Welcome to Thomistic Womanhood. In today’s video, we’re going to talk about St. Joan of Arc, and is she or is she not a feminist icon?

Happy Thomistic Tuesday. Welcome to Thomistic womanhood. In today’s video, we’re going to talk about St. Joan of Arc. This is the third time I filmed this, so hopefully, my camera will work. But St. Joan of Arc has often been allegedly claimed by the feminist as a feminist icon. She was rejecting her times’ gender roles. And so she’s this beacon of light for them. I’m going to show that that’s false. She’s not a feminist icon. And yeah, so let’s get into it.

Alright, so first off, we’re gonna kind of list the main characteristics of feminism, and then I’m going to go down the line and I’m going to talk about each one and how I don’t think the internal work fulfills that characteristic. Having said that, one little side note about St. Joan of Arc that is interesting is she is one of the very few saints that has documentation of her life that was written at the time. A lot of saints, people write about them afterward. But because of her notoriety, because of her position as a political figure, and especially because of the trial, she went through, for those who don’t know, she led an army, you know, she was a country girl and she heard voices from God telling her to go lead an army to help end the Hundred Years War, and she resisted it at first. But she finally came around, she went and did it. And she did a bunch of battles. They had a lot of victories, the rightful king of France was put back on the throne. However, she did get captured in battle by The English who then charged her as a heretic as a witch, and then they burned her at the stake. Clearly, they were fighting the English. So it’s clear that was like a political kind of a sham trial. But during that trial, much like we do nowadays, in our legal proceedings, there were a lot of clerks and people documenting everything that was said, just writing down the whole progression of the trial as it was happening. And then after her death, her family went to the lawful authorities. I don’t know exactly how long it was, it might have been maybe like a decade or so after her death.

They went back to the French authorities, and they said, Look, we all know that trial was a sham. Can we reopen her case and have like a remedial trial done to show that she wasn’t a witch, she wasn’t a heretic. So of course, they did that and it was close enough to where they were able to pull in a lot of the men that fought with her and a lot of people who knew her. And so then again, that trial was recorded. There are a lot of depositions, and all those documents were recently translated into English. And I read a book that, you know, had, like extensive quotes from the documentation, which is where I got the information for this video. So, having said that, let’s get into it and I’ll try to make this brief.

So feminism, we’re gonna go down there are about seven characteristics. I have my notes right here, so I’ll be looking down. So number one, feminism rejects typical feminine gender roles, you know, motherhood, you know, gentleness, you know, they kind of reject that. They’re very pro-choice. You know, abortion is something they value very highly to promote sexual promiscuity. You know, women are sexually liberated. It’s self-guided. There’s no outside mandate. You know, it’s very into the individual and what you think is best for your life, which is not always wrong, but it is a characteristic of the movement. God is ignored. You know, there’s not much placed for God in the movement. Men are viewed as an enemy, you know, as a problem, the patriarchy. And then as flowing from that women don’t need a man, you’re viewed as a self-sufficient entity. And if you ever rely on a man, you know, you’re weak. You know, Gloria Steinem said it kind of encapsulated their idea when she said, a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. Now, I disagree with that. I think there are bike trails in the aquarium, but that is their idea.

First: Rejecting Typical Feminine Gender Roles

So for the first one, rejecting typical feminine gender roles, now out of all of them, this one does at first glance kind of seemed to be true, you know, because back then, like it wasn’t a typical gender role to be leading an army but in the court deposition, one of the men that she worked with that she fought with his name is John Demetz. Use one of her soldiers she told him for truly no one in the world and I’m quoting from her deposition. This is like verbatim what she said. Truly no one in the world can regain the kingdom of France there’s no aid except myself. Although I would prefer to spin wool beside my poor mother because this leading an army is not in my social rank but it’s necessary that I go and do this for my Lord wishes that I do it. 

The other thing she said was like this is during the first trial when they were putting her on trial for heresy. She was quoted as saying in sewing and spinning I fear no woman, so I don’t know about you but a 19-year-old who says she’d rather be spinning wool with her mom and is not afraid, she claims talent needlework she doesn’t sound like someone who’s challenging that times gender roles sound like she would go back to the gender roles first chance she got.

