She was captured about May 23,1430 at Crecy by the Burgundians fighting on the English’s side. She was then sold to the English when her king did not ransom her. She was tried by an ecclesiastical court from January to May of the next year on charges of witchcraft and heresy. During the trial much was made of her wearing men’s clothing. She was told that a woman to wear men’s clothing was a crime against God. But she kept wearing the clothing because the voices never told her to stop. This was seen as defiance and sealed her fate. Joan was sentenced to death. She was burnt at the stake in front of a large crowd on May 30, 1431. King Charles VII (seventh) made no attempt to stop her death. She was 19 years old when she died. Her courageous death made many people think they were watching the martyring of a saint. Since heretics couldn’t receive a Christian burial her ashes were thrown in the Seine River.In 1455 her family wanted a new trial that would reconsider the charges against Joan. Pope Callistus III granted the hearing. In 1456 she was pronounced innocent.Almost 500 years later in 1909, Joan was beatified and canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Beautification is the preliminary step in becoming a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XV (fifteenth) declared Joan a saint in 1920. Joan’s saint day is May 30th, the day of her death. Joan of Arc made a positive difference to the world because she believed in herself and never gave up. She could have stopped believing in God knowing that she may be killed for it, but she didn’t. She kept believing, knowing that God wanted her to help France. She believed in Him enough to forget the bad things people said about her and trusted that God wanted it to turn out the way it did. We can all learn to believe in ourselves, if we learn to trust what we’re fighting for. ...
