diff --git a/docs/release-notes.md b/docs/release-notes.md
index c9bc2f70..3939e5af 100644
--- a/docs/release-notes.md
+++ b/docs/release-notes.md
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@
   * Previously, a `TEST_CASE("A", "[.foo]")` would be included by asking for `~[bar]`.
 * `PredicateMatcher` is no longer type erased.
   * This means that the type of the provided predicate is part of the `PredicateMatcher`'s type
+* `SectionInfo` no longer contains section description as a member (#1319)
+  * You can still write `SECTION("ShortName", "Long and wordy description")`, but the description is thrown away
+  * The description type now must be a `const char*` or implicitly convertible to it
 
 
 ### Fixes
diff --git a/docs/test-cases-and-sections.md b/docs/test-cases-and-sections.md
index 53f9e150..c30f9f50 100644
--- a/docs/test-cases-and-sections.md
+++ b/docs/test-cases-and-sections.md
@@ -15,9 +15,17 @@ Instead Catch provides a powerful mechanism for nesting test case sections withi
 Test cases and sections are very easy to use in practice:
 
 * **TEST_CASE(** _test name_ \[, _tags_ \] **)**
-* **SECTION(** _section name_ **)**
+* **SECTION(** _section name_, \[, _section description_ \] **)**
 
-_test name_ and _section name_ are free form, quoted, strings. The optional _tags_ argument is a quoted string containing one or more tags enclosed in square brackets. Tags are discussed below. Test names must be unique within the Catch executable.
+
+_test name_ and _section name_ are free form, quoted, strings.
+The optional _tags_ argument is a quoted string containing one or more
+tags enclosed in square brackets, and are discussed below.
+_section description_ can be used to provide long form description
+of a section while keeping the _section name_ short for use with the
+[`-c` command line parameter](command-line.md#specify-the-section-to-run).
+
+**Test names must be unique within the Catch executable.**
 
 For examples see the [Tutorial](tutorial.md#top)
 
diff --git a/include/internal/catch_section_info.h b/include/internal/catch_section_info.h
index 9cf792e8..7215c744 100644
--- a/include/internal/catch_section_info.h
+++ b/include/internal/catch_section_info.h
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #define TWOBLUECUBES_CATCH_SECTION_INFO_H_INCLUDED
 
 #include "catch_common.h"
+#include "catch_stringref.h"
 #include "catch_totals.h"
 
 #include <string>
@@ -20,14 +21,15 @@ namespace Catch {
             (   SourceLineInfo const& _lineInfo,
                 std::string const& _name );
 
-        // Deprecated
+        // The last argument is ignored, so that people can write
+        // SECTION("ShortName", "Proper description that is long") and
+        // still use the `-c` flag comfortably.
         SectionInfo
             (   SourceLineInfo const& _lineInfo,
                 std::string const& _name,
-                std::string const& ) : SectionInfo( _lineInfo, _name ) {}
+                const char* const ) : SectionInfo( _lineInfo, _name ) {}
 
         std::string name;
-        std::string description; // !Deprecated: this will always be empty
         SourceLineInfo lineInfo;
     };