What’s up? On Ascension Day, it’s Jesus! And also it’s the start of Nominationtide!
For ten full days, the Supreme Executive Committee will be accepting nominations for Lent Madness 2020. The nominating period will remain open through the Day of Pentecost, Sunday, May 31, at which point this brief exercise in Lenten democracy will go up in smoke like the hair of the disciples when the tongues of fire descended upon their heads.
Usually we only allow a week for Nominationtide, but this year we are generously allowing you ten days. We know that conferring on nominations might take longer in a time of social distancing. Please note that the Lent Madness website has been thoroughly disinfected, so there is no risk as you read this post or browse the online Lentorium.* Unfortunately, all Lentorium store locations remained closed at this time.
To insure your successful nomination, please note the Nominationtide Rules & Regulations, which reside in an ancient illuminated manuscript tended to by aged monks who have been set aside by saints and angels for this holy calling.
- The nominee must, in fact, be dead.
- The nominee must be on the official calendar of saintly commemorations of some church.
- We will accept only one nominee per person.
- You must tell us WHY you are nominating your saint.
- The ONLY way to nominate a saint will be to leave a comment on this post.
- That means comments left on Facebook, Twitter, attached to a brick and thrown through the window at Forward Movement headquarters, or placed on giant placards outside the residences of Tim or Scott don’t count.
There is one other way to get your nomination considered. As we have said for years, you can attach your nomination to a $20 bill and mail it to us for immediate and full consideration.** For the first time, we received such a nomination this year. However, we are sorry to say that the nominee has not been deceased long enough to appear on a church calendar yet.
We are huge fans of the amazing Verna Dozier though, and one day, we’re sure she will do very well in the bracket. We hope you’ll read about her and what she did to claim ministry of the laity and to encourage scripture study. If you want to make a $20 nomination, do check to make sure your nominee is eligible.
As you discern saints to nominate, please keep in mind that a number of saints are ineligible for next year’s “saintly smackdown.” Based on longstanding tradition, this includes the entire field of Lent Madness 2020, those saints who made it to the Round of the Elate Eight in 2019 and 2018, and those from the 2017 Faithful Four.
Needless to say Jesus, Mary, Tim, Scott, past or present Celebrity Bloggers, and previous Golden Halo Winners are also ineligible. Below is a comprehensive list of ineligible saints. Please keep this in mind as you submit your nominations. Do not waste your precious nomination on an ineligible saint!
The Saints of Lent Madness 2020 (ineligible)
Junia
Elizabeth the New Martyr
Florian
Elizabeth Fry
Evelyn Underhill
Romanos the Melodist
Brother Lawrence
Eva Lee Matthews
Julie Billiart
James Solomon Russell
Margaret of Castello
Elizabeth
Harriet Tubman
Bartimaeus
Clare of Assisi
Joanna the Myrrhbearer
Simon Gibbons
James the Less
Hildegard
Thomas More
Gregory Nazianzus
Eustace
Joseph
Herman of Alaska
Elizabeth of Hungary
Isidore of Seville
Joshua
Andrew
Patrick
Margery Kempe
Jude
Hervé
Past Golden Halo Winners (ineligible)
George Herbert, C.S. Lewis, Mary Magdalene, Frances Perkins, Charles Wesley, Francis of Assisi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Florence Nightingale, Anna Alexander, Martha of Bethany, Harriet Tubman
From 2017 to 2019 (ineligible)
Photini
Ignatius of Loyola
Gobnait
John Chrysostom
William Wilberforce
Zenaida
Pandita Ramabai
Egalantyne Jebb
Martin de Porres
Maria Skobtsova
Phocas the Gardener
Richard Hooker
Peter
Esther
Stephen
Franz Jägerstätter
Amelia Bloomer
As you contemplate your (single!) nomination, why not aid and your reflection and sharpen your focus with a hot mug of
your favorite beverage? The most effective way to do this, of course, is by reverently sipping out of a Lent Madness mug from the Lentorium. We assume you’ve already ordered your Harriet Tubman 2020 Golden Halo winner mug, but if not, here’s the link.
Now put your thinking halo on and get to work. Time is already running out to nominate your favorite (eligible) saint for Lent Madness 2021!
* The website itself is fine, but we can’t be responsible for your computer. Clean those keys! Wipe that screen!
** Depending on where your $20 bill is sent, it will be counted as a donation to either St. John the Evangelist Church in Hingham, MA or to Forward Movement in Cincinnati, OH. While the SEC is arguably corrupt, we do not actually want to profit from electioneering or graft!
Abraham. The father of us all.
also patron saint of prolicide? just checking
St. James (the Greater): first Apostle to be martyred, patron of the great Camino de Santiago. Great kitsch — lots of St. James images as a pilgrim or on a horse with a sword (Matamoros).
I nominate Mother Antonia—A full description can be seen in this link……..Here is there last paragraph: Mother Antonia reminded me that ultimately ministry is not a position. It is a posture. She transformed La Mesa Prison with no title, no office with the church, and no institutional credentials. It was her presence among prisoners and guards that mattered, not any position she could have held over them. Mother Antonia, like every true shepherd of God, ministered from a posture of love not fear, and cared more about service than her own significance.
Here is the link to the full description
…https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#trash/FMfcgxwHNWFxrlVSjfZhlfNmxCtnlbjt
Saint Lucy Patron Saint of Blindness and might or might not have plucked out her eyes to avoid marrying the dude.
WOW! You just beat me to it. I nominated Lucy as well!
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955). Priest, scientist, visionary, one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the second half of the 20th century.
And a paleoanthropologist, who happened to be at a dig on a certain Sussex down about 110 years ago!
Saintly Nominee(s)–counts as a Holy Group? The Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne
–or–Marie de l’Incarnation–all met their fate at the guillotine during the French Revolution.
Paul the Apostle a.k.a. Saul of Tarsus.
My namesake, Claire of Assisi is not available this time so I choose my hubby’s namesake.
St. Lucy. My mom, Rev. Melanie Barbarito, told me about Lucy long ago and she’s always been stuck in my head. It’s the plate with her eyes, people! Anyway, she also wanted to distribute her wealth to the poor, which endears her to me. “…whatever you give away at death for the Lord’s sake you give because you cannot take it with you. Give now to the true Savior, while you are healthy, whatever you intended to give away at your death.” Lastly, my husband is missing an eye, so St. Lucia is his patron Saint! Thanks!
The Fourteen Holy Helpers ( because… Coronavirus…):
“In the past, during dire times of plague and persecution, our Christian forbearers sought advocates and intercessors when they felt powerless in the face of pestilence, natural disaster, or disease. The “Fourteen Holy Helpers” tradition arose as one such cloud of witnesses to whom people turned for aid and solace in their moments of fear and desperation.
In Bavaria, they were referred to as the Vierzehnheiligen and the local population dedicated a basilica named for these 14 Helpers near Bamberg. The group included Saints Agathius, Barbara, Blaise, Catherine of Alexandria, Christophorus, Cyriacus, Denis, Elmo, Eustace, George, Giles, Margaret of Antioch, Pantaleon and Vitus. They were venerated together, especially when the Black Death ravaged Europe, killing between a third and a half of the population. Thankfully, the mortality rate of the current pandemic — while serious and frightening in its own right — appears to be roughly 50 times less than the Yersinia Pestis that killed millions.” (from https://catholicstarherald.org/the-saints-people-prayed-to-during-the-black-death/)
Way to go Willie! Sounds like an amazing group – ready to share the halo!!!
Guinefort – because how could you not want to learn about a saint who saved a baby from a snake, healed sick kids, and – oh yeah – lost his sainthood because he was a dog?
Abba Moses the Ethiopian,a powerful story of transformation and redemption from the 4th century deserts of Egypt/
From Wiki: Camillus de Lellis, M.I., (25 May 1550 – 14 July 1614) was a Roman Catholic priest from Italy who founded the Camillians, a religious order dedicated to the care of the sick. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in the year 1742, and canonized by him four years later in 1746. De Lellis is the patron saint of the sick, hospitals, nurses and physicians. His assistance is also invoked against gambling.
