Meet St. Joan of Arc and learn her remarkable calling to command the French army. Read this excerpt from Unbreakable!
Joan of Arc is one of history’s most fascinating figures. Since the fifteenth century, she has captivated the imagination of people worldwide as each new generation has added to the enormous collection of books, poems, paintings, documentaries, and other works telling her story. Historical records provide an abundance of primary source material. Through transcripts of her two trials and accompanying documents, more evidentiary details are known about her life than that of any person who lived up to her time.
Joan was an illiterate teenaged farm girl who had no connections to the military or French nobility. And yet, when she was sixteen years old, she left home for the singular purpose of commanding a French army, defeating the English in battle, and leading King Charles VII to Reims for his coronation, thus liberating France from English rule. That she accomplished such an outrageous mission is as remarkable as the fact that she embarked on it at all.
It may not have appeared so at first, but Joan had all she needed to save her beloved nation. She had heavenly assistance.
For three years before embarking on her mission, she received guidance and inspiration from Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Saint Margaret of Antioch—three saints who helped her draw closer to God through prayer and the sacraments. Through their intercession, she came to know, accept, and embrace the divine plan for her life: she would be the instrument through which God would save France, and she would do it with His help and on His terms.
In obedience, Joan persevered through physical and emotional anguish. She was betrayed by her countrymen, abandoned by her king, and convicted of heresy by the Catholic Church, suffering through a farcical trial that resulted in a death sentence. Innocent of all charges and never wavering in her faith, Joan was burned alive at the stake.
Once, at the beginning of her journey, Joan was asked how she would make it to the king when the road she needed to take was fraught with danger from the enemy. Her answer reflects a deep faith that could transform the perspective of embattled Christians today: “I’m not afraid,” she said. “God is with me. I was born to do this.”
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This article is taken from a chapter in Unbreakable by Kimberly Begg which is available from TAN Books.
