said that God had not sent me, I should damn myself, for it is true that God has sent me; my Voices have said to me since Thursday: ‘Thou hast done a great evil in declaring that what thou hast done was wrong.’ All I said and revoked, I said for fear of the fire. </blockquote><blockquote>Do you believe that your Voices are Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret?</blockquote><blockquote>

Yes, I believe it, and that they come from God.</blockquote>Much has been made of this supposed recantation or betrayal of the Voices. It's rather simple, though,<blockquote>All I said and revoked, I said for fear of the fire.</blockquote>And now, as she knew full well, she was going to be led to the fire. There's no betrayal in that: rather a correction and support for what would follow, which would have followed, anyway, had during the sermon she had "Answer[ed] him boldly, this preacher!"<ref>What a marvel of divine inventive it would have been had she "‘Answer[ed] him boldly, this preacher!’"</ref> Neither Joan nor her Voices had let one another down.[[File:Bergognone_007.jpg|alt=Ambrogio Bergognone. The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Catherine of Siena|thumb|375x375px|<small>"The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Catherine of Siena" by Ambrogio Bergognone. (wikipedia). Catherine of Sienna set important precedent for Saint Joan's affirmation of the papacy at Rome.</small> ]]

Another aspect of Saint Michael is seen in his scales of judgment, as he is traditionally depicted holding. Saint Michael appears but twice in the New Testament, the Epistle of Jude and, more famously, Revelation. In Jude, the Apostle teaches,<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jude/1?9 Jude 1:9]</ref><blockquote>Yet the archangel Michael, when he argued with the devil in a dispute over the body of Moses, did not venture to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”</blockquote>In the Old Testament the Archangel appears as the angel "with a sword," such as in Daniel,<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/13?59 Daniel 13:59]</ref><blockquote>“Your fine lie has cost you also your head,” said Daniel; “for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two so as to destroy you both.”</blockquote>As the lie had already "cost" -- i.e., judged, the Archangel was the instrument of God's punishment, and not himself the judge. Joan consistently treats her mission as that of carrying out God's will and not exercising herself any reason or justification for it.   

meaning "by God's good will", which was Joan's way of conditionalizing insults or ill thoughts to God's will. Here we can point to Joan's statement to a friendly acquaintance in her home town whom she subjects to punishment should God will it, a story Mark Twain so enjoyed,<ref>Twain placed the quotation back at Domremy with a Burgundian priest saying a blessing for "Henry King of France and England." Twain's narrator describes the scene: "The people were white with wrath, and it tied their tongues for the moment, and they could not speak. But Joan was standing close by, and she looked up in his face, and said iu her sober, earnest way— " I would I might see thy head struck from thy body !" —then, after a pause, and crossing herself—"if it were the will of God." This is worth remembering, and I will tell you why : it is the only harsh speech Joan ever uttered in her life. When I shall have revealed to you the storms she went through, and the wrongs and persecutions, then you will see that it was wonderful that she said but one bit ter thing while she lived." (Saint Joan of Arc_Mark Twain_Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc _archive-org_personalrecollec00twai.pdf, pp 845-846</ref><blockquote>I knew only one Burgundian at Domremy: I should have been quite willing for them to cut off his head—always had it pleased God.<ref>Murray, p. 19</ref></blockquote>Her outburst here barely scratches her larger adherence to Saint Michael's role and example, by which Joan exercised mercy upon her enemies,<ref>Murray, p. 297</ref>

At the trial a Rouen, the court concluded that,<ref>A XXXV.</ref> <blockquote>Jeanne hath boasted and affirmed that she did know how to discern those whom God loveth and those whom He hateth. </blockquote>then demanded,<blockquote>What have you to say on this Article?</blockquote>

She afterwards prayed to the Archangel, at least twice. Pierre Lebouchier, a priest, testified that after Joan was denounced in the public by Father Érard, Joan turned to the Achangel:<ref>He testified to the Trial of Rehabilitation, "While they were tying her to the stake she implored and specially invoked Saint Michael. She seemed to me a good Christian to the end; the greater number of those present, to the number of ten thousand, wept and lamented, saying that she was of great piety." (Murray p. 200)</ref><blockquote>I was not present at the Process;<ref>the Trial</ref> but, after the preaching at Saint-Ouen, Jeanne, with her hands joined together, said in a loud voice that she submitted to the judgment of the Church, and prayed to Saint Michael that he would direct and counsel her.</blockquote>He also saw her martyrdom, before which he watched,<blockquote>While they were tying her to the stake she implored and specially invoked Saint Michael. </blockquote>Saint Michael was not just the warrior Angel, but also Joan's protector.

