Praised be Jesus Christ and blessed be the Virgin Mary, Our Mother. Amen.
When the life and the testimonies of Saint Joan of Arc are studied in depth
it is clearly seen that faith was the fundamental principle that guided her entire life.
Faith, love of God, the desire to do His will at all times,
even at the risk of her life
and with the fear only of not fulfilling what God asked her to do.
For this reason,
her heroism goes beyond the purely human sphere
and enters into the order of holiness.
Few human lives build us up with this total surrender to the will of God.
Joan of Arc practiced the Christian virtues to a heroic degree
and rose to a height greater than the common and ordinary measure of human beings.
She is truly a saint,
that she died to fulfill the mission that God had entrusted to her.
In this way, we can say that she was a true martyr.
Despite feeling totally incapable of fulfilling her mission,
being a simple shepherd and woman of her home, without any special preparation,
and, despite so many difficulties that her spirit faced to wage war and liberate her country;
she left her family and faced danger with courage, trusting in God.
And, living in the midst of thousands of soldiers,
she never left prayer and union with God, which was her strength.
She had a horror of even the slightest venial sin.
Her words were always edifying for everyone.
She forbade blasphemy,
chased away women who didn't have a good living,
refrained from fighting on Sundays,
and advised everyone to confess and attend mass before battles.
Her greatest pain
was not being able to sometimes attend Holy Mass as she wished,
especially during her time in prison.
Many catholics consider the life of Saint Joan of Arc
a true miracle of God.
Her purity accompanied her until her death,
even in the midst of the troops.
The successes of her military enterprises;
the wise answers that she gave in the interrogations of the judges who wanted her ruin;
her predictions that came true;
the cruel death that she chose, having been able to avoid it.
All this makes us believe, together with the voices from heaven that she heard,
that her entire life and her history was a true miracle of God.
On the other hand,
the need that she felt to pray at all times, in all places and in all circumstances,
appears to be the most important characteristic of her life.
She enjoyed the ineffable joys reserved for pure souls since she was a child.
It was not unusual to see her face radiant and bathed in tears.
Even in the middle of the countryside
and dedicated to various occupations,
such as guarding the flock or in agricultural work and harvesting.
Saint Joan of Arc could not contain herself from her irresistible attraction to prayer,
which is to say, that she couldn't resist her desire to talk to her father God.
And this same thing happened to her in the middle of thousands of men on the battlefields
or in the middle of the solitude and darkness of the night.
The historian G. Gorres, in his History of the Maiden, published in 1834, states:
The Maiden did not suffer and prevail only for France, but for all.
The image of the little shepherd armed with a sword and a banner,
adorned with the lilies of virginity,
the crown of martyrdom and triumph,
surrounded by angels and saints,
is a splendid star
that, set in the twilight of the history of ancient times,
advises and encourages future times.
The Maiden and her virtues still live in the memory of men.
She appears as a luminous star in the sky of past times,
a true indication of divine mercy,
a symbol of hope in God,
of heroism and fidelity to the Sovereign and to the country, of piety,
forgiveness and love for her brothers and for all men.
In the French martyrology in 1637 it is said:
The Maiden has the right to say literally what the prophet said:
"You tested my heart and with fire You cleansed it."
Yes, my God, you tested it by fire.
You used fire to discover the integrity of her heart.
She saw her whole heart.
The flames did not burn her heart.
The flames of ambition or impurity could not enter.
It is believed that she had a heart of a hero;
but, in view of this miracle, it can be believed that she had the heart of a saint.
If her actions on earth reveal to us
that she was our protector on earth,
the miracles after her death reveal to us
that she is our advocate in heaven.
Let us proclaim her blessed Joan of Arc a thousand times,
let us direct our prayers to her, invoke her in our needs.
The Catholic Church allows her name to be written in the Martyrology
and wants her death to be called a true martyrdom.
The Church has recognized her faith,
her purity, her innocence,
which is certainly like a solemn canonization.
Juan Pedro Ayroles, in 1895, fleeing from some horses,
fell to the ground and was hit on the head
and about to die.
After doing a novena to Saint Joan of Arc, he was totally restored.
Amelia Sella was still a child and, for two years,
she had severe pain in her hip that became more and more accentuated every day.
