Saint Joan inspires us still

As i have mentioned, there is a Saint Joan of Arc chapel in St. Jerome's Church, Cleve., O. Everyone should see it. There used to be two tabernacles at St. Jerome's. One had been on the high altar, but it was decided to have just one to confirm with rubrics. It rests on an altar in the transept with the windows that tell Saint Joan's story.

Now, Saint Joan was belatedly canonised. Her case was written in the transcripts of her trial. She held up under the persecution of Bishop Cauchon, an employee of the english government in occupied France. She was faultless in her faith.

She became the spirit of French resistance for all time. This accidental warrior was in the popular imagination a knight. In World War I, she became a propaganda poster to sell US war bonds. Her image has been used to sell cheese, and all sorts of things. Her story has been told in wonderful plays and movies, and in wretched ones.

Ste. Jeanne d'Arc is what we wish her to be. She will always be connected with a romanticism of bravery, a constancy of divine purpose. The shortened form of the answer she gave to a woman, whom asked her why go on such a dangerous path?, has been, “I am not afraid. I was born to do this.”
Poster created by Tom Pepper for Mohawk College, Brantford Ontario.