In John Paul II’s abundantly rich writings on women, he says that “society certainly owes much to the ‘genius of women,’” and that “the Church gives thanks for all the manifestations of the feminine ‘genius.’”[1] This has been an increasingly popular theme in recent Christian thought about womanhood. What is this “feminine genius” and how can it serve a greater purpose? While entire books can be written (and have been) on the feminine genius, a simple definition is necessary. The feminine genius entails an attentiveness to the person, with an insight into what will best advance his or her good. A number of virtues accompany this charism. Woman is receptive in her acceptance of another person in joy, creating a space for him/her in her body and/or heart. Woman is sensitive to the needs and hearts of others and to the workings of God. Woman is generous, willing to give of herself and undergo great sacrifice for the other. Finally, woman is maternal, capable of bringing to birth life in others, and it is her maternity that her receptivity, generosity, sensitivity, and beauty serve.[2] In the words of Proverbs, strength and dignity are the “clothing” of a woman living into her feminine genius.[3] Such a woman provides for the needs of others, teaches wisdom and kindness, is a source of laughter and joy, and is a blessing to her husband and children.[4]

In Ephesians 5, St. Paul lays out his instructions for Christian marriage:

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, and is himself its Savior. As the Church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her . . . Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.[5]

Paul’s instruction does not entail relegating the wife to a position of servitude, but rather her free and joyful acceptance of her husband as leader and king, entrusted with her dignity and welfare and that of their children. Paul is overturning the customary idea of marriage in his time as a transactional arrangement, and calling both spouses to love in the complimentary but different vocations of wife and husband. In Casti Connubi, Pius XI gives further pastoral clarification:

This subjection . . . does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband's every request if not in harmony with right reason or with the dignity due to wife; nor, in fine, does it imply that the wife should be put on a level with those persons who in law are called minors . . . But it forbids that exaggerated liberty which cares not for the good of the family; it forbids that in this body which is the family, the heart be separated from the head.[6]

The husband and wife are equal in dignity, but the distinction of familial roles calls for the wife to serve and support the mission of her husband in laying his life down for the family.

A close reading Ephesians 5 in this light shatters the idea that Christian marriage reduces women to second-class citizenship. J. R. R. Tolkien’s story of Beren and Lúthien found in The Silmarillion illustrates a woman living into her feminine genius, serving the man’s mission in a way that does not demean her strength, dignity, or equality with him. Lúthien is the daughter of King Thingol and Melian the Maia, so she not only has the strength and beauty of the elves in their prime, but also a share in the angelic power of her mother. She is described as “the fairest maiden that has ever been among all the children of the world. As the stars above the mists of the Northern lands was her loveliness, and in her face was a shining light.”[7] Her beauty is presented as a transcendent quality of her personhood, and central to all her actions throughout the story. Scripture presents this truth about womanhood numerous times, from Adam’s words at the first sight of Eve (“bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”) to the stories of Judith and Esther, where their beauty plays a crucial role in accomplishing the Lord’s will.[8] Beren is a hero in his own right: “lord of Men, mighty foe of Morgoth, the tale of whose deeds is become a song even among the Elves.”[9]

In his wanderings, Beren stumbled into Doriath, the realm of Thingol and Melian. He saw Lúthien dancing in the forest, and was immediately captivated, calling her by the name Tinúviel, and they met and grew to love each other.[10]Thingol was furious that a mortal man was pursuing his daughter and commanded Beren: “Go your way therefore! Bring to me in your hand a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown; and then, if she will, Lúthien may set her hand in yours.”[11] Beren left to pursue his task, although he knew it to be hopeless, and was soon captured by Sauron, then Lieutenant of Morgoth.[12] When prevented by Thingol from going to rescue Beren, Lúthien cut her hair, making from it a cloak “laden with a spell of sleep,” and escaped.[13]

Lúthien came to the fortress where Beren was imprisoned, and she defeated Sauron and forced him to yield to her. She then “stood upon the bridge and declared her power,” throwing down the gate and walls and finding Beren alive among the rubble.[14] Beren was still intent on pursuing his quest, and wished for Lúthien to return home, but she said, “You must choose, Beren, between these two: to relinquish the quest and your oath and seek a life of wandering upon the face of the earth; or to hold to your word and challenge the power of darkness upon its throne. But on either road I shall go with you, and our doom shall be alike.”[15] She is Beren’s invaluable companion who is freely binding herself to him in love, an image of the “helper” God created Eve to be for Adam.

