Thomas D. Hughson, S.J.
We have listened to a brief masterpiece of spiritual theology. When have hearers or readers been led into the life of a saint by a more intriguing first paragraph? Fr. George Tavard's "The Spirituality of Saint Joan" conveys the unconventional, luminous quality in this saint whose life was anything but banal. With the sure, deft strokes of an artist, Fr. Tavard has sketched Joan of Arc's vibrant heroism and most human commitment to God.
From her birth in Domremy to her death outside Rouen, from exultant victory at Orléans to the coronation of Charles VII at Rheims, Fr. Tavard omits no facet of her existence. Not her family, not her prayer, not her love for France, not her suffering, not her vindication. Spirituality was not an element, a part, a single feature of her life. Spirituality was the whole particularity of her life seen from its center-- communion with God, Christ, the saints and angels. Spirituality was the core which irradiated, illuminated, and guided her spectacular deeds. It sent her on behalf of a French people beleaguered by the Hundred Years' War yet divided in reaction to the English incursion.
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Joan of Arc at the University.
Contributors: Mary Elizabeth Tallon - Editor.
Publisher: Marquette University Press.
Place of publication: Milwaukee.
Publication year: 1997.
Page number: 59.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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