I nominate Camillus because in this time of COVID, I need to pay more attention to those who are on the job every day risking their lives. I think the Red Cross is also important, to know where it came from.
Lou you beat me to it! I would just add that there is an order of Camillians today in South India who were the first to take care of AIDS patients in that region. They now have an orphanage of Aids children who they are raising.
Wonderful! Thanks for letting me know!
St. Pantelemon the Unmercenary Physician in honor of all those who have selflessly and valiantly fought this virus.
Second! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pantaleon He is also one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, as mentioned above.
St. Roche 1295-1327 Montpelier France.
Born with a red cross on his chest, St. Roche is the Patron Saint of DOGS, INVALIDS, THE SICK , FALSELY ACCUSED PEOPLE AND BACHELORS. A powerful patron saint against PLAGUES,
PESTILENCE AND KNEE PROBLEMS. His Feast Day is Aug. 16.
Legend says he devoted himself to caring for victims of the plague i Italy and performed many healing
miracles. When he became a victim himself, he retreated to a forest where his weeping wounds from the
plague were licked by a DOG who also brought him bread and he was healed. He died in prison being accused of being a spy. This was a mistake and upon his death, his uncle who had imprisoned him
recognized him as his nephew. To assure people he had survived the plague, he would show the
plague scars on his thigh. He is often portrayed in paintings showing his leg scar with a dog at his side.
I don’t have anyone to nominate, but I do have a request. When forming the brackets, can we not put pairs (like the Wesley brothers, the Bethany sisters, and there were more) against each other in the first round brackets. Can they at least get a chance to compete with each other later in the brackets? And yes I realize that Charles and Martha are ineligible, but perhaps if they had been up against their sibling for the Golden Halo things might be different. Or at least more decided. Thank you for your consideration.
St. Benedict, the patron saint of kidneys, as I am awaiting a kidney transplant.
HADEWIJCH OF BRABANT. Commemoration day April 22.
I would like to always see one female mystic represent. She’s also a bit gender bending as she writes about God’s love in both the femine and masculine.
What fun it is just trying to pronounce her name!
St Christopher- patron of travelers!
I would like to nominate St. Jerome, a real character (what else could you be with a name like Hieronymus?) who lived large, repented, dedicated his life to Christ, translated the Scripture to the Latin Vulgate, and was a passionate scholar and lover of words and books. And snarky to boot, which I very much appreciate. My husband is currently reproducing Caravaggio’s painting of Jerome writing, as a practice painting, so Jerome’s image, complete with skull, is fresh in my mind.
I’m very fond of Moses the Black. He was a thief and a murderer, and once took shelter with some monks in the desert in Egypt. He was so taken by their peace and contentment that he renounced his life of crime, and joined the religious community.
He is considered a Desert Father, one of an early group of Christian hermits and monks who lived mainly in the Egyptian desert in around the Third Century AD.
that makes two of us! 🙂 I was concerned tho,when I saw that he was in (2) previous year’s brackets/
A new (combined) church in Detroit is St. Moses the Black! Great suggestion
St. Kateri Tekakwitha, who became the first Native American saint recognized by the Roman Catholic Church in — wait for it — 2012. She’s patron saint of the environment, and her story has been reclaimed by many Native Christians as a means of decolonization, centering Indigenous culture and the role of Native women within spiritual practice.
Yes, I second the motion!
Saint Hilda of Whitby, born into a royal family but was humble and became a nun
I nominate St. Ita (Ite or Ida) of Killeedy, foster mother of St. Brendan the Navigator.
St. Cuthbert
Cuthbert loved animals even more than Frank and Tony. We named one of our cats Cuthbert.
I second Cuthbert! My grandcat is also a Cuthbert (and hangs out with his dogbrother, Oswald – much as St Cuthbert and St Oswald do in death).
Eric Yaun
I nominate St. Sebastian. He is the patron saint of athletes, including basketball players, so his inclusion would pay homage to March Madness. Also he is the patron saint of plague victims, and hopefully COVID-19 will be gone by next year, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.
St. Barbara, because of my nephew who is in the artillery and one who is a tank commander. And in honor of my favorite fire marshal, JB. St. Barbara is on the Eastern Orthodox calendar. She is buried in the Ukraine, from where my ancestors came.
St. Raphael the Archangel.
He is not dead, but does it matter in this case, as Archangels seemingly are inmortal? I chose him because he is one of my two Patron Saints.
To commemorate his canonization, St. John Henry Newman. Plus, with three different feast days, he deserves extra credit!
St. Sebastian because his blessings are asked to drive away plagues and pestilence. We need that now.
Florence Li Tim-Oi, the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican communion. She was ordained in 1944 during the occupation of Hong Kong when priests could not get to Japan.
I second this nomination!
Yes, indeed! She visited our church in the 80s, a tiny woman of great spirit!
Yes, I nominated her previously… still waiting for her to make the bracket.
Florence Li-Tim Oi was nominated in 2013. Great write-up about her then! Great candidate
I also nominate Florence Li-Tim Oi. As the son of a woman ordained into the priesthood of the Anglican Church of Canada I do this in honor of my mother who cannot be nominated because she is very much alive. I also nominate Florence to honor my many female friends who are priests and deacons in the Episcopal Church
The Dorchester Chaplains: Lieutenant George Fox, Lieutenant Alexander D. Goode, Lieutenant Clark V. Poling, and Lieutenant John P. Washington, 1943
When the Dorchester was torpedoed by the Germans, they gave helped crew members into the lifeboats, gave up their life jackets to others and went down with the ship. Congress created a special medal in their honor.
I should mention that Poling Chapel at Marble Collegiate Church is named after his father, Daniel.
St. Catherine of Sienna. She was a peacemaker, and a doctor of the Church. We need to see her, as an example, especially at a time when we could use more peacemakers in the world.
St. Isadora the Simple. Feast day May 1st. Rather than be adored as a saint by the sisters in her convent, who had previously reviled her, Isadora left and became a hermitess.
Gregory the Great ( 540-604 ) Bishop of Rome, Monk, Deacon and Patron of Gregorian Chant. During a plague in Rome he lead a procession of laity and clergy who prayed for the end of the plague and at the conclusion of the prayers the plague was lifted. He also termed the title for future popes , Servant of the Servants of God.
Re: St. Roche: I forgot to say WHY I believe he should receive a nomination this year for
Lent Madness. During this time of the pandemic, here is a saintly soul who cared for the
victims of the plague, became infected himself ( with the thigh scars to prove it), and was
healed with the help of a dog who licked his wounds and brought him sustenance as well.
At this time in 2020 when the world is faced with a type of plague, I am finding sustenance
from my 3 dogs who bring me laughter, get me out walking them, provide warm fur for
petting and the companionship of unconditional love that only dogs and other animals can
bring in a time of solitude. Each of us are in our own forest during the pandemic. St. Roche
shows us that healing miracles can come from social distancing and the love of a good dog!
And, the uncle shows that in death there can be forgiveness and reconciliation of wrong
doings.
I second the nomination for St. Roch. For all the above reasons. That he healed others after his recovery parallels the use of immune globulin from folks that recovered from coronavirus.
Henry Budd. The first indigenous person ordained an Anglican priest.
I am nominating St. Damien of Molokai, who is a worthy patron saint of plague and quarantine, and who did not socially distance himself from the lepers he was called to love and serve until his own death from the disease.
Ditto
I love his (Damien’s) statue as one of the two Hawaiians honored in the U. S. Capitol – perhaps the only saint honored there?
Egeria. I first read about her in a prior Lent Madness and was inspired to read her writings about her travels to the Holy Land in the 4th century. Her observations of the liturgical year are detailed and faithfully recorded.
I love knowing that a woman’s observations, primarily written to share with other women, support our liturgical worship to this day.
