Who is St. Joan of Arc?

Joan was born to a peasant family in Domrémy, France, a small town near Vaucouleurs, the last town in the east still loyal to Charles VII.  She was a young woman who led the French army to victory over the British in a crucial battle during the Hundred Years’ War and is hailed as a heroine of France. Born into a simple peasant family in France, Joan is believed to have experienced divine visions of archangels and saints from the time she was a young girl.  She claimed that she was instructed by Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret to drive out the English and bring the Dauphin to Reims for his coronation. It had been five years since the death of the Dauphin’s father but he still had not been crowned king of France. Led by the voices of the saints, she sought permission to join the Dauphin and his cause. From 1450 to 1456 a reinvestigation of Joan’s trial and condemnation was undertaken by ecclesiastical lawyers. On July 7, 1456, the commission declared Joan’s trial null and void, thereby freeing Joan from the taint of heresy. The Joan of Arc legend, however, did not gather momentum until the seventeenth century. In spite of her legend, Joan was not canonized until May 16, 1920.

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