La Pucelle - The Maid

Today is the Feast of St. Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans. She is the patroness of France and soldiers.

Born in 1412, she received personal and general messages from the saints starting around the age of 13. St. Joan received revelations that told her to go forward as a general to help the King of France regain his kingdom from the English. At the age of 17, after meeting with the King, she set forth with a small group of soldiers and there began a series of great military victories that culminated with the crowning of the king at Rheims.

Political intrigue caused her to be captured and tried as a heretic. She was burned at the stake at age 19.

Within 20 years, her case was reopened and she was declared not guilty posthumously. The cause for her sainthood peaked with her canonization by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. Her feast day is today, May 30, the date of her death.

More information on her life can be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia by clicking here.

The statue featured in the photos of this post is found in New Orleans at the corner of St. Philip and Decatur, along the Mississippi, near the French Market. It was a gift from the people of France and is a duplicate of the famous statue at Place des Pyramids in Paris.

The statue was sent to New Orleans in 1958 and stored due to lack of funding. After French President DeGaulle's visit in 1960, a group was formed to fund a project to erect it. It was placed on a 17 foot pedestal at the end of Canal Street in 1972 and was gilded in 1985. It was later moved to its current place.