Welcome to the highly anticipated matchup between the Wednesday Warrior Women! Today Joan of Arc, the young soldier/saint, faces Catherine Booth, preacher and driving force behind the formation of the Salvation Army. See...warriors.
Yesterday, in a hotly contested matchup -- the closest battle so far this year -- Melangell held Hermione at bay 52% to 48% to advance to the next round. This marks the first time a Saintly Sixteen battle has been finalized as Melangell will square off against Camillus de Lellis.
Please also note that at about 8:30 pm EST, the Lent Madness Voter Security Unit noticed 389 bogus votes for Hermione. These votes were removed, and the suspect addresses were blocked. This is a reminder. Do not cheat. Vote once. Get your neighbors to vote. But don’t vote several times, lest you be cast into the outer darkness of Lent Madness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Rest assured that those who perpetrate voter fraud in Lent Madness will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law of Moses.
Joan of Arc
Jeanne la Pucelle was born in 1412 in France, in the midst of the Hundred Years’ War between England and its allies and France. When she was about thirteen years old, Joan began to have visions of saints that were so beautiful she said she wept after experiencing them. Over the years, these heavenly messengers shared with her the mission to help Charles of Valois (the king-inwaiting) claim the French throne. As a covenant of this mission from God, Joan took a vow of chastity. Her father promptly arranged a marriage for her, while Joan asserted she should remain unmarried.
As the visions continued, Joan argued with the heavenly messengers, saying she was only a poor girl who could neither ride nor fight. Saint Michael replied, “It is God who commands it.” Joan went again to meet the French leaders. During this trip, Joan began to dress in clothing traditionally worn by male soldiers. Whether this was a choice by Joan or a protective measure as her party traveled through hostile territory remains unknown, but her clothing choice would later be among the charges of heresy and witchcraft.
Joan’s message to Charles infused the war with a religious fervor, with France fighting on the side of God. Charles’s advisors investigated Joan’s faith and reported that she was a good Christian with virtues of humility, honesty, and simplicity. Court theologians suggested Charles put Joan to the test and see if she could, indeed, lead the French army to a divinely inspired victory at Orleans. In March 1429, Joan wore white armor, rode a white horse, and led French troops into battle in Orleans. France was victorious.
The French gained several victories under Joan’s leadership, but she was captured in 1430. The English put her on trial, claiming she was a heretic and witch. King Charles, seeking to save his power, distanced himself from Joan. After the trial, Joan was burned to death at the stake on May 30, 1431.
Her fame and inspiring leadership, however, continued to grow, and twenty years later, the same Charles who did nothing to save her life ordered a new trial to clear her name. On May 16, 1920, Saint Joan of Arc was canonized.
Collect for Joan of Arc
Holy God, whose power is made perfect in weakness: we honor you for the calling of Jeanne d’Arc, who, though young, rose up in valor to bear your standard for her country, and endured with grace and fortitude both victory and defeat; and we pray that we, like Jeanne, may bear witness to the truth that is in us to friends and enemies alike, and encouraged by the companionship of your saints, give ourselves bravely to the struggle for justice in our time; through Christ our Savior, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Catherine Booth
The middle of the nineteenth century did not provide, by any stretch of the imagination, a fertile environment for the work of women in preaching and church leadership. Yet despite this hostile environment, Catherine Booth blazed a trail for others to follow in her role as the “Mother of the Salvation Army.”
Born in 1829 to Methodist parents in Derbyshire, England, Catherine presented from a young age a deep aptitude for leadership in the church. By age twelve, she was said to have read the Bible through—eight times. In the midst of a controversy in English Methodism in 1850, she refused to condemn a group of Methodist Reformers and was expelled with others from the larger body of English Methodists. Among this group of reformists was William Booth, who would become her husband.
The Booths became active in the work of a church in West Yorkshire. During this period, she wrote a pamphlet Female Ministry: Women’s Right to Preach the Gospel. She argued three primary points: first, that women are not inferior to men; second, that no scriptural authority exists to deny women public ministry; and that the action of the Holy Spirit had blessed and sanctified this ministry, in line with what we read in the Bible. She was eloquent, compelling, and ferocious in her defense of the right of women to preach the gospel. Her arguments won many converts—including her husband, who initially opposed her efforts.
She soon became a key partner in the ministry of The Christian Mission with her husband in London’s East End. William preached to the poor; Catherine spoke to the wealthy and gained their support for their ministry. She organized the Mission’s Food for the Million shops, where the poor could buy inexpensive meals throughout the year and oversaw Christmas distributions of meals to the needy.
In 1878, The Christian Mission became The Salvation Army. William Booth became known as the “General” and Catherine Booth as the “Mother of the Salvation Army.” She played a key role in the organization, from helping refine its beliefs to the design of the uniforms. Catherine Booth was a pioneer and a trailblazer for the public preaching and teaching ministry of women, a fact that seems all the more remarkable at the height of the Victorian age.
Collect for Catherine Booth
Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Catherine, whom you called to preach the Gospel. Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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200 comments on “Joan of Arc vs. Catherine Booth”
I'm voting for the Sister that spoke up for the rights of women to preach the gospel. She also made sure the purse was kept full. Hard to do ministry without money in the purse.
Joan sounds like a good potential recruit for the Oath Keepers - let's take up arms and go into battle on behalf of the unjustly disempowered!
Ashli Babbitt is a sad inversion of Joan.
