Welcome to the Faithful Four! From an initial field of 32 saints, we are down to a holy four: Harriet Tubman, Hildegard of Bingen, Elizabeth Fry, and Joseph. In just a few short days, one of these saintly souls will be awarded the coveted Golden Halo.
To get to this point, Harriet took down Julie Billiart, James Solomon Russell, and Herman of Alaska, while Hildegard got past Romanos the Melodist, Elizabeth the New Martyr ,and Brother Lawrence. (note: click on the name of the vanquished saint to read that round’s write-up)
Throughout Lent Madness, our saintly heroes have battled via basic bios, quirks and quotes, and event kitsch. In this round, we let our remaining Celebrity Bloggers loose as they answer the question “Why should Saint XX win the Golden Halo?” In other words, they’ve been charged with letting us know why their particular saint is so awesome. We have also invited them to share their two favorite images of their saints.
And as a side note, not that our wonderful Celebrity Bloggers are competing against each other per se, but this matchup does contain an interesting twist as our two newest Lent Madness contributors work to advance their respective saints. Both Sandra Montes and Miguel Escobar work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Sandra as Interim Worship Director and Miguel as Executive Director of Anglican Studies. Talk about in-house bragging rights!
Well, it’s time to vote. Go do your thing!
Harriet Tubman
When I was invited to write for Lent Madness I was so excited because I had been playing and watching along for years! When asked for my top ten saints, I immediately put Harriet Tubman as my first choice. I taught about Tubman when I was a teacher, I love reading about her and her tenacity, I also really enjoy hearing sermons about her. I remember one in particular preached at the Chapel of the Cross in NC and then presiding bishop-elect Curry, quoted Tubman, “If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going… Don’t give up, don’t give in… if you want to taste freedom, keep going!” I was “Amen-ing!” and “Mmhmm-ing!” And I thought to myself, I can’t, I won’t give up no matter what.
Today, as I write this, I know Harriet is going against my wonderful friend Miguel Escobar’s saint, Hildegard, and I say to myself again, “No, I can’t give up!”
Harriet Tubman is an inspiration to any person who has felt in shackles. Any one of us who has ever looked to the heavens and begged, “Hear my cry!” feels hope and finds strength from Harriet’s story. Tubman saw visions and had dreams she interpreted as revelations from God that, I am certain, helped her continue to have strength, courage and intelligence to keep going, to keep helping and never give up.
She was born into slavery but decided that was not the path for her. She didn’t have to help others, but she chose to. She
knew there was something more and went for it. What a testimony for any of us who are looked down upon or who are told we are not worthy to be of service or to have an amazing legacy. She couldn’t read or write but she was determined to be free. She was told no many times, but she kept at it.
She not only helped many enslaved people be free, as Jesus does, she also helped as a cook and a nurse and even led an armed assault during the Civil War! As Frederick Douglass wrote, she “labored in a private way… in the night” and what she is now known for may “seem improbable.” And, it very well may be improbable for us to imagine, but as the Bible says, all things are possible if we believe and, we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.
In this time of pandemic, of fear, of confusion, death and pain, let us remember God’s promises, as did Harriet. Let us keep going. Let us keep believing. Let us never give up.
Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bignen’s morality play Ordo Virtutum, composed around 1151, is about the struggle for a human soul, Anima, between the Virtues and the Devil. Importantly, the Virtues’ parts are sung by female voices, and were likely first sung by the nuns at Hildegard’s abbey, but the Devil is voiced by a male and never sings. Instead, he yells. He grunts. His appeal is wrapped up in lies and brash loudness. The play is about a soul wavering between the appeal of the Virtues and that of the Devil’s shouting, a singular fact that makes Hildegard’s work and vision especially relevant today.
For I believe that America’s soul is at risk today. Like Anima in Ordo Virtutum, we appear to be pushed and pulled between the quieter appeal of ancient Virtues and the Devil’s lies and bellowing. Further, I fear this is especially the case when it comes to global issues such as climate change as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Whose voices are we to believe?
The reason why I am making a case for Hildegard of Bignen today – against my good friend Sandra Montes’ appeal for Harriet Tubman, no less – is 1) that this is what I signed up to do when I agreed to write for this project but also 2) because I believe people — indeed, perhaps even creation itself — is longing for a visionary who will help point a way beyond this quagmire. With the effects of climate change closing in, and a bellowing nationalism resulting in less international coordination rather than more, we desperately need examples of ancient wisdom who will radically transform our relationship to consumption, to creation, and to truth itself.
