Hands and Hearts · Week 4 · Grades 9–12
Guided Notes: St. Joan of Arc
- Name
- Date
- Class
Follow along as your teacher presents. Fill in each section when its slide is on the screen.
A peasant in a dynastic war
Joan was born around blank 1 in Domrémy, on the eastern edge of France, to a farming family. She was illiterate and devout.
The Hundred Years’ War was a dispute over who lawfully held the French crown. The Treaty of Troyes in blank 2 named the English king as heir and set aside Charles, the French king’s son. The Duke of Burgundy and many French clergy and scholars accepted that settlement.
From about age 13, Joan reported voices in prayer that she identified as St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret. In 1429 she went to Charles at blank 3. Theologians at Poitiers examined her, found nothing contrary to the faith and advised him to let her try.
From Domrémy to the altar
Write what happened at each point.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| c. 1412 | Write your answer |
| 1420 | Write your answer |
| 1429 | Write your answer |
| 1430 | Write your answer |
| 1431 | Write your answer |
| 1456 | Write your answer |
| 1909 | Write your answer |
| 1920 | Write your answer |
The trial at Rouen
Joan was tried for heresy by a blank 4 court sitting in English-held Rouen. The judges were mostly French clergy loyal to the English and Burgundian side. She had no counsel, was held in a military prison under male guards, and her appeal to the Pope was set aside.
The judges asked if she was in God’s grace. She replied: “If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there.”
Threatened with death, she signed a statement denying her voices, then took it back days later. She was condemned as a relapsed heretic and died calling on the name of blank 5.
Apply it
Why is Joan’s answer about grace considered theologically sound? Circle one.
- A It claims certainty of grace on the strength of her visions
- B It trusts God without claiming to know her own state for sure
- C It refuses the question because judges cannot ask about grace
- D It admits that she was probably outside of God’s grace
Why is that the right answer?
Apply it
A student is sure a viral claim is true and wants to repost it. Which response best follows Joan’s example at Poitiers? Circle one.
- A Post it now, since sincere conviction is enough
- B Stay silent, since no one can really know the truth
- C Post it if most people in the feed already agree
- D Submit the claim to testing before asking others to act
Why is that the right answer?
Take a side
Joan was right to stand by her own conscience against the Church court in front of her.
My side: ☐ Agree ☐ Disagree
- The Catechism teaches that a person must obey the certain judgment of conscience, and also has a duty to form it well.
- Joan had been examined and approved at Poitiers, and she asked to appeal to the Pope. Was she defying the Church or one unjust court?
- Her judges were educated clergy who believed they were protecting the faith. How could she, or they, have known who was mistaken?
- Today anyone can claim “my truth” online. What separates a formed conscience from a strong opinion or a voice that simply agrees with us?
My strongest reason, with evidence from the slides:
The best argument for the other side, and my response:
Let us pray
Lord God, form our consciences in your truth.
Give us courage to follow what is right and humility to be corrected.
Grant justice to the wrongly accused and peace to nations at war.
St. Joan of Arc, pray for us.
Amen.
My own prayer or intention:
Well done
Condemned in 1431, cleared in 1456 and canonized in 1920, Joan shows that truth can outlast an unjust verdict. Her feast day is May 30.
One thing I learned today:
One question I still have:
How could the example of St. Joan of Arc shape the way I live, online and offline?
Challenge: Audit the voices that shape you. List the five accounts, creators or AI tools you rely on most, and ask of each: who tests this voice, and does it make me more truthful? Change one this week.