Joan was a simple girl. She had never learned to read or write. Her father, Jacques D'Arc was a farmer. Joan's mother, Isabelle de Vouthon (also known as Isabelle Romee), was a deeply religious woman. So was Joan's father. Their family lived in Domremy, a village near the borders of Champagne and Lorraine, in northeastern France.
Joan, the third of five children, helped her father by tending the family's sheep and cattle. On Saturdays, Joan went to the neighboring village of
Greux with her sister and friends. The girls prayed to several saints who had statues in the village church.
Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine were early church martyrs. Saint Michael (the archangel) was in charge of the armies of heaven. These three saints were an important part of
Joan's early life. They were to become a huge part of her later life.
When Joan of Arc was about 13 years old, she began to see visions of these three saints. She said she recognized them from the statues in the village church. But this pious young girl didn't merely see the saints - she also heard them. And what she saw and heard forever changed her life and the history of France.
People initially doubted Joan of Arc's claims. They distrusted whether she had actually seen and heard the saints. Why would the saints visit Joan? Why would they talk to her? Let's look at the evidence for, and against, her statements of visions and voices.