As I wrote in this post for Lent Madness, Hildegard of Bignen has special relevance for a humanity seeking pathways for reconnecting to God’s creation. Drawing on her experience of the German forest as well as the medicinal garden at her abbey, Hildegard famously observed that “the Earth sweats greeness” and laid out a visionary theology wherein she saw Christ as sent by God for the ‘greening’ of humanity. In this vision, God is the source of both our own and creation’s abundant flourishing. This was such a central part of her vision that in the morality play Ordo Virtutum, the struggle over Anima is about whether the human soul can become reconnected to the Creator. In Causae et Curae, Hildegard again draws from this well of thought by arguing that human health is analogous to a thriving garden in that both are the result of the knowledgeable tending by a gardener/healer.
As the global threats of climate change and COVID-19 make abundantly clear, we humans are interconnected and entirely
dependent on being in a healthy relationship with God’s creation. Furthermore, there is no promised land to escape to; we’ve only one Earth and I believe we have a decreasing amount of time to radically reorient how we will exist in this world.
Will we continue to listen to the loud bellowing of climate-change deniers, white nationalists, and isolationists whose primary appeal is the fantasy that we can blindly continue in our individualistic, hyper-consumerist, and exploitative culture? Or will we, at list, begin to listen to the quieter melodies of ancient virtues, rediscovering a simpler way and reconnecting with God and our creation? Hildegard’s mystical vision, her musical compositions, and her scientific insights from the 12th century may be just the saint we need to face today’s challenges.
Harriet Tubman vs. Hildegard of Bingen
- Harriet Tubman (59%, 4,380 Votes)
- Hildegard of Bingen (41%, 3,107 Votes)
Total Voters: 7,487
Loading ...
Holy Brackets, Batman!
https://birdsonstix.wordpress.com/2020/04/06/lent-madness-meme-harriet-tubman-versus-hildegard-of-bingen/
Yesterday, the impact of virtual Holy Week hit me pretty hard. Writing this gave me solace. I hope it provides you the same.https://birdsonstix.wordpress.com/2020/04/05/mourning-and-weeping-in-the-valley-of-tears-or-holy-week-in-the-time-of-covid-19/
Fix the typos on her name! Bignen?
I began to read today’s blogs fairly certain that I would vote for Harriet Tubman. However, (despite the spelling errors) I found the arguments in support of Hildegard of Bingen so compelling that I had to vote for her. We are, indeed, in desperate need of such a visionary!
Exactly the same thing happened to me. However, I see we are in the minority!
I’m right there with you both! I love Harriet, but truly, Hildegard speaks to so many of our ills in today’s world!
After reading the blogger’s support, I too was drawn to vote again for Hildegard.
I went into the reading thinking I would vote for Harriet but was persuaded by the writers examples to vote for Hildegard. Was surprised in the comments that this not just my experience!
Joan,
I felt the same way. This is one time when I wish we could vote twice. Such tough choices, but Hildegard won out at the end. I can’t believe we are almost done with Lent Madness, but look forward to whatever comes next.
I felt the same way!!!
Indeed, this was a hard decision! Both are so vital.
Thanks for a new perspective on Hildegard. Thanks also for such an eloquent description of our human situation.
Lois, I had the same experience.
Me too, but both the write-ups were great. Michael, thank you for that lovely and moving reflection on Holy Week.
My thoughts exactly!!
Yes! It made me a cry a little bit.
I read today’s presentations, pretty sure that I would vote for Harriet – and I did. She was a visionary in work clothes.
Ditto
I felt the same. Also heard on the news tonight that the air quality is improving in cities where it is much needed. Plus seismologists say that seismic activity is calming, perhaps because of less rumbling traffic. Apparently they usually only see a seismic quieting on Christmas Day. I see the hand of St. Melangell reaching out to Hildegard. St. Melangell is the Patron Saint of the Natural World (plus rabbits & hares). She’s Welsh, much needed right now, & my favorite — maybe next year.
PLEASE – Bingen is the town of her abbey. The toughest choice – both great women, leaders, and believers and doers of good. Modern day saint and Ancient saint with great advice for today – GOLDEN HALOS FOR BOTH. Every time someone walks a labyrinth, every time you hear amazing music, get healed, read and understand the Gospel and its love and power – think of Hildegard. The line from Harriett’s article today, “If you’ve ever been shackled” – that’s Harriett. They both set us free in amazing ways. Thank you God for allowing them to be.
Good catch with your virtual red pen!
So I don’t even know you, but have enjoyed your Lent Madness memes – but your Holy Week writing was so lovely it brought tears to my eyes. Perhaps now more than ever in our lifetimes we can truly feel the impact of the Passion.
I read your blog. Yesterday was very hard. Our rector has said that no matter what the calendar says when this time of isolation is over, we are going to have Easter!
