Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle): Difference between revisions

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== So what did Joan do? ==

~~To save France~~, Joan ~~needed to crown the Dauphin legitimate King of France; to crown the King~~, ~~she needed to relieve the city of Orléans from an English siege~~ and ~~then clear~~ the ~~way~~ to ~~Reims~~ for ~~his coronation; to take~~ the ~~city of Orléans~~, ~~she needed to lead~~ the ~~French army; to lead~~ the ~~army, she needed~~ the ~~support of~~ the ~~Dauphin and his court; to get~~ the ~~support of~~ the ~~Dauphin she needed to convince him of her divine mission;~~ to ~~convince him of~~ her ~~divine mission she had to do meet with him; to meet with him, she had to generate enthusiasm and curiosity as to who she might be; to convince people she was~~ the ~~fulfillment of a legend of a girl who would save France~~, she ~~had to be thoroughly convinced of~~ it ~~herself; to convince the Dauphin's court, she had to demonstrate Catholic orthodoxy to ecclesiastical interrogators; to earn the loyalty~~ and ~~enthusiasm of her fellow military commanders, she had to exercise tactical brilliance and remarkable bravery~~.

Self-defeating, crossed ambition created the twisted world Saint Joan was sent into in 1429, a moment and a cause hardly unique in history. Joan made it unique. She elevated the Hundred Years War to a higher purpose for the French, with the opposite effect upon the English. The sheer hatred for her of the Burgundian clerics who did the dirty work for the English at the Trial speaks to her larger role. She didn't just upset the cart, she picked it up and turned it around.

To those ends, several things stand out:

So what did Joan do?

To save France, Joan needed to affirm the legitimacy of the French King, the Dauphin Charles; to crown him legitimately, she needed to take him to the traditional site of coronation at Reims; to get him to Reims, she needed to clear a path through enemy-held territory; to start that campaign, she needed first to relieve the city of Orléans from the English siege; to take Orléans, she had to earn the loyalty and enthusiasm of her fellow military commanders and troops and to exercise tactical brilliance and remarkable bravery; to lead the army, she needed the support of the Dauphin and his court; to convince the Dauphin's court, she had to demonstrate Catholic orthodoxy to ecclesiastical interrogators; to even be subjected to that investigation, she had to convince the Dauphin of the possibility of a divine mission; to convince him of her divine mission she had to meet with him; to meet with him she needed to have generated popular enthusiasm and curiosity as to who she might be, especially that she might be the fulfillment of the legend of a girl who would save France; for that she had to be thoroughly convinced of it herself;

To those ends, several things stand out:

# She believed and obeyed her Voices;

# So convinced, she would not take no for an answer;

# She accurately prophesized events and outcomes;

# She generated tremendous enthusiasm from the people;

# She breathed confidence into the French army, which had been browbeaten and self-defeated until she inspired them with her leadership and example and disciplined them through the Confessional and the Mass;

# She exercised decisive military and political leadership, knowing when and where to attack at key moments and taking crucial steps towards formal coronation of the Dauphin Charles as King Charles VII;

# She exercised decisive military and political leadership, knowing when and where to attack at key moments and taking crucial steps towards formal coronation of the Dauphin Charles as King Charles VII at Reims;

# She scared the crap out of the English;<ref>On May 3rd and December 12, 1430, two mandates were published “against the captains and soldiers, deserters terrified by the Maid’s enchantments”. These mandates were proclaimed in the name of the infant King of England by his uncle the Duke of Gloucester. (Pernoud, Regine. Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses (pp. 127-128). Scarborough House. Kindle Edition.) </ref> shifting battlefield confidence to the French.

And that's just to save France.

To become a Saint, Joan had to suffer betrayal and martyrdom in a uniquely well-documented show trial at the hands of the English, the "Trial of Condemnation". To preserve the transcripts and memory of that trial, her mother had to convince the French King and the Pope to reassess her prior conviction in a similarly uniquely well-documented investigation called the "Trial of Rehabilitation"~~, which took place two decades later~~. These transcripts create a ~~uniquely broad~~ historical record of a medieval personage~~. While not alone, these transcripts~~ form our understanding of Joan ~~(going in many directions, sadly) and without~~ them we likely would never have heard about Joan of Arc, much less Saint Joan of Arc.

More importantly, to become a Saint Joan had to suffer betrayal and martyrdom in a uniquely well-documented show trial at the hands of the English, the "Trial of Condemnation". To preserve the transcripts and memory of that trial, two decades later, with Joan largely forgotten, her mother had to convince the French King and the Pope to reassess her prior conviction in a similarly and uniquely well-documented investigation called the "Trial of Rehabilitation". These transcripts create a rare historical record of a medieval personage which form our understanding of Saint Joan. Without them we likely would never have heard about Joan of Arc, much less Saint Joan of Arc.

