Angels-JOAN OF ARC

The French visionary Joan of Arc (ca. 1412–31), also known as the
Maid of Orléans, is considered patron saint of France in Christian legend.
She called herself Jeanne La Pucelle and used her claims to mystical
experience and communion with angels to influence the course
of French history in the fifteenth century, inspiring the French army
to turn the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.
She was a peasant who was born around 1412 in Domrémy-la-
Pucelle, a village on the border between Lorraine and France. At age
thirteen Joan began to hear a voice from God instructing her to go to
the dauphin Charles, the uncrowned Valois king. She was convinced
of having been called to drive the English out of France. She eventually
took a vow of virginity and prepared herself for the role of
prophetic adviser to the king, a type of female mystic popular in the
late medieval period.
later identified as the saints Catherine of
Alexandria and Margaret of Antioch, both
known for their heroic virginity, and the
archangel Michael, protector of the French
royal family. To Joan her messages were delivered
by normal human beings, who now lived
in heaven, except when they were with her.
The archangel Michael, in particular, she
described as a very gallant gentleman.
Joan established her authority by identifying
herself with prophecies about a virgin who
would save France and by accurately announcing
a French defeat. The garrison captain of the
town of Vaucouleurs, who could no longer
ignore her, refused to endorse her mission to
save France until she was exorcised. Although
he was not fully assured, the captain gave her
arms and an escort.
She cut her hair short, began wearing male
clothing, and, with her companions, made her
way through enemy territory, reaching the
dauphin’s court at Chinon in late February
1429. She claimed that she was sent by God and
that she had been accompanied to the castle of Chinon by the
archangel Michael and several other angels, some of whom had wings
and crowns, and by Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret. Then she
went up the steps of the castle to the room of the king, before whom,
she declared, an angel bearing a crown did reverence.
Joan’s strong belief that only she could save France impressed
Charles and his court, though they too moved carefully, requiring an
examination for heresy by theologians at Poitiers, who declared her a
good Christian. In addition, a physical examination by three matrons
certified that she was indeed a virgin. For a woman about to attempt
the “miracle” of defeating the English, virginity added an aura of magical
power. When Charles eventually allowed Joan to join the army
marching to the relief of Orléans, her presence attracted several volunteers.
During the battle she was wounded, thus becoming the hero of
the day. Upon her suggestion, the army moved on, and by late July the
dauphin was crowned King Charles VII at Reims, with Joan at his side.
When, driven by her voices and disobeying the king, her attack
on Paris failed, she was captured in a skirmish outside Compiègne. She
was accused of heresy and witchcraft by the English, who turned her
over to a court of the Inquisition. The court refused to believe that the
saints had visited her and maintained that Charles VII’s coronation
had been a “work of hell,” because she had invoked evil spirits. The
University of Paris affirmed that Joan was “a woman of Belial, Satan,
and Behemoth.”
She was tried on twelve charges of sorcery. Her trial in Rouen
lasted from February 21 to May 28, 1431, and after weeks of unrelenting
questioning and being threatened with death by fire, she finally
denied her voices and agreed to wear women’s clothes. When in
prison she claimed that the archangel Gabriel had come to her and
comforted her. She also claimed that she had asked the archangel
Michael and her other voices if she would be burned, and they had
told her to wait upon God and he would help her.
On May 31, 1431, Joan was declared a relapsed heretic and was
burned at the stake. The executioner, greatly disturbed by her death,
claimed her heart refused to burn and that it was found whole in the
ashes. Throughout her ordeal, Charles VII, to whom she had delivered
the crown of France, declined to come to her aid. In 1920 she
was declared a saint and has since been a favorite subject of music
and literature.