Your words are a wonderful way to enter into Holy Week. As a priest and prior to that an organist I have always found the busyness of Holy Week exhausting. But once Tenebrae was over and there was nothing to do until the Great Vigil I became almost at a loss for what to do. That is the sense I get this year, that aloneness, that sense of bereavement and loss, is almost overwhelming. And the thought that Easter will come anyway, empty tomb and all, is comforting. So thank you!
Thank you, Michael, for your blog. You gave me some peace as I realized I was not alone in my grief. I watched and participated as best I could from my prayer chair as my parish provided the liturgy of Palm Sunday. It was one of the finest liturgies I have ever witnessed. And as I joined in the hymns and responses I found myself in tears over and over again, longing to be in the nave. Longing to be fully a part of a service that is so important. And I know as the week progresses I will be there again and again, in tears of grief that I can only watch and participate from a distance. But indeed Easter WILL come, as always. This is my comfort.
Your writing gives me solace, too. Thank you for the daily burst of comedy and creativity, and for a thoughtful sharing of faith that lights up more than my little screen.
Michael, your beautiful piece brought to the surface all the pain I am feeling about missing Holy Week & most especially the glorious music as I sing in both the contemporary & the traditional choir. We have virtual services from our small Parrish and I join in there & though I know my beautiful church friends are responding with me & maybe even singing, I really miss hugging them. Bless Facebook as we are able to greet & talk to each other as service progress. Stay safe everyone, here’s to the day when we can once again greet each other with hugs.
Michael, your description of–lament for–Holy Week is both moving and encouraging.
Yes! In spite of quarantine, in spite of those who will succumb to the virus, in spite of those in power who are more selfish than compassionate, Easter _will_ come, the tomb _will_ be empty, Christ _will_ once again be victorious over death, and we _will_ shout “Alleluia!”
Beautiful, Verdery, and something I needed read!
Verdery, Fr. George Calvert often reminds us, “Easter is the only holiday that lasts FOREVER!” Alleluia!
Your second writing is one of the most profound readings yet during this time of trials & tribulations. It spoke to my heart Michael! May we all take the good that comes from these unnatural, unsettling times and believe that “this too shall pass” and that God is with us in all times and in all things.
As some of you may know, we painted the peg dolls for Lent Madness this year. We made another video for the ‘Faithful Four.’ 🙂 Go Harriet!
https://www.facebook.com/CSJSB/posts/3429630213731167
This video was fully AWESOME!!
This is impressive!
You guys rock! Thanks for sharing.
Love the fact that the music in the video is a song called “Still Standing.” Thanks for the link!
What a wonderful tradition! And great video!
South Bend is my home town. Some pretty wonderful things are coming out of there lately! And I had to choose Hildegarde, for health and healing.
That is truly awesome. I want to know how you got the pegs to turn. Hope you’re not putting your thumb on the scale for tomorrow’s penultimate battle by way of that sun-filled shot of the pegs over the St. Joseph river. Well played.
Great video — kudos to you & the artists! Love those little people representing the Saints–Thanks for sharing ! :- )
Fantastic! Thank you so much.
I love you, Harriet Tubman! Praise the Lord!
Too hard a choice today
I agree!!!! Both wonderful saints.
I always find the votes during the last week of Lent Madness challenging because a lot of the people who end up in the final four are also some of my favorites so I have to choose between which child I love more.
Sticking with Hildegard 🙂
All, be well.
Don’t know why I even bothered to vote. I knew from day one that Harriet Tubman would win. Yawn…
Oh, please always do vote! Value your decision and enjoy clicking your choice.
Always always vote.
I agree that the writing is on the wall, so to speak, and it’s Harriet Tubman for the Golden Halo! but it’s fun to vote anyway. Today, I voted again for Hildegard and “the quieter melodies of ancient virtues, rediscovering a simpler way and reconnecting with God and our creation.” We need the vision and passion of both of today’s saints in our lives today.
Still a little bitter about Gobnait…and delighted to vote this year for Harriet Tubman!
I loved Gobnait and think of her often. But Harriet for today.
Wow, great work today, celebrity bloggers! This was the hardest one yet for me, due to both write-ups being fabulous. I had pre-decided in my mind to cast my vote for Hildegard, whose mystic approach resonates with me. In the end, I decided on Harriet – Hildegard is already a saint to me, so let’s bring Harriet forward.
Never thought I would be voting against Harriet Tubman, but Miguel’s words today hit so close to home for this day and time.
Me, too.
Harriet Tubman was a heroic activist and it is hard to not vote for such an amazing woman, but Miguel’s words about the need for a visionary in our sick and broken world hit home with me this morning. Hildegard it is.
Same here!
Kim, same reasoning; opposite result.
