CAPG's Blog 

Sainte Jeanne d'Arc, Brittany

Prayer to St. Joan of Arc
Lord, You wondrously raised up St. Joan, the Virgin, to defend the Faith and her country. Through her intercession grant that the Church may overcome the snares of her enemies and enjoy unbroken peace. Amen.

"What a spectacle," says Father Ayroles "to see this unlettered girl of nineteen years, weakened by the torments of her prison, defending herself unaided against an army of men, who were reputed to be depositories of human and divine knowledge, banded together to drag from her some incriminating word!"

What a shocking scandal for the gentle, pious peasant maiden from fair Domremy! It was an evil time; a time of schismatics and anti-popes, when king and nobles intrude into highest ecclesiastical positions their illegitimate sons or unworthy favorites. Relaxation of discipline was notorious, and all the excesses of the next century, the sixteenth, naturally followed."

Some of the Sanhedrin:

With Bishop Cauchon we are already acquainted. He had no more right to judge Joan than had the Khan of Tartary. He appointed himself; and whatever authority was lacking was conferred, in intent at least, by the university of Paris and the king of England. Neither had he any ecclesiastical jurisdiction. That Joan was taken prisoner at Compiegne was no more a reason for Cauchon to judge her anywhere, and least of all out of his diocese, than which the University of Paris had for the judging the Pope. "Fecit, tamen", as St. Augustine says of Pontius Pilate: "They did it, nevertheless."

The unworthy bishop's superior: the Archbishop of Rheims, had approved as of heavenly origin what Bishop Cauchon condemns as meriting death by fire. The cathedral chapter of Rouen had no more right to hand over Joan for trial to Cauchon, her deadly enemy, that had the child unborn. There was scarcely a form, or aspect of justice, that he did not violate, no matter what other false Frenchmen may have later said. Let them read the list of illegalities - there is no difficulty in finding them. And it is an unvarnished falsehood to say that the procedure of the French Inquisition was the same as that of the Sanhedrin of Rouen.

Thomas Courcelles was especially chosen by Cauchon. He was one of the six doctors sent by the University of Paris to examine the Maid. All through the trial he was very exact in his task, and very well paid in the sum of one hundred and thirteen livres. Courcelles was one of the few in favor of subjecting Joan to torture. M. Quicherat calls him, and truly enough, "the father of Gallican liberties"; for probably no one dictated more articles than he in the schismatical council of Basle. He was the foe of Pope Eugene IV, and supporter of the anti-pope Felix V.

Erar, another of the doctors, preached at Joan in the cemetery at Rouen a discourse of extreme and unworthy violence. He was one of those who brutally tried to force Joan to sign a lying retraction. He had been rector of the University of Paris; and, like his brethren, was as anti-papal as he was anti-French.

Nicolas Midi, another of the Paris envoys, the last to preach at Joan before her execution, is supposed to have been the author - and calumniator - of the famous, or infamous XII Articles, sent from Rouen to Paris as a summary of the trial, and in which the defense is mutilated, or omitted.

Estivet, the prosecutor, canon of Beauvais, whence he was driven with Cauchon, was, of all this group, the lowest. His language resembled that of the English soldiers to Joan at Orleans.

The clergy of Rouen had been won over by the Duke of Bedfort, who showed them many favors. On October 23rd, 1430, when the price of the Maid was being handed over, he was admitted into the body of canons of the Cathedral of Rouen. The religious orders, especially the Benedictines were very numerous. We find them, unfortunately, cutting an evil figure in the trial of Joan. Gilles Duremort, abbot of Fecamp, and member of the English royal council, received the sum of one thousand livres for his share in the iniquitous transaction. He was an intimate friend of Bishop Cauchon, and was afterwards made bishop of Coutances. He did not reside in his monastery but in his fine palace at Rouen; as did his fellow-religious like character, Nicolad Lerous, abbot of Jumieges, and Pierre Miget, prior of Longueville.
Several Englishmen took part in the Process especially at decisive points. Of these was William Hayton, a bachelor in theology, secretary of the king and member of the royal council, who voted for Joan's death.

"In the name of the Lord, amen." Cauchon declares her a heretic, and cuts her off from the Church as a rotten member, and hands her over to the civil power.
(...) Joan denied that she was a heretic or schismatic; and she maintained the truth or her revelations to the last. Bishop de Mailly withdrew, in order not to see her die.
The executioner told of the cruel binding to the stake on the plaster platform, which was so high that the flames hardly reached it; and this moved the rough man to much pity for Joan. She knelt, and with tears begged pardon of all, and uttered her forgiveness for those who were guilty of her death. She prayed much - for half an hour, it is said - with indescribable devotion. Of the priests she begged Masses for the repose of her soul. (...) Then as the fire rose up, she bade the priest to go down from the platform, and begged him to hold up the crucifix straight before her eyes until she died.

