Joan of Arc biography   Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of
Orléans," was born in 1412 in Domrémy, Bar, France. A
national heroine of France, Joan of Arc led the French army to
victory over the British at Orléans, at age 18. Captured a year
later, Joan was burned by the English and their French
collaborators as a heretic. She was canonized as a Roman
Catholic saint 500 years later, on May 16, 1920.  Early Years
In 1412 (on January 6, according to some sources), Joan of Arc
was born into the French peasant class to devoutly religious
parents in the village of Domremy. Beginning around age 12, she
heard voices: those of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St.
Margaret. She also possessed many characteristics common to her
contemporary female visionaries, who were a notable fixture of
her time—extreme piety, claims of direct communication with the
saints, and a reliance on individual experience, as opposed to
that found through the institutions of the church, of the
presence of God.  As history would prove, beyond