Second: Pro-choice

So number two pro-choice I find it hard to believe that Joan would support killing an unborn child because they testified during the Fourth Session of her trial that she had never killed anyone. Instead, what she did was she was a standard-bearer. So what they normally did back then was you would have a flag that was kind of the symbol of your army, and that was your standard. And that flag was to be kept flying throughout the whole battle. And that was not just like for morale, but it was also kind of like status, you know, a general could look out across the field. And if he saw that the standard was still flying, they knew that the battle was still winnable if the standard lowered or heaven forbid, fell, then they knew that defeat was imminent, you know, so that’s where we also get the saying, like, keep your standards high, or don’t lower your standards. That’s where we get that saying, she said she carried it to avoid killing anyone. So I think that makes the point and she is also quoted as saying that French blood meter hair stands on end, so if she wouldn’t kill a grown man who is a clear and present danger in battle? I find it hard to believe that she would kill an unborn child. So to be fair, she was never asked about abortion. So I guess we’ll never know for sure. But I think it’s pretty safe to say we can extrapolate what she probably would have said.

Third: Promotes Sexual Promiscuity

The third one promotes sexual promiscuity. I find this wine hard to believe Joan often referred to herself as la and I’m going to butcher the French la Pucelle, I believe it is. And what that means is the virgin there was a prophecy that a virgin would save France and so when she was presenting herself is like, Hey, I’m here to like, leave these battles and help you guys. She would often refer to herself as I am a virgin, I’m the prophecy, you know, and they did a medical examination and she was, in fact, a virgin. So she was proud of that, you know, she did not feel any shame about it. Like nowadays, you know, if you’re a virgin there does tend to be you know, a lot of people in society look down on you and they act like there’s something wrong with you. Clearly, she didn’t have any hang-ups like that. The also thing well, the other thing she’s quoted as saying is she also said that she had promised the saints whose voices she would often hear guiding her. The ones that were like, Hey, you need to go lead an army she promised them that she would maintain my virginity for as long as it pleases God. doesn’t sound very promiscuous there. And lastly, according to eyewitness accounts of the soldiers, she did not like prostitutes. So if you are familiar with battles, and you know a lot of the War history, it’s very common for prostitutes to follow the camps of soldiers, because they make a lot of money, but she did not like that. Joan would take the flat of her sword, and she would drive out the prostitutes. And she had a rule for her men that if they were caught with the prostitute, they had to either marry this girl or The girl had to either marry the soldier or leave. However, the soldier he had either marry her, leave or face the consequences, which implies I mean, back then they had, I think they might still have it a little bit in the military, I don’t know but corporal punishment. So that was very strongly frowned on so it doesn’t sound like I don’t think she was someone who believed if it feels good, do it.

Fourth: Self-guided No Outside Mandate

Number four self-guided no outside mandate, you know the individual is the end-all-be-all of decision making this one is fairly obvious. You know she did not go into this on her own, you know, she claimed to be told from you know, the saints in heaven. She claimed to hear voices. It was St. Michael, St. Catherine, and I think there was one more, but the saints, they didn’t appear to her visually but they appeared auditorily you know, she could hear them and they told her to go And funnily enough, when they first appeared to her, she refused to go. She didn’t. She was like, Are you crazy? Like, I don’t know how to ride horses. I don’t know how to fight in a battle. No, I’m not going, I’m not taking that on. And she like, dragged her feet about it and didn’t go for two years. So then finally, you know, she went, you know, because they were insistent and it was like, Okay, I’m gonna have to do this. But, that is not something that she did on her own. It’s like some kind of social justice warrior. You know, like, I don’t like the way this king isn’t, you know, being crowned. I’m gonna go take care of this myself. You know, that was not her. That was not her motivation. And the other thing too, is, you know, when people would ask her, like, why are you doing this? She said, My Lord, wishes that I do it. That was her answer, like, Well, God, and they asked her Who’s your Lord? well God, Christ. And so her motivation was clear, it was not a self-guided thing.

