Tragic Tale of Claire Ferchaud & the Great War

This is the moving and improbable story of Claire Ferchaud, a young French shepherdess who had visions of Jesus and gained national fame as a modern-day Joan of Arc at the height of World War I. Claire experienced her first vision after a childhood trauma in which her mother locked her in a closet to break her stubborn willfulness. She developed her visionary gifts with the aid of spiritual directors and, by the age of twenty, she had come to believe that Jesus wanted France consecrated to the Sacred Heart. Claire believed that if France undertook this devotion, symbolized by adding the image of the Sacred Heart to the French flag, it would enjoy rapid victory in the war. From her modest origins to her spectacular ascent, Claire's life and times are deftly related with literary verve and insight in a book that gives a rare view of the French countryside during the Great War.

and#147;This is an exceptionally moving story of the French people during World War I. Raymond Jonas describes the visions of a young peasant woman and the ways in which they catapulted her to local and then national fame. The story is so well told it is almost impossible to put down, and one is amazed at the combination of narrative power and scholarship. A deep pleasure to readand#8221;and#151;Bonnie G. Smith, author of The Gender of History: Men, Women, and Historical Practice

and#147;This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of spirituality and religion in the modern world. It is especially fine in demonstrating the multiple ways in which gender, religion, and politics have been intertwined in France.and#8221;and#151;Judith Stone, author of Sons of the Revolution: Reform Legislation in France, 1890-1914

Raymond Jonas, Professor of History at the University of Washington, is the author of France and the Cult of the Sacred Heart: An Epic Tale for Modern Times (California, 2000), Industry and Politics in Rural France: Peasants of the Isand#232;re, 1870-1914 (1994), and Le Sacrand#233;-Coeur; histoire d'une dand#233;votion du XVIe au XXe siand#232;cle (2004).

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

The Great War in the European Imagination

Miracle or and#147;Miracle?and#8221;

Carnal Vision and Saintly Ambition

Spiritual Patronage and a Mission to Save France

Silent Eruptions: Claire and Her Public

In the Footsteps of Joan

A Kind of Apotheosis: Claire Goes to Paris

The Sacred Heart and the Union Sacrand#233;e: Claireand#8217;s Story Goes Public

Consecration by Proxy

The Unraveling

The Unmaking of a Saint

Prologue as Epilogue: The Story of Jonas

Notes

Bibliography

Index