A mysterious voice inside your heart. part 4
I thought I finished my series, but I found new, very interesting material....
Va, va fille de Dieu, va!
1425, Domrémy, in the Vosges, France. A 13 years old teenager, Joan, begins to hear voices which respectively identify themselves as St. Michael, St. Margaret and St. Catherine (the last two are Christian martyrs and virgins of the early centuries). For some years, the "voices", accompanied by a light and visions of the same saints, guide Giovanna in the fulfillment of a great mission: to liberate France from the English, and essentially to put an end to the infamous Hunderd Years' War. On May 30 of 1431, now nineteen, after a long and harrowing captivity, including torture too, Joan of Arc dies burned as a witch, after a travesty trial, wanted by the hidden direction of the English, but concretely organized by the University of Paris (then a beacon of Western theology!) and the priests of Rouen.
The story of Joan of Arc let flow rivers of ink and someone also wondered what was the origin of these "voices". Anatole France, in his Life of Joan of Arc, 1908, demolished the Maid of Orleans, describing her as a victim of hysterical hallucinations, a "hallucinatory beguine". His position, however, comes from a strong prejudice and political motives: St.Joan of Arc was a myth for French nationalism, at least for the conservative Catholics, and A.France, heir of the revolutionary tradition and on opposite positions, intended to discredit her. But the story of Joan has been carefully studied by various specialists (including George Dumas and Salomon Reinach), and everything she looks but hysterical: in her short life, the young woman showed loyalty to her principles, heroism, love for all, including enemies, balance, humility, clear awareness, strategic competence unthinkable for a girl of her age (and that carried to the victory in the siege of Orléans or in the battle of Patay) and, above all, the intelligence out of the common by which she opposed her accusers. The charges, by comparison, are empty talk, full of gratuitous insults.
Some scholars (like the English J.Butterfield) has even suggested that the hallucinations were due to a form of tuberculosis (affecting especially her brain), since, in prison, Joan was suffering from a kidney illness, a symptom consistent with tuberculosis; but Joan was tortured, more than enough to explain her health problems. Therefore, there is nothing to substantiate that hypothesis. Moreover, the 1431 judges appealed to hallucinations too: back then, hysteria was linked to unilateral hallucinations, which were, however, also associated with a hemianaesthesia on the side from which the individual perceived the hallucination. Needless to say, all over the dossier of Joan there is no trace of these symptoms. R.Mangani, whose study I am following, links hallucinations to paranoid depression, but there is, as well, no trace of that in the Pucelle's behavior, as she is calm, coherent, rational (I want to see how she would earn the confidence of her troops, without such qualities!). And she is serene, dignified even shortly before her death; she remains true to her conscience, aware that the "voices" came from God: in fact, her judges condemned her as a witch because of the "voices ". And she answered to them: Prenez garde !, that is: be careful how you judge; you might be wrong, by denying the supernatural side of life, and so, waste your life. When I think that she was the age of some of my students ...
Giovanna accomplishes a great mission in a devastating moment for France, divided by a full-scale civil war and plundered by the enemy, virtually collapsed. In Joan of Arc, then sanctified by Pope Benedict XV in 1920, the phenomenon of "voices" (though also associated with visions) reaches levels well away from our everyday life: it is, however, an exceptional example of voices that guide in a mission, a very frequent characteristic of these inner locutions. However, these missions require a good head on one's shoulders. And Joan of Arc had one out of the ordinary.
Mangani, in his study, provides an excellent definition of "voices" that I mention here:
The subject perceives the "voice" as an energy that permeates, pervades him, enough to give the exact feeling of what the "voice" wants and means. They are accomplished dialogues and sentences (op.cit. p.9). The author adds that anyone who hears these voices, shows a knowledge beyond his reach; the hallucinated, however, believe they have heard something with their own ears, but their false premonitions have no real support. However, there are also cases where hearing enters into play; and I would like to close this study with a very nice story, which became famous last year in the United States, and happened on March 6, 2015.
Lily with her momWe are in Utah, Spanish Fork, along a highway far from the town. At about 10.30 pm, a car with, on board, a young twenty-five year mom and her baby girl, comes out off the road and flips into a stream with frozen waters. The red Dodge is spotted and rescued by the sheriff and his men, four in all, plus three firemen, only 14 hours later, then in the late morning of the following day, at about 12:30. When the men see someone inside the cockpit, they throw themselves into the water without thinking, and the all of them hear a distinct woman's voice, screaming: Help me, we're in here !. But when, with great effort, they manage to turn the car and to rescue the victims, inside the mother, Jennifer Groesbeck, is dead since hours, while the small Lily, 18 months, is still alive. Rescuers (who remained in the icy water for about twenty minutes, with the water up to their necks, and they had to be treated for hypothermia) do not explain it, but heard the voice distinctly. The voice prompted them to act quickly, by the idea that there were survivors in the cockpit. In fact: there was little Lily. Who spoke to them?
Bibliography
Bibliografia
Here are the links about the facts of Spanish Fork:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/mysterious-voice-leads-police-baby-car-crash-article-1.2142732http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=33747089&nid=148&title=rescuers-recall-distinct-voice-that-spurred-them-to-rescue-trapped-toddler&fm=home_page&s_cid=topstory
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