Saint Joan of Arc was born on January 6, 1412, in Domremy, northeastern France. From her earliest years, she prayed each night: "O God, save France." She thus conceived an ardent love for her country.
While the English overran northern France, Joan peacefully tended her flock and learned God's wisdom through prayer at a wayside shrine. She received locutions and a vision of Saint Michael the Archangel. The Archangel bid her to liberate France from the English. Thus, she hastened to the king and convinced him of her divine mission.
Scarcely did her banner - inscribed, "Jesus, Mary" - appear on the battlefield when the siege of Orleans was lifted. She afterward led Charles VII to be crowned in Rheims. She was later abandoned by the king and fell into the hands of the English, who gave her a mock trial and immolated her as a heretic.
The Maid of Orleans at last came into her own: With greater pomp than ever a king was crowned, and amid the acclamations of the whole world, on May 13, 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonized her Saint Joan of Arc.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894

 

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