As Pope Benedict XVI describes,<ref name=":8">[https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110126.html General AudieGeneral Audience of 26 January 2011: Saint Joan of Arc | BENEDICT XVI] I removed the inline citations from the original.</ref> <blockquote>Joan of Arc did not know how to read or write, but the depths of her soul can be known thanks to two sources of exceptional historical value: the two ''Trials'' that concern her. The first, the ''Trial of Condemnation,'' contains the transcription of the long and numerous interrogations to which Joan was subjected in the last months of her life (February-May 1431) and reports the Saint’s own words. The second, the ''Trial of Nullity of the Condemnation'' or of “rehabilitation”, contains the depositions of about 120 eyewitnesses of all the periods of her life. </blockquote>Saint Joan was not canonized for having saved France, nor was she canonized for her visions. She was canonized for her faith, which ~~includes~~ faithfulness to her ~~visions~~. As Benedict beautifully expresses it,<ref name=":8" /> <blockquote>In Jesus Joan contemplated the whole reality of the Church, the “Church triumphant” of Heaven, as well as the “Church militant” on earth. According to her words, “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing”. This affirmation, cited in the ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' (n. 795), has a truly heroic character in the context of the ''Trial of Condemnation'', before her judges, men of the Church who were persecuting and condemning her. In the Love of Jesus Joan found the strength to love the Church to the very end, even at the moment she was sentenced.</blockquote>I'd add ~~to that~~, ~~that~~ she ~~also~~ saved Catholicism.

As Pope Benedict XVI describes,<ref name=":8">[https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110126.html General AudieGeneral Audience of 26 January 2011: Saint Joan of Arc | BENEDICT XVI] I removed the inline citations from the original.</ref> <blockquote>Joan of Arc did not know how to read or write, but the depths of her soul can be known thanks to two sources of exceptional historical value: the two ''Trials'' that concern her. The first, the ''Trial of Condemnation,'' contains the transcription of the long and numerous interrogations to which Joan was subjected in the last months of her life (February-May 1431) and reports the Saint’s own words. The second, the ''Trial of Nullity of the Condemnation'' or of “rehabilitation”, contains the depositions of about 120 eyewitnesses of all the periods of her life. </blockquote>Saint Joan was not canonized for having saved France, nor was she canonized for her visions. She was canonized for her faith, which included faithfulness to her Visions. As Benedict beautifully expresses it,<ref name=":8" /> <blockquote>In Jesus Joan contemplated the whole reality of the Church, the “Church triumphant” of Heaven, as well as the “Church militant” on earth. According to her words, “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing”. This affirmation, cited in the ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' (n. 795), has a truly heroic character in the context of the ''Trial of Condemnation'', before her judges, men of the Church who were persecuting and condemning her. In the Love of Jesus Joan found the strength to love the Church to the very end, even at the moment she was sentenced.</blockquote>And, I'd add, she saved Catholicism.

----

'''Saint Joan of Arc saved France, and doing so saved Catholicism itself, which I propose was her divine mission all along. She was canonized by the Catholic Church on May 16, 1920.'''

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Related pages:

* [[Saint Joan of Arc ~~(Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc Timeline~~|Joan of Arc Timeline]][[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc Timeline|]]

* [[Saint Joan of Arc timeline|Joan of Arc Timeline]][[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc Timeline|]]

* [[Saint ~~Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/~~Joan of Arc bibliography|Joan of Arc bibliography]][[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc bibliography|]]

* [[Saint Joan of Arc bibliography|Joan of Arc bibliography]][[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc bibliography|]]

* [[~~Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Kings of France and England|~~Kings of France and England]]

* [[Kings of France and England]]

* [[~~Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Popes and antipopes|~~Popes and antipopes]]

* [[Popes and antipopes]]

* [[Saint Joan of Arc ~~(Jeanne la Pucelle)/People, places at terms in the story of Joan of Arc~~|Saint Joan of Arc Glossary]] for names, places & terms, as well as a flow chart of the lineage of French Kings (which can otherwise be confusing)

* [[Saint Joan of Arc glossary|Saint Joan of Arc Glossary]] for names, places & terms, as well as a flow chart of the lineage of French Kings (which can otherwise be confusing)

* [[~~Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/The Life of Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel|~~The Life of Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel]] (with Joan of Arc series from National Gallery of Art)

* [[The Life of Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel]] (with Joan of Arc series from National Gallery of Art)

Here for [[:Category:Saint Joan of Arc|Saint Joan of Arc category]] list of related pages

