Saint Joan of Arc's Birthday

Joan of Arc's birth was not officially recorded in the small town where she was born however the people of her town remembered that she was born on Epiphany, or Twelfth-night, which is January 6. The Epiphany celebrates the revelation of God in human form in the person of Jesus Christ and part of the celebration commemorates the arrival of the three "Wise Men" who were led to the baby Jesus by a star in the sky above Bethlehem. It is very significant that Saint Joan was born on Epiphany because she not only led her people to freedom in this world but she ultimately led them, and generations since, to the true freedom that is only found through Jesus Christ.
Saint Joan of Arc is truly a "brilliantly shining light" of the Kingdom of Heaven and will forever point the way to God. (Read Ben D. Kennedy's paper "Saint Joan of Arc: A Brilliantly Shining Light of God" written to celebrate Joan's 600th birthday)

Jehanne d'Arc
Born January 6, 1412
Died May 30, 1431
"It was during the night of the Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6, Twelfth Night), when men are wont most joyfully to recall the acts of Christ that she first saw the light in this mortal life. And, wonderful to relate, the poor inhabitants of the place were seized with an inconceivable joy. And though ignorant of the birth of the Maid, they rushed hither and thither in search of what might be the new event. Their hearts as one were conscious of a new gladness." --Lord Perceval de Boulainvilliers, writing to the Duke of Milan in 1429 about Joan's birth.



Saint Joan was born in Domremy, a little village in a part of Eastern France known as Lorraine. At her trial of rehabilitation several of the people from Domremy remembered her birth and childhood in the following ways:

"From my childhood I knew Joan the Maid who was born at Domremy to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle, husband and wife, honest and decent farmers and true Catholics of good repute. I know this because I was often in company with Joan, and being her friend I went to her father's house.  .  .  .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. I have heard the priest who was there in her time say that she often came to confession. Joan busied herself like any other girl; she did the housework and spun and sometimes, I have seen her, she kept her father's flocks."     Hauviette - childhood friend of Joan


"Jeannette, whom this concerns, was born at Domremy and baptized at the Church of St. Remy, a parish of that place. Her father was called Jacques d'Arc and her mother Isabelle, farmers, during their lifetime, at Domremy. From what I saw and knew they were faithful Catholics and hard workers, of good repute and decent conversation, according to their condition; for several times I spoke with them. I was myself one of Jeanne's godfathers.  .  .  .Jeannette in earliest youth, was well and properly brought up in the faith and good conduct and so much so that nearly all the inhabitants of Domremy loved her.  .  .  ."     Jean Morea - farmer who knew Joan as a child

"Joan was of my wife Jeanne's kinsfolk. I knew Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle well, the parents of Joan the Maid, good and true Catholics, and of good repute, and I believe that Joan was born in the town of Domremy and that she was baptized at the font of St. Remy in that town. Joan was of good behavior, devout, patient, going readily to church, willingly to confession, and gave alms to the poor when she could, as I witnessed, both in the town of Domremy and at Burey, at my house, where Joan resided during a period of six weeks. Willingly did she work, spinning, ploughing, keeping the cattle, and did other work suitable for women."     Durand Laxart - Joan's uncle


"Joan the Maid, in the time of her youth until she left her father's house, was a good, chaste and simple girl, modest in manner, taking not the name of God nor of His saints in vain, fearing God. She went frequently to church and frequently confessed. The cause of my knowing this is that I was, in those days, churchwarden at the church of Domremy and often did I see Joan come to church, to Mass and to Compline. And when I did not ring the bells for Compline, Joan would catch me and scold me, saying that I had not done well; and she even promised to give me some wool if I would be punctual in ringing for Compline.  .  .  ."     Perrin Drappier - churchwarden of Domremy in Joan's childhood

"I was brought up with Joan the Maid next door to her father's house. I know that she was good, simple, pious, fearing God and his saints; she went often and of her own will to church and to sacred places, caring for the sick and giving alms to the poor; this I saw myself, for when I was a child I myself was sick and Joan came to comfort me.  .  .  ."     Simonin Musnier - farmer and childhood friend of Joan

"My father's house joined the house of Jacques d'Arc: so I knew her well. We often spun together, and together worked at the ordinary house-duties, whether by day or night. She was a good Christian, of good manners and well brought up. She loved the Church, and went there often, and gave alms from the goods of her father. She was a good girl, simple and pious so much so that I and her companions told her she was too pious."     Mengette - childhood friend of Joan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEHANNE

LIGHT A CANDLE FOR JOAN ON HER BIRTHDAY!

A Tribute to Saint Joan of Arc for Her Birthday by Ben D. Kennedy "Most beautiful Maid of Heaven, how brilliant is your light. Like a shining star you point the way to the Father of all light." From a personal standpoint the greatest thing I can ever say about Saint Joan of Arc is that she leads me closer to God. In 2012 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of her birthday I posted a paper I wrote titled Saint Joan of Arc: A Brilliantly Shining Light of God which explains why I believe that leading people to God was and is Joan�s greatest mission. It is ultimately this that makes her so beautiful to me which is the beauty of a soul in Christ helping me to better know the great beauty of our Lord and His Kingdom as David expressed so well in Psalm 27: "One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord" What has been so frustrating to me is how difficult it seems to be to share with others about Joan�s true nature and beauty. Last year after six years of almost continuous effort I came to a certain realization and added the quote below to the page of famous quotes testifying to Joan�s greatness located at MaidOfHeaven.com. "I spent six years attempting to give people a proper understanding of the incredible beauty of St. Joan of Arc as I have been blessed by God to have been able to see in what at most has been a brief glimpse. I now realize it is an impossible task due to the severe limits of human expression. " When I wrote these words I realized that this was perhaps the greatest tribute that anyone could ever give to Joan to say that her beauty is simple beyond the ability of human expression to completely describe. So happy birthday to you Jehanne and may you continue to be a brilliantly shining light of God ever leading people closer to our great God Who created you. "Your daughter is but a breath of You but oh what a breath Divine! So precious a jewel of Heaven�s delight given by Your love sublime. So sweet and kind and full of Your love she holds my heart secure, And leads me home to Your Heavenly throne with all Your rapturous allure!"         † Jesus Maria

"Dear brothers and sisters, the Name of Jesus, invoked by our saint up to the last moments of her earthly life, was like the breathing of her soul, like the beating of her heart, the center of her whole life. The "mystery of the charity of Joan of Arc," which so fascinated the poet Charles Peguy, is this total love of Jesus, and of her neighbor in Jesus and for Jesus. This saint understood that love embraces the whole reality of God and of man, of heaven and of earth, of the Church and of the world. Jesus was always in the first place during her whole life, according to her beautiful affirmation: "Serve God first!"
~ Pope Benedict XVI in talk he gave honoring St. Joan in 2011