Joan of Arc became a hero to the French in the 15th century during the Hundred Years' War.

A peasant girl who received heavenly voices and visions, she believed she had a mission to overthrow the English and put Charles VII on the throne.

It said she convinced Charles to place her at the head of his armies by revealing things to him in private only the angels could have told her.

Her victories at Orléans and elsewhere gave Charles the crown he wanted.

Captured by pro-English nobles and abandoned by the king she was handed over to England and tried for witchcraft, heresy, and cross-dressing, she was convicted and burned at the stake, a death that understandably terrified her.

It said that as she was dying she cried out to nearby clergymen to lift up a crucifix, hold the cross high, she said, so I can see it through the flames.

I was reminded of those words yesterday as I watched Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris burning. When Saint Joan died in 1431 she was only 19, but the cathedral had already been standing for nearly 170 years.

It is stood as a symbol of the nation, of its civilization, and of its God, from the 13th century on.

It has withstood every war and disaster that has fallen on the great city.

But while its iconic towers remain and precious artwork and relics have been saved, the fire destroyed much of the interior.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known and investigators say they have found no sign of arson and are treating it as an accident, possibly connected to construction work being done at the site.

But the strange silence that has fallen over the press, the sudden unwillingness to speculate or even question authorities about their investigation, and especially the self-imposed censorship of any mention of the plague of church arson and desecrations that has fallen on France during length this year, that silence, that censorship speaks more than words about what everyone is thinking and what everyone fears.

I couldn't watch the beautiful structure burn from within without sensing I was looking at a symbol of what has happened not just to France, but to Europe, and maybe to Western civilization as a whole.

Trigger warning, I'm Andrew Clayvin, and this is the Andrew Clayvin Show.

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