St Joan of Arc

 

Joan of Arc (1412 –1431), nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans", was born January 6, 1412, to parents of the French peasant class in the village of Domremy. At the age of 13, she claimed to have had visions of Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret, each of whom told her she was chosen to drive the English from French territory.

With no military training, Joan convinced the crown prince Charles of Valois to allow her to lead a French army to the besieged city of Orléans, where it achieved a momentous victory over the English and their French allies, the Burgundians. After seeing the prince crowned King Charles VII, Joan was captured by Anglo-Burgundian forces, tried for witchcraft and heresy and burned at the stake in 1431, at the age of 19. By the time she was officially canonized in 1920, the Maid of Orléans had long been considered one of history’s greatest saints, and an enduring symbol of French unity and nationalism.

Every year the College celebrates Domremy Day, the week of St Joan of Arc’s feast day May 30.