I throughly enjoy all the comments and poems and will check out the YouTube link. Before I do, I’ll tell you why the Salvation Army has always been close to my heart. My dad who fought in WWII and in the Pacific told me if I ever had extra money and wanted to donate it, give it to the Salvation Army. He said the Salvation Army were in the fox holes with the soldiers while other charities stayed behind the lines in the officers clubs. So, I always have given to them. So, of course I voted for Catherine!
Tough bout! I think that Catherine is going to win. Her story has more in common with the values and aspirations of the Church that I know. But, upon reflection, Joan paid the ultimate penalty for her visions. She was caught in the midst of a conflict between two nations with their medieval unions of church and state. French churchmen found her inspired. English churchmen found her a heretic and witch and martyred her. Admittedly, also, I am a Francophile, so I voted for Joan.
I visited my college roommate who for our Jr. year lived in Rouen France. I stood in the place marked as where Joan was killed. And Joan, such a young, lone woman was fierce and passionate to accomplish God's will. She gets my vote!
Tough matchup. Love the Salvation Army, and Catherine was one tough, brave soul to speak up, endure banishment, and take action to help so many others.
Joan got my vote however. It's been almost 600 years, but it still grieves me that she faced death at the stake as a teenager. I cannot imagine how scared or alone she must have felt, and how much courage it took to lead troops into battle in the first place.
I can't imagine facing being burned at the stake at any age. Just sayin'!
As a woman who preaches anwd works with the local food bank, I have to vote for Catherine. I too am troubled by attitudes in the SA today towards LBGTQI+ but to read this back into Catherine's life seems unfair. I am also troubled by the cooption of a young woman into a nationalistic war, and whilst I admire Jeanne, it is not a path that resonates with me today.
Joan of Arc witnessed the divine. She answered the call to serve her faith and country.
Despite her youth and inexperience, she prevailed in ways most can only wish to achieve and most certainly without divine judgement. Yet, the monarchical forces purposefully aligned against her (including labeling) in her time only after she risked her life for their cause and per their agenda. Bureaucratic & corporate entities continue to stifle most high-achieving contemporary women. Those are powerful reminders that not all persons are valued the same nor are opportunities available to all genders. This palpable knowledge in our laps, living rooms and offices requires introspection, change, and constant re-evaluation of our treatment of each other. May we all rise to the challenge when called upon! Joan of Arc has our vote!
Catherine gets my vote as a Methodist rebel rouser, devoted women's right advocate and for all the good works. In years past I have voted for Joan but this year she is up against a true Golden Halo contender.
Holy Bella Abzug! This was Women's Lib day, to which I say "Yippee". And another difficult choice. (You guys really work on that, don't you!) Joan of Arc is totally famous (and when my family vacationed in France many years ago, we went to Rouen and saw the church which bears her name. Also, she was behind in the vote. So I voted for her.
I had never heard of Catherine Booth, so her write-up was new to me. What an amazing woman! To write arguing for the right of women to preach, in the mid-19th century yet, was remarkable. As a big fan of women clergy, I salute her and will be happy if she indeed wins.
I prefer Catherine's army.
Jeanne d'Arc has always been one of the most troubling figures in European and Church history to me. Not so much Joan herself, but God? Charlie Valois was no gift to the French people, and for the divine to get behind any of the medieval dynastic squabblers of either France or England is just so improbable. But the alternative, that Joan was delusional, does not fit with her character and achievements either. So thanks for Catherine Booth, of whom I knew nothing, but after learning here, would probably vote in favor of opposite almost anyone!
I was all set and ready to vote for Sainte Jeanne d'Arc, based on her beautifully written synopsis. But then, having read how Catherine Booth argued successfully for women's rights to preach the Gospel, she won my vote. Go yeah Catherine!
I chose Joan. It is my confirmation name. She was ahead of her time in breaking gender sterotypes.
I love what Catherine did in her time, but I will have to go with burned-at-the-stake martyr Joan.
My gut sent me to Joan of Arc!
Derbyshire girl Florence Nightingale won the Golden Halo in 2017 (I’m drinking from her mug as I write). Now Catherine Booth, another girl from my home county in UK is in the Saintly Bracket.
I can’t turn this opportunity down....
I've been to Rouen and seen the place where Jeanne d'Arc "fut brulee" -- it's in the garden of my all-time favorite church, named for her. However, Catherine gets my vote. The Salvation Army is part of the Holiness movement, and many prominent women (and men) in that movement argued for the ordination of women. The Booths' daughter was an international evangelist. Some women even founded denominations -- look up the history of the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) or the Nazarene Church.
Catherine Booth is gross and militarized christianity is vom worthy. Joan of Arc is a baller
Vote Joan <3
Juvenile strength with undaunted courage
Open to the impossible
Argued with angels about donning armor
Noble even in death
(Collaborative Poem by members of St. Mark's ABQ)
https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/the-lgbtq-community-and-the-salvation-army/
See official SA website on their current position on serving the LGBTQA community.
Agree with recommendation of Carl Dryer's silent film Joan D'Arc as very moving depiction of her trial based on the record of the event
Saint Joan. I've been interested by her story ever since I read the play by Bernard Shaw.
Interestingly, Shaw also wrote a play that was kind of about the Salvation Army (although he never directly referenced the organization): Major Barbara.
I'VE BEEN TOLD THAT VOTER FRAUD IS BOGUS!~
In which denomination is Catherine Booth regarded as a saint? I thought that was one of the qualifications for Lent Madness, but a Google search is not revealing anything to me.
After I read the two biographies, when I started to vote, there was no way to vote - it just gave the the results of other's voting!!!!!!!!