The Mystery of the Charity of Joan of Arc

The Mystery of the Charity of Joan of Arc, first published in English in 1950, is an amalgamation of a poem and a play, taking as its central theme the awakening of Joan of Arc’s vocation. The text develops from dialogues between the young Jeanne d’Arc and the simple Hauviette and the saintly Madame Gervaise. To create the text’s unique cadence and character, Péguy fashions elevated soliloquies on the mystery of God’s love for humanity and intersperses among them sober meditations on sin, suffering, and redemption.In the words of translator Julian Green, “Péguy shared with Dante the peculiar gift of clothing the metaphysical with humanity. He had an eye for the invisible which only the most mystical among primitives have had before him, because he was himself a great primitive.” Prophetic and penetrating, Péguy’s The Mystery of the Charity of Joan of Arc endures as a literary testament to the reality—and realization—of God’s call to the human heart.