St. Joan of Arc was born on Jan. 6, 1412. Her parents were pious French peasants. At 13, Joan had visions of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret. They told her to defend French territory during the Hundred Years’ War.
Pope Benedict XVI said, “We know from Joan’s own words that her religious life developed as a mystical experience from the time when she was 13. 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.”
Benedict continued: “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. One of the most original aspects of this young woman’s holiness was precisely this link between mystical experience and political mission. The years of her hidden life and her interior development were followed by the brief but intense two years of her public life: a year of action and a year of passion.”
At the beginning of 1429, at the age of 17, Joan began her year of action. Through her efforts, the city of Orleans was liberated on May 8 and King Charles VII was crowned on 17 July.
Joan’s year of passion began on May 23, 1430, when she was captured by the enemy. Her Trial of Condemnation began in February 1431 and ended on May 30 with her being burned at the stake.
The Trial of Condemnation violated the legal process of the time. Joan was denied the right to a legal adviser and the tribunal was filled with pro-English clergy rather than meeting the medieval Church’s requirement to balance the group with impartial clerics.
Though Joan was an illiterate peasant, she was able to escape theological traps during the trial.
One of the best-known texts of the trial is this: “Asked if she knew that she was in God’s grace, she replied: ‘If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there’”
Pope Benedict XVI commented: “This trial is a distressing page in the history of holiness and also an illuminating page on the mystery of the Church which, according to the words of the Second Vatican Council, is ‘at once holy and always in need of purification’ (Lumen Gentium, n. 8).”
On the morning of May 30, Joan received holy Communion for the last time in prison and was immediately led to the place of execution. She asked a priest to hold up a processional cross in front of the stake. Joan died with her eyes fixed upon the Crucified Jesus and crying out several times the Name of Jesus. About 25 years later Pope Calixtus III authorized the Trial of Nullity, which solemnly declared that the condemnation in 1431 was null and void. Joan of Arc was subsequently canonized by Benedict XV in 1920.
Joan’s religious upbringing was influenced by the spirituality of the Name of Jesus, taught by St. Bernardine of Siena. Pope Benedict XVI said, “Dear brothers and sisters, the Name of Jesus, invoked by our saint until the very last moments of her earthly life was like the continuous breathing of her soul, like the beating of her heart, the centre of her whole life.”
Here is a beautiful prayer to the Holy Name of Jesus by St. Bernardine:
“Jesus, Name full of glory, grace, love, and strength! You are the refuge of those who repent, our banner of warfare in this life, the medicine of souls, the comfort of those who morn, the delight of those who believe, the light of those who preach the true faith, the wages of those who toil, the healing of the sick. To you our devotion aspires; by you our prayers are received; we delight in contemplating you. O Name of Jesus, you are the glory of all the saints for eternity. Amen.”
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貞德恭敬耶穌聖名
聖女貞德出生於1412年1月6日。她的父母是虔誠的法國農民。13歲時，貞德神視，見到了聖彌額爾、聖加大肋納和聖瑪加利大。他們在百年戰爭期間告訴她保衛法國領土。
教宗本篤十六世說：『我們從貞德自己的話中知道，她的宗教生活從她13歲開始就發展成為一種神秘的經歷。通過聖彌額爾總領天使的「聲音」，貞德感到主呼召去強化她的基督徒生活，並作為第一位致力於解放她的人民的人。她的即時的反應，是她的「是」，是她對童貞的誓言，在聖事生活和祈禱上一份新的承諾：每天參與彌撒，頻繁地領受告解和聖體聖事，以及在那位被釘死在十字架者和聖母的聖象前長時間默禱。
這位年輕的法國農家女孩面對人民的苦難時，她的同情心和奉獻精神因她與天主的奧秘關係而得到強化。這位年輕女子聖潔最原始的方面之一，正是那奧秘經驗和政治使命之間的聯繫。在她隱秘的生活和內心發展的歲月之後，是她短暫而緊湊的兩年公開生活：一年的行動和一年的苦難。』
1429年初，17歲的貞德開始了她的行動年。通過她的努力，奧爾良市於5月8日解放，查理七世國王於7月17日加冕。
貞德的苦難之年始於1430年5月23日，當時她被敵人俘虜。定罪審判始於 1431 年 2 月，並於 5 月 30 日結束，她被燒死在火刑柱上。
定罪審判違反了當時的法律程式。貞德被剝奪了聘請法律顧問的權利，法庭上充滿了親英的神職人員，而不是滿足中世紀教會用公正的神職人員來平衡群體的要求。
雖然貞德是一個不識字的農民，但她在審判期間能夠逃脫神學陷阱。審判中最著名的文本之一是：『當被問及她是否知道自己在天主的寵愛中時，她回答說：「如果我不是，願天主讓我在其中;如果我是，願天主保佑我留在那裡。」』
教宗本篤十六世評論說：「這次審判是聖潔歷史上令人痛苦的一頁，也是教會奧秘的啟發性一頁，根據梵蒂岡第二屆大公會議的話，「教會是聖的，同時都常需要潔煉」。
5月30日早上，貞德在監獄里最後一次領受聖體，並立即被帶到行刑地點。她要求一位神父在木樁前舉起一個遊行十字架。貞德臨死時，眼睛盯著被釘十字架的耶穌，幾次呼喊耶穌的名字。大約25年後，教宗嘉禮三世授權審核1431年的審判，後來當局隆重宣佈1431年的譴責是無效的。聖女貞德隨後於1920年被本篤十五世封為聖人。
貞德的宗教教養受到聖伯納定教導的耶穌聖名神修的影響。教宗本篤十六世說：『親愛的弟兄姊妹們，耶穌的名，被我們的聖人呼籲，直到她世俗生命的最後時刻，就像她靈魂的不斷呼吸，就像她心臟的跳動，是她整個生命的中心。』
以下是聖伯納定對耶穌聖名的美麗祈禱：
『耶穌，充滿榮耀、恩典、愛和力量的名！袮是那些悔改者的避難所，是我們今生爭戰的旗幟，是靈魂的葯物，是那些亡者的安慰，是那些信者的喜悅，是那些宣揚真正信仰者的光，是那些勞苦者的工資，是病人的醫治。我們對袮的敬拜所渴望的；因袮，我們的祈禱被接受;我們樂於默想袮。耶穌的名啊，你是所有聖入的榮耀，直到永遠。阿孟。』
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