A St. Joan of Arc Relic for a
Middle School Class in Iowa

While there are no first-class relics of St. Joan that still exist there are actually many items that she touched while she lived especially in her hometown of Domremy which are considered to be second-class and third-class relics. And when something like a holy medal is touched to one of these relics it becomes a third-class relic. (for an in-depth explanation of relics please visit this EWTN page here) So we learned that all we had to do was touch one of the St. Joan medals we have to one of her relics in her hometown and we would have a real third-class relic of her. Unfortunately this is lot easier said than done since St. Joan's hometown in France is almost 5000 miles away from those of us who live in the USA but when you work for God He has ways of turning the impossible into the readily doable. In this instance we actually have two long term members Chris and Catherine Snidow who lead pilgrimages to St. Joan's hometown every year (you can find detailed information about their St. Joan pilgrimages on their website PilgrimWitnesses.com) so all that we needed to do was ask them to help us fulfill this request for a relic by taking some St. Joan medals with them this year to touch a second-class relic in Joan's hometown. (Some of the email conversation with the Snidow's is shown in the pictures below)

The Snidow's were more than willing to help out and we ended up sending them three medals to take with them to Domremy to touch one of St. Joan's relics there. Since there were several in her old house and in the Church of St. Remy right next door that she grew up attending I decided to pray for guidance in selecting the best one for the Snidow's to touch the medals to as I wrote to Catherine Snidow in the message above: "I have prayed about this and the baptismal fount seems to be where I have been directed to tell you to lay them." (for a good discussion of St. Joan's relics by Virginia Frohlick referenced in the email messages just above visit the St. Joan of Arc Center HERE)

St. Joan's Feast Day this year ended up being extra special for me because this was when the Snidows sent me the pictures below of the medals touching her baptismal fountain and the holy water fountain in St. Remy. It is hard for me to put into words just how very special it was this year because St. Joan's Feast Day is always such a solemn time for me when I spend time alone with her and God contemplating her life and death and how she is such a great treasure of God's Kingdom. I know that it was no coincidence that I received these pictures on this day this year because it is just like St. Joan to orchestrate it so that I would have an even more intense mystical connection with her on her own special day!

For anyone belonging to a religious tradition that does not venerate relics it may interest you to know that there is a strong biblical basis for it. In 2 Kings 2:9-14, the prophet Elisha took up the cloak that had belonged to Elijah and "struck the water" of the Jordan river with it which then parted so he could cross. In 2 Kings 13:20-21, the dead body of a man touched the bones of Elisha and the man came back to life. In Mark 5:25-29, a women who had suffered bleeding for twelve years touched the cloak of Jesus and was completely healed. And people were healed and evil spirits were driven out when the handkerchiefs and napkins from the apostle Paul were taken to these individuals as recorded in Acts 19:11-12.

St. Joan of Arc herself understood the benefits from possessing sacred items like relics because she wore a special ring bearing the names of Jesus and His mother Mary with three crosses that she liked to look at just before she went into battle as she described later during her trial: “Out of pleasure and in honor of my father and my mother; (who had given her the ring) and while having this ring on my hand and on my finger I had touched Saint Catherine when she appeared before me"

So thank you to Reece and all your classmates in Mr. Tallman's 8th grade class at St. Pius X because the experience I had fulfilling your request helped bring me even closer to God through St. Joan. I think this is a good reminder that we all need to embrace the words of Jesus when He said:
“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)
Because we all need to have the simple and pure faith of children to long to just touch the part of God that He reveals to us through His Beloved saints like Joan of Arc!