JOAN OF ARC, SAINT

byname The Maid Of Orlans, French Sainte Jeanne D'arc, or La Pucelle D'orlans (b. c. 1412, Domrmy, Bar, Fr.d. May 30, 1431, Rouen; canonized May 16, 1920; feast day May 30; French national holiday, second Sunday in May), national heroine of France, a peasant girl who, acting as she believed under divine inspiration, led the French to a momentous victory that was a turning point in the Hundred Years' War. A brief account of the life and works of Saint Joan of Arc follows; for a full biography, see Joan of Arc. Joan, the daughter of a tenant farmer, led French armiesat the insistence of the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaretto victory over the English at Orlans (1429) and opened the way for the coronation of King Charles VII of France at Reims. She was captured and imprisoned in 1430, condemned as a heretic by an English-dominated church court in 1431, and burned at the stake. Officially rehabilitated later in the same century, she was declared a saint by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. Joan's achievement was to revive the courage of the French army, to encourage popular faith in the Valois dynasty, and to bring about a reconciliation between Charles VII and Philip III, duke of Burgundy (1435), thus providing the practical basis for a French recovery. Beyond this, the story of Joan will probably always be a source of controversy. Facts about her campaigns and about the motives and actions of her supporters and enemies are subject to dispute. Assessments of Joan's character and mission range from inspired saint to deluded hysteric. In any event, Joan held fast to her beliefs throughout her career and, except for a few days near the end, never swerved from her goals. She became a symbol of French national consciousness.