Holy Hannah! Having a Hard Haul, Here! All those Hs, and I have to choose between the two most important! In the end, I chose Hildegard, in gratitude for what I have learned from her over the years.
Thank you, bloggers. Two beautifully written arguments for your respective saints. As the SEC has noted in past years, the Golden Halo is our inadequate way of honoring a particular saint, but all 32 of these saints have already received their heavenly rewards, and our votes for one over the other probably at best tickle their imaginations. I like to picture Hildegard and Harriet sitting down to a couple of sweet iced teas while listening to Angel’s singing ildegard’s music. Meanwhile, I’m casting my vote for Harriet for her generosity, bravery, faith, and intelligence.
Thank you, Richard, for that picture of Harriet and Hildegard enjoying heaven together.
Tough choice but I’m swayed by the thought that Harriet went back again and again when she could have stayed in safety. To rescue those in need and bring them out is wonderful but instead of resting, she went back to danger to do it again. May we all wrestle with injustice again and again!
I’m with you, Judy. I wouldn’t have had the courage to leave in the first place (and by herself!). But to go back repeatedly into danger just boggles my mind.
All honor to Harriet Tubman for her compassion and courage. This was a tough choice. I voted for Hildegard because I agree that the soul and future of the country and the world are at stake. A visit to the WWII Memorial Museum in New Orleans last year showed me the immense power of values and ideas, the words in which they are expressed, and the deeds that result. I hope and pray for a visionary, one who can see through today’s rhetoric, to the agenda beneath it.
Can we have TWO winners of the Golden Halo? This was the hardest one yet. I want to vote for both!
Toughest vote in the bracket – should’ve been the final!
Okay, that was a persuasive pitch! Hildegard stole my vote at the last minute.
Tubman
So difficult to choose. The bloggers made it even more challenging. A shout out to both for bringing to flooor the essence of a need to see some chence as we relate to one another and creation. Green is great, being a marine ecologist, I am weighed by a bias to favor Hildegard, but I am in awe of both.
Both of these women addressed universal issues in their lifetimes, but the planet as well as the country is at stake. I vote Hildegard.
Very hard choice filks! But in the end Hildgerd has to be my choice. I learned about her over 30 years ago and have found hero be a spiritual leader for me in her writings and her painting.
Loved Miguel Escobar’s powerful, passionate message inspired by Hildegard. That’s why this 12th-century visionary gets my vote today and always.
This battle is too hard! It was so difficult to choose. I decided to vote for Hildegard, but whoever wins this battle is fine with me!
If you think this choice was tough, wait till Wednesday.
Thank God for *all* of them.
AMEN! On both remarks!
Another fabulous post and a wonderful season. With all that we can no longer have right now, thank you for keeping this going.
Bloggers, respect. Beautiful discourses, both of you. I love the bold, expressionist icon of “Harriet crossing the river.” However, I was swayed by Miguel’s “panentheistic” (is that Richard Rohr’s term?) appeal on Hildegard’s behalf, linking bio-catastrophe with the nationalistic shouts of the devil. We need a renewed vision; we need to “turn” to wisdom. Let us never give up resisting evil and healing the planet. We are all in this together. Two worthy women; I voted for Hildegard.
Hard choice as both we courageous, visionary women. The reflections today were both beautiful and powerful. Thanks!
Yes…the choices become more difficult, but for 2020 we need Hildegard to rise above our dividedness and sink into wisdom. I believe Hildegard’s wisdom was manifested in Harriet’s work. Therefore, I will stick with the ancient voice of Hildegard.
This one is really hard. And both bloggers were persuasive. Maybe I’ll wait awhile and read more comments before voting.
Arguments for both very compelling. I think this is Harriet’s time for the gold. Bless them both. Bless us all at this trying time. Keep going!
These two essays. Wow! Reading them both was a blessing. Thank you to the authors, and to all of the Celebrity Bloggers. Now, #TeamTubman
What a terrible time to VOTE, my first love Harriett and my earthly passion the growing of plants and herbs in our new home/condo! It is a learning experience to get anything to grow that I did in our home of 51 years, but, we must move on! This COVID19 has made all of us take note of what is important in This life we are all facing! But, not withstanding my love of growing beautiful flowers and especially herbs, my Vote is for Harriett! Not sure I know of anyone more courageous and just plain strong in her faith to Her people Free! Do sure how I will be able to vote In The next few days, but , all I have is TODAY! Yesterday Palm Sunday our family lost a beautiful talented smart niece 57; to a blood clot after having gone thru gene therapy, which worked and was then transferred to another hospital to keep her isolated and safe! Well, God has His own timeline and He took Her home to Him! Rest I. peace with our Maker Susan! Peace to all and to all a good day!
Very sorry for your loss. Have a blessed Holy Week.
