“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel – which means God with us.”
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
At this time of year when we celebrate the birth of Christ, I hope everyone will remember how much our beloved St. Joan of Arc loved Jesus and devoted her life to serving Him. Joan was so focused on Jesus that she had His name along with His mother’s emblazoned on the banner that she carried to lead her men into battle. She also closed most of her letters with Jesus Maria right after her own signature. Of course what is most telling to me about the focus of Joan’s life were her final words “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” as she departed this world to be with her Lord in His kingdom.
A very merry CHRISTmass to all.
Jesus Maria
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Maid of Heaven Video Trailer about Joan of Arc
The video trailer for the Maid of Heaven book is available at YouTube where it seems to have had quite an impact on people who posted comments like:
“This was really great! very touching indeed”
“I burst into tears after watching this”
“Really Awesome!!!”
If you have not seen it yet now is your chance. Just click the arrow in the middle of the video and it will start playing. When I created this video trailer I wanted it to be not only about St. Joan of Arc’s life but also about what I call her immortal light that still shines so brightly today and inspires so many people. I hope you enjoy the video.
“This was really great! very touching indeed”
“I burst into tears after watching this”
“Really Awesome!!!”
If you have not seen it yet now is your chance. Just click the arrow in the middle of the video and it will start playing. When I created this video trailer I wanted it to be not only about St. Joan of Arc’s life but also about what I call her immortal light that still shines so brightly today and inspires so many people. I hope you enjoy the video.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Joan of Arc’s Last Great Victory
"I am not alone! I have fifty thousand of my own company to fight with me!"
In the autumn of 1429, Charles VII seems to have been completely under the influence of his advisors who urged negotiation rather than battle. In light of this policy Joan of Arc was used in only a limited role when it suited the King and his advisors. For whatever reason they decided to send her to the strategically insignificant town of St. Pierre-le-Moutier where Joan once again showed her military brilliance by capturing the town despite having limited troops and supplies with which to overcome a stout defense.
During the battle when it appeared that all was lost and her men were retreating Joan again showed her courage and great leadership in completely turning the course of the battle. Joan’s aide-de-camp(my modern title) Jean d’Aulon describes the scene later at her trial of rehabilitation: “After the Maid and her soldiers had maintained the siege before the city for some time, an assault was ordered and made and all did their duty. But because of the great strength of the place, and also the great resistance made by those within, the French were forced to retreat. At this hour he who speaks, being wounded by an arrow in the heel, as such without crutches I could neither move nor sustain myself, saw that the Maid had remained behind with very few soldiers indeed. Fearing what might follow I mounted a horse, and hastily riding to her I asked her what she was doing there alone and why she had not retreated like the rest of the men. But the Maid, lifting the face guard of her helmet replied: ‘I am not alone! I have fifty thousand of my own company to fight with me and retreat I will not until I have taken this town.’ Whatever she might have said she had not with her more than four of five men, as I know for certain as do several others who were looking on, so I urged her to retreat like the rest. Then she told me to tell the men to bring faggots and brush to make a bridge across the moat which she yelled to the rest in a loud voice.”
Shortly thereafter the moat was filled and the town was taken by assault with little resistance to the amazement of d’Aulon. St. Joan of Arc once again prevailed against impossible odds however this was to be her last great victory. While she continued until her capture to have military successes she never again stormed and captured a city the way she did that day in early November of 1429 at Saint Pierre-le-Moutier.
In the autumn of 1429, Charles VII seems to have been completely under the influence of his advisors who urged negotiation rather than battle. In light of this policy Joan of Arc was used in only a limited role when it suited the King and his advisors. For whatever reason they decided to send her to the strategically insignificant town of St. Pierre-le-Moutier where Joan once again showed her military brilliance by capturing the town despite having limited troops and supplies with which to overcome a stout defense.
