The Relationship of Archangel Michael and Saint Joan of Arc

Heaven's Top Angel, Michael, Guides and Encourages Joan to Fight Evil with Good

Joan_of_Arc.jpg
Joan had no military training, but she did have a brilliant guide for her battle strategies: Archangel Michael. Photo by Eugene Thirion

How could a teenage girl from a tiny village who had never traveled much beyond her home save her entire nation from foreign invaders? How could she lead thousands of soldiers into battle and emerge victorious, with no military training at all? How could this girl -- Saint Joan of Arc -- fulfill her mission with courage, when she was the only woman fighting in the midst of many men? It was all because of God's help, delivered through an angel, Joan declared. Joan, who lived during the 1400s in France, said that it was her relationship with Archangel Michael that helped her defeat English invaders during the Hundred Years War -- and inspire many people to develop deeper faith in the process. Here's a look at how Michael guided and encouraged Joan from the time he first contacted her when she was 13 years old until her death at age 19:

A Surprising Visit

One day, 13-year-old Joan was startled to hear a heavenly voice speaking to her -- accompanied by a bright light that she could see clearly, despite the fact that the it was appearing in the middle of the day when sunlight was abundant. "The first time, I was terrified," Joan recalled. "The voice came to me about noon: it was summer, and I was in my father's garden."

After Michael identified himself, he told Joan to not be afraid. Joan said later: "It seemed to me a worthy voice, and I believed it was sent to me by God; after I had heard this voice the third time, I knew that it was the voice of an angel."

Michael's first message to Joan was about holiness, since living a holy life was a vital part of Joan's preparation to fulfill the mission God had in mind for her. "Above all, Saint Michael told me that I I must be a good child, and that God would help me," said Joan. "He taught me to behave rightly and go often to church."

Loving Yet Firm Guidance

Later, Michael appeared fully to Joan, and she reported that "he was not alone, but duly attended by heavenly angels." Joan told investigators at her trial after being captured by the English army that, "I saw them with my bodily eyes as clearly as I see you. And when they departed, I used to wish they would take me with them. And I kissed the ground where they had stood, to do them reverence."

Michael visited Joan on a regular basis, giving her loving yet firm guidance in how to grow in holiness much like a caring father would. Joan said she felt excited about being blessed with such attention from heaven's highest-ranking angel.

God had also appointed two female saints -- Catherine of Alexandria, and Margaret -- to help prepare Joan for her special mission, Michael told Joan: "He told me Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret would come to me, and I must follow their counsel; that they were appointed to guide and counsel me in what I had to do, and that I must believe what they would tell me, for it was at God's command."

Joan said that she felt cared for well by her team of spiritual mentors. Of Michael specifically, Joan said that he had a brilliant, bold, and gentlemanly demeanor and "has always guarded me well."

Revealing Information About Her Mission from God

Gradually, Michael told Joan about the incredible mission God had planned for Joan to do: liberate her country from foreign invaders by leading thousands of troops into battle -- even though she had no training as a soldier.

Michael, Joan recalled, "told me, two or three times a week, that I must go away and that I ... should raise the siege laid to the city of Orleans. The voice told me also that I should go to Robert de Baudricourt at the town of Vaucouleurs, who was the military commander of the town, and he wold provide people to go with me. And I replied that I was a poor girl who knew neither how to ride [a horse] nor lead in war."

When Joan protested that she couldn't do what he had described, Michael encouraged Joan to look beyond her own limited strength and rely on God's unlimited strength to empower her. Michael assured Joan that if she would trust God and move forward in obedience, God will help her every step of the way to successfully complete her mission.

Prophesying About Future Events

Michael gave Joan several specific prophecies about the future, predicting battle successes that later happened exactly as he had said they would, telling her how she would be wounded in combat but recover, and that French dauphin Charles VII would be crowned the king of France at a certain time after Joan's successful battles. All of Michael's prophecies came true.

Joan gained confidence to keep moving forward from knowing the prophecies, and other people who had doubted that her mission was really from God also gained confidence from them. When Joan first met with Charles VII, for example, he refused to give her troops to lead until she shared with him some personal details that Michael revealed to her, saying that no other human being knew that particular information about Charles. It was enough to convince Charles to give Joan command of thousands of men, but Charles never publicly revealed what the information was.

Wise Battle Strategies

It was Michael -- the angel who directs the fight for good against evil in the spiritual realm -- who told Joan what to do in combat, Joan said. The wisdom of her battle strategies astounded people, especially knowing that she had no military training herself.

Encouragement During Suffering

Michael continued to reach out to Joan while she was imprisoned (after being captured by the English), during her trial, and as she faced death from being burned at a stake. An official from Joan's trial wrote: "Until the last, she declared that her voices came from God and had not deceived her."

Bluntly yet kindly, Michael had warned Joan about the ways in which she would have to suffer to accomplish her work. But Michael also assured Joan that the legacy of courageous faith she left on Earth before going to heaven would be worthwhile.

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Hopler, Whitney. "The Relationship of Archangel Michael and Saint Joan of Arc." Learn Religions, Apr. 5, 2023, learnreligions.com/archangel-michael-saint-joan-of-arc-124322. Hopler, Whitney. (2023, April 5). The Relationship of Archangel Michael and Saint Joan of Arc. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/archangel-michael-saint-joan-of-arc-124322 Hopler, Whitney. "The Relationship of Archangel Michael and Saint Joan of Arc." Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/archangel-michael-saint-joan-of-arc-124322 (accessed March 29, 2024).