</div>

@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 == So what did Joan do? ==
-To save France, Joan needed to crown the Dauphin legitimate King of France; to crown the King, she needed to relieve the city of Orléans from an English siege and then clear the way to Reims for his coronation; to take the city of Orléans, she needed to lead the French army; to lead the army, she needed the support of the Dauphin and his court; to get the support of the Dauphin she needed to convince him of her divine mission; to convince him of her divine mission she had to do meet with him; to meet with him, she had to generate enthusiasm and curiosity as to who she might be; to convince people she was the fulfillment of a legend of a girl who would save France, she had to be thoroughly convinced of it herself; to convince the Dauphin's court, she had to demonstrate Catholic orthodoxy to ecclesiastical interrogators; to earn the loyalty and enthusiasm of her fellow military commanders, she had to exercise tactical brilliance and remarkable bravery.
+Self-defeating, crossed ambition created the twisted world Saint Joan was sent into in 1429, a moment and a cause hardly unique in history. Joan made it unique. She elevated the Hundred Years War to a higher purpose for the French, with the opposite effect upon the English. The sheer hatred for her of the Burgundian clerics who did the dirty work for the English at the Trial speaks to her larger role. She didn't just upset the cart, she picked it up and turned it around.
-To those ends, several things stand out:
+So what did Joan do?
+To save France, Joan needed to affirm the legitimacy of the French King, the Dauphin Charles; to crown him legitimately, she needed to take him to the traditional site of coronation at Reims; to get him to Reims, she needed to clear a path through enemy-held territory; to start that campaign, she needed first to relieve the city of Orléans from the English siege; to take Orléans, she had to earn the loyalty and enthusiasm of her fellow military commanders and troops and to exercise tactical brilliance and remarkable bravery; to lead the army, she needed the support of the Dauphin and his court; to convince the Dauphin's court, she had to demonstrate Catholic orthodoxy to ecclesiastical interrogators; to even be subjected to that investigation, she had to convince the Dauphin of the possibility of a divine mission; to convince him of her divine mission she had to meet with him; to meet with him she needed to have generated popular enthusiasm and curiosity as to who she might be, especially that she might be the fulfillment of the legend of a girl who would save France; for that she had to be thoroughly convinced of it herself;
+To those ends, several things stand out:
 # She believed and obeyed her Voices;
 # So convinced, she would not take no for an answer;
 # She accurately prophesized events and outcomes;
 # She generated tremendous enthusiasm from the people;
 # She breathed confidence into the French army, which had been browbeaten and self-defeated until she inspired them with her leadership and example and disciplined them through the Confessional and the Mass;
-# She exercised decisive military and political leadership, knowing when and where to attack at key moments and taking crucial steps towards formal coronation of the Dauphin Charles as King Charles VII;
+# She exercised decisive military and political leadership, knowing when and where to attack at key moments and taking crucial steps towards formal coronation of the Dauphin Charles as King Charles VII at Reims;
 # She scared the crap out of the English;<ref>On May 3rd and December 12, 1430, two mandates were published “against the captains and soldiers, deserters terrified by the Maid’s enchantments”. These mandates were proclaimed in the name of the infant King of England by his uncle the Duke of Gloucester. (Pernoud, Regine. Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses (pp. 127-128). Scarborough House. Kindle Edition.) </ref> shifting battlefield confidence to the French.
 And that's just to save France.
-To become a Saint, Joan had to suffer betrayal and martyrdom in a uniquely well-documented show trial at the hands of the English, the "Trial of Condemnation". To preserve the transcripts and memory of that trial, her mother had to convince the French King and the Pope to reassess her prior conviction in a similarly uniquely well-documented investigation called the "Trial of Rehabilitation", which took place two decades later. These transcripts create a uniquely broad historical record of a medieval personage. While not alone, these transcripts form our understanding of Joan (going in many directions, sadly) and without them we likely would never have heard about Joan of Arc, much less Saint Joan of Arc.
+More importantly, to become a Saint Joan had to suffer betrayal and martyrdom in a uniquely well-documented show trial at the hands of the English, the "Trial of Condemnation". To preserve the transcripts and memory of that trial, two decades later, with Joan largely forgotten, her mother had to convince the French King and the Pope to reassess her prior conviction in a similarly and uniquely well-documented investigation called the "Trial of Rehabilitation". These transcripts create a rare historical record of a medieval personage which form our understanding of Saint Joan. Without them we likely would never have heard about Joan of Arc, much less Saint Joan of Arc.