Fr. Hiram Kano – a survivor of the internment camps of WWII, his steadfastness of faith in the face of real prejudice and his desire for the well being of those he served, was an example by which people were able to see light in the midst of darkness
Jonathan Myrick Daniels, a saint in the Episcopal Church USA. He attended Virginia Military Institute and later Harvard Episcopal Divinity School. In 1965 , he was murdered (August 20, 1965). by a shotgun-wielding special county deputy, Tom Coleman, who was a construction worker in Hayneville, Alabama, while in the act of shielding 17-year old Ruby Sales.
I second the nomination of Jonathan Myrick Daniels!
Zita of Lucca
Paul Carlson, physician, missionary to the Congo, martyr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Carlson
The Covenant Church doesn’t formally name saints, but they do name foundations, and the Paul Carlson Medical Program https://www.paulcarlson.org/about-us/paulcarlson/ carries on his work in health and community development
Clarence Jordan, founder of Koinonia Farm in Georgia, out of which grew Habitat for Humanity. Koinonia was and is a farm community dedicated to demonstrating the love of God and its power to cross racial boundaries. It was a very risky enterprise in the 1940s when it began and for many years after. Read all about it here: https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/witness/clarence-jordan
St. Catherine of Alexandria, (died c. early 4th century, Alexandria, Egypt; feast day November 25), one of the most popular early Christian martyrs and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (a group of Roman Catholic saints venerated for their power of intercession). She is the patron of philosophers and scholars and is believed to help protect against sudden death.
My Junior Altar Guild was named after her because she was also the patron saint of girls.
Saint Anne – mother of Mary, Grandmother of Jesus
Why? First of all, look at that lineage!
Secondly, I am an Anne, although I am certainly not a saint.
Edith Cavell. She was a British nurse in WWI. She tended the soldiers of both sides without discrimination. She also helped 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium. She was arrested for treason and executed by a German firing squad. The night before her execution she said “ Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.” Her feast day in the Church of England calendar of saints is October 12.
She was in a very recent Lent Madness, just a couple of years ago.
Saint Etheldreda – Feast Day is June 23. She was born in 636 in Suffolk. She is mentioned by the Venerable Bede and is is honored in the Orthodox churches, the RC & Anglican Communion. And let’s face it…. Etheldreda is just fun to say.
I nominate
Dorothy Sayers, Apologist and Spiritual Writer, 1957
Dorothy Sayers, best know as an author of detective novels also wrote quite prolifically about the Sacred Mysteries. She was a “copyeditor, playwright, translator, and passionate advocate of the truth of the Christian faith.” LFF 2018
Sayers produced an excellent translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy with extensive notes that makes the theological allegory clear to a modern reader. She also went to great lengths preserve the rhyme scheme of the original Italian.
Here defense of the Creedal Christianity in “Creed or Chaos?” is every bit the equal of C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity,” but far less well know. She gives a brilliant and accessible defense of what she saw as the distorted and watered down version of Christianity she saw around her.
I believe Dorothy Sayers would make an interesting Lent Madness saint as she is well known for her secular works but, like past Golden Halo winner Francis Perkins, most do not know of her deep connections to religion and faith.
Rosa Parks stood up for the right of blacks to sit where they chose.
Thought about her and second that nomination
Sr. Ignatia Gavin, CSA
Known as “The Angel of Hope” to members of Alcoholics Anonymous. She was a nurse in Akron, and later Cleveland, Ohio. Working with AA co-founder Dr Bob Smith, Sr Ignatia admitted alcoholics to the hospital for treatment at a time when hospitals refused to treat “drunks.” She founded Rosary Hall, a treatment center at St Vincent Medical Center that still operates today. She worked in this area from 1935 to 1965, and died in 1966. An overflow crowd fills St. Patrick’s Church (Bridge Ave, Cleveland) on a Saturday near each April 1st first to celebrate a memorial Mass in her honor.
Julian of Norwich – If ever there were a time for an anchoress to reassure us of God’s love and that God is our mother and father, now seems most appropriate. from the short text:
“for God always wants us to be secure in love, and peaceful and restful, as he is toward us. And in the same way he is disposed towards us, so he wishes us to be disposed towards ourselves and towards our fellow Christians. Amen.”
I also nominate Julian of Norwich – the first woman to write a book in English and a true mystic.
How about St Melangell: Feast Day – 27 May?
St Melangell is the Welsh patron saint of animals. She was found Praying in a bramble thicket by a prince hunting hares when The hunted hare took shelter in her skirts. She was able to calm the hunting Hounds and the exasperated prince gave up hunting. He listened to her Tale of exile and Persecution then determined that his lands would be a sanctuary To God and for those persecuted And in exile. I found her by looking up saints of animals. She doesn’t seem to be well known but has an intriguing story I’d be very interested in seeing the bloggers tell.
I would like to nominate John Woolman. Problem is that he was a Quaker and the Quakers do not have saints. They won’t use ANY title. But I think there was a Quaker in 2020. He is called “the Quaker saint” for his work with abolition. The Quakers, thanks to Woolman, were the first group in America to free slaves. He also helped Native Americans and merchant sailors who lived under heinous conditions where flogging and piracy were among the problems.
I have suggested for the last two years — and only partially in jest — that one year ALL the saints be female and another ALL male. Or maybe just pose male against male and female against female at least in the first round. I will hear from a lot of people telling me this is silly. But I read comments closely. An amazing number of people vote because the person is female. (Rarely, if ever, because the person is male). I am a female; I was a feminist in the 60ies at the beginning of the movement. I am nevertheless annoyed at gender based voting!
Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) – commemorated on the Episcopal Church calendar on May 17. Graduate of Howard University Law School. Long-time Executive Director of NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, in which capacity he argued many cases before the Supreme Court, including Brown v. Board of Education. Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1961-1965; Solicitor General of the U.S., 1965-1967; Justice, United States Supreme Court, 1967-1991. One of the foremost advocates for ensuring that the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, especially the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment, apply in an expansive way to all Americans.
Lifelong Episcopalian – a member of St James, Baltimore, in his youth; long-time member of St Philips, New York City, where he served as Senior Warden; Deputy from Diocese of New York to General Convention 1964, member of St Augustine’s, Washington, after moving to D.C.
Father Emil Kapaun. Father Emil is from a small Catholic town west of Wichita, Kansas. He was a chaplain and a prisoner of war during the Korean War. Dozens of stories of his selfless service attest to his saintly manner under horrendous conditions. He unquestionably sacrificed his health and his life to give physical and spiritual comfort to the other prisoners with no consideration of their faith or lack thereof. One of Wichita’s Catholic high schools is named for him. He is in the “saintly pipeline” for Sainthood in the Catholic church. I am a United Methodist, but I know Father Emil is deserving of a Lent Madness nomination
St. Polycarp. Mainly because I like the name, but I think his saint’s day may be my birthday.
It feels like this global lockdown is a repeat of Lent, only longer, and without the good kind of Madness! I can only think of living saints at this time.
I thought Julian of Norwich had previously been nominated, but if not, I nominate her because she lived through the time of the Black Death and faithfully gave us visions of God’s Love in Jesus.
Dorothy Day(feast day Nov 29 in the Episcopal Church, in process for canonization in the RCC), activist and witness to God’s justice in the world. In an age where the powerful are weighing the lives of many against the economy, asserting that ‘the poor will always be with us’, more than ever we need to give ear to the witness who said “Surely God did not intend there be so *many* poor!”
James DeKoven
Proponent of the Oxford movement . Teacher and founder
Of Racine College. Suffered for his catholic beliefs ,
Within the church.
His college went on to become a center for spiritual growth in the Midwest, and
Racial equality in the church under the guidance of the Community of St. Mary.
Still standing as a spirituality and retreat center and artists haven.
I nominate Edith Stein, AKA St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Philosopher who combines Thomas Aquinas in a living fashion with Phenomenology. Also, an advocate with Rome against persecution of Jews. Also martyred at Auschwitz. Mystic, Contemplative and Philosopher
St. Lucia….because that is my name and I think that’s a good reason.