And peace and a good day to you. You’re in my prayers.
I am not sure if I misread or misinterpreted, but it seemed to me that today’s write up for Hildegard was more about American politics than about Hildegard. I continue to vote for the PERSON I think should be given the halo rather than how that person reflects on our life today. But I am sure there are many many reasons for a vote, and all are valid.
Here is an antidote to demonic shouting:
What a wonderful message. Thank you.
That’s how a leader speaks.
I watched her speech yesterday and was so moved by it. I especially liked her use of the term “fellow feeling.” Maybe we will recover that quality, someday.
Thank you for sharing this.
The Queen is an awesome woman !!!
TBTG
I agree with you, this looked like a political view of the writer
I agree. The writer has every right to his anger, of course; but is this the most appropriate time and place to express anger at a political party?
I think Harriet will come out on top today, but I voted for Hildegard. Hildegard’s mysticism, her music, her saying “the earth sweats green-ness,” and Miguel’s write-up were behind my vote.
Beautiful arguments on the part of both bloggers! You folks sure know how to make these heaven -shattering choices more challenging. . . but in the end, Mr. Escobar nearly brought me to tears with his cogent defense of Hildegard, who is, indeed, uniquely tied to our times.
Thank you to both bloggers for these beautiful write-ups that hold up the values needed to save our struggling world!
How did Harriet Tubman arrive at sainthood?
She fought the good fight, she finished her race, and she kept the faith!
2 Timothy 4:7-8 ESV
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
If you don’t think risking your life to save others at the direction of God is cause for sainthood, then I don’t know what to tell you, my friend.
I think you may be asking by whom and by what process she was declared a saint. While some churches have formal canonization processes, others haven’t. In the Anglican tradition, for example, there is no such process, and no one has been formally canonized since the schism with Roman Catholicism.
Anglicanism continued to celebrate the days of certain saints mentioned in the New Testament, and the Feast of All Saints, but substantially removed all other canonized saints from the Calendar. Over time a few others were added, but the number of saints’ days in our 1928 Prayer Book remained small.
The years after 1928 saw a renewal of interest in the lives of postbiblical saints and the practice of remembering or venerating them, and the Church Calendar in the 1979 Prayer Book reflected that development by restoring many of the traditional feast days. The triennial publication “Lesser Feasts and Fasts” provides an updated list of the days specifically authorized by General Convention. But there is no prohibition against celebrating other days; and the Church also publishes other calendars, “Holy Women, Holy Men” and “A Great Cloud of Witnesses,” for trial use.
The result of all this is that the Calendar has become rather messy, and work is under way to bring more order to it. The main theological point, which I maybe should have stated at the beginning of this comment, is that we are returning to the New Testament view according to which every Christian is a saint, and that we all have arrived at sainthood with the gift, and the responsibility, of giving it expression.
Hope this helps.
Beautifully and thoroughly stated, Davis. Thanks.
I had been very confused myself. Davis, I’m cut-and-pasting your reply to save in my files. Thank you!
This is the hardest choice I’ve faced in my few years of voting in Lent Madness. While Hildegard von Bingen is a “kindred spirit,” I had to cast my vote for nearby “hometown” hero Harriet Tubman (am near Auburn NY). Either way this comes out, both of these saints are blessed role models to have.
It only gets harder as the numbers reduce. Two fabulous female saints to choose between, and two compelling posts buy passionate, engaging bloggers. I’m sure I’m not the only one on the comment thread, which I haven’t yet read, is somehow wishes they could vote for both. But in the end, I had to go for Harriet, in part, but not only, because I had promised to support her or James Solomon Russell as long as Clare of Assisi was no longer in the mix. Harriet’s persistence working in the dark in dark times speaks so much to our need these days.
Hildegard von Bingen has been one of my spiritual guides for decades now. Both my husband and I are musicians; he began to study organ when he retired from data processing; I am clergy; both of us sing; we love her music! I reverently and gratefully vote for her today.
Go, Harriet, don’t look back, the promised halo is on sight. 6
In another round, I went to the music link. I found O pastor animarum by Hildegard of Bingen. Apparently, she wrote both the music and words for several compositions! This one is now on my playlist. She was a remarkable woman!
This was a difficult decision! Two compelling women who have inspired me and so many others – no easy choice. I have to confess that this statement about Harriet Tubman is puzzling: “She was born into slavery but decided that was not the path for her.”
saintly humor
A very eloquent set of passionate arguments.. and a very difficult vote for me. Great, great posts from both bloggers, and an equal match of two Titans today. Either candidate is worthy, and I REALLY didn’t want to have to choose between them. I ultimately voted for Tubman, but feel like I sort of let Hildegard down. We really need SAINTS to look up to in these muddy, turgid days. I am very weary from all the game-playing evident in both our nation and our response to a virus which makes me wake at 3am in a sweat wondering if my loved ones will all survive. Both posts echoed the seriousness that undergirds these ragged days – not unlike the unsettled environment enveloping Jesus during this week. Stay safe everyone.