-As Pope Benedict XVI describes,<ref name=":8">[https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110126.html General AudieGeneral Audience of 26 January 2011: Saint Joan of Arc | BENEDICT XVI]  I removed the inline citations from the original.</ref> <blockquote>Joan of Arc did not know how to read or write, but the depths of her soul can be known thanks to two sources of exceptional historical value: the two ''Trials'' that concern her. The first, the ''Trial of Condemnation,'' contains the transcription of the long and numerous interrogations to which Joan was subjected in the last months of her life (February-May 1431) and reports the Saint’s own words. The second, the ''Trial of Nullity of the Condemnation'' or of “rehabilitation”, contains the depositions of about 120 eyewitnesses of all the periods of her life.  </blockquote>Saint Joan was not canonized for having saved France, nor was she canonized for her visions. She was canonized for her faith, which includes faithfulness to her visions. As Benedict beautifully expresses it,<ref name=":8" /> <blockquote>In Jesus Joan contemplated the whole reality of the Church, the “Church triumphant” of Heaven, as well as the “Church militant” on earth. According to her words, “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing”. This affirmation, cited in the ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' (n. 795), has a truly heroic character in the context of the ''Trial of Condemnation'', before her judges, men of the Church who were persecuting and condemning her. In the Love of Jesus Joan found the strength to love the Church to the very end, even at the moment she was sentenced.</blockquote>I'd add to that, that she also saved Catholicism.
+As Pope Benedict XVI describes,<ref name=":8">[https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110126.html General AudieGeneral Audience of 26 January 2011: Saint Joan of Arc | BENEDICT XVI]  I removed the inline citations from the original.</ref> <blockquote>Joan of Arc did not know how to read or write, but the depths of her soul can be known thanks to two sources of exceptional historical value: the two ''Trials'' that concern her. The first, the ''Trial of Condemnation,'' contains the transcription of the long and numerous interrogations to which Joan was subjected in the last months of her life (February-May 1431) and reports the Saint’s own words. The second, the ''Trial of Nullity of the Condemnation'' or of “rehabilitation”, contains the depositions of about 120 eyewitnesses of all the periods of her life.  </blockquote>Saint Joan was not canonized for having saved France, nor was she canonized for her visions. She was canonized for her faith, which included faithfulness to her Visions. As Benedict beautifully expresses it,<ref name=":8" /> <blockquote>In Jesus Joan contemplated the whole reality of the Church, the “Church triumphant” of Heaven, as well as the “Church militant” on earth. According to her words, “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing”. This affirmation, cited in the ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' (n. 795), has a truly heroic character in the context of the ''Trial of Condemnation'', before her judges, men of the Church who were persecuting and condemning her. In the Love of Jesus Joan found the strength to love the Church to the very end, even at the moment she was sentenced.</blockquote>And, I'd add, she saved Catholicism.
 ----
 '''Saint Joan of Arc saved France, and doing so saved Catholicism itself, which I propose was her divine mission all along. She was canonized by the Catholic Church on May 16, 1920.'''
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 <div style="background-color:#e8f0f2; border: 1px solid; margin:15px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right:15px; padding-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px;">
 <small>Related pages:</small>
-* <small>[[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc Timeline|Joan of Arc Timeline]]</small>[[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc Timeline|</sub>]]
+* <small>[[Saint Joan of Arc timeline|Joan of Arc Timeline]]</small>[[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc Timeline|</sub>]]
-* <small>[[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc bibliography|Joan of Arc bibliography]]</small>[[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc bibliography|</sub>]]
+* <small>[[Saint Joan of Arc bibliography|Joan of Arc bibliography]]</small>[[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Joan of Arc bibliography|</sub>]]
-* <small>[[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Kings of France and England|Kings of France and England]]</small>
+* <small>[[Kings of France and England]]</small>
-* <small>[[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/Popes and antipopes|Popes and antipopes]]</small>
+* <small>[[Popes and antipopes]]</small>
-* <small>[[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/People, places at terms in the story of Joan of Arc|Saint Joan of Arc Glossary]] for names, places & terms, as well as a flow chart of the lineage of French Kings (which can otherwise be confusing)</small>
+* <small>[[Saint Joan of Arc glossary|Saint Joan of Arc Glossary]] for names, places & terms, as well as a flow chart of the lineage of French Kings (which can otherwise be confusing)</small>
-* <small>[[Saint Joan of Arc (Jeanne la Pucelle)/The Life of Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel|The Life of Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel]] (with Joan of Arc series from National Gallery of Art)</small>
+* <small>[[The Life of Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel]] (with Joan of Arc series from National Gallery of Art)</small>
 <small>Here for [[:Category:Saint Joan of Arc|Saint Joan of Arc category]] list of related pages</small>
 </div>