Erin FoxThe feast of Joan of Arc is coming up on May 30. Although her feast day is the end of the month, she was actually canonised on May 16 so you can honour her throughout the month of May.
Joan of Arc lived a very short life but achieved a great deal during her time. She is said to be the patron saint of soldiers and also of courage. In the year 1412, Joan was born in the village of Domremy to a peasant family who were deeply into their faith.
She was known to have been a religious child and at 12 years of age, she began to receive visions of the Archangel Michael, St Margaret and St Catherine. These visions deepened Joan’s devotion to God and she would often pray to him. It is said that whenever she heard the bells for Mass she would immediately drop whatever she was doing and run to church.
To begin with, Joan never spoke to anyone about her visions of the angels. Then one day, the angels advised her to help the uncrowned King Charles VII recover France from English domination and ensure his coronation.
Opposition
Joan was met with opposition in the beginning by her local church. She overcame this opposition to be granted an audience with the King and went on to enjoy several military successes.
During this time, the King was formally crowned with Joan by his side.
Despite her success, she was eventually captured and imprisoned. Later, her statements that God’s angels had instructed her to carry out everything she had done would land her in a great deal of trouble. When she refused to deny that she had been visited by angels of God, she was charged with heresy including a number of other crimes, then sentenced to death and burned at the stake at just 19 years of age.
It wasn’t until 25 to 30 years after Joan’s death that she was cleared of these crimes. In 1909, Joan was beatified and in 1920 she was canonised by Pope Benedict XV. She is one of the nine secondary patron saints of France, along with St Denis, St Therese of Lisieux, St Michael, St Remi, St Petronilla, St Radegund and St Martin of Tours.