St. Joan of Arc
May 30, 2017
TODAY is the feast day of one of history’s greatest militants.
Thy country’s sin, the insult, and the shame,
The scaffold’s doom, the faggot and the flame–
All these shall pass and be remembered not;
Fair Charity with kindly tears shall blot
From France’s shield the black corroding stain,
Caught from thy blood, O Lily of Lorraine!
The hero’s heart shall lose its thirst for fame,
And truth be dead, and virtue but a name,
Ere men shall cease to honor thee who gave
To France, to liberty, to truth–
In battle’s bloodiest trenches undismayed,
‘Neath insult meek, in persecution brave.
Thy love, thy life, thy stainless youth,
O Virgin, Patriot, and Martyr Maid!”
— From St. Joan of Arc: The Life Story of the Maid of Orleans by the Rev. Denis Lynch, S.J.
St. Joan of Arc, pray for us