Such beautiful and inspirational writing from the celebrity bloggers. Both Tubman and Hildegard are more than worthy to represent our needs and values in today’s fearful world. My hope, my prayer, for these times is our wider population will, at last, see these times fit to reset, reorder, reprioritize our values to align, at last, with a kinder, nobler, more loving set of values set out by Jesus who set the standard for loving kindness. We need both these godly women in our lives, up front and setting an example of living and loving through impossible times in impossible ways….and succeeding! Spread the Lenten Madness! I am sad there are only a few days left of this inspiration. We, I, will need more to get through this Covid 19 Madness. Thank you, all.
all due respect to Hildegard, Harriet Tubman for the win!! (I mean the whole thing, she needs to be our Top Saint this year).
As much as I admire Harriet Tubman, and as much as I loved the writing and illustrating today of the post about her, I believe the bigger issue is us being stewards of creation, and Hildegard represents that to me. She also represents how music makes life more hopeful, more beautiful, and more meaningful. However, in light of the importance of the outcome, and the fact that the contest is also about the authors, someone should have proofread the Hildegard post (apologies for the OCD teacher coming out in me).
I was privileged to attend a performance of Hildegard’s Ordo Virtutem many years ago and have been a fan ever since! I cannot vote for anyone else!
I am glad both of these saints made it to the final four. I had to vote for Harriet, but that does not diminish my love of Hildegard. Who knows, different times may have elicited a different vote.
Hardest vote of this Lent Madness season!
I tuly love the painting of Harriet. Can we find out who the artist is? Thanks!
Both of today’s celebrity bloggers defend their saints well. Harriet Tubman’s example of principled courage and resilience and Hildegard of Bingen’s vision of greening are equally compelling. I ultimately voted for Hildegard, but Harriet will be a deserving winner should she hold her lead.
I was prepared to vote for Harriet. Have loved her for a long time. But the bellowing devil grabbed me.
Ever since my family and I have been following Lenten Madness (how many years now?), I have always supported Hildegard, but something about the times we are now living in and so much more, I have switched my support to Harriet.
How can I vote against such a brave, determined, generous person as Harriet? she put her life on the line repeatedly, not being satisfied to gain her own freedom but to help others gain freedom.
But I am a physician and a priest. Hildegard was not only an abbess known for arguing with archbishops, the emperor, and the pope, and prevailing!) but also a musician, a scientist (her book on “natural history” was a remarkable accomplishment), and a physician (her medical textbook was the standard for almost 200 years, and she was the first female physician to have her work published.) I have long been an admirer of hers, and I have to vote for her.
What inspiring write ups, both bloggers. Thank you.
I just finished reading Ta-Henisi Coates’ The Water Dancer. “Harriet” or “Moses” is a key figure. She shares her ability to “conduct” visions with the “Tasker” Hiram. I highly recommend this book as both a good read and one to seriously consider. BUT like several other commenters, I must go with Hildegard. Harriett is well known. Her example is well known. Hildegard, as her sponsor points out, is relevant again or still in our global challenges of climate change and an insidious virus. Both force us to work together, if separately to revive our world. The message couldn’t be clearer: to ignore the warnings of Hildegard, is to ignore them at our peril.
Wish I could cut my vote in half, so that I would then honor both remarkable and saintly women. But my vote is for Tubman. She calls us to resolve the unresolved issue of race in my beloved country.She points the way of a more perfect union.
Hey! Is it my imagination or has the write ups for the final four focus become more impassioned? I LOVE the personal reflections offered (modeled?) by the authors. Well done! Today’s readings showcase are exactly why I have tuned in since Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I’m thrilled for being inspired to pursue their writings this coming year of instability and crisis.
I have to vote for Harriet Tubman. We have a sculpture of her in Little Rock on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Library. https://lrculturevulture.com/2016/04/20/sculpture-vulture-harriet-tubman-2/
Such an agonizing choice! I keep reminding myself that this exercise is just for fun, learning, and inspiration, and that both these women already have their Golden Halos. I was set to vote for Harriet, who has been a lifelong inspiration. But then I was swayed by Miguel’s eloquent post on Hildegard. News reports have outlined the ways in which our disrespect for our environment have increased the frequency and deadliness of plagues like COVID 19. We have to get back to Hildegard’s vision of the earth as a garden we are responsible for taking care of.
Hildegard is our Harriet, encouraging us to care more about “this fragile Earth, our island home” and its inhabitants than our own fears and selfish desires.