Fifth: God is Often Ignored

Number five, God is often ignored. You know, for feminists, there isn’t much, you know, you can have Christian feminists, I’m not saying you can’t. But in general, the movement does not make God much of a part of it. Now, Joan, we’ve already heard in some of her quotes she was very aware of like spirituality of Christ, she relied on him for a lot of her decision making. And then the soldiers that she fought with, they often said she’d go off by herself to pray. They also said that she required all the troops to go to Mass and confession regularly. And then also in the Battle of, again, I’m going to butcher the French but in the battle of Jericho, I think it is, after being hit with a large stone thrown by an English soldier. She got knocked off her horse, and she quickly got up and she said, friends, friends up, our Lord has done the English. so I mean, she gets knocked off her horse and she’s like,  They’re doomed. We’re going to do it. And so you can see that like, God is the first thing she thinks about even in a crisis because getting knocked off your horse in battle in the 1400s. That was pretty much a death sentence, okay, like, when you’re up on a horse, you have a vantage point, and you’re hitting down, it’s a lot easier to defend yourself down, than, you know, somebody’s up trying to attack you know, so if you fall off your horse, that’s, that’s a big deal. But again, she falls off the horse and the first thing she does, she’s talking about God. So clearly, you know, she was very focused on God. He was, you know, always just an ever-present reality to her.

Sixth: Men are Viewed As The Enemy

So number six men are viewed as the enemy. You know, the patriarchy. I doubt she believed in a patriarchy, and here’s why she did not have any resentment toward men. She’s quoted by Gilbert Tybalt, one of her soldiers who again was quoted in one of these depositions and She said So to give you some context, some background, after Joan had won some battles, when she would go in these different areas throughout the countryside, fighting wars, fighting these battles, people would flock around her as she became like a celebrity. And a lot of men would show up and be like, hey, I want to join your army and she’d be like, Great, so it kind of turned into like a recruiting tour. And then there was also a part where after the French King was crowned, she was like she wanted she needed to get more men. There were more battles to be fought. So she did do a special recruiting tour. And in one of these recruiting tourists, she is quoted by Gilbert Tybalt as clapping them on the shoulder and saying she would very much like to have more men of such goodwill as myself. So he smacked them on the back and was like, man, I’d love to have more guys like you, you know, in her army. And then at the coronation, when they finally you know, after All these battles when the king was finally crowned, they said all the eyewitness accounts said that she was like hugging his knees crying. She was so happy. And so I don’t think somebody who’s clapping patting men on the back end be like, Yeah, man, I’d love to have more guys like you and my army and, she’s like, humbling herself in front of all these men crying, hugging some guys like legs like at his knees. Like, that’s not somebody who views men as an enemy and like, you know, thinks there’s this patriarchal conspiracy like that does not sound like someone who believes in that.

Seventh: Women Don’t Need A Man

So now the last one women don’t need a man. Now this one is again, this is another one that at first glance, maybe sounds like it can have some truth to it because she never married, and as far as we know, she never talked about having any boyfriends or having any crushes or just anything like that. She was just pretty obsessed with our Lord. Like, when you read her depositions, and you read the things she says, like, our Lord was it for her? So I think that’s interesting. She refers to him in letters as King Jesus, you know, so it’s a very, very personal term like he’s a real person to her. And then this is an interesting story. So back then it’s the 1400s. And they’re not going to send an email. So instead, they wanted to get a message, the English wanted to get a message out to the French and Jones specifically, so they tie the message, the letter around an arrow, and they shoot the arrow over the wall. They were sending the message to the English and so when the English got the letter, they said, Oh, it’s news from the whore. The whore of the French and so what she did the first thing they say in the deposition, whenever soldiers who saw this, he says that she immediately began to sigh and weep abundant tears, calling the King of Heaven to her aid. And afterward, she was consoled because she hadn’t used from our Lord like, that is what she said, Well, I feel better because I got news from our Lord again like she had a close relationship with our Lord. And so I think if someone were to tell her, you know, do you need a man, she’d probably be like, Yes, I need our Lord.

So having said that, those are some reasons that I think she’s not a feminist icon. I think she’s very feminine even though you know, she had to fight in a battle and do a very masculine job. You know, she had to do a very masculine thing. Clearly, she was so feminine. You know, she was very attached to our Lord. She was able to cooperate with these men yet at the same time also lead them and you know, she didn’t have any kind of resentment for her society’s gender roles or herself as a woman. I think she’s a good role model and that we would all do well to imitate her. So, anyway, I hope that was helpful or entertaining or something to think about. So yeah, leave a comment. If you have any questions. You can like, share, subscribe, do all the things yeah.