My Obsession with St Joan of Arc

I admit that I just can't get enough of St Joan of Arc.  She just seems to be such an awesome saint in so many ways!  The medal on the left is one of my favorites of her - but only one - I really every one that I've collected.

Here are just a few of the things that I think make her so cool:

• Heard heavenly voices from not just one saint, but three: St Michael the archangel, St Margaret of Antioch, and St Catherine of Alexandria.
• Picked the king of France, Charles VII, out of a crowd without ever having seen him before! (Nice try to trick our Saint, Charles, nice try....)
• Led an army at the age of 16.  (I was lucky to get my drivers license at 16.)
• Wore pants before it was allowed.  (Just because she could.)
• Had her own set of armor! (Useful for every girl who does battle.)
• Had her own battle flag. (Some days I need a battle flag.)
• Gave as good as she got from the judge at her trial in Rouen.  So good that they ultimately they could only sentenced her to death on the charge of wearing men's clothes instead of anything relating directly to heresy!  (Strange but true!)
• She totally rocked the pageboy haircut.

These are just a few of the reasons that I not only think of St Joan as the patron of France and soldiers, but of cool girls and strong women.  Please chime in with your comment if you agree!

The St Joan medal pictured above and two others are available in my Etsy shop.  Click here if you would like to take a look.  If you would like to learn more about St Joan of Arc, then click on this link to visit The History Channel.

I'm back and I've brought Joan of Arc with me!

Hello world!


I am refreshed and renewed after a weekend retreat called Christ Renews His Parish. What a wonderful gift to my parish community! I met lots of great women there who I know to love and know better over the coming months. One of these great women was the never-met-a-stranger Sarah who writes the blog Catholic Drinkie - and no, she's not an alcoholic, just a girl who totally respects and enjoys a refreshing adult beverage on occasion and combines her faith with fun!


So, anyway, I was talking with her and she inspired me to re-start my little blog attempt over here. I won't be blogging every day ~ maybe every week if we're lucky! But I've decided that it's OK. I'll do it as much as the Lord allows and follow his lead in this endeavor.

The cool catholic collector item I want to share with you today is a vintage hair barette. That's right ~ a hair clip, like a ponytail holder, or almost. This beautiful clip has a medallion of St Joan of Arc set in the center of some lovely scrollwork. I'm sure it must have been silverplated at one time because you can still see traces of the silver on the front and all over the back. And the fact that the silver is missing tells me that this barette was used and loved for a long time. Maybe it was used for a child's first communion?


It came from France, and Joan of Arc is the patron saint of that nation and very popular with girls since she died at the young age of 19. I'm reading a great book about St Joan right now called Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint by Donald Spoto. I'm really enjoying it because I was looking for a book that told the real story of St Joan - not the hollywood version and not the romanticized version. The book is very well-researched and easy to read. It even shows Joan's letters and quotes from her trial. All I can say is - you go girl! St Joan was awesome and amazing and I love her that much more after learning more about her.