I nominate St. Cuthbert also!! We have a cat named after St. Cuthbert and he said that he would really like to see St. Cuthbert in the running next year. He said he would even pose alongside a picture of St. Cuthbert and would give permission for it to be used in promotion of Lent Madness –
St. Andre Bessette. I will keep nominating him until he gets chosen! Literally the coolest and most underrated saint out there. He was a very sick child and they did not think he was going to live for very long. He was originally not accepted to the Congregation of Holy Cross. When he eventually joined the novitiate, became their doorkeeper. He is one of the most humble people and he had a great devotion to St. Joseph and prayed for his intercession. He became known as the Miracle Man of Montreal and thousands came to him to ask for his intercession for healing. Going to the Oratory of St. Joseph is one of the most moving experiences – one of the rooms is lined with crutches of people who were healed because of St. Andre’s prayers. Truly an awesome example of servant leadership and love of God and neighbor.
His chapel is the room with the crutches. I believe his heart is a relic upstairs in the main building. Very moving story – a modern day healer. God bless Fr. Andre!
David. Patron saint of the Welsh and Bishop of Menevia in Wales c. 544.
An athlete of the spiritual life who pressed himself to the limits of his endurance. But also famous for his compassion and worked many wonders to relieve the poor and the sick. Only Welsh saint ever to be honoured in the calendar if the whole western church. Also my husband’s name!
Damien of Molokai – in honor of all those who risk their lives to care for others.
Moses the Black turned his back on a life of crime, when he became acquainted with a religious community (as he was trying to rob them). He believed that we shouldn’t be condemning each other, because we all have faults.
Isidore the Farmer, patron saint of agriculture. In a time when food supply chains are breaking or broken, I want to honor those people who are working hard to keep us fed, even without our knowledge.
Perfect for a time of COVID: Constance and Her Companions: the Martyrs of Memphis, 1878. When yellow fever hit Memphis in 1878, thousands died and thousands fled. A few stayed behind, and their brave deeds cost them their lives. Constance was an Anglican Nun; 5 nuns and an Episcopal priest gave their lives ministering to the people of Memphis, TN
I second that nomination!
I concur!! Thank God for those willing to help others.
We need Hermione, Unmercenary Physicians vs. Harold of Gloucester, child martyr
Saint David of Wales.
I nominate Blessed Father Miguel Agustín Pro, who served as an “underground” priest in Mexico during the religious persecution of the 1920’s, when public worship was banned by the government. His final request before his public execution was for permission to pray. He forgave the firing squad, refused a blindfold, faced the firing squad, and stretched out his arms to form a cross. As he was fusilladed, his last words were “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” – long live Christ the King! I am nominating him because, as a modern-day saint, he reminds us just how precious our freedom to practice our faith really is, and how easily it can be taken away.
Benjamin Lay, Society of Friends abolitionist. With guerrilla tactics and written works, this vegan little person who wove his own clothes and lived in a cave successfully agitated for Quakers to ban slavery among their members, seeding the core of the Abolitionist movement in his region. Along the way, he accomplished his own ejection from all four meetings to which he belonged – he was restored posthumously to all by 2018. I find no set calendar of saints for the Society of Friends, but for generations after his death, many Quaker families showed reverence for his life by keeping his portrait in their homes. This is a life with something to teach us about extremism that turns out to be prescient. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Lay
I nominate William Still, one of the founders of the Underground Railroad. Still not only fascinated the Railroad’s work, he interviewed and documented the accounts of its many “riders” – a tireless effort and
legacy to its mission. Without his work we might not know Harriet Tubman?
Still is buried in Glen Mills, PA- one the outskirts of Philly. It is also my husband’s home town. We knew nothing about this saint until I read The Water Dancer, a fictionalized account that includes his efforts.
Teresa of Avila
Her description of mystical prayer is unsurpassef.
I nominate Jerome! I am a librarian and he is our patron saint! And he translated the bible into Latin! His edition – the Vulgate – was the dominant one until King James ordered a new one! And pulled a thorn from a lion’s paw!
Saint Luke
Bartolome de las Casas. He fought slavery and the colonial abuse of indigenous peoples. He is thought to be one of the first advocates of human rights.
St. Francis Solano (16th century) was a Franciscan friar who practiced strict habits of poverty. After much ministry in Spain, he was sent to South America. The ship carrying him to Peru was wrecked, and the crew and the rest of the passengers abandoned ship. St. Francis, however, stayed to accompany the slaves who were being transported, and they were all ultimately rescued three days later. St. Francis was an effective evangelist among the indigenous peoples, learning many of their languages. He has a wonderful church and monastery dedicated to him in Lima Peru. (He is the patron saint of Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Paraguay.) The monastery has a mural of the Last Supper showing traditional Peruvian food on the table. One tale of St. Francis’ life is that he entered a gathering one Christmas Eve and played his fiddle with such joy that soon everybody there was dancing and celebrating.
I forgot to use my Lent Madness name: Kathy in Nicaragua.
Julian of Norwich, for several reasons, not the least of which, she lived in a time of plague and of strife in the Catholic Church, and yet proclaimed that God calls us God’s treasure. We need voices like Julian’s that tell us that we are endlessly loved by God.
I nominate St Arnulf of Metz (580-640 CE). He is the patron saint of beer and served the Episcopal See in Metz. He set an example of virtuous life. His feast day is July 18.
St. Brendan the Navigator. We all could use help navigating through life. He was one of the twelve apostles if Ireland. And he has a cool name.
If four-legged saints were eligible, I would nominate Balaam’ s donkey, who had the good sense to recognize an angel when he saw one.
I nominate Dorothy Day
St. Lawrence is my nominee. His deep care for the poor and witty comebacks in the face of extreme adversity have always been an inspiration.
Rachel, mother of Joseph, who put up with SO MUCH to finally be married to the man who wanted her, had to deal with her older sister as Wife#1 for seven years, then deal with all of HER kids, then the kids of the handmaidens, until she was finally able to conceive Joseph only to have him ridiculed by his older brothers – she was already a saint putting up with all of that craziness! And then losing her life in bringing Benjamin into the world?!?! Tho perhaps that was her gift from God, not seeing her son “killed”/sold into slavery…..
Crispus Attucks first American to die in the American Revolution. Was born a slave but managed to escape and was a hero for what he did during the American Revolution.
I nominate Sts Quiteria & Catherine of Alexandria, Roch, Raphael, and Expeditus.
Fr Damien of Molokai
compassionate caregiver to those afflicted with leprosy or Hansen’s disease
I nominate him because he is revered in my home state of Louisiana where the leprosarium at Carville carried on his work for generations.
I nominate Marguerite of Navarre, who tried to bridge the gap between early reformers and the Roman Catholic Church.
I would like to nominate Jonathan Myrick Daniels, Seminarian and Martyr, 1965, whose feast day is August 14 on our Episcopal calendar. I will never get tired of nominating him, because in our age of continued racism and poverty, we need to remember what Seminarian Daniels was doing when he shielded Ruby Sales from a shotgun blast on that hot August day in Hayneville, Alabama. May his name be blessed forever.
AMEN!
Is it too soon to suggest St. Corona? If nothing else, to include her just to knock her out in the first round…
Muirgeilt or Liban– Irelan’s Mermaid Saint…” in the legend surrounding the formation of Lough Neagh, was a woman turned mermaid who inhabited the area before the great lake gushed up on dry land. Her family was drowned, but she survived in an underwater chamber in the lake for a year, after which she was transformed into a being who was half-human, half-salmon.Together with her lapdog which assumed the form of an otter, the mermaid was free to roam the seas for 300 years, while maintaining her dwelling under the same Lough.[10][11] During the time of St. Comgall, her angelic singing causes her to be discovered by a passing boat (coracle), and she agreed to come ashore. The mermaid was then baptised Muirgen (“sea-born”), but died immediately and ascended to heaven. She had forfeited another 300 years of longevity for a Christian soul.” Feast Day is January 27. I love her because her dog followed her by becoming an otter–how cool is that?! And hardly anyone knows about her!
