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The holy places of France · Centre-Val de Loire

Orléans The City Joan of Arc Set Free

Loiret, Centre-Val de Loire

Feasts
May 30, October 19
Getting there
About an hour by train from the Gare d’Austerlitz in Paris.
On our way
Via Ioannae

History

Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orléans on April 29, 1429, and on May 8 the English lifted the siege. The city has celebrated her almost every year since 1430. The feasts of Joan of Arc run each year from April 29 to around May 8 and end with a procession and a Mass in the cathedral.

The cathedral of Sainte-Croix was rebuilt in Gothic style between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, and the windows of its nave tell her story. The house of Jacques Boucher, treasurer of the duke of Orléans, where she lodged during the siege, was destroyed in 1940; rebuilt, it is now the Maison de Jeanne d’Arc.

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

To see and to pray

  • The cathedral of Sainte-CroixIts windows on the life of Joan.
  • The Maison de Jeanne d’ArcThe house where she lodged during the siege, rebuilt after the war.

Feasts

  • May 30, in FranceFeast of Saint Joan of Arc
  • October 19; September 26 in CanadaFeast of Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf and Companions
  • May 8Anniversary of the liberation of Orléans, with the procession and the Mass in the cathedral

The saints of this place

On our way

Getting there

About an hour by train from the Gare d’Austerlitz in Paris.

Nearby