Joan of Arc was the youngest of five children living in the village of Domremy in Champagne, France during the Hundred Years War between England and France.  At a very early age, she was said to have heard the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret.
 
God’s call to Joan came gradually. It wasn’t until she was sixteen that she was certain that she was supposed to go to the aid of the dauphin Charles VII, heir to the throne of France. Before she was given an army, Joan was sent to Poitiers and examined by a committee of theologians, learned bishops and doctors. They found nothing heretical in her claims to supernatural guidance and gave their permission that she might be safely employed.
 
After 2 years in service to France, the voices of the saints told Joan that she would be taken prisoner before Midsummer Day. It did not take long. On May 24, during a fight in defense of the town Compiègne, she was taken prisoner by the English. Eyewitness accounts of Joan's execution by burning on May 30, 1431 describe how she was tied to a tall pillar at the Vieux-Marché in Rouen. After she died, the English raked the coals to disperse her body so no one could spread rumors of her escaping alive, then they burned her body two more times to reduce it to ashes so no one could collect relics. After burning her body to ash, the English threw her remains into the Seine River and the executioner, Geoffroy Thérage, later said he "... greatly feared to be damned."
 
Joan of Arc's was beautified in 1909, and on May 16, 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonized her.
 
Statue Made from Cold Cast Resin with a Bronze Finish
Measures 5 1/4"L x 3 3/4"W x 15" H