Joan of Arc, nicknamed the 'Maid of Orleans', was born 600 years ago in 1412. Her birth in Domremy-la-Pucelle in the Vosges, eastern France, was according to the villagers, on January 6th.
Her death by burning at the stake on May 1st, 1431, is celebrated more widely every year throughout France, but that didn't stop President Nicolas Sarkozy from making a pilgrimage this year. He didn't go to Domremy, but to Vaucouleurs a little to the north, in the same region. It was from here that Joan began her campaign to push the English out of France during the Hundred Years War between the two countries, and put Charles VII on the throne.
But Sarkozy's mind was as much on politics as it was on honoring the great French heroine and Roman Catholic saint. Joan of Arc has been adopted by the Far Right as a nationalist heroine who got rid of unwanted foreigners. Sarkozy tried to dispel their claim to her. "Joan is the incarnation of patriotism, which is the love of one's country without the hatred of others" he said in a public speech on Friday January 6th.
Forget the politics; this year there are likely to be many celebrations of Joan all over France. But the main ones will be centered around the places most closely associated with her: at Domremy, at Orleans where she lifted the English siege on the city, and in Rouen, where she was burned at the stake.
Joan of Arc was canonized in 1920, and along with St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Louis IX and St. Theresa of Lisieux, is one of the patron saints of France.