Saint Joan of Arc is a very popular and beloved saint. I have included her in my recent book By Dawn’s Early Light: Prayers and Meditations for Military Wives (Sophia Institute Press) since she is a patroness of soldiers and military leaders. I hope you get to know her a bit more through the excerpt from my saints’ chapter of the book which I’ll share below, and perhaps through prayers to her asking for her intercession.
St. Joan of Arc, Patroness of Soldiers
and Military Leaders
Joan of Arc (1412–1431), a subject of many books, movies, and plays, was born in France to well-to-do peasant parents. Joan loved the sacraments and had a heart for the poor. In 1424, at twelve years old, this simple peasant girl began having visions of St. Margaret, St. Catherine, and St. Michael. She heard St. Michael tell her that she needed to go to King Charles VII to support him and help him rid France of the English.
Despite her young age, during the many battles of the Hundred Years’ War, Joan was instrumental in recapturing Orleans, Rheims, Paris, and numerous other towns from the English. The angry English declared her a heretic.
Joan was captured near Compiègne and was sold to the English. She was placed on trial for heresy and witchcraft, was interrogated, and was condemned to death for her crimes against the English and as a heretic, sorceress, and adulteress. Joan refused to retract her statements that it was the saints who appeared to her and spoke to her. In 1431 in Rouen, nineteen-year-old Joan was burned at the stake. She asked for a cross to be made that she put on her dress while she was burned. A priest held up another cross for Joan to gaze upon during her martyrdom. Witnesses attest to her composure and courage.
Joan’s ashes were dispersed in the Seine River. It is said that her heart did not burn and was thrown into the river with her ashes so that there wouldn’t be any relics. In 1456, Pope Callixtus III declared that Joan was innocent of her crimes and was now considered a martyr. Joan was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. To St. Joan of Arc is ascribed the prayer “I fear nothing, for God is with me.” Her feast day is May 30.
Novena Prayer to St. Joan of Arc
Opening Prayer
Eternal Father, You gave us St. Joan of Arc
through Your infinite love and mercy for us.
We humbly ask that You send down Your Holy Spirit
upon us, as your Spirit is the intermediary
by which the Word goes forth from Your lips
and reaches the ears of the faithful.
Allow me to be a witness to Your Son
Jesus Christ, just as St. Joan of Arc was.
O Jesus, grant me the courage to do Your will,
that I may be in one accord with our Father in Heaven.
I thank You for the gift of Your love,
which I hope to understand fully one day.
Petition Prayer
Pray nineteen Our Fathers,
followed by the following prayer:
St. Joan of Arc,
by your powerful intercession,
hear and answer me.
St. Joan of Arc,
I ask you now to fight this battle
with me by prayer,
just as you led your troops to victory in battle.
You, who were filled with
the Holy Spirit and chosen by God,
help me this day with the favor I ask:
(mention your request).
Grant me by your
divine and powerful intercession
the courage and strength I need
to endure this constant fight.
O St. Joan, help me to be victorious
in the tasks God presents to me.
I thank you and ask you
for your continuing protection
of God’s people.
Closing Prayer
Sweet St. Joan,
plead for me before the throne
of Almighty God, that I may be deemed
worthy to be granted the request I have asked.
Help me, St. Joan, to be more like you
in the attempt to love our Lord
with all my heart, soul, and mind.
Through your guidance and prayer
help me to be a truly devout
and loving Christian, that I may
both know and see the will of God.
Help me now St. Joan, in my time of need.
I ask that you may always be near me
guiding me closer each day to Jesus.
Thank you, St. Joan,
for having heard my prayer. Amen.
