Saint Joan of Arc

Saint Joan of Arc is a confusing figure for some these days. I think she’s abused by the feminists who dash-off with her story for their own agenda which runs contrary to the authentic Christian woman, Joan. If you miss the fact of Joan’s rootedness in Christ and the Church, then you miss the point of her life and work. The synthesis of the Pope’s teaching is given here. The full texts follows below.

Our catechesis
today deals with Saint Joan of Arc, one of the outstanding women of the later
Middle Ages. Raised in a religious family, Joan enjoyed mystical experiences
from an early age. At a time of crisis in the Church and of war in her native
France, she felt God’s call to a life of prayer and virginity, and to personal
engagement in the liberation of her compatriots. At the age of seventeen, Joan
began her mission among the French military forces; she sought to negotiate a
just Christian peace between the English and French, took an active part in the
siege of Orleans and witnessed the coronation of Charles VII at Rheims.
Captured by her enemies the next year, she was tried by an ecclesiastical court
and burnt at the stake as a heretic; she died invoking the name of Jesus. Her
unjust condemnation was overturned twenty-five years later. At the heart of
Saint Joan’s spirituality was an unfailing love for Christ and, in Christ, for
the Church and for her neighbour. May the prayers and example of Saint Joan of
Arc inspire many lay men and women to devote themselves to public life in the
service of God’s Kingdom, and encourage all of us to live to the fullest our
lofty calling in Christ.