By TFP LA
Wednesday, May 30, was the feast day of Saint Joan of Arc, and Mr. Thomas Drake and three other TFP members joined the ladies from Saint Joan of Arc Prayer Warriors of the Rosary Crusade for the Conversion of New Orleans for their 8th annual Rosary Rally in downtown New Orleans.
The rally this year had a note of public reparation since last year anarchist activists had spray-painted “Tear this down” on the monument’s base. That was during the “statue wars,” the Confederate war hero statues removal upheaval around the country.
TFP member Mr. Alvaro Zapata brought French royal flags and prepared signs, one of which discussed the anarchist blasphemous graffiti and the Rally’s reparation aspect.
As they prayed, scoffers came up, as usual, but the words of the Hail Mary and the “O my Jesus forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell. . . ” had an exorcistic effect that subdued and silenced them completely. Passersby were touched. In fact, you can be sure that the photos and recordings they took are now on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram worldwide.
Small families – part of the holiday crowd – stood gawking, the children curious or in awe at the flags. One such family followed us to the St. Louis’ Cathedral later on. A policeman came by and took everything in pensively, the signs, and the reparation. He was very grave and serious.
At a certain moment, a group of eleven women came by, pulled out Rosary beads, and joined the Rally. It turns out that they are from Southern California and are devoted to Saint Joan of Arc. Some wear Saint Joan of Arc rings. They drove all the way from Southern California to pray before the statue of Saint Joan of Arc in New Orleans’ St. Louis Cathedral on her feast day but had been turned away by security. So they were beginning their drive back to California when they passed the Rosary Rally by the monument of St. Joan of Arc, and couldn’t believe their eyes. They parked, came over, and joined the Rally. They were extremely moved and even cried, saying what a blessing it was to have seen the rally. After the Rosary, our Rally was going to go to the Cathedral for a final prayer and these Californian women were invited to join. That is when they said they had been refused entry. The members and rally members told them to just join along and they would see there would be no problems. At the Cathedral, Mr. Thomas Drake explained to security that they were all there to pray, and everyone was let in. They prayed, had an explanation from Mr. Drake of the life of St Louis the King illustrated by the stained glass windows, the story of Our Lady of Prompt Succor (they never heard about this miraculous statue at the Shrine in New Orleans), the statue of St. Joan of Arc, and left. The California ladies then started their return trip.
Mrs. Hemelt and the other ladies from the Saint Joan of Arc Prayer Warriors then joined the TFP members for lunch.