St. Joan of Arc & The Epiphany

I have spoken before about the many spiritual lessons I have learned from St. Joan of Arc but one that is very dear to me is how I learned to more fully celebrate Christmas because of St. Joan's own birth on the Epiphany.  Like many Christians at Christmas I had focused primarily on Christmas day without understanding that the full celebration lasts until Twelfth-night or the Epiphany.   The reason the Epiphany is so important is because that is when we celebrate the actual revelation of God to man in human form in the person of Jesus Christ.  It is on this day that the three wise men following the star in the sky arrived in Bethlehem and found the baby Jesus which completed the revelation to the world that the savior to mankind had been born.  One of the most detailed descriptions I have ever seen about the full story of the birth of Christ including the Epiphany is contained in the first 59 pages of the famous novel Ben Hur and I would encourage anyone wanting a more complete understanding of the full Christmas story to read these pages as I have now begun doing every year to celebrate Christmas.  You can find this book online at:  http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2145/2145-h/2145-h.htm

And to better understand about the significance of St. Joan of Arc's own birth on the Epiphany I would recommend reading a paper I wrote two years ago to celebrate her 600th birthday titled:  Saint Joan of Arc: A Brilliantly Shining Light of God - The Significance of Joan of Arc's Birth on the Epiphany

Thank you once again St. Joan for teaching me more about the great God that you love and serve so well as one of His Saints.  

Christmas for Saint Joan of Arc

One can only wonder about how Saint Joan of Arc celebrated Christmas as there is unfortunately nothing in the historic records however there is little doubt that Christmas would have been a very special time for Joan given her intense love and devotion to God. While Joan was growing up in the small town of Domremy she most likely would have attended at least one worship service and possible more on Christmas day at the little church of St. Remy located just next door to her house. Joan may also have made a pilgrimage to the nearby chapel of Notre-Dame de Bermont dedicated to Mary the mother of Christ. Several of the people from Domremy remember seeing Joan “make confession on Easter and on other feast days” so she is likely to have done so as well on Christmas day. However Joan celebrated Christmas she would have focused on Jesus as this was the focus of her life (read last years Christmas blog entry Jesus & Joan for more).

In the days when Joan lived the Christmas celebration continued for twelve days until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th which was the day of greatest celebration in medieval times. [For those who don’t already know the celebration of the Epiphany in Christian tradition refers to the revelation of God to man in the person of Jesus Christ and the central part of the celebration features the arrival of the “Wise Men” who were led to the baby Jesus by a shining star.] For Joan this day was even more special as this was also her birthday. As a gift to Joan for Christmas and for the 600th anniversary of her birthday I recently wrote a paper detailing the significance of Joan of Arc’s birth on the Epiphany titled: "Saint Joan of Arc: A Brilliantly Shining Light of God." This paper will be posted online next week so please check back then.

Until then, a Merry ChristMASS to all!

Jesus & Joan

Christmas is a good time to talk about the real focus of Saint Joan of Arc’s life as she was clearly focused upon serving Jesus Christ as she showed in everything that she did. Joan had the name of Jesus and his mother Mary placed upon her famous banner along with a picture of God holding the world. Go here for more about Joan’s Banner

Joan also wore a ring that had been given to her by her parents that she described as having three crosses and the names of Jesus and Mary. Go here for more about Joan’s Ring

Even the letters that Joan sent out usually contained a cross along with the names Jesus-Maria. Go here for more about Joan’s Letters

In all that she did Joan of Arc honored Jesus and everyone around her saw her great faith and were inspired by her devotion and piety. The following words by Joan’s childhood friend Hauviette are typical of the descriptions of Joan that were later recorded by everyone that knew her: “Joan was a good, simple and sweet-natured girl, she went often and of her own will to church and the sacred places and often she was ashamed because of people remarking how she went so devoutly to church.”

Merry CHRISTmass to all or as Joan would say:

JESUS MARIA