Saint of the Day † (May 30) ✠ St. Joan of Arc ✠ Martyr and Holy Virgin

 † Saint of the Day †

(May 30)

✠ St. Joan of Arc ✠

Martyr and Holy Virgin:

Born: Jeanne d'Arc

1412 AD

Domrémy, Duchy of Bar, Kingdom of France

Died: May 30, 1431 (Aged approx. 19)

Rouen, Normandy (Then under English rule)

Venerated in:

Roman Catholic Church

Anglican Communion

Beatified: April 18, 1909

Pope Pius X

Canonized: May 16, 1920

Pope Benedict XV

Feast: May 30

Patronage:

France; Martyrs; Captives; Military personnel; People ridiculed for their piety; Prisoners; Soldiers, Women who have served in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service); and Women's Army Corps

Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans", is considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War, and was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint. She was born to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée, a peasant family, at Domrémy in northeast France. Joan claimed to have received visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent Joan to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief army. She gained prominence after the siege was lifted only nine days later. Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims. This long-awaited event boosted French morale and paved the way for the final French victory.

On 23 May 1430, she was captured at Compiègne by the Burgundian faction, a group of French nobles allied with the English. She was later handed over to the English and put on trial by the pro-English Bishop Pierre Cauchon on a variety of charges. After Cauchon declared her guilty she was burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, dying at about nineteen years of age.

In 1456, an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, debunked the charges against her, pronounced her innocent, and declared her a martyr. In the 16th century, she became a symbol of the Catholic League, and in 1803 she was declared a national symbol of France by the decision of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. Joan of Arc is one of the nine secondary patron saints of France, along with Saint-Denis, Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Louis, Saint Michael, Saint Rémi, Saint Petronilla, Saint Radegund and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.

Joan of Arc has remained a popular figure in literature, painting, sculpture, and other cultural works since the time of her death, and many famous writers, playwrights, filmmakers, artists, and composers have created, and continue to create, cultural depictions of her.

Comments:

We can comment on several points in this very beautiful martyrdom.

First, the injustice of the sentence on the placard hung around her neck causes indignation. She was a saint – a virgin who had accomplished the mission God gave her to save the French people. And now she was going to be burned at the stake on the orders of French Archbishop Cauchon, the president of the tribunal, for an infamous reason. To understand the significance of this, I ask that you, you who have offered your lives to fight against Progressivism, imagine that you were condemned with a placard around your neck with the word “progressivism” written on it. It would be an analogous unjust injury, a similar fabrication, a comparable lie.

Second, there are her words about the voices from Heaven. She used to say that those voices came to hear from Heaven; and that it was by following the orders of those voices and through the strength communicated to her by them that she had accomplished the marvellous work that she did – the partial liberation of France and the restoration of the legitimate King.

On the contrary, the tribunal that judged her – a mixed tribunal, ecclesiastical, and civil – affirmed that all those wonderful victories she achieved over the English troops were accomplished through witchcraft. They said that the English army had been defeated because she had made a pact with the devil. Therefore, according to them, the voices came from Hell.

The problem, then, was not to determine whether the voices were true or not. No one questioned that fact, because they still were not yet under the deleterious influence of the systematic doubt of Protestantism. People had faith and knew that this kind of communication was not rare. The problem was that the tribunal had to say that the voices were coming from Hell because they did not favour the Kingdom of England. It was for this reason Joan was condemned as a heretic, a witch, etc.

Right before she expired, when she was preparing herself to stand before the tribunal of God, she gave another manifestation of sanctity. What did she do? She asked for a cross - across because an oath made in the presence of the cross is much graver. A warrior until the end – she died fighting. She did not die meekly permitting her enemies to kill her, but she died calling out a challenge, a protest, and an encouragement to the French resistance against English domination. Her shout said this:

     “French people, continue to fight because the voices in whose name I led you to victory truly spoke orders that came from Heaven. Heaven will give you, therefore, the complete victory.”

For this cry, she chose the perfect, supreme, and most tragic moment, the moment when she was already being consumed by the fire. The members of the tribunal were present assisting at the scene, the English soldiers standing guard, the Catholic people watching. She was tied to the stake, the flames were growing rapidly since the wood was soaked with oil. The fire was rising from bottom to top, so it had not yet reached the vital parts of her body.

At this crucial moment, no wail of pain, no cry for mercy came from her lips. She called out loudly to St. Michael, probably to ask strength from the Archangel – her great protector – to do what she would do. After that, like Our Lord who cried out in a loud voice before He expired, she also cried out in a loud voice, a voice that could be heard throughout the square. It was her protest:

     “Know this, all of you – you friends and enemies, you men of my time and you men of the future until the end of the world – know that the voices I heard came from Heaven. With this last proclamation, my mission is accomplished.”

This testimony given at the hour of her death is a supreme act of heroism – more worthy than her triumphal entrance into Reims beside the King who would be crowned there, more glorious than her first triumphal entrance into Orleans, and more splendid than all her epic deeds. That shout at the moment her soul was leaving this earth to be judged by God is truly marvellous!

Third, the flames consumed the body but spared her heart is also something very beautiful. To have a heart is not to be sentimental. To have heart is to have the strength of soul, great value, love for elevated things, love for the supernatural mission God gave us. And if ever someone had heart, this one was St. Joan of Arc. Thus the beautiful fact: the body was consumed by the fire, but not the heart. It was a miracle of Heaven to confirm what she had just affirmed minutes before, that the voices came from Heaven. She was already in Heaven but her heart was still on earth confirming the truth she had spoken.

The English commanders understood quite well the danger of keeping that heart. They sensed keenly the devotion that this heart would inspire, and they had a great fear of that heart, just as the Jews had fear of the Cadaver of Our Lord and sent guards to watch over His Sepulcher. For this reason, then, the English cast her heart into the river. It is the characteristic hardness of the impious that should not surprise us.