Fr. Michael J. Cerrone - For God and Country

Fr. Michael Joseph Cerrone III

For God and Country

The Heroic Life and Martyrdom
of St. Joan of Arc

SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS
Manchester, New Hampshire

Copyright 2015 by Michael Joseph Cerrone III

Maps Copyright 2015 by John Folley

Cover design by Coronation Media in collaboration with Perceptions Design Studio.

On the cover: The Entrance of Joan of Arc (141231) into Orleans on 8th May 1429 (oil on canvas), Jean-Jacques Scherrer (1855 1916) / Musee des Beaux-Arts, Orleans, France / Bridgeman Images.

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

Biblical references in this book are taken from the Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1965, 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cerrone, Michael Joseph.

For God and country : the heroic life and martyrdom of St. Joan of Arc / Fr. Michael Joseph Cerrone III.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-62282-242-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) ePub ISBN 978-1-622822-430 1. Joan, of Arc, Saint, 1412-1431. 2. Christian women saints France Biography. 3. Meditations. I. Title.

DC103.C475 2015

944'.026092 dc23

[B]

2014039786

In memory of my parents,

Michael Joseph Cerrone Jr.,

Army combat infantryman in WWII and Vietnam

and teacher of American history and civics,

and Menna Dorothy Cerrone,

loyal American citizen and devoted wife and mother,

who taught and lived the love

for God and country;

and in honor of those military men and women

who strive to live virtuously

in selfless service to their nation

for the cause of freedom, justice, and peace.

Contents

Preface

Introduction:

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

Stained-glass window of Saint Michael the Archangel and
Saint Joan of Arc in the Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity,
West Point, New York.

Preface

In the Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity at West Point, New York, the stained-glass windows along the side walls depict various patron saints of soldiers, among them Michael the Archangel, prince of the heavenly army of angels; George (Asia Minor) and Maurice (Africa), soldiers and martyrs of the early Christian era; the veteran soldiers Martin of Tours (France) and Ignatius of Loyola (Spain); and very prominently next to the archangel, Joan of Arc, the Maid of Lorraine (France) and soldier-martyr for God and country.

I first noticed that particular window of the lone female soldier-saint during my freshman year of college as a seventeen-year-old cadet at the United States military academy. It did not occur to me then that Joan was the same age when, after being called by God, she was appointed by her future king to be the soldier-leader of a small army loyal to France and rallied a demoralized people to initiate the liberation of their homeland. Nor did I know in 1964 that the Catholic Church had declared her to be a saint of God only in 1920, nearly five hundred years after her death at nineteen years of age by burning at the stake in Rouen, France, on May 30, 1431.

Many more years of my life passed before I realized the full significance of her extraordinary, heroic witness, not only for the nation of France but also for other nations whose citizens profess a love for the one true God and for their home countries. After more than five years of U.S. Army service as an infantry and military intelligence officer in the Vietnam War and the Cold War, a year of music and international relations studies, and then six years of seminary and parish work, I was ordained a priest in 1981.

Returning in 1990 to army service in the chaplain corps, whose motto is Pro Deo et patria (for God and country), I served in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and later in other troop assignments. But it was not until a few months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, that I finally learned from a fellow Catholic chaplain that my priestly ordination day and Saint Joan of Arcs feast day are the same the same day also as the traditional Memorial Day, on which we honor all war dead of the United States of America. Joans spirit of religious devotion and patriotic duty began to exert a strong influence on me.

In the Lord Gods great plan, historical coincidences are really providential times of grace for us. My priesthood, which began exactly 550 years from the day of Joans death, is now a constant reminder for me to imitate Jeanne La Pucelle (Joan the Maiden) by leading souls in religious fidelity to God and compassionate charity to others. Twenty years of active military service, the last fifteen as a chaplain, made me appreciate more fully the virtue of patriotism, the love of ones country, which Joan embodied by selfless service to her king and her people, at the cost of her own life.

Memorial Day too has its special poignancy for me in honoring the last full measure of devotion rendered by my friends and classmates killed in Vietnam during the war against atheistic communism, and by many others who sacrificed themselves in past battles against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Those quoted words of Abraham Lincoln, first addressed as a tribute to the thousands of fallen soldiers after the bloody battle at Gettysburg during the American Civil War, apply equally to all who have died fighting their nations wars against tyranny and oppression. Memorial Day remembrances now also honor the last full measure of devotion by those killed in the present-day global war on terrorism.

These complementary virtues of religion and patriotism are increasingly evident in many of todays military men and women, who serve as guardians of peace, defenders of life, and enforcers of justice, at home and abroad. With Joan of Arc, they extend the divine legacy of noble, godly souls who demonstrate single-minded devotion to a just or holy cause. Yet not only military personnel but all citizens need these virtues, particularly during times of cultural clashes and religious wars, raging even in this new millennium of Christianity. Every person of every nation in every epoch of world history can imitate the timeless model of heroic virtue that Joan of Arc reveals a beautiful reflection of Jesus Christ.

In the last two years of her life, as a combat soldier and a prisoner of war, Joan the Maiden encountered opposition to her mission; a demoralized army; divided loyalties among the clergy, nobility, and commoners in the towns and districts of her occupied homeland; and during her trial, the treachery of churchmen in league with the enemy. Nevertheless, she remained faithful and true to Almighty God in the Churchs sacramental life and to the heavenly Voices in her own prayer life. She vigorously protected her virginity and promoted piety and good morals, especially chastity, among her troops. And she was courageous, disciplined, and bold in leading battlefield operations, despite injury to herself and danger of death.

Perhaps most unusual for a leader in warfare, La Pucelle personally and compassionately tended many combat casualties, not only her own French soldiers but English troops as well. She wept over the loss of human life, so grieved was she in the depths of her pure heart and gentle soul. She was especially concerned over any soldier who died in battle without a prior good confession of his sins. And in her final and most Christlike act of mercy before being burned to death, she forgave her enemies and even asked forgiveness of anyone she may have offended in her lifetime.