During the battle when it appeared that all was lost and her men were retreating Joan again showed her courage and great leadership in completely turning the course of the battle. Joan’s aide-de-camp(my modern title) Jean d’Aulon describes the scene later at her trial of rehabilitation: “After the Maid and her soldiers had maintained the siege before the city for some time, an assault was ordered and made and all did their duty. But because of the great strength of the place, and also the great resistance made by those within, the French were forced to retreat. At this hour he who speaks, being wounded by an arrow in the heel, as such without crutches I could neither move nor sustain myself, saw that the Maid had remained behind with very few soldiers indeed. Fearing what might follow I mounted a horse, and hastily riding to her I asked her what she was doing there alone and why she had not retreated like the rest of the men. But the Maid, lifting the face guard of her helmet replied: ‘I am not alone! I have fifty thousand of my own company to fight with me and retreat I will not until I have taken this town.’ Whatever she might have said she had not with her more than four of five men, as I know for certain as do several others who were looking on, so I urged her to retreat like the rest. Then she told me to tell the men to bring faggots and brush to make a bridge across the moat which she yelled to the rest in a loud voice.”
Shortly thereafter the moat was filled and the town was taken by assault with little resistance to the amazement of d’Aulon. St. Joan of Arc once again prevailed against impossible odds however this was to be her last great victory. While she continued until her capture to have military successes she never again stormed and captured a city the way she did that day in early November of 1429 at Saint Pierre-le-Moutier.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Joan of Arc at Paris
The statue above of St. Joan of Arc is located at Place des Pyramides in Paris. Unfortunately, Joan herself never entered Paris as the attempt she made to liberate the city on September 8, 1429, failed. This was Joan’s first military defeat however the circumstances that led to the failure at Paris were clearly not her fault. Probably the biggest factor was the delay in launching the assault on Paris after Charles VII was crowned King on July 17, 1429. If Joan and her army had been allowed to immediately march upon Paris after the coronation they most likely would have gained an easy victory as there were only a small number of Burgundian troops guarding the city at that time. Instead of immediately marching to Paris, Charles hesitated and entered into several worthless treaties with Burgundy. The delay allowed the Burdundians the time they needed to strengthen their defenses and obtain re-inforcements from the English. Such delays in military history have usually proven to be extremely costly e.g., Napolean at Waterloo, Germans with Operation Barbarosa, Confederate Army at Gettysburg to name few.As for Joan, she did everything she could to achieve victory at Paris despite the long odds created by the inexcusable actions of her King. She personally led the assault and kept her troops fighting hard all day in an effort to overcome the walls of the city. Just after sunset Joan was wounded in the thigh by a bolt from a crossbow. Lying wounded she urged her troops and commanders to continue the assault but they carried her to the rear against her wishes and the assault died out. Joan wanted to renew the assault the next day but orders from Charles VII arrived that no further attempt should be made to take Paris and the army was withdrawn several days later. Joan once stated on the march to the coronation at Reims that she “feared only treachery.” It was ultimately treachery and not the enemy that defeated Joan at Paris.
"By my staff, the place would have been taken."
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
St. Therese and St. Joan of Arc
About a year ago I set up a special page detailing the devotion of St. Therese of Lisieux to St. Joan of Arc The page contains poems about St. Joan as well as several pictures of St. Therese dressed as St. Joan for a play that she had written to honor St. Joan. You can see the page at:
St. Therese and St. Joan of Arc
After I shared the page with an online group about Joan of Arc where I am a member one of the ladies noticed something remarkable in one of the pictures of St. Therese. There are crosses in her eyes. We had quite a discussion at the group trying to explain the crosses and several theories were put forward which motivated me to do more research into the photographs. I found out that St. Therese’s sister Celine was an avid photographer who took many photos of St. Therese which are contained in a book titled The Photo Album of St. Therese of Lisieux
http://books.google.com/books?id=YNJNAAAACAAJ&dq=st+theresa+lisieux+photo+album&ei=_waDSsrIN6nEzgSXv-XdCg
I obtained a copy of this book from a local Catholic University and was most interested to see if the crosses were still visible in her eyes in the original photographs. The book states that the photographs are “un-retouched” and “reproduced directly from the plates developed in the late 19th century.” Remarkably, the crosses are still visible in the same picture although it is a little harder to see them. The other valuable information that the book contained was a map of the Carmelite convent and some descriptions of the different courtyards and the locations where the pictures were taken.
