Joan of Arc was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint in 1920. Pope Benedict XV formally declared her a saint on 16 May 1920 in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Her canonization came centuries after her execution and followed several earlier stages of Catholic recognition. Pope Pius X beatified Joan in 1909, while the 1456 rehabilitation trial had already overturned her original condemnation.
The long delay reflects the difference between historical rehabilitation and formal sainthood. The rehabilitation judgment addressed the legality and fairness of the medieval trial, whereas canonization recognized Joan within the Catholic Church’s saintly tradition.
Joan’s reputation had grown internationally by the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She became especially important as a national symbol in France, while also being honored in Catholic liturgy and devotional life.