Danny Thomas (d. 1991)–devotee of St. Jude and founder of St. Jude’s Hospital, which provides free treatment to children with cancer.
Oscar Arnalfo Romero y Galdamez, Archbishop of San Salvador. For speaking against poverty, social injustice and torture during the San Salvador Civil War. Martyred in 1980.
I nominate Jonathon Daniels. He was an Episcopalian seminarian who marched with Martin Luther King at Selma. Later that year he returned to Alabama to help with voter registration. With a young African American girl, he approached a convenience store (that also served Blacks) to buy sodas. A man appeared at the entrance and raised a gun. Jonathon, seeing that the man intended to shoot, shoved the girl to the ground and took the bullet in her stead. He died instantly. The gunman was found “not guilty”. “Greater love hath no man than this…” Martin Luther King called it one of the greatest acts of Christian love that he knew of.
Mother Julian of Norwich. She came so close to winning a little while ago; now it’s her turn. A woman who lived through several plagues and who chose to isolate herself from society to pray, write, and offer spiritual counsel is a perfect saint during the time of lockdown and quarantine. Her writings are a real comfort to many, including myself. And she’s my personal spiritual mentor for many reasons. She’s a saint for now.
Ninian. A great Scot!
I throw my hat into the ring with those nominating Fr. Damien of Molokai. Not only did he live among the lepers he served, he became one, and died caring for them. He is honored in Hawaii, having a bronze statue of him as a leper positioned in front of the state Capitol and legislature in Honolulu. Additionally, a similar statue is positioned with one of King Kamehameha in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
Wangari Muta Maathai, A Kenyan scientist, environmental and political activist, who started the Green Belt Movement. She empowered women and she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She died at the age of 71 in 2011.
St David of Wales
Mechthild of Magdeburg – because the Beguines were radical womanists for the Middle Ages. She accepted woman’s roles for her time in order to push the boundaries of Christ’s deepest humility in service to others. Subverted courtly love language to describe God’s love for humanity and in doing do emphasized God’s love for women.
Fr. Henri J. M. Nouwen, seeker, spiritual thinker, prolific writer and teacher. Member of the L’Arche community in Toronto until his untimely death.
His writings resonated with millions of people of faith (and those with none at all.)
Note to self: Read Rules First.
(Alas, Henri will just have to wait in line along with Verna.)
Oscar Romero – he’s an example of conversion and in following where that conversion led. He stood against evil and stood with the poor against the power of the state…he was murdered saying Mass knowing they were coming to kill him….would that we could all have that courage.
I must confess that I have not checked whether or not the person I am nominating is on any churches’ saint calendar, so I am taking a chance. I am nominating Janusz Korczak (pen name of Henryk Goldszmit) for Lent Madness saintly smackdown of 2021. He was a doctor who took care of 201 Jewish orphans in Warsaw, Poland during WW II. In 1940 he and the orphans were forced to move to the Warsaw Ghetto. In 1942 all the orphans and staff members were to be transported to Treblinka. Dr. Korczak was offered sanctuary twice but refused. He boarded the trains with the children and staff and was never heard from again.
I would like to nominate Catherine of Siena. She was influential in convincing Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from Avignon. She was named a Doctor of the Church, along with Teresa of Avila, which was highly unusual for a woman in the Middle Ages. She has also been proclaimed the patron saint of Europe, which I did not realize until I looked her up just now to make sure she was a saint. 🙂
I nominated her too. I think she was so important, in a very dark time in history.
St Mary of the Cross, maybe the only Saint to have been excommunicated in recent times?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_MacKillop
I nominate St. Gertrude of Nivelles, feast day March 17. As the patron saint of cats, she deserves to be honored, given the blessings that our cats (and our other animals) have been to us during this time of pandemic.
I nominate St Michael, he is the patron saint of soldiers and policemen, the need a patron saint. I found out today that he is the patron saint of grocers, where would we be without grocers.
Teilhard de Chardin.
In this COVID-19 era, never has it been more important to celebrate a champion of the marriage of faith and science!
The nominee has to be DEAD? What sort of encouragement is that to the rest of us poseuses and poseurs? That is a high bar to cross.
I nominate Jesuit priest Rutilio Grande, the first Salvadoran priest assassinated, and the spark, presumably, of Oscar Romero’s commitment to a justice theology and a commitment to the poor in El Savador and the world. Rutilio Grande, martyr, gave his life for the poor and for a gospel of justice and equity.
St. Celia – my hubs and I were just talking about Rutilio yesterday ( I nominated Oscar de Romeor) he’s a great choice. I find myself leaning towards more modern saints although this list has some awesome people included so far! Blessings.
I nominate Matthew Talbot, the worker saint of Dublin, Ireland, who overcame what seemed like hopeless alcoholism and dedicated himself to a life of prayer, asceticism, and service to others. He is recognized as venerable by the Roman Catholic tradition (the first step towards canonization) and a miracle attributed to him is being investigated. His feast day is June 18th. I nominate Matt for several reasons. 1.) In our own time, addiction in all its forms is one of the most serious problems society faces. Matt’s story shows us that absolutely no one is beyond God’s grace or hope of recovery, and he has become a source of hope and inspiration to many. 2.) Matt came from a very humble background, raised in a tenement and working as a simple laborer all his life. His story is another reminder that the most ordinary person, however insignificant in the eyes of the world, may live a life of holiness and do great work for God. 3.) Matt’s life shows how God’s grace can lead to complete conversion. Overcoming his alcoholism was only the first step for him. He gradually came to dedicate his whole life to others, living in a tiny room and giving away most of his money to the poor, teaching himself to read so he could study scripture and spiritual writings, earning the respect of his coworkers and employers for his hard work and integrity. 4.) It is good to remember that not all the Celtic saints wandered about in the medieval mist – Matt died in 1925, less than 100 years ago. So, if you are looking for a Celtic match up somewhere in the 2021 bracket, he’s your man! There are many beautiful stories about Matt Talbot, his quiet generosity, love of children, and dry humor. I found Mary Purcell’s Matt Talbot and His Times to be especially interesting, though there are several other books and plenty of online material as well. Please give him a look!
St. George, patron of so many things. Now, hippies, peacenicks, and tree huggers are fine, but I prefer saints that kicked ass and took names.
Saint Teresa, of the small kindnesses. Especially in today’s world, she helps me find peace in the small acts we may take for granted, the small but loving acts of kindness we do for our loved ones, as simple as cooking and cleaning.
St. Catherine of Siena. She’s the patron of Purity and Nurses. Given I have lots of nurses in my family and nurses are true heros during this time of pandemic, she seems an appropriate choice.
Monseñor Romero, Salvadorian Martyr and Saint, was murdered while oficciating the Eucharist. Well know as the defensor or the poor and a voice against military and political elites in El Salvador and Latin America. Many of the Latinos recognize in Monseñor Romero an example of discipleship, priesthood and prophetism.
St Colombia, exiled from Ireland, he brought Celtic Christianity to Scotland and through his brothers to northern England.
I would like to nominate Father Frederick Howden who died in 1944 in a Japanese POW camp. He repeatedly gave his food to others and finally perished of starvation and malnutrition. He always put other prisoners first and died a martyr. He was the son of the Bishop of New Mexico. Survived the Baatan Death March but did not survive the POW camp,
Catherine of Siena is my nomination I see someone else nominated her but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to keep her name up front. A priest I admire and respect claims Catherine as her patron saint. Nominating her is a nod to Rev Judy and all her hard work.
Our Sunday school class at Christ Church Bay St Louis, MS just discussed A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood during our time- that we could gather safely- during Lent. We also watched part of the HBO special about Mr Rogers. What a man! He influenced so many through his kindness and love and is an example for us all about how to reach out to all of God’s people. In my opinion, he truly is a Saint. (Yes, capital S!)
