St. Joan of Arc

Jeanne d'Arc, known in English as Joan of Arc, was born around 1412 in Domrémy, a small village in northeastern France. She grew up in a peasant family during the Hundred Years' War, a long and devastating conflict between France and England that had left much of northern France occupied or in ruins. Joan was noted from a young age for her piety and her skill with animals, but she had no formal education and could not read or write. The exact details of her early life are sparse, as most surviving records come from later trials and testimonies rather than contemporary sources.

Around the age of thirteen, Joan began reporting visions and hearing voices that she identified as Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Saint Margaret of Antioch. These heavenly messages, she said, urged her to support the Dauphin Charles and reclaim France from English domination. After years of petitioning local officials, she was granted an audience with Charles at Chinon in 1429. According to tradition, she identified him among his courtiers and reportedly revealed information known only to him, though the precise details of this encounter have been debated by historians. After examinations by clergy at Poitiers affirmed her sincerity, she was given a small army and sent to relieve the besieged city of Orléans.

Joan's arrival at Orléans in late April 1429 turned the tide of the campaign. Within days her forces lifted the English siege, a victory that electrified France. She then accompanied the Dauphin to Reims, where he was crowned King Charles VII in July 1429, with Joan standing nearby holding her banner. Her military successes were remarkable, though they lasted only a short time. In May 1430, she was captured at Compiègne by Burgundian forces allied with the English and sold to their English captors for a substantial ransom.

Joan was put on trial in Rouen on charges including heresy, witchcraft, and wearing men's clothing, which her judges framed as a violation of divine law. The trial was conducted under English authority, and historians have long noted its procedural irregularities, including the limited access given to her defense. After roughly six months of proceedings, she was convicted and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431, at the age of about nineteen. According to multiple accounts, she maintained until the end that her voices were real and sent from God. Twenty-five years later, a posthumous retrial ordered by Charles VII cleared her name. She was beatified in 1909 and canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920, becoming one of the most recognized saints in the Catholic Church and a patron of France, soldiers, prisoners, and captives.