(...) The English were growing harshly impatient for Joan's death and their own dinner. As Massieu was consoling her in her last agony, some of their captains cried out, "Priest, do you mean to have us dine here?" Some of them laughed at the death scene; but many of them also wept. As the flames ascended, Joan never ceased to call aloud to "her Lord" and her Saints. At last, as she bowed her head, and yielded up her pure souls to God, the sacred name of Jesus, uttered in a loud voice, was the last word on her lips.

Source: St. Joan of Arc: The Life-story of the Maid of Orleans By Rev. Fr.  Denis Lynch, S.J. 1919

Gracious God, on this Memorial Day weekend,
we remember and give thanks
for those who have given their lives
in the service of our country.
When the need was greatest,
they stepped forward and did their duty
to defend the freedoms that we enjoy,
and to win the same for others.

O God, you yourself have taught us
that no love is greater than that
which gives itself for another.
These honored dead gave the most precious gift they had,
life itself,
for loved ones and neighbors,
for comrades and country – and for us.

Help us to honor their memory
by caring for the family members
they have left behind,
by ensuring that their wounded comrades
are properly cared for,
by being watchful caretakers of the freedoms
for which they gave their lives,
and by demanding that no other young men and women
follow them to a soldier’s grave
unless the reason is worthy and the cause is just.

Holy One, help us to remember that freedom is not free.
There are times when its cost is, indeed, dear.
Never let us forget those who paid so terrible a price
to ensure that freedom would be our legacy.
Though their names may fade with the passing of generations,
may we never forget what they have done.
Help us to be worthy of their sacrifice,
O God, help us to be worthy.

Source: Memorial Day Prayer

Novena for Priests to the Holy Ghost:

"As they cry out with all the faithful, "Abba, Father!" may Your priests be ever more closely identified with You in Your divine Sonship and offer their own lives with You, the one saving Victim.
Make them helpful brothers of one another, and understanding fathers of all Your people. On this Pentecost Sunday, renew in Your priests deeper faith, greater trust in You, childlike reliance on our Mother Mary, and unwavering fidelity to the Holy Father and his bishops.

Holy Mary, intercede for your priests.
St. Joseph, protect them.
St. Michael, defend them.
St. John Vianney, pray for them.
Amen. "

Source: CAPG

"Pope Leo XIII, May 9, 1897, decreed that a novena to the Holy Ghost should be made every year in preparation for the feast of Pentecost. (...) During this novena no particular form of prayer is of obligation. Any prayer to the Holy Ghost will suffice.

Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Holy Spirit:  Divinum Illud Munus

Novena to the Holy Ghost in Preparation for the Feast of Pentecost: The novena of the Holy Spirit is the chief of all the novenas, because it was the first that was ever celebrated, and that by the holy apostles and the most Holy Mary in the supper room, being distinguished by so many remarkable wonders and gifts; principally by the gift of the same Holy Spirit, a gift merited for us by the passion of Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Himself made this known to us when He said to His disciples that if He did not die He could not send us the Holy Ghost: "If I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you" (John xvi. 7). We know well by faith that the Holy Ghost is the love that the Father and the Eternal Word bear one to the other; and therefore the gift of love which the Lord infuses into our souls, and which is the greatest of all gifts, is particularly attributed to the Holy Ghost. As St. Paul says, "The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Who is given to us (Rom. v. 5). In this novena, therefore, we must consider, above all, the great value of divine love, in order that we may desire to obtain it, and endeavor, by devout exercises, and especially by prayer, to be made partakers of it, since God has promised it to him who asks for it with humility: Your Father from heaven will give the good Spirit to them that ask Him" (Luke xi. 13).

Prayer to the Holy Spirit for the Church: "O Holy Spirit, our Creator, come to the aid of Thy Holy Church, and strengthen and confirm it by Thy supreme power against the incursions of its enemies; and by Thy love and grace renew the spirit of Thy servants whom Thou hast anointed, so that they may glorify in Thee the Father and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”—(Indulg. 100 days. Resc. Aug. 26, 1889.)

Short Prayer to the Holy Ghost : Holy Spirit, Spirit of truth, come into our hearts; give to all peoples the brightness of Thy light, that they may be well-pleasing to Thee in unity of faith. (Indulgence of 100 days, once a day. Leo XIII, July 31, 1897.)

Source: My Prayer Book; Happiness in Goodness: Reflections, Counsels, Prayers and Devotions By Francis Xavier Lasance