Joan of Arc is here again. In all French life her spirit lives. Her vision of Domremy is seen. The stern battle at Orleans is portrayed. The fearless girl stands holding her holy banner while the soldiers storm the gate. Afterward, all clothed in white, she stands upon the fagots which the soldiers are lighting with their torches. The priest is there. He has himself mounted upon the fagots and come as close as he could to the maiden who is bound to the stake. He holds high a crucifix. It is close to her lips. He blesses her and prays. Below, but close also to the fagots, is another priest, who chants the prayers for those about to die. The English priests and soldiers are in the background, awaiting the consummation of this fearful tragedy. It was ended at last. The flames destroyed the mortal part of that maiden who made France a kingdom by repelling the invader and invoking the spirit of patriotism with the blessing of religion upon it.
Other saints, other kings, are here in this hall of the heroes, - many of them,- but there is no one who did so much for France as did the maid of Domremy; no king who helped more to bring about good things for his people than the sainted Louis wo died in his crusade for his faith's sake.
Without these two there might have been no Notre Dame, the gr and cathedral in the very midst of the greatest of French cities. Here it stands to-day, with the river flowing about it. Here rise its towers toward the sky. Upon its façade are told the stories of what is best in life, what saddest in death.
Within are great columns, magnificent vaulted aisles. There are tombs of martyrs, not only those of olden time, but of to-day also; for here is the monument to the archbishop who was killed at the time of the Commune, and here, also, are the tombs of many priests and others who in these later days have helped to bring the truth of Christ to the people.
Above are the windows – the glorious windows, full of color, suggestive of all the splendor of a great people, suggestive also of the city that is to be hereafter when the heavens are opened and all see the place that has been prepared above.
This great cathedral! How wonderful it is! Its buttresses are time-defying. Its towers reach toward the sky. This is the home of the religion of France. Here is what her heroes have fought for. Here is what her saint have given their lives for.
The people come into these grand aisles, and sit beneath a light of story and of glory that shines upon them from the vast windows. They worship in the church that the heroic deeds of others have given to them. It would be well to walk quietly about the aisles, to stop at each chapel. To look on each window, to feel the power of every grand column, the uplifting spirit of every Gothic arch, and them remember that self-sacrifice has made it possible that France should have such monuments as these.
(From the book churches and castles of medieaval France" 1895)
