From Heretic to Saint

Twenty-five years after Joan was burned, the Church reviewed her case and declared her innocent. In 1920 — nearly 500 years after her death — she was canonized as a saint.

Joan's story raises uncomfortable questions. A teenager with no credentials accomplished what trained generals could not. She was used when convenient and abandoned when inconvenient. The same institution that condemned her later made her a saint. History, it seems, does not always reward the deserving — but it rarely forgets the people who change it.