With Fr Casey Cole, OFM, MDiv (Warning! He's a Modernist!)
30 May 2026
What Joan of Arc Yelled to Her Enemies
A hard lesson, but an important one in this age of hatred and war. To ask God to bless our enemies, as St Joan did, is a blessing to us as well as them.
“God bless you! Now go home in peace!” She never hated her enemies, but wished them well.
From Aleteia
By Sarah Robsdottir
Like so many writers and artists before me – religious and otherwise – I’ve nurtured a fascination for the 15th-century teenage St. Joan of Arc for many years now. It’s her Feast Day today, and while there are countless reasons to admire Jehanne – the name given to her by her parents, Jaques d’Arc and Isabelle Romee, peasant farmers from the village of Domremy – the way Joan dealt with her enemies has been inspiring me a lot lately.
The Catholic writer Louis deWohl describes her as riding astride a white horse, waving her flag of Jesus and Mary, and yelling at the English: “Go home to your families, and God bless you!”
He goes on to explain how "In 1931, on the 500th anniversary of her death, the English Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, praised the saint who had fought so valiantly against his country, recalling that she had never hated her enemies, but wished them well." (DeWohl, Saint Joan: The Soldier Girl, p. 165)
[Historical sidenote: While Joan of Arc took an arrow to the chest; miraculously survived a fall from a great height and was injured a few other times on the battlefield, she never purposely engaged in physical combat during her heroic stint in the One Hundred Years War between France and England. To this day, there is still a debate as to whether she was more of an inspirational figurehead or an actual military leader; one thing everyone seems to agree upon is that her remarkable presence changed the course of the war for France.]
Joan of Arc told her enemies the truth in a really loving way. She faced confrontation boldly, yet with profound tenderness.
DeWohl's account also depicts her weeping for the opposing army's dead after the battle of Saint-Loup; it describes how she would inquire as to whether the English soldiers were able to hear Mass or be confessed before they died. (DeWohl, p. 88)
For these reasons, Joan of Arc has always reminded me of the many souls I’ve observed on the front lines of the Right to Life movement. I once saw a man offer to adopt a woman’s unborn baby as she walked into an abortion clinic. The young mother changed her mind that day.
Heroes who are striving for sanctity don't lose sight of the God-given dignity residing in every human being – even if the person is on the “other side” of their particular battle line.
No wonder Joan of Arc is the patroness of soldiers, as well as France. Joan of Arc, pray for us!
Leo Issues New Rules Allowing Bishops To Crush Traditional Nuns
Nuns respond to new Vatican rules allowing Bishops to essentially laicize the heads of religious orders.
How Medieval Peasants Lit Their Homes Without Electricity Or A Single Candle
From Medieval Way
Medieval Way explores the historical reliance on rush lights, a practical alternative to expensive beeswax or tallow candles. Learn the traditional process of harvesting soft rushes, preparing pith, and rendering household fat to create functional, sustainable illumination based on techniques refined over centuries.
When the power went out across Texas in February 2021, four point five million homes were dark within thirty hours. People burned books for heat, charged phones in idling cars, and watched their grandparents die in seventy-degree drops. The lights had been on for one hundred and forty years, and one ice storm took them out.
In 1380, in a village called Cotterstock in Northamptonshire, England, a peasant family lit their two-room cottage for an entire winter on a bundle of weeds and a jar of mutton fat. No electricity. No candle. They worked, mended, told stories, and slept in a home lit by a system refined over twelve hundred years.
Traditional Catholic Morning Prayers in English | May
Traditional Catholic morning prayers to help start your day in a godly way! The month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. May our devotion to the Blessed Mother increase more and more and help us to love her divine Son, Jesus, more and more. We've included the Memorare, the litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a Spiritual Communion. Begin your May with daily morning prayer. This video is a compilation of many traditional morning prayers Catholics say, and should not be considered a replacement for those who have an obligation to pray the Divine Office morning prayers.
