• May: Saint Joan of Arc

       In 1996, a Paris antiques dealer reported that he thought he had the actual suit of armor worn by St. Joan of Arc. "I couldn't be more sure it's authentic if Joan of Arc herself were standing in it," said Pierre de Souzy.

   

       A metallurgist at the National Center for Scientific Research dated it to the 15th century and said the armor was designed for a woman, not a man.

  
       What's more, it stands just under 5 feet tall, the height of France’s patron saint. And chinks and gashes in the metal correspond to wounds Joan is known to have suffered in battle before the English burned her at the stake in 1431. It’s impossible to actually prove if the armor belonged to Joan, but just reporting it brought her to the attention of the public, who perhaps had not thought of her in a while.

   

       May 30 is the feast day of St. Joan of Arc, who died at the tender age of 19. She is the patron saint of soldiers, captives, prisoners, martyrs, rape victims, people ridiculed for their piety, and France—the country she gave her life to save. Today, as young people march and protest for changes in the U.S. and elsewhere, it’s good to look back at how another young person made a difference.

   

       She lived a short, but impactful life. At the age of 13, she was said to receive visions from St. Michael the Archangel, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Margaret of Antioch and told to help the King of France reconquer his kingdom, which was being overtaken by England.

   

       Can you imagine what Charles VII thought when this girl came into his court and explained her sacred mission? But it worked! She was given a small army, and despite her age and stature, she commanded that army and won important battles in the Hundred Years’ War between France and England. Her victories paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII.

   

       Unfortunately, Joan was captured, tried, convicted, and burned at the stake. She asked for a crucifix as she burned, calling out the name of Jesus. Twenty-five years after her execution, Pope Callixtus III called for an examination of her trial, then declared she was innocent. She was canonized in 1920.

   

       Joan is proof that not everybody is cut out to be a martyr, and age is no barrier to an accomplishment. Keep that in mind next time you’re watching the news.

• May - Like Nun-other

  How many nuns do you know who have a bobblehead figure made of their likeness? How many do you know who have TWO bobbleheads?

   

  Meet Sr. Jean Dolores Schmidt, Loyola University’s basketball mascot and biggest fan. Simply known as Sr. Jean, she’s the chaplain for the Loyola Ramblers men's basketball team and a religious sister of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary . This year, as the Ramblers made it to the Final Four in the NCAA (college basketball) tournament, Sr. Jean became a national figure. How many other 99-year-old nuns can say that?

   

  Sr. Jean was born on August 21, 1919 in San Francisco and considered becoming a nun while she was in third grade. As a student at St. Paul's High School , she played on the girl’s basketball team. After graduating from high school in 1937, she entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary convent in Iowa. After living and teaching in Los Angeles, Sr. Jean moved to Chicago and taught at Mundelein College, which was right across the street from Loyola.

   

  She became the Team Chaplain for the Ramblers in 1994, and has been their good luck mascot ever since. Ultimately, Loyola lost to Michigan, but nobody doubts that Sr. Jean won’t be there rooting them on next season!