The medicines had no effect.
And after a triduum to Saint Joan of Arc,
on May 8th, 1886, she was healed to the admiration of all who knew her.
Another case.
Luis Ernesto Leroy had a very bad stomach illness for a long time.
Doctors said that he could only heal by a miracle.
Therefore, he was already prepared to die.
But after doing a novena to Saint Joan of Arc,
he was perfectly healed and his illness never reappeared.
Sister San Honorato, who lived in a convent in Orleans,
suffered from a brain disease.
The doctors felt unable to cure her and told her that there was no hope.
She asked for the last sacraments of the Church.
Her religious sisters prayed to Saint Joan of Arc and the sick woman made a wonderful recovery.
Rosa Savary had gone blind and the doctors could do nothing for her to regain her sight.
On October 25th, 1892, they began a novena to saint Joan of Arc
and on the 29th of the same month she was healed
and shouted: "I see, I see", giving details of the objects that she saw.
Sister Emilia María Thierry had tuberculous meningitis and was hopeless.
Her sisters, on October 20th, 1896,
began a novena to saint Joan of Arc
and, the next day,
she was cured, even in her sight,
since she had also become blind.
Another case. Mr. Pradhon had a serious disease in his larynx
and was losing a lot of blood.
They prayed to Saint Joan of Arc and he was freed from the disease.
Sister Teodora Charles was very ill in her lungs.
The doctors considered her to have an incurable disease and they gave her only a few hours to live.
She received the last sacraments and they prayed to Saint Joan of Arc,
and Sister Teodora became healthy.
The doctors said: "This kind of disease is never cured."
In the same way, María Hortensia Renard, in 1888, was cured.
She had a copious flow of blood.
They administered the sacraments to her and prayed to Saint Joan of Arc.
And, oh wonder!
The next day, early in the morning,
the sick woman said:
"Joan of Arc has saved me."
She was completely cured.
For the beatification of Joan of Arc,
all the corresponding procedures had to be done like with any saint.
And the Vatican Medical Commission had to recognize three miracles as inexplicable to science.
The first one was of the Benedictine sister of the convent of Orleans,
Teresa de San Agustín,
who was instantly cured of a stomach ulcer, which she had suffered for three years,
the doctors having already given up hope for her recovery
and she having received the last sacraments prior to death.
Her sisters made a novena to Joan of Arc.
During the novena,
she got out of bed, attended mass, and felt suddenly healed.
It was the year 1900.
The second one was of Sister Julia Gauthier de San Norberto,
of the Sisters of Divine Providence,
who was in Favorolles and had, for 10 years,
an incurable spongy, ulcer in her left breast,
with great pain, and she had lost all hope of being cured.
She was also instantly cured in 1893.
The third one was of the Sister Juana María Sagnier
from the Congregation of the Holy Family
who was residing in the town of Fruges and for three years
she had suffered intolerable pain in both legs
from ulcers and abscesses that increased every day.
Her diagnosis was chronic tuberculous osteoperiostitis.
On the fifth day of the novena to Saint Joan of Arc she got up healed.
It was November 6th, 1891.
In the house of the sisters in Frugues there is a plaque commemorating this supernatural healing,
thus recognized by the Vatican Commission.
The beatification of Saint Joan of Arc was carried out in the Vatican
by Pope Saint Pius X on April 18, 1909.
For her canonization, three other miracles were also recognized, performed through her intercession.
The first one was of Marie Antoinette Mirandelle's
instant cure of a white tumor on her heel.
The second one was of Teresa Bellin's instantaneous cure of a tuberculous infection of the peritoneum
and the right lung with organic lesion of the mitral orifice.
She was cured in Lourdes by invoking the saint
at the moment that Monsignor Cristiani gave the blessing to the sick.
The third one was of the inexplicable preservation of the life of Juan Dumoitier,
who was exposed to fire and totally in danger of death
and who was miraculously saved
through the intercession of Saint Joan of Arc on May 10th, 1909.
Pope Benedict XV canonized Saint Joan of Arc in the Vatican on May 16th, 1920.
Praised be Jesus Christ and blessed be the Virgin Mary, Our Mother. Amen.