I apologize for the possibly intrusive nature of this question, which arises
from an ongoing discussion about St Joan's cult that has occupied another list
to which I recently subscribed.
Much to the listowners' surprise, the list has attracted a number of
prolific posters who appear to share a view of Joan's cult with which I am
not familiar. Concisely put, they believe that her life or, more correctly,
her death, offers a lesson intended to put an end to genocide. This view
of her cult insists that her death was genocide, of a piece with the deaths of
all those who died at the hands of the Inquisition. I have been roundly
castigated for pointing out that Joan was neither tried nor burnt by the
Inquisition (this, I was told, is a mere technicality), and for denying
that she was part of a genocide (I was informed that it makes no difference
whether one person or 6 million die; genocide is genocide--and Joan would
have understood that).
It seems evident that at least one of the stoutest of these believers might be
described as *une petite femme folle de son ame*; she appears to be carrying an
crushing burden of personal guilt arising from the Holocaust, from the
internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, and from the decimation of Native
American peoples in the 19th and 20th centuries. The American government
in particular is the culprit in all these atrocities; another poster has
it in for the Vatican for not intervening in the Holocaust, and demands
that the Vatican heed the message God bestowed through Joan, apologize, and
atone for its misdeeds.
For what may be obvious reasons, I'm not sure whether this view of Joan's cult
as mainstream in the Roman Church today. Can any listmember enlighten me on
this?
Many thanks,
John Parsons
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