EX LIBRIS : "JOAN OF ARC IN HER OWN WORDS"

ALL SAINTS DAY - OGNISANTI - TOUSSAINT

Saint Joan of Arc in her armour and mounted on her steed in heroic gilt statuary in Paris ( Photo by my wife Robyn Dixon.)

It is a great Feast Day and to-day's "Ex Libris"brings to our attention a great and most extraordinary Saint : Jeanne D'Arc  - Joan of Arc. She is also known as the Maid of Orleans, but mostly referred to herself as Jehanne the Maid.
Her "voices"which spoke to her the will of God for her, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret and Saint Michael the Archangel caused her to change the history of France- in effect to bring France into being. The reaction of English occupiers and compliant Church authorities to her claims of a Divinely instructed Mission, brought her finally to a heroic death - burnt at the stake.


The same fate, in equally discreditable circumstances befell another who claimed Divine inspiration - Fra Girolamo Savanarola -who also was burned at the stake with his companion Friars by the Florentine authorities. Like Joan,he too cracked under torture and mistreatment. But Joan corrected her error and went on to die heroically. Savanarola's case is too complex to deal with summarily.


Let us hear Saint Joan's own words , when learned Inquisitors and a Bishop tried to break her down at her trial:


"In what form was Saint Michael when he appeared to you?"


I saw no crown upon him. I know nothing of his garments".


"Was he naked?"


"Do you think God has not wherewith to clothe him? "


"Had he hair?"


"Why should it have been cut off?? I have not seen Blessed Michael since I left the Castle of Crotoy;I do not see him very often."


"Had he his scales?"


I do not know. I feel great joy when I see him; I think that, when I see him, I am not in mortal sin.


"When you confess,do you believe you are in mortal sin?"


I do not know if I have been in mortal sin:I do not believe that I have done the works thereof. Please God I have not been!Please God I shall not do,and that I have not done,things by which my soul shall be burdened!"


"What sign did you give to your King that you came from God?"


"I have always answered you that you shall not draw that from my lips. Go and ask him!"


"Do you not know the sign that you gave your King?"


"You shall not learn that from me."


"It concerns this trial."


"As to what I have"promised to keep secret,that I will not tell you.I promised in such a place that I cannot tell you without perjury."


We marvel at the "simple" peasant girl, harried by these educated clerics, endeavouring to trap her, yet even when she discloses some ignorance of Moral Theology ( it is not possible to commit mortal sin if you do not know it) her absolute candour confounds them. Yet when they get too smart, she puts them down firmly as with their attempts to make fun of her reference to Saint Michael, his clothing or his hair!


There have to my knowledge, been at least three films about Joan of Arc, the oldest starring Ingrid Bergman was badly flawed, the last starring Mila Jovovich was apparently rubbish, but in the middle in time, though only a few years ago was the one starring Lee Lee Sobieski. I loved it! She made an excellent Joan and dear old Peter O'Toole as the haunted Bishop Cauchon and Maximillian Schell as the Inquisitor, completed an excellent cast and a good script.It is movie length, made for TV in 1999 with excellent production values and is available on DVD. It doesn't hurt that Lee Lee Sobieski is quite beautiful and has the same surname as the great Polish hero King Jan III who stopped the advance of the Mohammedan invaders on Europe on 12th September, 1683.

The great church of Ste. Genevieve in Paris, consecrated,desecrated,re-consecrated,desecrated and now called the "Pantheon"still retains several grand paintings of Saint Joan of Arc. (Which I have pics of, but they are temporarily "lost"amongst the thousands of images on my computer.

Saint Joan of Arc was an inspiration in her life ,action, simplicity, resolution and fidelity. It is a neat little book.