With histories of Joan we hear less of Saint Gabriel than of the others, although he also visited her. The Rehabilitation Trial recollections of her battle standard are ambiguous,<ref>See, for example, Friar Jean Pasquerel's description of "an Angel holding in his hand a fleur-de-lys which Christ was blessing (Murray, p. 283) and  </ref> but at the Rouen trial, Joan was clear: she had placed on it the two Archangels, Michael and Gabriel, on it to either side of the Lord who was depicted holding the world in his hands, with ''Jhesus Maria'' written to the side.<ref>At Rouen, on February 27, she mentioned "two angels" on the standard. On March 17, the questioning tried to tie in the accusation of angelic physical bodies with the images of the angels on the banner, which Joan simply clarified, "I had them painted in the way they are painted in the Churches." (Murray p. 89). That afternoon, she clarified, " They were there only for the honour of Our Lord, Who was painted on the standard. I only had these two Angels represented to honour Our Lord, Who was there represented holding the world." (Murray p. 89)</ref> The standard was of great concern to the court at Rouen, not just for what her interrogators considered its presumptuous design, but because that battle flag was a key instrument in her victories over the English and was prominently displayed at the coronation of the Charles VII as King of France. To the English partisans, the standard was demonic. The formal charges included that she had been saying about her battle flags, a ring, some linens and her sword that,<ref>From Accusations Article XX (Murray, p. 349). As for the accusations regarding her sword, which she found behind an altar through divine knowledge, see Murray pp.29-30.</ref><blockquote>... these things were very fortunate. She made thereon many execrations and conju rations...</blockquote>Joan replied,<blockquote>In all I have done there was never any sorcery or evil arts. As for the good luck of my banner, I refer it to the fortune sent through it by Our Lord.</blockquote>To an earlier interrogation over the banner and the Saints, Joan's responses are marvelous:<ref>Murray, p. 90</ref><blockquote>

“Did the two Angels painted on your standard represent Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel?” </blockquote><blockquote>They were there only for the honour of Our Lord, Who was painted on the standard. I only had these two Angels represented to honour Our Lord, Who was there represented holding the world.</blockquote><blockquote>Were the two Angels represented on your standard those who guard the world? Why were there not more of them, seeing that you had been commanded by God to take this standard? </blockquote><blockquote>The standard was commanded by Our Lord, by the Voices of Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, which said to me: "Take the standard in the name of the King of Heaven"; and because they had said to me "Take the standard in the name of the King of Heaven," I had this figure of God and of two Angels done; I did all by their command. </blockquote><blockquote>Did you ask them if, by virtue of this standard, you would gain all the battles wherever you might find yourself, and if you would be victorious? </blockquote><blockquote>They told me to take it boldly, and that God would help me. </blockquote><blockquote>Which gave most help, you to your standard, or your standard to you? </blockquote><blockquote>The victory either to my standard or myself, it was all from Our Lord. </blockquote><blockquote>The hope of being victorious, was it founded on your standard or on yourself? </blockquote><blockquote>It was founded on Our Lord and nought else. </blockquote><blockquote>If any one but you had borne this standard, would he have been as fortunate as you in bearing it? </blockquote><blockquote>I know nothing about it: I wait on Our Lord. </blockquote><blockquote>If one of the people of your party had sent you his standard to carry, would you have had as much confidence in it as in that which had been sent to you by God? Even the standard of your King, if it had been sent to you, would you have had as much confidence in it as in your own? </blockquote><blockquote>