During the exchange they were attacked by Celegorm, who wished to marry Lúthien for political reasons, and his brother Curufin. In his fight to defend Lúthien, Beren was wounded by an arrow. Then, “[Lúthien] staunched Beren’s wound, and by her arts and by her love she healed him; and thus at last they returned to Doriath. There Beren, being torn between his oath and his love, and knowing Lúthien to be now safe, arose one morning before the sun . . . then in great anguish he departed while she yet slept upon the grass.”[16] This scene shows Lúthien being a source of healing for Beren as well as Beren’s intense desire to care for and protect her. Lúthien, however, was undeterred, and went after him, and “Beren perceived that Lúthien could not be divided from the doom that lay upon them both.”[17]

When Beren and Lúthien came to Morgoth’s stronghold, they found it guarded by Carcharoth, a huge wolf possessed by an evil spirit. Lúthien stepped forward and “lifting up her hand she commanded him to sleep, saying: ‘O woe-begotten spirit, fall now into dark oblivion, and forget for a while the dreadful doom of life.’ And Carcharoth was felled, as though lightning had smitten him.”[18] Coming to the throne of Morgoth, Beren was terrified, but “Lúthien was stripped of her disguise by the will of Morgoth, and he bent his gaze upon her. She was not daunted by his eyes; and she named her own name, and offered her service to sing before him, after the manner of a minstrel.”[19] She slipped out of his sight and began to sing a song of great beauty and power as she cast his court asleep, finally subduing even Morgoth: “She cast her cloak before his eyes, and set upon him a dream, dark as the Outer Void where once he walked alone. Suddenly he fell, as a hill sliding in avalanche, and hurled like thunder from his throne lay prone upon the floors of hell.”[20] Lúthien roused Beren, and he pried a Silmaril from the crown. They fled, Lúthien nearly spent from the struggle, but Carcharoth had awoken and was barring their escape. Beren stepped forward, holding the Silmaril, to protect Lúthien from the wolf, but Carcharoth bit his hand off, immediately being burned inside by the hallowed jewel.[21] Lúthien again healed Beren, and they made their way back to Doriath, where Thingol allowed them to be married.[22]

Carcharoth, tormented by the fire of the Silmaril, was terrorizing the surrounding lands; hearing this, Beren and Thingol led a company against the wolf.[23] They were successful, but Beren was mortally wounded, and died not long after.[24] Lúthien came to the Keeper of the Houses of the Dead and by her grief, her beauty, and her song, moved him to pity, obtaining the grace for her to return to life with Beren, but both would be “mortal and subject to a second death.”[25]They lived together until their second deaths, and the line of Beren and Lúthien continued for millennia after.

Lúthien submitted to Beren and to Beren’s mission; the quest was Beren’s, although it could not be completed without her power. He loved her as Christ loves the Church, quite literally laying his life down to defend her on more than one occasion. Beren and Lúthien image the self-emptying love St. Paul refers to in Ephesians, serving each other and together fulfilling a quest judged to be impossible. Through this story, Tolkien shows the sacred complementarity of marriage, where man and woman can realize their vocations by embracing the glorious reality of masculinity and femininity.

[1] John Paul II, “Letter of Pope John Paul II to Women,” 9; Mulieris Dignitatem, 31.

[2] Mary Jo Anderson, “Feminine Genius,” Catholic Answers, July 1, 2005. https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/feminine-genius.

[3] Proverbs 31:25.

[4] Proverbs 31:10-31.

[5] Ephesians 5:21-25, 28.

[6] Pius XI, Casti Connubii (The Holy See: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, December 31, 1930), http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19301231_casti-connubii.html, 27.

[7] Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 193.

[8] Genesis 2:23; Cf. Judith 10:1-4, Esther 15:1-5.

[9] J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, ed. Christopher Tolkien, Second Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001), 166. These words are Lúthien’s, when she introduces and defends Beren before Thingol. Morgoth is the main antagonist of The Silmarillion.

[10] Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 165. Beren gave her the name Tinúviel, meaning “Nightingale,” once he had seen her and heard her sing, but before they met.

[11] Ibid, 167.

[12] Ibid, 170.

[13] Ibid, 172.

[14] Ibid, 175.

[15] Ibid, 177.

[16] Ibid, 178.

[17] Ibid, 179.

 [18] Ibid, 180.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid, 181.

[21] Ibid. The Silmarils had been sanctified so no evil thing could touch them without suffering horrible burns.

[22] Ibid, 184.

[23] Ibid, 185.

[24] Ibid, 186.

[25] Ibid, 187.