Although the United States has never been known as a Catholic nation, religion has always played a unique role in American politics, culture, and society. The canonization of Joan of Arc was a significant factor in shaping how the United States views the Maid of France.
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Coyle writes on the significance of this 1920 event. To celebrate this, "twenty-thousand people in the Bronx alone turned out to watch a pageant" in her honor.1
While there were those who celebrated this historic and religious event, her canonization shifted her image "from a secular to a religious one," forever making her solely a Catholic figure to many in the United States.2
This is a significant reason for the fall of Joan in the American cultural canon.
Laura Coyle, A Universal Patriot: Joan of Arc in America During the Gilded Age and the Great War, pg. 72
Laura Coyle, A Universal Patriot: Joan of Arc in America During the Gilded Age and the Great War, pg. 72