joan of arc

Saint Joan of Arc or The Maid of Orléans (French: Jeanne d'Arc,^[1] IPA: [ʒan daʁk]; ca. 1412^[2] – 30 May 1431) is a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during theHundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of Charles VII. She was captured by theBurgundians, sold to the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court, and burned at the stake when she was nineteen years old.^[3] Twenty-four years later, on the initiative of Charles VII, Pope Callixtus III reviewed the decision of the ecclesiastical court, found her innocent, and declared her a martyr.^[3] She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.^[2] She is, along with St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Louis IX, and St. Theresa of Lisieux, one of the patron saints of France.