The canonization of Joan of Arc in 1920, hailed as a spiritual triumph by the Catholic Church, was in reality a meticulously orchestrated political operation. This endeavor, driven by an unlikely alliance between the French Catholic clergy, the monarchist far-right, and the republican regime, crafted an artificial myth that was, awkwardly enough, quickly abandoned. Its purpose? To unify the French masses around an exacerbated nationalism, directed against Germany in the tense context of the pre- and post-World War I era.<\/p>\n
A Fractured France and a \u00ab\u00a0Threatening\u00a0\u00bb Germany<\/strong><\/p>\n The canonization of Joan of Arc occurred at a pivotal moment in French history. In 1920, France emerged victorious but exhausted from World War I. Human losses (1.4 million dead) and material destruction left a divided society, marked by social, political, and religious tensions. The Third Republic, seeking national cohesion, also had to contend with a Germany humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles (1919) but still perceived as a threat. In this climate, Joan of Arc became a unifying symbol capable of bridging divides between the Catholic right and the republican left.<\/p>\n Historian Jean Garrigues, in The World of the Belle \u00c9poque (2018), emphasizes that the 1920 canonization sealed a strategic reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Republic. After decades of conflict, marked by the Paris Commune (1871), the Dreyfus Affair (1894-1906), and the 1905 law separating Church and State, both forces found common ground in Joan. For the Church, she was a martyr saint; for the Republic, a secular national heroine. This convergence was not spontaneous: it served a political project to mobilize the French masses around a unifying national narrative for warlike mobilization.<\/p>\n The Actors: An Opportunistic Alliance<\/strong><\/p>\n Three main forces orchestrated this canonization: the Catholic clergy, the monarchist far-right, and the republican regime. Each pursued its own interests but converged on a common goal: strengthening French identity against Germany.<\/p>\n 1. The Catholic Clergy: Reclaiming Joan to Counter Secularism<\/p>\n From the mid-19th century, the French Catholic Church saw Joan of Arc as a weapon against the growing secularization of society. In 1869, Mgr F\u00e9lix Dupanloup, Bishop of Orl\u00e9ans and loyalist to Napoleon III\u2019s authoritarian regime, officially launched the canonization process. This choice was deliberate: Joan, burned at the stake in 1431 after a Church-led trial, embodied a martyr figure likely to rally the faithful.<\/p>\n Contrary to a legend born of French chauvinism, Joan of Arc was judged in a regular trial. According to historian Colette Beaune (Joan of Arc: Truths and Legends, 2004), the trial meticulously followed the inquisitorial procedures defined by medieval canon law. The Inquisition, established to combat heresy, relied on rigorous interrogations, the search for contradictions, and the application of sanctions, including death for relapsed heretics (those who reverted to error after abjuring).<\/p>\n Joan faced several charges:<\/p>\n These charges, detailed by Gerd Krumeich in Joan of Arc in Truth (2012), were grounded in the legal framework of the time. The tribunal, composed of theologians and jurists, adhered to protocols established by papal decretals. After weeks of interrogations, Joan signed an abjuration on May 24, 1431, promising to renounce her visions and male clothing. Days later, she recanted, resuming male attire. This relapse sealed her fate: on May 30, 1431, she was burned alive in Rouen\u2019s Vieux-March\u00e9 square.<\/p>\n 2. The Monarchist Far-Right: A Symbol Against the Republic<\/p>\n Historian Colette Beaune notes that the Church sought to reclaim a figure already popularized by republican historians like Jules Michelet. By sanctifying her, it aimed to counter secular narratives portraying Joan as a people\u2019s heroine rather than a divine envoy. 3. The Republican Regime: A Heroine to Unify the Nation<\/p>\n Paradoxically, the anticlerical Republic also appropriated Joan. Since Jules Michelet made her a people\u2019s figure in his History of France (1841), Joan was integrated into the republican pantheon. After the 1918 victory, the government saw her as a symbol to unite French citizens, from socialists to conservatives. In 1920, the national Joan of Arc holiday (second Sunday of May) was established, cementing the alliance with the Church. Historian Catherine Brice, in History of Italy (1999), notes that such mythification was common in post-war nations, where historical figures were mobilized to bolster national unity.<\/p>\n An Artificial Myth: Constructing a National Joan<\/strong><\/p>\n The Joan of Arc canonized in 1920 is not the historical figure of the 15th century but a carefully crafted myth. Historically, Joan was a Lorraine peasant driven by religious visions, who played a role in lifting the siege of Orl\u00e9ans (1429) and Charles VII\u2019s coronation. However, Colette Beaune highlights that her strategic role was exaggerated by contemporary chroniclers, and her trial reveals a more complex figure, far from the univocal icon of the 19th and 20th centuries. She was largely forgotten before being revived in the late 19th century.