Auxerre The Cathedral of Saint-Étienne

In late February 1429, on her way from Vaucouleurs to Chinon, Joan of Arc heard Mass in the great church of Auxerre, usually identified as the cathedral. The Gothic cathedral of Saint-Étienne, begun in 1215, stands above the Yonne with its thirteenth-century windows.

Its Romanesque crypt has an eleventh-century fresco found nowhere else in France: Christ on a white horse, surrounded by four angels on horseback. Across the town, the abbey of Saint-Germain keeps a Carolingian crypt around the tomb of Saint Germanus, with wall paintings of the ninth century.

Further reading: Joan of Arc in France: The Places of Her Life.

• The crypt of the cathedralThe fresco of Christ on horseback.
• The abbey of Saint-GermainIts crypts and their ninth-century paintings, the oldest in France.

• May 30, in FranceFeast of Saint Joan of Arc
• July 31, in the Roman MartyrologyFeast of Saint Germanus of Auxerre

• Saint Joan of ArcThe Maid of Orléans, secondary patroness of France
• Saint Germanus of AuxerreBishop of Auxerre and missionary to Britain

• Via IoannaeJoan’s Way, eight daysDay II, Domrémy, Vaucouleurs, then Auxerre · Day III, Auxerre to Chinon

About an hour and three quarters by train from the Gare de Bercy in Paris.

• VézelayThe Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, about 24 miles as the crow flies
• FontenayThe Abbey of Fontenay, about 40 miles as the crow flies
• Saint-Benoît-sur-LoireThe Abbey of Fleury, about 59 miles as the crow flies
• NeversThe Convent of Saint-Gildard, about 59 miles as the crow flies