This week was full of service, vulnerability, diligence, empathy, and growth. RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, is a one-week summer camp where soon-to-be high school seniors, who are leaders in their schools and communities, are grouped with many others from the surrounding areas to learn how to become a better leader.

 

The first week of January, The Rotary Club of New Orleans welcomed Clairvie Quesne, the 2024 French Jeanne d’Arc, along with her pages Maximillian de Rochefort and Théophile Joinneaux. Their chaperones included President of the Jeanne d’Arc Association, Bénédicte Baranger and her husband, Victor Baranger. Madame Baranger once portrayed Jeanne d’Arc in Orléans, France in 1975.

 

In June, the 2023 Joan of Arc maid from New Orleans, Emmeline Meyer, travelled to Orléans, France to celebrate and walk in the footsteps of the historic figure. She was hosted by the Rotary Club of Orléans, France.

 

The French visitors were welcomed at Gallier Hall by the Mayor of New Orleans (Louisiana, USA), LaToya Cantrell, at a festive ceremony attended by city officials, media, Rotary members, and New Orleans Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc representatives. During the week-long visit they toured St. Louis Cathedral, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Mardi Gras World, and Vue Orleans. They travelled upriver to visit and learn the French history of Laura Plantation. The Rotary Club of Laplace and the River Parishes Tourist Commission hosted the group for lunch and a visit to Saint Joan of Arc Church in LaPlace, LA, whose local priest had recently made a pilgrimage to Orléans. They especially enjoyed the live music and dancing on the Steamboat Natchez.

 

Donning their period attire, the French and American representatives of Jeanne d’Arc were special guests at the annual banquet of the Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc. The highlight of the trip was walking with the annual Joan of Arc Parade on January 6, also known locally as Twelfth Night and the beginning of the Carnival Season. Rotarians from the New Orleans Club walked in the parade as Monks and carried signs that told the history of the Restoration Period in Joan’s life, when Joan’s name was restored by the Church.

 

The main goal of these exchanges is to strengthen cultural ties. Both cities celebrate Joan of Arc, a historic figure who was so devoted and determined that she led the French army to a momentous victory during the Hundred Years War. Joan was the 16-year-old daughter of a tenant farmer when she left home to save France. She was a visionary, a warrior, and a devout and pious Christian who held true to her visions demanding that the dauphin Charles (later King Charles VII of France) listen to her. The young woman proceeded to lead the French armies to “impossible” victories in Orléans, Beaugecy, and Patay. When questioned if she was afraid, her response was, “God is with me, and I was born for this purpose.”

 

After the visit of the 2024 Jeanne d’Arc from France, Madame Baranger commented, “Words will never express the joy we experienced with these Joan of Arc festivities and the parade in your magnificent city. What joy it was for us to see that the American Joan of Arc lost none of her civil and religious dimensions…. This pairing is full of meaning and the French culture is really present in this exchange with Joan of Arc at heart.”

 

New Orleans Joan of Arc for 2024, Marley Marsalis, will visit Orleans, France in June 2024 when she too will be hosted by the Rotary Club of Orléans, France. Rotarians, friends, and a grant from the State of Louisiana, CODOFIL, make these cultural exchanges possible. Fundraising is underway for the second year of the exchange and donations may be made to New Orleans Rotary Foundation (NORFI).

 

(Story submitted by Sarah Dickerson, The Rotary Club of New Orleans.)

 

 

Check out more here: Orléans, France Sends Jeanne d’Arc to Join New Orleans’ Joan of Arc Parade - OffBeat Magazine