Compiègne The Town Where Joan of Arc Was Taken

On May 23, 1430, Joan of Arc led a sortie from Compiègne against the Burgundians besieging the town. Cut off on the way back, she was pulled from her horse outside the walls and taken prisoner. A year later the English burned her in Rouen.

Tradition says she prayed and received Communion in the church of Saint-Jacques on the morning of her capture. Compiègne also has martyrs of its own: the sixteen members of the town’s Carmel, among them three lay sisters and two externs, were guillotined in Paris on July 17, 1794, and buried at Picpus. Pope Francis extended their cult to the whole Church by equipollent canonization on December 18, 2024.

Further reading: Rouen: A Pilgrim’s Guide to the City of Saint Joan of Arc; Joan of Arc in France: The Places of Her Life.

• The church of Saint-JacquesWhere, by tradition, Joan prayed on the morning of May 23, 1430.
• The Carmel of JonquièresNear Compiègne, where the community has lived since 1992, with a crypt keeping relics of the martyrs; its closure was announced in April 2026, so ask before going.

• May 30, in FranceFeast of Saint Joan of Arc
• July 17, an optional memorial in the Archdiocese of ParisFeast of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne
• April 8, among the Sisters of Notre Dame de NamurFeast of Saint Julie Billiart

• Saint Joan of ArcThe Maid of Orléans, secondary patroness of France
• The Carmelite Martyrs of CompiègneSixteen Carmelites of Compiègne, martyrs of the French Revolution
• Saint Julie BilliartFounder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

• Via IoannaeJoan’s Way, eight daysDay VII, Reims to Rouen, by Compiègne

About fifty minutes by train from the Gare du Nord in Paris.

• Saint-DenisThe Basilica of Saint-Denis, about 39 miles as the crow flies
• AmiensThe Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Amiens, about 40 miles as the crow flies
• PontoiseThe Carmel of Pontoise, about 41 miles as the crow flies
• Noisy-le-GrandNotre-Dame-des-Sans-Logis, about 41 miles as the crow flies