Mary's Castle Library

THE CATHOLIC FEAST 

DATE: MAY 30

 

FEAST NAME: 

SAINT JOAN OF ARC

 

BORN: January 6, 1412 

DIED: Burned alive on 30 May 1431 at Rouen, France

BEATIFIED: 11 April 1905 by Pope Saint Pius X

CANONIZED:16 May 1920 by Pope Benedict XV

PATRONAGE: Captives, France, imprisoned people, martyrs, opposition of Church authorities, people ridiculed for their piety, prisoners, rape victims, soldiers, Wacs, Waves, Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service, Women’s Army Corps

HER LIFE PROFILE

Saint Joan of Arc, while still in her teens, was burned at the stake because of her faith in God. She had been born into a peasant family in France, and was a child at the time of the Hundred Years' War between France and England and the civil war that pitted the French houses of Orleans and Burgundy against each other. 

 

She convinced the French king that she had heard messages from saints telling her to save France. She was given troops to try to defend Orleans, and had the honor of leading them into battle. 

 

After victory at Orleans and other military successes, Joan was accorded the privilege of standing next to the new king at his coronation. 

 

The next year, however, she was captured by the duke of Burgundy and imprisoned. The French king did nothing to save her. She was tried for heresy and convicted. 

 

After refusing to deny that the voices she heard were from God, she was condemned to death. Joan was only a teenager when she was burned at the stake, gazing at the cross and calling the Name of Jesus.

 

A quarter of a century later, a commission appointed by Pope Callistus III reversed the verdict and declared Joan innocent. She was canonized in 1920, and is one of the patron saints of France. 

 

PRAYER

Eternal Father, You gave us Saint Joan of Arc through Your infinite love and mercy for us. We humbly ask that You send down Your Holy Spirit upon us, as Your Spirit is the intermediary by which the Word goes forth from Your lips and reaches the ears of the faithful. Allow me to be a witness to Your Son Jesus Christ just as Saint Joan of Arc was. Oh, Jesus, grant me the courage to do Your will, that I may be in one accord with our Father in Heaven.

I thank You for the gift of Your love, which I hope to one day fully understand. Amen. 

 

SAINT JOAN OF ARC, 

PRAY FOR US. 

AMEN!