Go Forward Bravely: The Mission and Passion of La Pucelle: 2

Saint Joan of Arc was the peasant girl of Domremy who led the armies of France and is a Catholic saint. How did an illiterate girl of seventeen years break a siege in nine days and face down a hostile tribunal with unwavering clarity?The mission of La Pucelle begins with an impossible ride of four hundred miles through enemy territory to the court at Chinon. Arriving safely with Jean de Metz, Joan recognized the Dauphin in a crowded room and secured her command only after a rigorous examination by theologians at Poitiers. Her obedience to her Voices shattered the English siege of Orléans in nine days and culminated in the coronation of Charles VII at Reims. When political caution stalled the campaign, Joan fought on until her capture at Compiègne, enduring a long imprisonment and the grueling Condemnation Trial at Rouen where her luminous answers confounded her judges. The volume leaves the reader at the Old Market Square on May 30, 1431, where Joan faced the fire with the name of Jesus on her lips.Sword and standard: the outfitting of Joan for war, including the rusted blade found exactly where she predicted behind the altar at Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois.Lightning Loire campaign: the sudden routing of the English at Jargeau, Meung-sur-Loire, Beaugency, and the decisive field battle at Patay.Trial of faith: the daily interrogations by hostile churchmen in which Joan stood alone without counsel and answered with perfect clarity.Martyrdom at Rouen: the execution where an English soldier feared for his soul after watching a virgin saint die.Book Two of The Maid of Heaven: A Three-Part Life of St. Joan of Arc. The first volume, The Voice in the Garden, explores the hidden years of her youth as heaven readied a peasant girl for battle, and the third volume, The Fire That Would Not Die, examines her earthly exoneration along with the eternal lessons drawn from her sacrifice.Readers seeking the history behind the shattered English siege at Orléans together with the inner life of a peasant girl who faced her judges at Rouen with unwavering clarity.