I agree. A friend of mine who was in the television business and was also a Methodist minister was dispatched to Pittsburgh at the pleading of Mr. Rogers’ staff. Bruno had the unhappy mission of doing what the couldn’t bring themselves to do —
namely explain to Mr. Rogers why times had changed and a certain feline puppet now required a new name..
St. John of the Cross, a 14th century Spanish mystic, who is both a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church and a Doctor of the Church. I read his main writing a few years ago and was impressed both with what he suffered during his life but how much he shaped the mystical pursuit of drawing closer to God and enjoying being in God’s presence.
I second (third? fourth?) the nomination of Oscar Romero. He has long been one of my heroes. His life represented for me the Way that Jesus lived and asked us to live — for others, particularly for the marginalized.
Gebre Mesqel Lalibela — ‘Servant of the Cross’; 1162 – 1221) was Emperor of Ethiopia of the Zagwe dynasty, reigning from 1181 to 1221.[1][2] ….. Perhaps the most well-known of the Zagwe monarchs, the namesake monolithic churches of Lalibela are attributed to his reign, although recent scholarship has suggested origins as early as the late Aksumite period, with the complex reaching its present form during his time. He is venerated as a saint by the Orthodox Tewahedo churches. (Wikipedia 5-21-2020) Just watched a video about these churches and they are amazing. Carved out of living rock. I hope to one day get to visit them.
I want to nominate King Kamehameha for his work within the Hawaiian islands. He is worthy of the honor.
I would like to nominate Deaconess Susan Trevor Knapp. Susan Trevor Knapp was born in 1862. She graduated from the New York Training School for Deaconesses in 1894 and was consecrated deaconess at Grace Church, New York, in 1899 by Bishop Henry Potter. In 1903 she was made dean of the school commonly called St. Faith’s. She was a leader in both the American and worldwide deaconess movement. Because of a power struggle with the board of directors, Knapp was removed as dean in 1916 and offered the position of house mother. She declined and spent the next twenty-two years as a missionary in Japan, teaching English and Bible studies to Japanese and Korean college students. She returned to the United States in 1939 when Japan began to expel foreign missioners. She died in Los Angeles about 20 November 1941, shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Dcnss. Knapp is remembered on November 20 and appears on the Calendar of Deacon Saints originally organized for the Association for Episcopal Deacons by Ormond Platter, deacon in New Orleans.
St. Catherine of Siena- her Dialogue is a masterwork of Christianity and her teachings showed how to mix the contemplative and active life. Her life was politically engaged and she helped return the Papacy in Rome and secure some measure of peace in Italy by acting as an ambassador to Florence.
I would like to nominate John Coleridge Patteson 1827-1871.
Patteson is recognized in the Australian Prayer Book along with The Saints and Martyrs of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific on the 20th September as well as in the Church of England Calendar of Saints
Below is a potted biography of Bishop Patterson
Patteson, John Coleridge (1827–1871)
by Martha Rutledge
This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, (MUP), 1974
John Coleridge Patteson (1827-1871), Anglican bishop, was born on 1 April 1827 in London, elder son of Sir John Patteson, judge, and his second wife Frances Duke, daughter of James Coleridge of Ottery St Mary and niece of the poet. Brought up near his mother’s relations, he began his education at Ottery St Mary. ‘Coley’ went to Eton in 1838-45 and Balliol College, Oxford (B.A., 1848; M.A., 1853; D.D., 1861). He had played cricket for Eton but refused to play for Oxford. After graduation he travelled in Europe and studied German, Hebrew and Arabic. Returning to Oxford, he was a fellow of Merton College in 1852-71. On 25 September 1853 he was made deacon and curate of Alphington, Devon, and on 24 September 1854 was ordained priest at Exeter Cathedral, but agreed to accompany Bishop G. A. Selwyn to New Zealand as a missionary.
In March 1855 Patteson sailed in the Duke of Portland and arrived at Auckland in July. For five years he sailed in the schooner Southern Cross on annual cruises among the islands and ran the mission’s summer school at Kohimarama, Auckland. On 24 February 1861 at Auckland he was consecrated first bishop of Melanesia. A brilliant linguist, he later spoke twenty-three of the many Melanesian languages: finding them in groups, he printed grammars and vocabularies and translated some gospels into the Mota dialect. Each year he spent some months on Mota in the New Hebrides.
In March 1864 Patteson visited Australia. In Sydney he addressed a large meeting which pledged systematic support of the Melanesian Mission; the Anglican Churches agreed to meet the annual expenses of the Southern Cross. Patteson’s gentleness made a deep impression and he became friendly with the families of Sir Alfred Stephen and T. S. Mort. In Brisbane Patteson conferred with Governor Bowen about moving the mission school to Curtis Island. Patteson devoted to the mission his private fortune which included money inherited from his father, and income from his Merton College fellowship. The mission also received support from the Eton Melanesian Society and his cousin Charlotte Yonge donated the proceeds from her novel The Daisy Chain. In 1865 Patteson again visited Sydney and the governor, Sir John Young, offered him a grant on Norfolk Island for his headquarters. Funds were raised by friends of the mission to buy more land. In 1867 the Melanesian Mission moved to Norfolk Island where it was called St Barnabas. In the milder climate the school could not only continue in the winter months but native foods such as yams could be grown. Patteson started bringing girls to the school to provide wives for his scholars. Dynamic and practical, he taught his scholars to speak English, play cricket and tend livestock.
The visits to the islands were becoming yearly more dangerous. In 1869 he wrote to Lady Stephen: ‘the vessels which have been taking away S. Sea islanders for the Fiji & Queensland labour market have in some cases to my knowledge acted in a very sad miserable way. I have a good deal of moral, not perhaps strictly legal, evidence of treachery, violence etc. The effect is … to embitter the islanders against any white man whom they do not as yet know well to be their friend’. Patteson noted the depopulation of many islands and that unscrupulous traders used his name to entice natives aboard their ships. In July 1870 he told Bowen that ‘it is the regulation rather than the suppression of the employment of native labourers that I advocate’. In an official memorandum he advocated the licensing of a few ships to transport the islanders; all others were to be treated as pirates and confiscated summarily when caught, and frigates were to cruise constantly among the islands. In January 1871 he made another appeal for imperial legislation on Pacific Island labour.
In April Patteson sailed to the islands in the Southern Cross. On 20 September he landed alone on Nukapu near Santa Cruz where he was clubbed to death in retribution for a recent outrage by blackbirders. In a canoe his body was taken to the Southern Cross and was buried at sea. Despite the plea of missionaries at Norfolk Island for no retribution Captain Markham of H.M.S. Rosario fired at and killed some natives.
The Melanesian Mission continued to expand on Patteson’s foundations while his life was a lasting inspiration to the Anglican Church in Australasia. Patteson’s death led to the imperial Kidnapping Acts of 1872 and 1875 along the lines he had suggested.
The Legacy of Bishop Patteson is described as below in Wikipedia and is as good a reason as any for Bishop Patteson to be included in the list to be considered for the Golden Halo
As Bishop Patteson’s death was associated with native resistance to the abuses of the blackbirders, the British government took measures to stamp out the slave trade in its Pacific territories.[8] His death became a cause celebre in England; it increased interest both in missionary work and in improvement of the working conditions of labourers in Melanesia. The Aborigines’ Protection Society took up the cause, resulting in a well-orchestrated campaign in the UK Parliament from William McArthur for the annexation of Fiji to abolish slavery. Britain annexed Fiji in 1874.[13]
Patteson is celebrated in Anglican churches for his saintly life and as a martyr; he is commemorated with a Lesser Festival on 20 September in the calendar of saints (Church of England) and other Anglican churches.[citation needed]
A bas-relief memorial by Thomas Woolner was installed in the Merton College Chapel. The portrait portrays him surrounded by palm leaves, with an image below of him lying in the canoe, as described above.[14]
On Norfolk Island in 1882, the church of St Barnabas was erected to Patteson’s memory, with windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones and executed by William Morris. In 1920 the Melanesian Mission was relocated from the island to the Solomon Islands to be closer to its target population.
