Yesterday was the feast day of Joan of Arc. One of the examples of the direct intervention of God in human affairs, the brief history-altering life of Saint Joan of Arc has attracted the admiration of the most unlikely of men, including the Protestant Sir Winston Churchill, and the agnostic Mark Twain who called his book on Joan of Arc the finest thing he ever wrote. She was not canonized until 1920, but almost all of her contemporaries who met her had no doubt that she was a saint sent by God. Some of the English who were present as she was burned at the stake cried out that they were all damned because she was a saint. Jean Tressard, the Treasurer of Henry VI, King of England, wrote the following soon after the execution of Joan: “We are all lost for it is a good and holy woman that has been burned. I believe her soul is in the hands of God, and I believe damned all who joined in her condemnation”. With Saint Joan humanity came into contact with a messenger from God, and the result to her was as predictable as it was lamentable. However, the outcome of her mission was exactly as she had predicted. The weak Dauphin that she had crowned would reign as Charles VII and end the Hundred Years War in victory for France, something that none of his contemporaries thought remotely possible before Joan embarked on her mission.
God tends to use unlikely tools to work His ends. A peasant girl who lived scarcely nineteen years on this globe can sway the destiny of nations if God so wills. Joan speaks to us powerfully across almost six centuries of the power of God and the courage of a young maid.
Whatever thing men call great, look for it in Joan of Arc, and there you will find it.
Mark Twain
St. Joan is my daughter’s patron saint; she and I both read Mark Twain’s book about her and were astonished by her story. An amazing woman, warrior, and saint! Would that I have as much faith, confidence, and courage. St. Joan pray for us!
“Some of the English who were present as she was burned at the stake cried out that they were all damned because she was a saint.”
The Scottish Protestant historian, Andrew Lang, gives, perhaps, the best impartial description: “It is said by some who were present, that even the English Cardinal, Beaufort, wept when he saw the Maid die: “crocodiles’ tears!” One of the secretaries of Henry VI. (who himself was only a little boy) said, “We are all lost. We have burned a Saint!” They were all lost. The curse of their cruelty did not depart from them. Driven by the French and Scots from province to province, and from town to town, the English returned home, tore and rent each other; murdering their princes and nobles on the scaffold, and slaying them as prisoners of war on the field; and stabbing and smothering them in chambers of the Tower; York and Lancaster devouring each other; the mad Henry VI. was driven from home to wander by the waves at St. Andrews, before he wandered back to England and the dagger stroke—these things were the reward the English won, after they had burned a Saint. They ate the bread and drank the cup of their own greed and cruelty all through the Wars of the Roses. They brought shame upon their name which Time can never wash away; they did the Devil’s work, and took the Devil’s wages. Soon Henry VIII. was butchering his wives and burning Catholics and Protestants, now one, now the other, as the humour seized him.”
St Joan of Arc would not recognise her beloved France today. Sadly. God Bless France, once the defenders of the seat of St Peter, and come back to God.
Maybe more than you think Ezabelle. France was in many ways a dreadful place during the life of Saint Joan. It was largely under foreign control, with civil war in the rest. The Dauphin was considered a weak non-entity, his court filled with dubious and sinister figures. In many ways France was merely a geographic expression for a portion of Europe beset with misfortune, war and crime. The Church was still reeling in the aftermath of the Great Schism and the spirit of Gallicanism was alive and well among the French clergy. No, the France of her day was a hot mess, and I find that reassuring. God can take the most hopeless of human situations and redeem them swiftly as He did with Joan of Arc. Something to ponder in our time.
Donald R McClarey wrote, “The Church was still reeling in the aftermath of the Great Schism…”
In fact, the Western Schism only ended some 6 months after St Joan’s death, with the election of Pope Martinus V on 11 November 1417.
Thus, during her trial, when St Joan declared that she appealed to the pope, one of the judges asked her, “Which one?”
“Is there more than one?” was the seemingly innocent retort.
Actually MPS Joan was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431.
Donald R McClarey
Of course, you are quite correct.
The Anti-pope in question was the 2nd Benedict XIV Benedictus Quartus Decimus (the Frenchman Jean Carrier) 1430-1437, a sort of last kick of the Western Schism
My favorite saint. Likely because she took action, which I relate to.
My favorite book: Twain’s Joan of Arc. Magnificent.
While writing his book, Twain, I believe, fell in love with this courageous and holy young woman. It is a great summer read, IMHO.
Saint Joan of Arc is evidence that almighty God does not abandon His own.