Saint Joan of Arc

Feast day : 30 May

Joan of Arc (Jeanne D’Arc) is a young Catholic Saint who lived during the period AD 1412-1431). Also called the 'Maid of Orleans', she is the national heroine of France who under divine guidance led the French army in a momentous victory at Orleans during what is called the ‘100 Year War’. A year later she was captured by the English and tried on account of 70 charges including witchcraft, heresy and dressing like a man. The trial was politically motivated and she was convicted and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431 at the young age of 19.
20 years later, Pope Callixtus III ordered a re-examination of her trial at the behest of her family. The inquiry led to all the charges against her being proved false. She was pronounced innocent and declared a martyr. On May 16 1920 she was canonized by Pope Benedict XV and declared a patron saint of France. She is also the patron saint for martyrs, captives, military personnel, prisoners and soldiers.

Early life:
Joan was born in AD 1412 to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée, a peasant family, at Domrémy in north-east France. Though she was not educated, her mother gave her a Catholic upbringing, instilling in her a deep love for the teachings of the Catholic Church. At that time, France was engaged in a bitter battle with England which is popularly known as the ‘Hundred Year War’ in which England had gained the upper hand. A peace treaty in AD 1420 disinherited the French crown prince, Charles of Valois, amid accusations of his illegitimacy, and King Henry V was made ruler of both England and France. His son, Henry VI, succeeded him in 1422. Along with its French allies (led by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy), England occupied much of northern France.

Mission to save France:
At the age of 13, Joan began to hear voices, which she determined had been sent by God to give her a mission. She claimed to have received visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria instructing her to save France by expelling its enemies, and to re-instate Charles as its rightful king. In May 1428, Joan made her way to Vaucouleurs, a nearby stronghold of those loyal to Charles. She was initially rejected by the local magistrate, Robert de Baudricourt,but she did not give up. She returned the following January and gained support from two of Baudricourt's soldiers: Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy. According to Jean de Metz, she told him that "I must be at the King's side ... there will be no help (for the kingdom) if not from me. Although I would rather have remained spinning [wool] at my mother's side ... yet must I go and must I do this thing, for my Lord wills that I do so." Under the auspices of Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy, she was given a second meeting, where she made a prediction about a military reversal at the Battle of Rouvray near Orléans several days before messengers arrived to report it. Joan came to know of the battle through 'divine grace" while tending her flocks in Lorraine and used this divine revelation to persuade Baudricort to take her to the Dauphin.

Finally when Baudricort was impressed and relented, Joan cropped her hair and dressed in men’s clothes to make the 11-day journey across enemy territory to Chinon, the place of the crown prince’s palace. There on meeting Charles she promised him that she would see him crowned king at Reims, the traditional site of French royal investiture, and asked him to give her an army to lead to Orléans, which was at that time under siege from the English. Against the advice of most of his counselors and generals, Charles granted her request, and Joan set off for Orléans in March of 1429 dressed in white armor and riding a white horse. After sending off a defiant letter to the enemy, Joan led several French assaults against them, driving the Anglo-Burgundians from their bastion and forcing their retreat across the Loire River. After such a miraculous victory, Joan’s reputation spread far and wide among French forces. She and her followers escorted Charles across enemy territory to Reims, taking towns that resisted by force and enabling his coronation as King Charles VII in Reims in July of 1429.

Trial and Execution:
In the spring of 1430, the king ordered Joan to confront a Burgundian assault on Compiégne. In her effort to defend the town and its inhabitants, she was thrown from her horse, and was left outside the town’s gates as they closed. On 23 May 1430, she was captured by the Burgundians who were a group of French nobles aligned with the English. They brought her amid much fanfare to the castle of Bouvreuil, occupied by the English commander at Rouen. She was put on trial by the pro-English bishop Pierre Cauchon on a variety of charges. Joan was ordered to answer to some 70 charges against her, including witchcraft, heresy and dressing like a man. The Anglo-Burgundians were aiming to get rid of the young leader as well as discredit Charles, who owed his coronation to her. Charles in the meantime, attempting to distance himself from an accused heretic and witch, made no attempt to negotiate for Joan’s release.

In May 1431, after a year in captivity and under threat of death, Joan relented and signed a confession denying that she had ever received divine guidance. Several days later, however, she defied orders by again donning men’s clothes, which led to the authorities pronouncing her death sentence on account of heresy. On the morning of May 30, at the age of 19, Joan was taken to the old market place of Rouen and burned at the stake. Tied to a tall pillar at the Vieux-Marché in Rouen, she asked two of the clergy, Fr. Martin Ladvenu and Fr. Isambart de la Pierre, to hold a crucifix before her. An English soldier also constructed a small cross that she put in the front of her dress. After she died, the English raked back the coals to expose her charred body so that no one could claim she had escaped alive. They then burned the body twice more, to reduce it to ashes and prevent any collection of relics, and cast her remains into the Seine River.

After death:
Her fame only increased after her death and in 1456, an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, debunked the charges against her, pronounced her innocent, and declared her to be a martyr. In the 16th century she became a symbol of the Catholic League, and in 1803 she was declared a national symbol of France by the decision of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was beatified in 1909 in the famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris by Pope Pius X and canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV. Joan of Arc is one of the nine secondary patron saints of France, along with Saint Denis, Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Louis, Saint Michael, Saint Rémi, Saint Petronilla, Saint Radegund and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.