Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc

My favorite hero and life model is Joan of Arc. She was born at Domremy in France in 1412. Like most peasants of her time, she never learned to read and write. She grew up as a devout Catholic under the strong influence of her deeply religious mother.

By the age of 13, Joan had strange visions of saints speaking to her. The English were the rulers in Paris then. They controlled the northern part of France. In the southern part of France where Joan lived, the French people recognized young king Charles VII as their ruler. Charles was not a crowned king because the city of Reims, where French kings were crowned, lay in enemy territory. So the king lived in the city of Orleans.

The voices of saints that Joan heard, informed her that God had chosen her to help King Charles drive the English from the French soil. She met the king at the age of 17. The king at first did not believe in her visions and spiritual powers. He tested her many times. Once he slipped into the ranks of his courtiers and let one of his nobles occupy the throne. Joan, however, was not deceived and quickly identified Charles as her king. Even the Charles was doubtful. But when she told him exactly what he asked of God when he prayed alone, he realized that she possessed unusual powers. Then Charles gave her armor, a banner and the command of troops.

Joan led the French army and defeated the English who laid siege to Orleans. Henceforth she was referred to as the maid of Orleans. She led the French to victory in four battles. Joan entered the city of Reims and stood beside Charles when he was crowned as king on July 17, 1429. After the coronation, Joan became anxious to free Paris from the English control. In September 1429 she was wounded in a minor battle near Paris.

In May 1430 she was captured by the enemy. The English tried her on charges of witchcraft and heresy. A tribunal of the clergy sentenced her to death. Joan was burned at the stake before a large crowd in Rouen on May 30, 1431. Because heretics could not receive a Christian burial, Joan’s ashes were thrown into River Seine. She was declared a saint by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.

I admire her and suggest her as the best model for the present youth because she is like Jesus in so many ways. Like Jesus, who was a son of a village carpenter, she was the child of humble and poor farmer. Like Jesus, an illiterate who revealed his spiritual insights at the age of 12 while he argued with religious Jewish scholars in the temple at Jerusalem, she exhibited spiritual insights and heavenly knowledge at the age of 13. Like Jesus, who proclaimed that he had the mission to establish God’s kingdom on earth, she proclaimed that God had given her the mission to reclaim France from the English for the French. Like Jesus, who courageously fought to fulfill the mission? God had given her. Like Jesus, who was called a blasphemer and an enemy of God, she was called a witch and a heretic by the religious leaders of her day. Like Jesus, who was crucified for proclaiming the truth, she was burned at the stake for abiding by the revelations God gave her. Like Jesus, who rose from the dead after 3 days, she who judged a sinner by the Church was declared a saint, by the same Church. Like Jesus, she is one of those visionaries who preached and stood for values and truths and whom the religious leaders of the day fail to understand. With Jesus she suffered to fulfill God’s will.

Article by: Ann Mary, St. Teresa’s College