In his essay “Saint Joan of Arc,” it reads “she was gentle and winning and affectionate, she loved her home and friends and her village life; she was miserable in the presence of pain and suffering; she was full of compassion.” Without a trace of irony, he notes Joan “had daily speech with angels” and that “she had a childlike faith in the heavenly origin of her apparitions and her Voices, and not the threat of any form of death was able to frighten it out of her loyal heart.”

Interestingly, Twain was a longtime religious skeptic. He was particularly fierce in his disdain for Catholicism. Growing up in an anti-papist culture, he once noted that he was “educated to enmity toward everything that is Catholic.”

But among all his works, Twain said “I like Joan of Arc best,” which was “twelve years of preparation, and two years of writing.”

Why did Mark Twain devote so much effort and time to this subject? What was the enchantment that kept him at this work? A detailed look into Mark Twain’s writing and the tale of the inspiring French saint may offer you invaluable insights.