The Bishop and the Vice-Inquisitor withdrew. They had triumphed over a
poor girl of twenty.

"If after their condemnation heretics repent, and if the signs of
their repentance are manifest, the sacraments of confession and the
eucharist may not be denied them, provided they demand them with
humility."[2540] Thus ran the sacred decretals. But no recantation, no
assurance of conformity, could save the relapsed heretic. He was
permitted confession, absolution, and communion; which means that at
the bar of the Sacrament the sincerity of his repentance and
conversion was believed in. But at the same time it was declared
judicially that his repentance was not believed in and that
consequently he must die.[2541]

[Footnote 2540: _Textus decretalium_, lib. v, ch. iv.]

[Footnote 2541: Ignace de Doellinger, _La Papaute_, traduit par A.
Giraud-Teulon, Paris, 1904, in 8vo, p. 105.]

Brother Martin Ladvenu heard Jeanne's confession. Then he sent Messire
Massieu, the Usher, to my Lord of Beauvais, to inform him that she
asked to be given the body of Jesus Christ.

The Bishop assembled certain doctors to confer on this subject; and
after they had deliberated, he replied to the Usher: "Tell Brother
Martin to give her the communion and all that she shall ask."[2542]

[Footnote 2542: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 158.]

Messire Massieu returned to the castle to bear this reply to Brother
Martin. For a second time Brother Martin heard Jeanne in confession
and gave her absolution.[2543]

[Footnote 2543: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 334.]

A cleric, one Pierre, brought the body of Our Lord in an unceremonious
fashion, on a paten covered with the cloth used to put over the
chalice, without lights or procession, without surplice or stole.[2544]

[Footnote 2544: _Ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 19, 334. De Beaurepaire,
_Recherches sur le proces_, pp. 116, 117.]

This did not please Brother Martin, who sent to fetch a stole and
candles.

Then, taking the consecrated host in his fingers and presenting it to
Jeanne, he said: "Do you believe this to be the body of Christ?"

"Yes, and it alone is able to deliver me."

And she entreated that it should be given to her.

"Do you still believe in your Voices?" asked the officiating priest.

"I believe in God alone, and will place no trust in the Voices who
have thus deceived me."[2545]

[Footnote 2545: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 482, 483 (information procured
after Jeanne's death).]

And shedding many tears