If it had been buried and hidden it was not very long before, because the rust could easily be removed by rubbing.

The priests were careful to offer it to the Maid with great ceremony[824] before giving it to the armourer who had come for it.
They enclosed it in a sheath of red velvet, embroidered with the royal flowers de luce.

When Jeanne received it she recognised it to be the one revealed to her in a celestial vision and promised her by her Voices, and she failed not to let the little company of monks and soldiers who surrounded her know that it was so.

This they took to be a good omen and a sign of victory.[825] To protect Saint Catherine's sword the priests of the town gave her a second sheath; this one was of black cloth.

Jeanne had a third made of very tough leather.[826] [Footnote 824: _Trial_, vol.i, pp.