Harriet Tubman is already enthroned in that astonishing photo. Does she look frail? Then you need to take a closer look, at a resolution that allows you to see her face. Look her in the eye before you vote for her or not, but do not for one second think you will ever be able to stand in her way when there is more at stake than our silly contest.
“In this time of pandemic, of fear, of confusion, death and pain, let us remember God’s promises, as did Harriet. Let us keep going. Let us keep believing. Let us never give up.”
I was torn between the two candidates but Sandra’s brilliant and incredibly moving essay decided me today. My vote is for Harriet and indirectly for Sandra. God bless you and all your endeavors. I will keep going, keep believing and, with God’s help, never give up. Thank you for the rallying prayer!
Go Hildy Go!
A very difficult choice indeed. Was I the only one who thought of Martha and Mary?
We need both of these if our beautiful planet and a compassionate world is to survive.
However I did grow up near the terminus of the Underground Railroad so I have to continue to love and admire Harriet as I have since I was a small child and heard of her amazing journey.
Harriet went back, again and again.
Miguel….there has been much “bellowing” on both sides of the aisle, I’d say. I agree with your question, “Which voices are we to believe?” But unfortunately for Hildegard, you tip your hand politically with name-calling in your last paragraph and therefore lost me–not because I support any of those causes–but because I think those descriptors are unfair. We all are looking for peace. Peace be with you.
I voted for each of these women in their preliminary rounds, so choosing between them was difficult. Hildegard has been a lifelong inspiration for me, but I was prepared to vote for Harriet. Miguel’s thoughtful evocation of Hildegard’s meaning for today’s world shifted me back to Hildegard. Action or some sort of overarching, guiding ethos? Which do we need today?
Both of these women deserve their halos!
Ah! Two of my most highly regarded saintly role models! I had to go with Hildegard and the hope for our future mystical guidance.
Both deserve the Halo. Each a visionary and each a fighter for the right, in their own and our times.
Biblical religion is inseparable from both freedom and the soul’s desire for an experience of the divine. Neither is of lesser importance. For many of us music has been a frame for direct experience of divine love and grace, and that is why I voted for Hildegard. I will quote Father J.F. Weber (in Fanfare Magazine dated Jan 1983) on Hildegard:
“Hildegard’s life was unusually full for a woman of her time. In a gesture typical of the times, her noble parents dedicated her, their tenth child, to religious life, so at the age of 8 she was entrusted to the care of a nun in a convent. She grew up, professed her vows, and at 35 became abbess of the convent, later moving to a ruined abbey to establish a new convent. [While] the process of canonization was never completed in Rome, that formality was not essential at the time and she is generally venerated as a saint. She was widely known and exercised some influence with leaders of church and state. Her claim to sanctity, however, was the depth of her religious experiences as indicated by her mystical visions and writings. She was also a composer. One form that was used extensively in this period was the Sequence, a verse composition which followed the Alleluia of the Mass; Hildegard wrote 7 of them.”
Hildegard von Bingen has had such a profound impact upon my personal life that there is no choice for me here, despite Harriet Tubman’s valor and holiness. Years ago, when I was lost in the depths of a dark night of the soul, a chance hearing of Hildegard’s music on NPR became the rope by which I began to climb out of the abyss and back into the light. I am a playwright, and fascinated by the woman behind the music, I wrote a play about her, The Wisdom of Serpents. In 2010, it was presented as the closing event for Northwestern University’s summer-long celebration of Hildegard. During the performance’s intermission, I was introduced to the man who would become my husband. Less than a year later, we were married–through no conscious decision of our own–on Hildegard’s feast day. Seriously, it was the only date where all impediments to our ceremony melted away as if by saintly intervention. On our fifth wedding anniversary, we journeyed to Germany to take part in her feast day celebration and found our bonds with her renewed. As I write this, I am gazing at a picture of her; my husband, down the hall in his makeshift home office, has a statue of her on his desk. Every day, we are reminded of how Saint Hildegard utterly changed the lives of two lonely souls.
What an amazing story. Thanks for sharing. Worthy of NPR’s “The Moth.” Mazel tov!
Thank you so much. Stay safe; stay strong.
It is sad to see, especially in this time of national crisis, to see a “Celebrity Blogger” use the Lent Madness forum to make a political statement.
It is life in this time. Our life is greatly impacted by politics one way or the other. Our faith is a great influence on ours l ives as well. We can’t separate one from the other–another trinity. Nor should we try.
I ‘m not looking for quarrel. I’m just curious. Would you make the same comment if the blog had leaned to the right and not to the left?
Yes indeed!