Port Patteson on Vanua Lava[15] and Bishop Patteson Theological College in the Solomon Islands are both named after him.[16]
The Martyrs’ Pulpit in the nave of Exeter Cathedral was erected in memory of Bishop Patteson who was ordained in the Cathedral. It was designed by George Gilbert Scott in the 1870s.[17]
A sculptured cenotaph commemorates John Coleridge Patteson, first Bishop of Melanesia who was killed at Santa Cruz Islands in 1871 at Christ Church St. Laurence ,George street, Sydney NSW Australia..
Richard Allen – patron saint of total ministry
St Lucy, whose feast day brings light into the darkness of winter.
St Tabitha,, a married lady woman in Joppa, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles raised from the dead by St Peter, she was also known as Dorcas, She’s a patron saint of women’s groups who knit, crochet and sew for those less fortunate. Her saint day is Oct 25th.
So many good plague saints. Happy to see some else nominate Saint Roch, that was going to be my first choice. Saint Sebastian is another good plague saint. But I’ve decided to nominate St. Bernadette Soubirous. Simple country “French” girl who experienced Marian apparitions. She died in 1879. People have flocked to the site of her apparitions and the healing waters of Lourdes. We are going to need a lot of healing! And, Vincent Price was in the movie made about her. https://youtu.be/vbeKQJyI5e8. Certainly not a perfect depiction of her, but I’ll watch it every time it’s on and Price’s character’s conversion at the end gets me ever time!
St. Nina of Georgia (also known as St. Nino), a third-century Cappadocian woman who traveled alone to Iberia (now part of Georgia) and converted the country to Christianity. The Georgian Orthodox Church venerates her as “Equal to the Apostles.” Fun fact: she was allegedly a relative of St. George. I like that she seems like a strong woman of accomplishment, a traveler and preacher. And yes, she is my name saint.
I second the prior nominations of SAINT LUCIA; being born to Swedish immigrants, she has always been part of our Christmas celebrations.
Saint Seraphim of Sarov was a great ascetic of the Russian Church and wonder worker who is commemorated on January 2nd on the Eastern Orthodox Calendar. He was born on July 19, 1754.
I am nominating him as he is one of my favorite saints. His icon draws you into him and his life story is fascinating and inspiring.
St Dunstan who brought order to Canterbury Cathedral. I doubt any priest has been murdered while celebrating Eucharist since…
Actually Bruce, Oscar Ronero was shot when celebrating communion…I hadn’t heard of Dunstan – need to go look him up.
I nominate Hannah, the mother of Samuel. Seemingly unable to bear a child, Hanna had to live each day in humiliation because she was seen as out of favor with God. Despite this, Hannah is ever faithful and pours her soul in prayer. She makes a proposal to God, that if she conceives and has a son, she would give him back to God to do God’s work. And that is what happens! She gives birth to Samuel and after a couple of years she brings the child to Eli! And it is from Hannah’s prayer of thanksgiving, that Mary, while visiting Elizabeth, derives her prayer of thanksgiving, what we know as the Magnificat!
Saint Bridget of Sweden – Founded a new religious order, which she was not able to fulfill until near the end of her life, receiving papal permission from Pope Urban V for her order of cloistered nuns in 1370. She went to Rome in 1350 and, except for several pilgrimages, remained there for the rest of her life, constantly accompanied by Catherine. She exercised a wide apostolate among rich and poor, sheltering the homeless and sinners, and she worked untiringly for the end of the Avignon papacy and for the pope to return to Rome. She was spurred by a vision to visit the Holy Land in 1372, and she died soon after her return to Rome.
I would hope we would have an emphasis on saints to help us cope with corona virus, since it will be far from over in Lent 2021. If we consider mental as well as physical health, I would like to nominate St. Jane Frances de Chantal and her mentor St Francis de Sales, who both are prayed to concerning depression. And also if there are saints for economic downturns and small business owners.
St. Catherine of Sweden – She took part in the ecclesiastical controversies of her time, supported Pope Urban VI against the antipope Clement VII, and promoted the canonization of Bridget. She was abbess of Vadstena when she died. She was never formally canonized but is listed in the Roman martyrology.
St. Catherine of Sweden – She took part in the ecclesiastical controversies of her time, supported Pope Urban VI against the antipope Clement VII, and promoted the canonization of Bridget. She was abbess of Vadstena when she died. She was never formally canonized but is listed in the Roman martyrology.
Unknown – (Thinking outside the box) Author of the classic The Cloud of Unknowing
St. Vincent Ferrer, the Saint of my birth-April 5th
I would like to nominate Deaconess Susan Trevor Knapp to be included in next year’s Lent Madness. She is on the Calendar of Deacon Saints first compiled by the Rev. Ormonde Platter. Here is her entry: November 20
Susan Trevor Knapp, deaconess and missionary to Japan, died in Los Angeles about 20
November 1941.
Susan Trevor Knapp was born in 1862. She graduated from the New York Training School for
Deaconesses in 1894 and was consecrated deaconess at Grace Church, New York, in 1899 by
Bishop Henry Potter. In 1903 she was made dean of the school commonly called St. Faith’s. She
was a leader in both the American and worldwide deaconess movement. Because of a power
struggle with the board of directors, Knapp was removed as dean in 1916 and offered the
position of house mother. She declined and spent the next twenty-two years as a missionary in
Japan, teaching English and Bible studies to Japanese and Korean college students. She returned
to the United States in 1939 when Japan began to expel foreign missioners. She died in Los
Angeles about 20 November 1941, shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Pelagius the heretic
1. Yep, probably dead, around 415ad
2. Celebrated by many (Northumbria and Novigrad) on August 28 (St Augustine of Hippo day)
3. Pelagius was deemed a heretic (by Augustine) at the time, yet many of his ideas would be welcome in the modern protestant church: using good deeds to get closer to heaven, teaching women. He wrote a lot, much of which was accepted by the church at the time. Some contemporaries thought his brains were addled by Scottish porridge.
I nominate Frederick “Ted” Howden. He survived the Bataan Death March, only to perish in the prison camps because he put others before himself.
Paul Jones, Bishop of Utah. Pacifist, etc. Besides he confirmed my father, another heroic priest.
Charles Menninger was a faithful Episcopalian who built a healing community with a focus on mental as well as physical health, profoundly changing the practice of medicine and improving the lives of vulnerable, previously warehoused people. He and his son Karl appear on the liturgical calendar on March 6th.
St. Thomas Becket is a man full of mystery and a great passion for his work. Beheaded because of a misunderstanding or was it secretly a plot? Anyway, an Archbishop of Canterbury who is remembered, Thomas a Becket will be a great Lent Madness member.
Howard Thurman (d 1981) Theologian, educator, Civil Rights activist, advocate for the marginalized
1. Who: Saint Linus “The Martyr”, whose official feast day is September 23rd.
2. When: First Century, A.D.
3. What: As nominee for 2021 Lent Madness
4 Where: The Testament and very sketchy family histories
5 Why:
a. He’s a bible saint: L inus the Martyr, his sister Claudia and her husband Rufus Pudens aided the Apostle Paul in the Christian Church in Rome, as recorded in II Timothy 4:21 and Romans 16:13 (Rufus Pudens and St. Paul are shown to be half-brothers, with the same mother but different fathers. “His mother and mine.” She thus appears to have been the mother of an elder son, Paul, by a Hebrew husband, and a younger son, Rufus, by a second marriage with a Roman Christian.) 2 Timothy 4:21 Paul is writing to Linus in Rome. Linus was active as a presbyter in Rome (on Pauls instructions) before Peter arrived at Rome, and was undoubtably one of the Christians in Rome both Peter and Paul desired to see.
b. He is quite controversal in Christian History circles, was he a pope as R.C.’s profess?
c. We don’t know enough about hims, Wikipedia has issued a call for help:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3APope_Linus. Put the church to work in Lent.
d. He might indeed be my 52nd Great Uncle (proof lacking) , and by family
tradition brother to Roman Soldier who was an early and effective evangelist
in Roman Britain.
