Joan of Arc statue

Marble sculpture depicting Jeanne d'Arc as peasant girl raising the sword, while she is protected by an armoured and crowned woman in a lly cloak.

Author: Marius Jean Antonin Mercié (1845-1916), French sculptor.

Saint Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc), nicknamed The Maid of Orléans (ca. 1412 – 30 May 1431), national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII. She was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court, and burned at the stake when she was 19 years old. Twenty-five years after the execution, Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, pronounced her innocent and declared her a martyr. Joan of Arc was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. 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