Reddit mentions of The Retrial of Joan of Arc: The Evidence for her Vindication

Dude have you read the testimonies of people at her rehabilitation trial? She had an angelic moral character, literally glowing testimonies of her devout faith and incredible virtue. Read this book and you'll understand why she was.

She was a ~17 year old peasant girl from a backwards part of France. She lived during the 100 years war, when the king of England claimed the French crown and invaded to enforce that claim.

She was a pious girl who attended Mass daily and received Communion and Confession weekly (this was before daily communion for laity was prevalent). She often took pilgrimages to a nearby shrine and used all of her earnings from selling her needlework and whatnot to pay for food, alms, or to give to the Church.

She eventually began to hear her Voices: St. Michael, and two other saints (I forget whom at the moment). They told her that she was to save France by raising the siege of Orleans and then having the crown prince of France crowned king (this hadn't happened because the traditional place of coronation was in English hands).

She managed to convince the local governor of her divine mission (one purported sign is that she managed, with no horse-training whatsoever, to ride a feisty charger on her first try). He sent her with a handful of men to the prince. This required going through enemy territory, but they were never detected and reached the prince in safety.

There, she was able to identify the prince, despite him disguising himself as a courtier and placing another man on the throne (she had never seen the prince or his painting before). This convinced him enough to have her investigated by the Church. Various prelates investigated her and found her to be of good character, a virgin, and in good standing with the Church. She then proceeded to identify where a sword was hidden in a nearby church, and claimed it as hers. She also had a banner made that she would subsequently carry into battle.

The prince raised a very small relief force and she led it to Orleans. Despite the intrigues of her commanders (who didn't think they could lift the siege and only wanted to smuggle food and supplies in), she managed to get into Orleans with some of the force. Within a week, the siege was lifted. Several top military generals at the time said that it was impossible, without a miracle of God, for it to be lifted in that time given the number of French vs. English and their respective strongholds.

After the miraculous lifting of the siege, the Maid (as she called herself and came to be called by others), took part in some minor skirmishes. She then convinced the prince to march on Rhiems (the coronation site). They managed to get all the way there without having to fight a single battle; every city opened it's gates peacefully and surrendered to the French. At Rhiems, the prince was crowned.

A little later, Joan was captured by the English. They quickly got some priests and bishops together and tried her for heresy. This trial was invalid, as the presider did not have standing to run a trial in that diocese.

However, she was found guilty and was executed by burning. It is said that her heart could not be burned, despite several attempts.

Years later, when the French finally won the war, the king of France sponsored a case from Joan's mother basically suing the Church for a mis-trial. A new trial was held and the previous trial was found to be faulty and the sentence was lifted. During this time, much evidence was brought forward not only discrediting the first trial, but supported the holiness of Joan's life. This material was eventually to be used in her case for canonization.

You can read about the retrial and some eyewitness testimonies about Joan in this book.

Some fun stories:

Joan hated the prostitutes who made up some of the camp-followers of the army. One man remembers her chasing a prostitute with her bared sword, using it as a paddle to spank her as the prostitute was driven out of the camp.

Joan had a male page who, because he dressed her, saw her naked. Despite the fact that he was a healthy young man (who later got married) and he flat-out said she was extremely attractive, he (and any other men who were near her) never lusted for her. Whenever their thoughts would turn in that direction, the idea simply became unthinkable to them, as she was just too pure and holy for her to be sullied in that way, even in thought.

Joan was wounded during a battle fairly early in the day by an arrow to her shoulder. Despite that, she managed to recover and lead the assault again a few hours later.

Joan could not read nor write and she was uneducated. However, she managed to stump various highly intelligent men trained in canon law, theology, and philosophy with her answers during her first trial. She had an excellent memory and would often refer them to previous answers given days earlier when they would try to re-do a line of questioning to catch her in a contradiction. She also would correct the judges when they accidentally contradicted themselves.

Wow haha! I didn't expect seeing a post like this on r/atheism. Like you, Joan of Arc has always been one of my heroes. She was an incredible woman - virtuous and intelligent. Of course, as a Catholic, I believe she was the real deal but anyway...from one Joan of Arc fan to another, I suggest reading Mark Twain's Joan of Arc (yes, Mark Twain) and Regine Pernoud's Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses (which also includes transcripts from her trial). These books are widely regarded to be the best books on Joan. They are both very well-written and researched; the authors even travelled to France to look into the archives and study the actual documents we have about her. Another book by Pernoud, The Retrial of Joan of Arc: The Evidence for her Vindication also covers her retrial. Also, if you do end up using that medal, I suggest getting it blessed even if you're a non-believer. If Catholicism is true, then you'll be under her care and who wouldn't want that? You have nothing to lose.

EDIT: Your friend should have given you a book instead. It's an obvious choice and makes much more sense!