St. Joan of Arc - Patroness of France and of Soldiers - May 30th
Joan was born in a village of France. From her gentle, loving mother, she learned to be a good housekeeper. “I can sew and spin as well as any women,” she once said. She loved to pray, especially at the shrines of Our Blessed Mother. This honest, kind little peasant girl was to become a great soldier-saint. One day while she was watching her sheep, St. Michael the Archangel, the patron of her country, told her, “Daughter of God, go save France!” For three years she heard the voices of saints telling her to go, and when she was sixteen, she began her marvelous mission.
At that time there was a war going on between France and England. It was called the Hundred Years’ War. England had won so much land that the King of England called himself King of France, too. The real French King was a weak, fun-loving man who thought the French armies would never be able to save the country.
With his permission, St Joan led an army into the city of Orleans, which the English had almost captured. In her white, shining armor, this young heroine rode with her banner flying above her. On it were the names of Jesus and Mary. She was hit by an arrow in the great battle of Orleans, but she kept on urging her men to victory, and at last they won! St. Joan and her army won more and more battles and the English armies had to retreat. After these glorious victories, Joan’s time of suffering began. She was captured by the enemy, and the ungrateful French king did not even try to save her. She was put in prison and after an unfair trial, was burned at the stake.
Joan was not even twenty, and she had a great horror of fire. Yet she went bravely to her death, and her last word was “Jesus!”
When we meet with difficulties, instead of giving up, let us say this prayer: “By myself I can do nothing, but with God I can do all things.”