Protestants Are Finally Admitting Catholics Were Right About Purgatory…
From Totus Catholica
The Good Thief does not disprove purgatory; he points to an intermediate state for the righteous dead. Luke 23:43, read alongside Luke 16, John 20:17, and the Church’s teaching on Christ descending to the dead, fits the Catholic view that paradise is not yet the full vision of God.
The thief was saved by grace, but his case was unique: he confessed Christ, suffered with him, and received direct mercy from Jesus himself. That is not a denial of purification; it is a dramatic example of it, and it leaves intact the Catholic teaching that the dead can still be helped by prayer and sacrifice.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 The Verse Protestants Think Ends the Debate
2:09 Luke 16 and Abraham’s Bosom
3:03 John 20:17 and Christ’s Ascension
3:30 Chrysostom and the Abode of the Just
4:09 CCC 1030 and the Definition of Purgatory
5:26 Jewish Parallels and Prayer for the Dead
6:10 The Good Thief’s Unique Suffering
7:22 Why the Verse Still Proves the Catholic View
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How Joan of Arc’s Spiritual Life Propelled Her to Martyrdom
Today is the Feast of St Joan of Arc, who should be remembered not only for her bravery and her death, but also for her deep spiritual life.
Before Joan of Arc became a soldier, she was deeply devoted to God, giving her the courage and strength she needed to endure any trial.
From Aleteia
By Philip Kosloski
Before Joan of Arc became a soldier, she was deeply devoted to God, giving her the courage and strength she needed to endure any trial.
While many focus on St. Joan of Arc's brave military campaigns and the unjust trial that led to her death, few recognize that before it all she was a devoted child of God. In fact, it was this deep relationship with Christ that gave her the strength she needed to endure anything.
Daughter of God
Pope Benedict XVI explained this side of Joan in a general audience he gave in 2011. He begins by summarizing her holy childhood:
Her parents were well-off peasants, known to all as good Christians. From them she received a sound religious upbringing, considerably influenced by the spirituality of the Name of Jesus, taught by St Bernardine of Siena and spread in Europe by the Franciscans.
The Name of Mary was always associated with the Name of Jesus and thus, against the background of popular piety, Joan’s spirituality was profoundly Christocentric and Marian. From childhood, she showed great love and compassion for the poorest, the sick and all the suffering, in the dramatic context of the war.
This provided Joan with the preparation she needed for what would happen next:
We know from Joan’s own words that her religious life developed as a mystical experience from the time when she was 13 (PCon, I, p. 47-48). Through the “voice” of St Michael the Archangel, Joan felt called by the Lord to intensify her Christian life and also to commit herself in the first person to the liberation of her people. Her immediate response, her “yes,” was her vow of virginity, with a new commitment to sacramental life and to prayer: daily participation in Mass, frequent Confession and Communion and long periods of silent prayer before the Crucified One or the image of Our Lady....The young French peasant girl’s compassion and dedication in the face of her people’s suffering were intensified by her mystical relationship with God.
What is even more remarkable is how she became an evangelizing force among the French soldiers, encouraging them in the practice of the faith:
For a whole year, Joan lived with the soldiers, carrying out among them a true mission of evangelization. Many of them testified to her goodness, her courage and her extraordinary purity. She was called by all and by herself “La pucelle” (“the Maid”), that is, virgin.
Even in the midst of her unjust trial, Joan sought to maintain her love of God, "Our Saint lived prayer in the form of a continuous dialogue with the Lord who also illuminated her dialogue with the judges and gave her peace and security. She asked him with trust: 'Sweetest God, in honour of your holy Passion, I ask you, if you love me, to show me how I must answer these men of the Church' (PCon, I, p. 252)."
Above all, we should learn from Joan how to be faithful to God in any situation. We cannot rely on our strength, but must rely firmly on God, who will supply us with the courage we need to encounter any obstacle.
As with all things, God provides us with the strength we need, when we need it. The key for us is to be faithful in the little things of life, preparing ourselves for whatever God has in store for us in the future.
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