Miguel called out by name white nationalism and climate denialism, both evils of our time. Are you acknowledging that white supremacy and anti-science ideology belong to the political right? That would undermine the “both-sidesism” of a previous post, which, ironically, seems to be declaring a vote for a black woman out of pique with his calling racism racism. I’m just curious, as you are directly positing “two sides” by name. It seems to me the voice of prophetic witness is well able to–and must–look political realities in the eye and name them. I recommend Martin King’s letter from the jail in Birmingham, Alabama, surely one of the most powerful rhetorical documents in American letters. His grossest disappointment, he says (and I’m paraphrasing somewhat), is with those people who posit “both sides” as if there were some kind of equity between them, when there is no equity. Thank you for your post and for calling the “two sides” by name thereby making it possible for us to look openly at the naked lack of equity and equivalence between the “two sides.” Until we can do that, there is no justice, and people will continue to pretend injury at any mention of “the political,” as if someone had indelicately remarked that women had legs. I have been walking away from these posts, but people are dying, and “one side” denigrates science and democracy, whereas the other–doesn’t. Prophetic witness means looking at reality, and perceiving whose image that ugliness reflects (Mark 12:16).
I think your response is directed at me:) I really am curious if you are a bishop, a church leader, someone I know! I am not asking. Please do remain anonymous. But I have wondered who you are for a couple years. As I said in my first comment, I vote for the PERSON up for vote and not for their significance in our lives today. I didn’t mean to stir up a hornet’s nest.
I have wondered about St Celia, too. We are always in trouble in a discussion when one side starts quoting scripture. Im sure many of us could quote scripture, Christian writers, early Christians writers, and church history right along with you. I might be wrong, but I don’t believe that’s the spirit of LM. Next year, I’m reading NO comments. Unfortunately, that means I will miss out on some rich personal sharing.
Thank you St.Celia.
We are Christians – scripture is central to our faith and practice.
In the end I voted for Harriet, but whoever wrote the biography for Hildegard did an incredible job. Had Hildegard been going against anyone else, the write up alone would have gotten my vote.
Lots of comments I went with Harriet Tubman
Wonderful way to get acquainted with the saint up-front and personal. I, too, was a Tubman rooter but swayed to Hildegard. She was also a composer.
All respect for Harriet, but have to go Hildegard! We need green! We need spring! We need nature! We need divine healing! We need to connect all of this! Hildegard is the saint of this moment in time – Viriditas!
This is the hardest decision yet. It is 6:31 p.m. and I still haven’t voted. What makes many of the choices so hard is that saints are all so different. The other day I read this, in “Mere Christianity” by a past winner of the Golden Halo, C. S. Lewis: “Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most ‘natural’ men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.” Maybe I’ll have to toss a coin to see which of these women, gloriously different from each other, gets my vote.
C.S. Lewis’ notion of the real self is one of his brilliant insights. When he says “how gloriously different are the saints” I would also include in their number scholars/scientists and artists, people who also “surrender” to something beyond themselves.
This was indeed the most difficult choice yet. Like many of you I was sure that my vote would go to Harriet. Both bloggers did a superb job indeed. After much consideration (and along phone call with my son which served as a distraction for a bit) I have cast my vote for Hidegard – agreeing that we could do with a visionary these days. And yet – we could use the stick-to-it-ness and continuing on of Harriet. But it is possible to vote for only one!
Sorry, Hildy. Freedom wins today.
Quoting scripture is a fatal blow in an argument. No more comments for me; I can’t handle such certitude on either side. I also believe Holy pWeek was not the place and time for us to hear the writer’s anger toward a political party.
I agree. Quoting scripture is a fatal blow in an argument. No more comments for me; I can’t handle such certitude on either side. I also believe Holy pWeek was not the place and time for us to hear the writer’s anger toward a political party.
Agreed. I voted for Harriet because I couldn’t NOT vote for Harriet. Hers was a courage that I can never equal. Her life was unimaginably hard and dangerous, but she never gave up. Hildegard wrote music that brings me great joy, and her spirituality is exemplary, , but Harriet inspires me to be a better, braver, more loving human being.
I expected Harriet to win today, but Miguel’s write up for Hildegard was so powerful that I am pleased to see the voting is closer than I expected. I am also somewhat amused by the distinction that people are making between activism and mysticism. Hildegard may have a mystical bent but her political skills and leadership of her community testify to great strengths as an activist. My vote goes to Hildegard for the breadth of her vision, and because we need her insights so much today as we face the environmental challenges and divisive nationalisms that are taking hold around the world.
My vote is for Harriet because the community in which I live was part of the underground railroad.
Miguel, I agree with your thoughts on Hildegard’s modern relevance and thank you for the insights on Ordo Virtutum. I have learned something important today.