<\/p>\n The myth of Joan rests on several distortions<\/strong><\/p>\n From anti-English to anti-German heroine<\/em><\/p>\n Originally, Joan fought the English in the Hundred Years\u2019 War. By the 19th century, hostility toward England waned, and Germany became the primary enemy, especially after the 1871 loss of Alsace-Lorraine. Nationalist narratives recast Joan as an anti-German figure, a theme amplified post-1918.<\/p>\n A republican saint<\/em><\/p>\n Despite her loyalty to the monarchy, Joan was portrayed as a people\u2019s heroine, embodying the French nation. This rewriting erased her medieval context to project her into a modern, national France that emerged only with the Revolution, 350 years later.<\/p>\n A consensual symbol<\/em><\/p>\n By smoothing over her ambiguities (religious fanaticism, military failures post-1429), the myth made Joan a unifying figure for Catholics and secularists alike.<\/p>\n An Operation Against Germany<\/strong><\/p>\n The canonization of Joan of Arc was part of a climate of revenge against Germany. After the Treaty of Versailles, France sought to maintain its military and moral supremacy. Joan, depicted as a divine warrior who saved France, became a tool of government propaganda to galvanize spirits. Posters, statues, and celebrations nationwide exalted her image, and an artificial cult was imposed, quickly fading in a changing society. Historian Michel Lagr\u00e9e, in Religion and Modernity in Brittany (1990), notes that Brittany, despite its deep Catholicism, was forcibly integrated into this French narrative, at the expense of its own identity. From 1429 to 1431, when Joan was active, Brittany, an independent duchy, maintained diplomatic neutrality and did not participate in the war between England and France, making the promotion of this myth in Breton churches all the more absurd.<\/p>\n This anti-German nationalism had consequences. By exalting a belligerent France, Joan\u2019s myth marginalized peoples under French occupation, including Bretons, whose language and traditions were suppressed under the Third Republic.<\/p>\n Critical Historians: Deconstructing the Myth<\/strong><\/p>\n Several historians have exposed the manipulations surrounding Joan of Arc\u2019s canonization.<\/p>\n Colette Beaune (Joan of Arc: Truths and Legends, 2004) shows how Joan was transformed into a national myth in the 19th century, erasing her historical complexities and recasting her as anti-German.<\/p>\n Gerd Krumeich (Joan of Arc in Truth, 2012) analyzes the far-right\u2019s appropriation of Joan and her use in anti-German nationalism.<\/p>\n Jean Garrigues (The World of the Belle \u00c9poque, 2018) contextualizes the canonization as a strategic alliance between Church and Republic to overcome France\u2019s internal divisions. A Lesson for Brittany<\/strong><\/p>\n For Breton nationalists, Joan of Arc\u2019s canonization exemplifies how the French state manipulates history for its own ends. In Brittany, where Breton cultural identity has been systematically marginalized, this myth imposed a homogenized French vision, disregarding the Breton national history.<\/p>\n Ironically, Joan of Arc\u2019s figure is now largely forgotten by the French state that created her myth from scratch. Few celebrations honor her in France, except in Orl\u00e9ans for tourism. A product of French political engineering during the imperialist era, Joan\u2019s myth did not survive the 20th century. This makes the outdated presence of her statues or place names in Brittany, a nation victimized by the French imperialism her myth fueled, all the more odious.<\/p>\n Olier Kerdrel<\/strong><\/p>\n Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n Beaune, Colette. Joan of Arc: Truths and Legends. Paris: Perrin, 2004. The canonization of Joan of Arc in 1920, hailed as a spiritual triumph by the Catholic Church, was in reality a meticulously orchestrated political operation. This endeavor, driven by an unlikely alliance between the French Catholic clergy, the monarchist far-right, and the republican regime, crafted an artificial myth that was, awkwardly enough, quickly abandoned. Its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sb_editor_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-english"],"relative_dates":{"created":"12 mois ago","modified":"12 mois ago"},"yoast_head":"\n\n
\nThe monarchist far-right, embodied by groups like Charles Maurras\u2019s Action Fran\u00e7aise, played a key role in exalting Joan. For these nostalgics of the Ancien R\u00e9gime, she represented an eternal, Catholic, and royalist France, opposed to the Republic they despised. From the 1890s, Action Fran\u00e7aise organized pilgrimages to Domr\u00e9my, Joan\u2019s birthplace, and demonstrations in Orl\u00e9ans. Gerd Krumeich shows that monarchists used Joan to promote a nationalism where the German replaced the Englishman as the hereditary enemy, a rhetoric amplified after the 1870 war and post-1918.<\/p>\n
\nMichel Lagr\u00e9e (Religion and Modernity in Brittany, 1990) explores how Brittany, despite its Catholic fervor, was subjected to a centralized French Catholicism embodied by figures like Joan.<\/p>\n
\nKrumeich, Gerd. Joan of Arc in Truth. Paris: Tallandier, 2012.
\nGarrigues, Jean. The World of the Belle \u00c9poque. Paris: Perrin, 2018.
\nLagr\u00e9e, Michel. Religion and Modernity in Brittany. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 1990.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"