Why You Need to Get to Know Joan of Arc

I have a long history with Joan of Arc — one that goes all the way back to my 8th grade confirmation and choosing her for my patron Saint.

Funny story: I almost didn’t choose her, based solely on her name.

I had secretly preferred the name “Lauren” to my own for most of my early life, and so I actually contemplated choosing St. Lawrence and requesting to shorten the name to “Lauren” so that my lifelong dream of being named Lauren could finally come true!

Seriously, kids are so funny!

Turns out, I really do like St. Lawrence and his final words “this side is done, you can turn me over” as he was being grilled to death, still make me want to fist bump him — but there is no doubt that St. Joan of Arc was meant to be my patron Saint.

I have always been a “fighter”, and the life of Joan of Arc always resonated with me so deeply.

I was the girl who took on the bullies of the neighborhood. My little sister and her friends would always turn to me when bullies were making their life difficult, and for some reason, as small as I was, I never doubted I could take them.

I’ll never forget the time I took out one of the “bullies” of the neighborhood, only to have him go home and bring back his much bigger bully buddy to finish me off.

He was clearly much bigger and stronger than me, and objectively speaking, should have been able to pummel me, but there was this fire in me that came out of who knows where — I like to think it was the Holy Spirit 🙂 — and I ran straight at this bully and knocked him to the ground with a few swift punches.

I didn’t stop there. As he ran to his bike and tried to peddle away, I ran after him, threw him off his bike and threw that bike into our local creek. Justice had been served!

In my defense, he started the fight — I just decided to finish it. To this day, I still assert that my cause was a noble one and I did what was necessary to stand up for all the bullied kids of the neighborhood.

It was one of my finest moments — that is, until his dad showed up at my house and started yelling at my Dad that his son had been ferociously attacked by one of his daughters.

I listened in from the other room and contemplated an escape out the window, but before I could implement my plan, my Dad called me over to the door and asked me to do some ‘splaining.

Before I could say a word, this boy’s father took one look at the little freckle-faced girl in front of him and then back to his much, much bigger son, and apologized for bothering us. That was the end of that.

I’ll never forget, years later, walking by a 6 foot tall burly football player in my cheerleading uniform and his friend turning to him and asking, “Isn’t that the girl who beat you up when you were little kids?”. Yep, it was.

The good news is that he ended up becoming a nice young man and just maybe his humbling experience of being pummeled by a tiny redhead gave him the humility he needed to change. I would like to think so.

But back to Joan of Arc.

Clearly, you could see why I loved this warrior of a woman who also had a noble cause to fight for. You see, the English had beaten down France and refused to allow France it’s autonomy.

The rightful King, Charles VII, was a bit of a cowardly young man who was afraid to claim the rightful throne — his fear of the powerful English army kept him hiding away, biding his time.

That is, until Joan entered the scene. She had received a special mission from God.

She had even received confirmation of this very important mission from St. Michael the Archangel himself— and she was faithful to that mission with every ounce of her being.

Her mission: to fight the English, drive them out of France, find Charles V, encourage him to take his rightful place and have him crowned.

And that is exactly what this humble maid of Orleans did!

But, don’t mistake Joan’s mission as just a worldly one.  Yes, she won amazing military victories, but she also inspired the soldiers around her to become men of God.

She got rid of the prostitutes that followed the French soldiers and encouraged the men to live a life of purity and devotion to God.

Joan meant business! She got them to go to confession and to receive the sacraments regularly. She encouraged them to be brave and strong and noble in their fight for France and the Church.

She took a bunch of slacker soldiers and helped to make them saints — through her words, her faith and her actions.

Sometimes we are tempted to look at St. Joan and only think that her cause was a worldly one — but it wasn’t that at all.

Her God-given mission had a much broader effect on France and the world:  kicking the English out of France saved the Catholic Church in France and ultimately saved souls for Christ and His Church in the years to follow.

When Protestantism would begin to take root in England in the years following Joan’s death, the Catholic Faith would be preserved in France.

One of my favorite quotes comes from St. Joan of Arc during her time leading the French soldiers.

“Go Forward Bravely.  Fear nothing.  Trust in God.  All will be well.” 

~St. Joan of Arc~

She had such conviction of God’s desire for France to triumph over the English that she gave her soldiers the courage to fight like they had never fought before.

She had a banner created that she carried into her many battles with the names of Jesus and Mary and she never let the soldiers give up, retreat, or lose heart.

She led them on to victory and she accomplished her mission perfectly.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking when you hear these words of St. Joan — “All will be well” — you’re probably thinking, “Um, things didn’t turn out so well for Joan of Arc” — and in some ways, you’d be right.  

I mean, after all, she was burned at the stake….never a good thing…and had been named a heretic by the Church that she loved….also not a good thing….but Joan had a God-given mission and she was faithful to it.

Joan’s “yes” to God actually changed the course of history, and it was her “yes” that inspired a nation to fight for God and to bring about a great victory for His Church, and now she wears a crown in Heaven.

In heavenly terms, all would be well.  

Joan’s title of “heretic” would be retracted, her trial condemned and she would eventually become one of the most inspirational Saints the Catholic Church has ever known.

Those awful English Church leaders who condemned Joan were truly rotten to the core, and it explains why England would fall into Protestantism in the coming years — their leaders had failed them.

Despite her trials, Joan knew that, in then end, the victory would be God’s and all those who fought on His side and for His Church.

So that is why we all need to get to know St. Joan of Arc. Who wouldn’t be inspired by her and the way she learned to work with men to bring about great and noble and beautiful things in this world?

May we all pick up the standard for Jesus and Mary, allow them to make us into the Saints the world needs now.

May we never give up the fight for Jesus and His Church! May we do our part to bring about a civilization of truth and love and mercy in this world.

Now, go forward bravely. Fear Nothing. Trust in God. All will be well!