Joan of Arc: The road to rehabilitation for a teenage "heretic"

Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII in Reims Cathedral
by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

How to explain the visions and the voices? Was Joan of Arc, France's 15th century gender-bending heroine, mentally ill? A charismatic charlatan? A divinely inspired leader? Or something else for which we have no precise descriptive terminology?

There is no definitive answer to these questions, although scholars seem to agree that Joan’s religious beliefs were sincere, even if the source of her visions remains in dispute. In purely secular terms, the peasant girl from Lorraine was the ultimate symbol of “girl power.” As a mere teenager, she led a French army during the Hundred Years War, bested the English invaders of her homeland and paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII as king.

Not a bad showing for a kid.

Joan was burned at the stake in 1431 after a corrupt and misguided ecclesiastical court convicted her of heresy. Only 25 years after her death, Pope Callixtus III proclaimed her innocence. The Catholic Church, which had been responsible for her death, beatified her in 1909 and canonized her (recognized her as a saint) on May 16, 1920.

My fascination with the Maid of Orléans dates from my youth. The now long-gone Catholic grade school I attended in Massachusetts was named after Joan, and there was a life-size statue of her in our parish church. As I remember it, the warrior depicted in that statue wore a suit of armor and stood ramrod straight. La Pucelle (The Maid) carried a banner in her right hand. She gazed resolutely into the distance, as if surveying a field of battle.

A powerful image. A lasting impression.

You do not have to conjure up memories of a Catholic, Franco-American childhood to appreciate Jeanne d’Arc, as a string of authors and biographers can attest. Even an atheist should be able to see what this preternaturally astute and gifted young woman teaches us about the importance of the individual, the empowerment of women, and (sometimes, at least) the wisdom and courage of the young.