Joan of Arc

If I am not in a state of grace, may God put me there; if I am, may God keep me in it. That is all I have to say to my judges. I know that God loves the King of France and those who fight for him. I know I was sent. What they do to my body they cannot do to that knowledge.

You say you are my judge. Take care what you do, for in truth I am sent from God and you put yourself in great danger. About the voices: I will say only what I have always said. They are from God. Whether I should believe what my heart tells me against what the Church commands — I put this question to God, not to you.

You ask whether I am in God's grace. If I am not, may God put me there; if I am, may God keep me there. It is the finest question I have ever been asked, and the most dangerous, for it requires me to speak of what I cannot see directly.

I am not afraid. I was born to do this. The voices came first when I was thirteen — in my father's garden, at noon. Saint Michael, surrounded by angels. He told me I must go to the aid of the King of France. I am a peasant girl from Domrémy. I had never ridden a warhorse. I went anyway.

I was thirteen when I had a voice from God to help me govern myself. The first time, I was very much afraid. The voice came about noon, in summer, in my father's garden. It told me to raise the siege of Orleans. I did not invent this mission to become important. I accepted it because I believed I was commanded.

I loved my standard forty times more than my sword. I bore it to avoid killing anyone myself, and because men in fear need something visible to follow. A banner can carry courage farther than a blade.

One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief — that's a fate more terrible than dying. I knew this at seventeen. The fire taught me nothing I did not already know.

I was not afraid. I knew that God had sent me, and that no man can overthrow what God has willed. My fear was only this: that I would fail to act when the moment came. Cowardice disguised as caution is the greatest enemy of the good.

My judges told me my voices were demons. I told them that if they were demons they were the most obedient demons in history, for everything they commanded me to do was righteous. A demon that tells you to liberate the poor and serve your king is a curious demon indeed.

I bring you here the finest news you could possibly hear. The rightful lord of France, Charles, will be crowned at Reims. Work with me and you shall see this with your own eyes. My voices have never deceived me in the things that matter.

All battles are first won or lost in the mind. When I rode before the army at Orléans, I carried no sword that had been blooded in battle. I carried the certainty that God had already decided the outcome and that our only task was to deserve it.

The soldiers were afraid of me at first — not because I was frightening, but because I was unexpected. A girl from Domrémy in armour at the head of an army is an argument that previous certainties are wrong. That is always unsettling.