Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was a French national heroine who became a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. She was a simple peasant girl who rescued France in one of the darkest periods of the Hundred Years War with England. Her first great triumph was to lead a French army against the English, who had been terrorizing the city of Orleans. She has often been called the Maid of Orleans in honor of that victory. Jeanne …

…to death. Joan was burned at stake before a large crowd in Rouen on May 30, 1431. Because heretics could not receive a Christian burial, Joans ashes were thrown into the Seine River. In 1455, 24 years later, Joans family asked for a new trial on the charges against Joan. Pope Callistus III volunteered to do the hearing, and in 1456, he announced Joan innocent. Pope Pius X beautified her in 1909, and Pope Benedict XV declared Joan a saint in 1920.