Jeanne d’Arc

(c. 1412–1431), with her alias The Maid of Orléans, is a national heroine of France as well as a Catholic saint. Born a peasant girl in eastern France, she asserted that she had visions from God instructing her to free her country from English domination. The dauphin Charles sent her to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence when she overcame the sceptical attitude of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in only nine days. She then led the French army to several important victories, which paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII in Reims, thus settling the disputed succession to the throne.

The Burgundians captured Jeanne d’Arc a few months later and sold her to the English. An ecclesiastical court tried her, with the result that she was burned at the stake, at only 19 years old. Twenty-five years after the execution, pope Callixtus III examined the trial, pronounced her innocent and declared her a martyr. She was canonized in 1920 and is one of the patron saints of France.