St. Joan Of Arc

The Saint of the Month is a regular feature, contributed by a member of our church.

Feast Day: May 30

Patroness: of soldiers and France

Birth: 1412

Death: 1431

Canonized: by Pope Benedict XV

French Name: Jeanne d'Arc

Setting up the Stage - Story of Deborah in the Book of Judges: 4 - 5

To better understand St. Joan of Arc, let's look at Deborah in the Bible (Judges chapters 4-5).

Deborah, the only female judge in the Bible, served ancient Israel as prophet, judge, military leader and songwriter. She is introduced, like the other 11 judges, without fanfare. The Bible records no dissent or rebellion against her. The two chapters of Judges begins with Israel’s disobedience and vividly describes a Holy War. Because Israel sinned, they learned from hardship, repented, and cried out to the Lord. The Lord responds with a plan of deliverance. Deborah is seen as a judge settling disputes and later summons Barak. She tells him the Lord commands him to position himself at Mount Tabor and bring in 10,000 men and fight against Sisera the commander for Jabin, a Canaanite king who ruled Israel with cruelty and violence.

Judges 4: 8-9

8 Then Barak replied, “I will go if you go with me, but if you don't go with me, I won't go either.”

9 She answered, “All right, I will go with you, but you won't get any credit for the victory, because the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman.” So Deborah set off for Kedesh with Barak.

(Here the reader naturally assumes that the woman referred here is Debora; but a Kenite woman, Jael, is in fact the woman who seals Sisera’s fate.)

The Story of Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was born during the violent times of the fifteenth century. During her childhood, King Henry V of England invaded France. He laid claim to the crown of the French king, Charles VI, who was mentally ill. Paralyzed by civil war, the French could not put up much of a defense. The Burgundians became England’s allies and brought the war home to Joan’s village. The raiders sacked her little village, forcing them to flee. Thus, the brutality of war disrupted Joan of Arc’s childhood to acquaint her with fear.

Joan was a peasant girl living in medieval France. She believed God had chosen her to lead France to victory in its long-running war with England. She was said to have heard the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret. With no military training, Joan convinced the embattled crown prince Charles of Valois to allow her to lead a French army to the besieged city of Orléans, where it achieved a momentous victory over the English and their French allies, the Burgundians. After seeing the prince crowned King Charles VII, Joan was captured by Anglo-Burgundian forces. She was eventually sold to the English for 10,000 gold coins and was then tried as a heretic and witch in a trial that violated the legal process of the time. She was eventually burnt at the stake after a politically-motivated trial in 1431, at the age of 19 and her ashes were scattered in the Seine River. 25 years later, a second church trial nullified the earlier verdict. By the time she was officially canonized in 1920. The Maid of Orléans (as she was known) had long been considered one of history’s greatest saints, and an enduring symbol of French unity and nationalism.

Her Trials

Her trial records are well preserved documents to this time. It includes statements from Joan that eyewitnesses later claimed astonished the court since she was an illiterate peasant who was able to escape theological traps. The most well-known exchange was when Joan was "asked if she knew she was in God's grace, she answered: "If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me." The question was a trap because the church doctrine was that no one could be certain of being in God's grace. If she answered yes, she would have been charged with heresy, but if she answered no, she would have been confessing her own guilt. Many members of the tribunal later testified that important parts of the transcript were altered.

There were 70 charges against her. These ranged from stealing horses to claiming that God had directly contacted her, as well as the sorcery for which she was widely scandalized for. But by May 1431, these charges had been narrowed down to just 12, mostly related to the fact that she wore men’s clothes.

Joan claimed the army was always commanded by a nobleman and that she never killed anyone in battle since she preferred only to carry her banner, which she said was "forty times" better than a sword. Several noblemen claimed she greatly affected their decisions since they accepted she gave Divinely inspired advice.

Paradox of Christian Life

The church officially remembers Joan of Arc not as a martyr but as a virgin - the Maid of Orleans. Although Joan was a martyr, she died because she did what she thought God wanted her to do. But she was killed for politics, not for her faith. Pagans did not execute her for refusing to worship their gods or Infidels slay her for defying them. Political enemies burnt her at the stake for defeating them at war.

Christian people, good and bad alike, cheered at her demise, while some others wept. This is troubling, but was expected as the war she fought was between French Christians and English Christians. We too have waged wars like that, pitting Christian against Christian.

Just as we may have felt that God was on our side, Joan believed that God was with the French. When the judges who condemned her asked if the heavenly voices she followed to war spoke in English, she replied tartly, “Why should they speak English when they were not on the English side?”

Leadership resides not in gender but in character and gifting

Joan of Arc has been the subject of many books, plays, operas and movies. Most noteworthy are the documentaries on her trials. Hundreds of years later, she inspires more questions than nearly any saint in history. She continues to fascinate and captivate the popular imagination.