May 30th - St. Joan (Jeanne) of Arc V (RM)
Born at Domrémy, Champagne, Lorraine, France, 1412; died at Rouen, France,
May 31, 1431; beatified in 1909; canonized in 1920; declared patroness of
France in 1922.
Joan's father, Jacques d'Arc, was a well-respected peasant farmer. Joan
never learned to read or write. She was 13 or 14 when she had the first of
her supernatural experiences. She heard a single voice addressing her from
nearby, accompanied by a blaze of light. She typically received visions
while tending her father's sheep. Later visions were composed of more
voices, and she was able to identify the speakers as Saints Michael,
Catherine of Siena, and Margaret, among others [Image 1] and [Image 2}.
By 1428, their messages to her had become specific. She was to present
herself to Robert Baudricourt, who commanded the king's armies in the
neighboring town of Vaucouleurs. Joan convinced an uncle to take her to
him,
but Robert laughed at her and commented that her father ought to
discipline
her.
But the visions continued. Secretly, she left home and returned to
Vaucouleurs. Baudricourt's doubt of her was somewhat mollified when news
reached him of a serious defeat of the French--at the Battle of Herrings
outside Orléans--in February 1429 which Joan had predicted. He sent her to
the king with an escort, and she chose to travel in men's clothes for her
own protection.
At Chinon, Charles disguised himself, but she identified him, and by a
secret sign communicated to her by her visions, she convinced him to
believe
in the divine origin of her mission. She asked for a troop of soldiers
that
she could lead to Orléans. Her request was questioned by much of the
court,
and she was sent to be examined by a panel of theologians at Poitiers.
After
a searching three-week examination, the panel advised Charles to make use
of
her services.
She was given a force, and a special standard was made for her bearing the
words: "Jesus:Maria" and a symbol of the Trinity to whom two angels
presented a fleur-de-lys. Joan wore white armor, and the force entered
Orléans on April 29. Her presence invigorated the town, and by May 8, the
English forts surrounding the town were captured. She was wounded in the
breast by an arrow, which enhanced her reputation.
She joined in a campaign on the Loire with the duc d'Alençon, who became a
good friend. The campaign was a great success, due in part to her
strengthening the morale of the troops and the British were routed at
Patay
and then at Troyes.
Joan now pushed for the dauphin to accept his responsibilities and pushed
for his coronation. On July 17, 1429, Charles VII was finally crowned, and
Joan's mission as set forth by her visions was completed. From then on,
she
experienced only military defeats. An attack on Paris failed, mainly due
to
the fact that Charles had supplied neither his sup****t nor his presence as
promised, and Joan was wounded in the thigh.
During a winter of truce, Joan stayed at court, where she was still viewed
with skepticism. When hostilities began again, she went to Compiegne,
which
was holding off the Burgundians. The drawbridge was closed too soon, and
Joan and some of her troops were left outside. She was dragged from her
horse and taken to the duke of Burgundy, May 24, 1430. She remained his
prisoner until late autumn.
King Charles made no efforts for her release. She had foretold that she
would be captured by the Burgundians and handed over to the English, and
so
it happened. She was sold to the English leaders. The determination of the
English to get rid of her is a measure of her power over her followers.
The British could not execute her for fighting them in a war, so they
arranged to have her sentenced as a sorceress and heretic. On February 21,
1431, she appeared before a tribunal led by Peter Cauchon, the bishop of
Beauvais, who hoped the English would help to make him the archbishop of
Rouen. She was interrogated about her "voices," her faith, and her wearing
of male clothing.
An unfair summary of her statements was made, and her visions were held to
be unholy in nature, an opinion sup****ted by the University of Paris. The
tribunal declared that if she refused to retract, she would be handed over
to the secular court as a heretic. She refused to recant, even after being
threatened with torture.
When she was brought for formal sentencing into the cemetery of Saint Ouen
before a huge crowd, however, she recanted to some degree, although it is
uncertain how much. She was led back to prison but unaccountably reassumed
the male dress that she had agreed to give up. She regained her courage
and
declared that all she had said during her testimony was true and that God
had truly sent her.
On May 30, 1431, she was led into the marketplace of Rouen to be burned at
the stake. She was not yet 20. Her ashes were thrown into the Seine.
In 1456, her mother and two brothers appealed for a reopening of the case,
which Pope Callistus III agreed to do. The trial and its verdict were
quashed. She was canonized as a holy maiden, not a martyr. She was called
La
Pucelle, "the Maid of Orléans" (Benedictines, Bentley, White).
Joan is ****trayed in art as a bareheaded girl in armor, with a sword, a
lance, or a banner with the words "Jesus: Maria" upon it; or she may wear
an
envisored helmet (White). In early pictures, her long hair flows down her
back to show that she is a maiden. She may also be shown (1) with lilies
of
France; (2) exhorting the king; (3) followed by a train of knights; or (4)
in female clothing with a sword (Roeder).
This version taken from:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0530.htm
Saint Quote:
I do a great wrong in His sight, when I beseech Him that He will hear my
prayer, which as I give utterance to it I do not hear myself. I entreat
Him
that He will think of me; but I regard neither myself nor Him. Nay, what
is
worse, turning over corrupt and evil thoughts in mine heart, I thrust a
dreadful offensiveness into His presence.
- Bernard of Clairvaux
Bible Quote:
Of everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and of him
to whom they have entrusted much, they will demand the more. St. Luke
12:48
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An invocation to St. Joan of Arc:
Saint Joan, apostle of the King****p of Christ, pray for us.
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A prayer to Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners:
Almighty and merciful God, who in blessed Mary ever
Virgin hast set up a refuge and a help for sinners, grant
that we, under her protection, may be absolved from all
our sins and may obtain the blessed effect of Thy great
mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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