Catholic Citizen 6.5 (15 May 1920)

Title

Catholic Citizen 6.5 (15 May 1920)

Description

This issue features on its cover a statue of St. Joan of Arc, the patroness of the Catholic Women's Suffrage Society, from whom the Society takes both guidance and protection. This image is followed by an article by Leonora de Alberti that celebrates St. Joan on the occasion of her canonization in the Catholic Church, which took place on 16 May 1920. De Alberti emphasizes St. Joan's significant roles in both life, as "the peasant girl who saved her country," and in death as a martyr long unacknowledged by the Church. The enthusiasm with which the Society embraces St. Joan eventually inspires their change of name to the St. Joan’s Social and Political (International) Alliance following the Papal prohibition of the use of "Catholic" by non-ecclesiastical groups in 1923.

The second major article of the issue features a history of the Society by Isabel Willis, the Society's honorary press secretary. Willis traces this history from the Society's inception in 1911 during a series of "provisional and informal" meetings, through the War to its current efforts "to establish political, social, and economic equality between men and women, and to further the work and usefulness of Catholic women as citizens."

This issue also includes notes on the Society's ongoing initiatives and information regarding current bills in Parliabment, as well as news from the Continent regarding the Paris Congress of Women Workers and the Geneva Congress. The seamless integration of political discussions with Society news reveals both the political leanings of the Society and their their significant interest in international suffrage movements.

Finally, take note of the advertisements on the final page for the meetings and periodicals of other suffrage groups, including the International Woman Suffrage Alliance and the Women's Freedom League. This page offers a glimpse of the close relationships between these associations, which may have shared many members just as they indeed shared the goal of full suffrage.

- Notes by Susan Hroncek.

Date

15 May 1920

Files

Collection

Citation

“Catholic Citizen 6.5 (15 May 1920),” Women's Print Media in Interwar Britain, accessed March 29, 2024, https://interwarfeminism.omeka.net/items/show/32.

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