This exchange informed one of the seventy-seven formal charges, LVIII, which read,<ref>Murray, p. 361</ref> <blockquote>Jeanne did cause to be painted a standard whereon are two Angels, one on each side of God holding the world in His hand, with the words “Jhésus Maria” and other designs. She said that she caused this standard to be done by the order of God, who had revealed it to her by the agency of His Angels and Saints. This standard she did place at Rheims near the Altar, during the consecration of Charles, wishing, in her pride and vain glory, that it should be peculiarly honoured. Also did she cause to be painted arms, in the which she placed two golden lilies on a field azure; between the lilies a sword argent, with a hilt and guard gilded, the point of the sword pointing upwards and surmounted with a crown, gilded. All this is display and vanity, it is not religion nor piety; to attribute such vanities to God and to the Angels, is to be wanting in respect to God and the Saints. </blockquote>Joan of Arc biography Douglas Murray compiled from the various sources and Trials descriptions of the banner, the following depiction:<ref>Murray, pp. 30-31, fn 2</ref><blockquote>The description of this banner varies in different authors. The following account is compiled from them. "A white banner, sprinkled with fleur-de-lys; on the one side, the figure of Our Lord in Glory, holding the world, and giving His benediction to a lily, held by one of two Angels who are kneeling on each side: the words 'Jhesus Maria' at the side; on the other side the figure of Our Lady and a shield with the arms of France supported by two Angels" (''de Cagny''). This banner was blessed at the Church of Saint-Sauveur at Tours (''Chronique de la Pucelle'' and ''de Cagny'').</blockquote>In that Archangel Gabriel's scriptural role is to announce or clarify God's will and offer comfort in faith in it,<ref>Or both, as Zachariah learned, a curse to encourage faith, as the Archangel muted him for doubting what the Angel had told him about the conception of his son, John the Baptist. ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1:20 Luke 1:20])</ref> Joan's design and use of the standard was by no means a vanity. With Saint Michael on one side, representing execution of God's judgment, and Saint Gabriel on the other, informing God's design, the banner was for Joan a beautiful act of Christian Hope.<ref>Here for a lengthy discussion of the standard; [https://www.jeanne-darc.info/biography/banner/ Banner | Joan of Arc | Jeanne-darc.info]  The author says that on the banner Saint Michael held a sword as the "angel of justice" and Saint Gabriel a lily as the "angel of mercy". I'm not sure where the evidence of their handling a sword and lily is derived. Nor am I certain of the use of Saint Gabriel as the "angel of mercy."</ref>

According to Murray, Joan also used two "pennons," or a small banners, which are typically hung from a lance. One, purchased at Tours along with the battle standard, depicted the Annunciation, and the other was made at Poitiers, showing a white dove with a scroll in its beak that read, ''De par le Roy du Ciel'', which means "By the King of Heaven",<ref>Murray, pp. 30-31, fn 2. Murray's source for the second pennon is "Relation du greffier de La Rochelle"</ref> and which she used personally. (Note that the battle flag might be held by a page, although Joan mostly wielded it instead of a lance or sword during battle, for it was her primary instrument of war.) The Annunciation, of course, was delivered by the Archangel Gabriel, who said to Mary in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?28 Luke 1:28],<blockquote>Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.</blockquote>It might be a symbolic gesture towards Mary, but if we consider that Joan's Voices ordered its design, and for what purpose she used it, Gabriel's greeting to Joan becomes significant: she was chosen by God for this mission. Lastly, that the battle standard depicted the Lord "giving His benediction to a lily," which, along with the figure of Mary on the opposite side, we must consider. The significance of the lily was not just as symbol of France or the monarchy, but of the Annunciation, as Our Lady was frequently depicted with it.<ref>In 1646 Pope Innocent X recognized the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, so the ''fleur-de-lys'' took on that additional symbolism. More generally, the flower represents divine rule, which I will discuss later.</ref> At the command of her Voices, Joan deliberately employed explicit connections to the Archangel Gabriel.   

When you began your petition, an answer was given which I have come to announce, because you are beloved. Therefore, mark the answer and understand the vision.</blockquote>We can draw another connection to Daniel, again, one Joan would have been unlikely to know about, in that the Book of Daniel was written under Hellenistic oppression of Antiochus IV, the Seleucid Greek king who seized power amidst a succession crisis in which he usurped the throne from the proper heir, his brother's son. Gabriel's appearance to Daniel helped the prophet to sort out the Babylonian, and subsequently Seleucid oppressions, and focus on God's will.  

When, just before the Battle of Orléans, Joan warned the French commander, the Bastard of Orléans,<ref>"Bastard" was a neutral description to indicate that his father wasn't married to his mother. The use of "Orlėans" in his name indicated high rank, as the Duke of Orlėans was his half-brother. He was first cousin to the king, Charles VII. His actual name was Jean de Dunois. In 1439 he was made "Count of Dunois." The coolest title he held was Knight of the Order of the Porcupine.</ref> to quit futzing around and get busy so she could save France, she told him that it wasn't about her, it was about God:<blockquote>This help comes not for love of me but from God Himself, who at the prayer of St. Louis and of St. Charlemagne has had pity on the city of Orléans. </blockquote>Saints Louis and Charlemagne?<ref>Charlemagne was canonized by the antipope Paschal III, whose acts were illegitimate, so Charlemagne is not recognized as a Saint. However, he has been venerated in France since Charles V (1338-1380), who led France to its highest points during the Hundred Years War, and so Joan would have considered him a Saint. </ref>