From my own limited investigation I have not been able to find any plausible earthly explanation for the crosses in St. Therese’s eyes. I figured that over the course of the past year someone more knowledgeable in photographic techniques of the 19th century would give me an explanation but so far that has not happened. I guess at this point I am wondering if this is indeed a real miraculous occurrence that no one previously noticed until the photograph was digitally prepared for the Internet. If so then it is time that everyone knows about it thus the purpose of this blog entry.
St. Therese and St. Joan of Arc
After I shared the page with an online group about Joan of Arc where I am a member one of the ladies noticed something remarkable in one of the pictures of St. Therese. There are crosses in her eyes. We had quite a discussion at the group trying to explain the crosses and several theories were put forward which motivated me to do more research into the photographs. I found out that St. Therese’s sister Celine was an avid photographer who took many photos of St. Therese which are contained in a book titled The Photo Album of St. Therese of Lisieux
http://books.google.com/books?id=YNJNAAAACAAJ&dq=st+theresa+lisieux+photo+album&ei=_waDSsrIN6nEzgSXv-XdCg
I obtained a copy of this book from a local Catholic University and was most interested to see if the crosses were still visible in her eyes in the original photographs. The book states that the photographs are “un-retouched” and “reproduced directly from the plates developed in the late 19th century.” Remarkably, the crosses are still visible in the same picture although it is a little harder to see them. The other valuable information that the book contained was a map of the Carmelite convent and some descriptions of the different courtyards and the locations where the pictures were taken.
From my own limited investigation I have not been able to find any plausible earthly explanation for the crosses in St. Therese’s eyes. I figured that over the course of the past year someone more knowledgeable in photographic techniques of the 19th century would give me an explanation but so far that has not happened. I guess at this point I am wondering if this is indeed a real miraculous occurrence that no one previously noticed until the photograph was digitally prepared for the Internet. If so then it is time that everyone knows about it thus the purpose of this blog entry.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Maid of Heaven on Google Books
Google finally set up Maid of Heaven on Google Books so that a limited number of pages can be previewed. If you would like to preview my book about Joan of Arc and read a few pages and see some of the historic pictures contained within just go to the link below. WARNING they did a lousy job copying the cover so refer to the image below for a more accurate representataion of what the cover actually looks like.
http://books.google.com/books?id=NQ_B0G8d2RMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=joan+of+arc&lr=&ei=31d3Sv3nIqO4ywSmiaTcAg
http://books.google.com/books?id=NQ_B0G8d2RMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=joan+of+arc&lr=&ei=31d3Sv3nIqO4ywSmiaTcAg
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
A Million Page Views!
The big news this month at MaidOfHeaven.com was that the site achieved a milestone in going over One Million Page Views since going online in early 2007. When I first set up the site it was mainly designed to give information about my book Maid of Heaven but I soon realized that there was a great need on the Internet for detailed history about Joan of Arc. Except for a few exceptional sites the vast majority contained little more than encyclopedia type information about Joan and her life. I am thrilled that so many people have visited MaidOfHeaven.com and been able to really learn all about Joan and her amazing life. If you would like to read the press release articles about this major milestone visit the articles at:
http://pr-canada.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109539&Itemid=36
http://www.prlog.org/10278612-joan-of-arc-website-celebrates-millionth-page-view.html
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/joan-of-arc-website-celebrates-its-millionth-page-view-107748.php
http://www.prurgent.com/2009-07-09/pressrelease45485.htm
Go Here for all Press Releases Related to Joan of Arc
http://pr-canada.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109539&Itemid=36
http://www.prlog.org/10278612-joan-of-arc-website-celebrates-millionth-page-view.html
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/joan-of-arc-website-celebrates-its-millionth-page-view-107748.php
http://www.prurgent.com/2009-07-09/pressrelease45485.htm
Go Here for all Press Releases Related to Joan of Arc
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