Last Sunday was the anniversary of Joan’s birthday, believed by historians…Joan actually didn’t know when she was born…during the trial, she only guessed that her age was 19, when she was asked.
I just want to share something about this remarkable girl whose feats can never be repeated again by anyone…her ‘miracles’.
Joan did not perform ‘miracles’ such as instantaneously healing a physical disability, nor did she use ‘faith-healing’. The remarkable events of Joan’s life were connected with foreknowledge and insight.
- She was able to report on an unplanned battle, which was taking place hundreds of miles distant, and relate its outcome.
- She undertook the preparations for the relief of Orleans while the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, and it suddenly changed at the required moment.
- She knew where a sword was buried although this was unknown to anyone else and could not have been known to Joan in the normal way.
- She was not deceived when another person impersonated the Dauphin on Joan’s first meeting with him.
- She took unusual military decisions of when and how to attack, as if she knew where the enemy was weakest.
- She changed the course of European history within the space of a few months in a most remarkable way.
- She defended herself over a period of months, in a tiring and distressing situation, against Cauchon’s subtle and very deep questioning, without making theological errors.
It is possible to explain some of these events as luck or coincidence. But when all are considered together and in the light of her unique personality, holiness and strict adherence to the moral law, it is not surprising that many accepted her claim to have been assisted by ‘visions’ and ‘voices’.
None of her ‘miracles’ involved the suspension of the laws of nature (e.g: God would know the wind direction would change suddenly, so could instruct Joan when to prepare the boats so as to be ready for the change of wind).
Sceptics may assert that Joan’s ‘voices’ were in her imagination. Cauchon put this view to Joan and she replied that God was using her imagination to communicate with her.
Joan was a mystic, and like all mystics found great difficulty in explaining her experiences to others. Some mystics have attempted to explain how God acts on their intellect, and this subject is discussed deeply in a long chapter entitled ‘Extraordinary Favours, Locutions and Visions’ in: ‘I am a Daughter of the Church’ ((PME Chapter II)).
When it is considered how wise were Joan’s answers to Cauchon’s questioning it is hard to avoid the conclusion that God had infused, by means of mystical contemplation, a deep and profound knowledge of Catholic theology.
The Poitiers Tribunal of April 1429 gave a decision in accord with sound, cautious, Catholic principles. It was presided over by an Archbishop, and was therefore a superior Court to that later established by Cauchon.
It stated that there was a: ‘favourable presumption’ to be made for the divine nature of her mission; and: ‘to doubt or abandon her, without suspicion of evil, would be to repudiate the Holy Spirit and to become unworthy of God’s aid’ ((MGAV 56)). This same Archbishop later considered that Joan was falling into an attitude of pride, but this was a separate matter to the authenticity of her ‘voices’.
