St. Joan of Arc is known as the Maid of Orleans, or La Pucelle. She is the patron saint of France and she emerged from absolute obscurity to lead the armies of France to victory against the English at Orleans. Joan of Arc was born at Domremy, France, she was the daughter of Jacques d’Arc and was the youngest of five children.

At fifteen she had her first vision, identified later as one of many in which she saw a light and heard the voices of Sts. Michael the Archangel, Catherine of Alexandria, Margaret of Antioch, and others who commanded her to save France. In 1428, she was initially unsuccessful in convincing the commanding offer of Vaucouleurs that she was sincere and genuine, she foretold the defeat of France in a battle in February 1429. She was able to use the fulfilled prophecies to gain an audience at the royal court of the uncrowned King Charles VII of France. In the famous episode, she stupefied the disguised dauphin by picking him out of a crowd where he had hidden himself and soon after won the approval of theologians at Poitiers.

In return, she was given command of an army with the mission to free the besieged city of Orleans. Donning white armor, she led the French to shattering victory, and her relief of the city permitted Charles to be crowned king at Reims on July 17, 1429. The victory was also a major turning point in the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), which was eventually won by France.

Joan continued other military operations, but, as she predicted, she was captured by the Burgundians near Compiegne and sold to the English. Tried before a tribunal at Rouen under Bishop Pierre Cauchon, she was condemned for heresy and witchcraft on May 30, 1431, and burned at the stake. In 1456, Pope Callistus III ordered her trial to be reopened, and she was declared innocent of all charges.

Popularly venerated throughout France for centuries, she was finally canonized in 1920; two years later she was declared the patron saint of France.