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The first name that met my eye was “The Mother of the Salvation Army,” Catherine Booth. This particular chapter focuses on how she overcame ill health and “calls back” to us that we, too, can triumph in spite of our weaknesses. In his biography of his mother-in-law, Herbert Booth-Tucker writes about this:
“Scores of times she sallied from her sick-bed to face the eager, waiting crowds who hung upon her lips, and no sooner had she finished than she hurried back to it, utterly prostrated by the effort. Again and again she would be compelled, even while the meeting was in progress, to place the hymn-book in another’s hand, rush into the vestry to relieve the nausea, which even her iron will could not restrain, and then return to deal with the penitents, who little dreamed the anguish that her labors cost.
“It was a life-long martyrdom, none the less heroic because self-inflicted and avoidable. There was no need for an inquisitor to stand with rack and faggot in one hand, and recantation paper in the other. Her weak body was its own inquisitor, but, overpowered, like her Master, with a sense of compassion for the shepherdless sheep, she would not surrender to its called. Her indomitable determination carried her along. Like the British soldiers at Waterloo, she knew not when she was defeated; she fought when she should have rested, advanced when she should have retreated, lived hen she should have died.” (Illness, p. 9)
Catherine Booth is not infrequently quoted in other books written by Edwin and Lillian Harvey. And in Three in Love, Trudy Harvey Tait tells the story of the romance between Catherine and William Booth. She also relates the details regarding her last illness and death. This remarkable woman, without whom the Salvation Army would never have achieved what it did, was thrust into public ministry through a definite and particular call from God which, at first, seemed to spell martyrdom to her shy and retiring nature. Yet she knew she could not and must not disobey that call. And so, much against her will and always with the support and cooperation of her husband, she joined him in his public ministry. She is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable women the Church has produced–sensitive, highly gifted, frail, and with an indomitable will, and most of all, wholly dedicated to Christ and to her role as wife and mother, not only of her eight children but of the Salvation Army itself.
Catherine has been termed “an early Christian Feminist.” Whether this term is accurate or not depends on one’s interpretation of the word ‘feminist.’ And whether you happen to agree with the whole topic of women’s ministry or not, seems to irrelevant in the light of this brave woman’s heroic life. And it is to William Booth’s credit that he recognized her talent and intellect and was not afraid to share his ministry with one of the most incredible women who ever lived!