Joan of Arc

A devout 17-year-old daughter of small-town farmers somehow inspired the French army to break the siege of Orleans after St. Catherine, St. Margaret and St. Michael appeared to her. A fiery leader who promised to drive the English out of France, Joan's role helped bring about the coronation of King Charles VII, and end the long, bloody conflict. After being captured in 1430 and turned over to the English, she was accused of heresy and witchcraft by Catholic Clergy sympathetic to the English cause. She was then tried by an ecclesiastical court that despised her, intimidated and threatened her. Remaining steadfast in her beliefs, she was ultimately burned at the stake with only her heart remaining unscathed in the embers. Twenty-five years after her death, Joan of Arc was given a new trial and her sentence annulled. Sainthood would take nearly 500 years, when she was finally canonized in 1920. Today, she is the patron saint of soldiers.