I nominate St. Gertrude of Nivelles, the patron saint of crazy cat ladies.
St. Lucy, because of my name, and also my visual disability due to Marfan syndrome.
Dunstan, patron saint of blacksmiths, who famously grabbed the devil’s nose with a pair of tongs. This guy is hilarious! And it’s it’s the third time I have nominated him.
In honor of our Corona-driven obsession with bread making, etc: St Honoratus (aka St Honore), patron of bakers.
Mary Carson Breckenridge – Following the devastating death of her first husband, a promising young lawyer, and the subsequent loss of her two young children by a second marriage, Breckinridge turned to nursing as an outlet for her grief and committed herself to saving the lives of young mothers and children in the remote mountains of southeastern Kentucky. Volunteered for wartime duty with the American Red Cross, where she was eventually assigned to the American Committee for Devastated France, headed by Anne Morgan . Breckinridge went to work in Vic-Sur-Aisne, caring for the infant victims of war as well as pregnant and nursing women. Through her work in France, and several trips to England, Breckinridge formulated a plan by which nurse-midwives could serve the needs of women and young children in rural America.
Mary was also a good Episcopalian and brought a chapel from England to KY. I’m a proud graduate of the nurse-midwifery education program she established.
St Barnabas — Paul’s companion for a while. For me he is the saint of second chances. This is a message we all need from time to time and Barnabas exemplifies the willingness to forgive and reconcile people of different opinions and persuasions.
I would like to nominate St. Teresa of Calcutta whose works speak for themselves and need no introduction but whose interior spiritual life was of a greatly complex and highly misunderstood nature. She was tormented with her own dark night of the soul and yet persisted in deep, profound, and authentic trust in the Lord. She persisted knowing that His love for her and His mission for her were real even if she couldn’t feel it.
Dorothy Day for establishing the Catholic Worker Movement and the Dorothy Day houses. The was an activist for the poor.
As an Anglican, it’s time to look upon St. George with greater respect. As his feast day normally falls during very late lent or Holy week, he gets pushed around enough already!
God save the Queen.
Fred Rogers – pioneered television to educate children rather than exploit them. He was a positive influence on those around him and all who watched him on television. He gave generously from his own resources.
St William of Perth – My son is named William. There are three saint Williams that I could find. St. William of York was never consecrated. St William of Norwich was murdered as was St. William of Perth. The clincher for me was that St. William of Perth was a sort of wild youth (as was my son) and St. William of Perth was a Scot as was my husband. It is time for a St. William.
Completely outside the box, after reading most of the above posts. Jeanne d’Arc has been a hero of mine since childhood. Young, female, donned armor and led French troops in war against English, put the Dauphin on the throne of France! Burned at the stake…terrible death. Her “voices” (Saints Catherine and I forget who else) instructed her. Not sure why so special to me: perhaps stubborn bravery? Certainly faith in God. I nominate St. Joan “of Arc”
Totally agree on nominating St Roque, our first responder saint! Patron of plague victims, of dogs and knew his way around healing bread.
Fred Rogers (1928-2003) “His work in children’s television has been widely lauded, and he received over 40 honorary degrees and several awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 and a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 1997. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999. Rogers influenced many writers and producers of children’s television shows, and his broadcasts have served as a source of comfort during tragic events, even after his death.” (Wikipedia)
St Colomba, to balance St. Cuthbert. From his island monastery he trained and sent out missionaries who converted most of southeastern Scotland. In a turbulent time he seems to have been a steadfast beacon of faith and hope.
He was also revered in his own lifetime by those he lived with- a difficult feat, at best!
I don’t envy Tim and Scott the task of deliberating over all these worthy nominations and creating the 2020 bracket.
I wonder if they all go in a hat…..
Mercy sakes! There are some wonderful suggestions; love some of them and wonder about those unknown holy guides. I would like to add to the nominations Frederic Ozanam, founder of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, whose work with and for the poor of society seeks to develop the spirituality of it volunteer members while alleviating the trials of the needy through compassionate aid. “The poor are our teachers.”
I nominate Sophie Scholl. Sophie was a member of the White Rose, a group of German students who resisted Nazism and were martyred.
Telemachus, the monk/martyr who was responsible for ending the gladiatorial games.
Fanny Crosby
Born Frances Jane Crosby
March 24, 1820
Brewster, New York, U.S.
Died February 12, 1915 (aged 94)
Occupation Lyricist, poet, composer
Frances Jane van Alstyne
I nominate Mr. (Fred) Rogers, yes the Mr. Rogers of TV fame. He was a man with a mission to use the television medium to reach children with a tender message about accepting themselves for who they were and to do the same for others.
“It’s our insides that make us who we are, that allow us to dream and wonder and feel for others. That’s what’s essential. That’s what will always make the biggest difference in our world”.- Fred Rogers
Popular guy, but I don’t think Fred qualifies: #2 The nominee must be on the official calendar of saintly commemorations of some church. Please enlighten me, if I am wrong! thanks
Constance and her companions (aka the martyrs of Memphis), those who gave their lives to care for others in the time of Yellow Fever, even though they could have left Memphis for safer places.
Saint Pope John Paul the Second. A scholar and patron of the arts, he started the annual gathering of young people from all over the world to process their faith and to fellowship. He suffered with Parkinson’s disease, and his first miracle was a lady cutter from it. The second was a brain anurism. He was a very holy man and very wise. He survived an assassination attempt which he attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Then he forgave his would- be assassin.
Couple of typos. Lady suffering from Parkinson’s was curred. Youth profess their faith.
Pauli Murray. She was an attorney whose ideas were behind Brown vs. Board of Education and one of the founders of the National Organization for Women. She was the first African American woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. She was featured in Preservation magazine this month along with Harriet Tubman and Frances Perkins (two past winners!) in an article by the National Trust for Historic Preservation on preserving their homesites.
I met her circa 1984 when she visited my then-parish to speak one evening. An exceedingly down-to-earth & friendly lady!
I nominate St. John XXIII. He convened Vatican II, promoted ecumenism, recognized the importance of the laity, and sought to bring Catholicism into the twentieth century.
Wasn’t he in Istanbul during World War II, quietly helping Jewish people who were trying to escape from the Holocaust??
Yes he was. Was a great person, and very humble. I would say that he and Francis are cut from the same cloth.
Nominating St.John the Dwarf, whose gifts were quite large. He lived a life of obedient discipleship. Born in 339 AD. Most likely meets the qualification of length of time in the presence of the angels.
Just want to make sure this is the acceptable nomination form.
Rachel Carson, mother of the environmental movement in the United States, who love of creation was informed by a deep spirituality inherited from her mother, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. While Carson does not yet appear in “Holy Men, Holy Women,”, she is particularly revered by Episcopalian environmentalists and scholars. She does also appear in a closely related canon, “The Little Book of Feminist Saints,” sold by members of the Episcopal Booksellers Association, alongside this year’s Golden Halo winner, Harriet Tubman, as well as Eleanor Roosevelt, living “saints” Dolores Huerta and Malala Yousafzai, and many other women leaders who have help to shape a better world. I pray without ceasing that you accept Rachel Carson in the 2021 bracket. https://episcopalshoppe.com/the-little-book-of-feminist-saints/
i have had such a hard time considering who to nominate – Meister Eckhart or Teillard de Chardin, but have settled on Fred Rogers the master of acceptance and kindness and joy and inclusion for one and all and a champion for children
I nominate Aristedes de Sousa Mendes. He was the Portuguese consul in Vichy France. He saved thousands of Jews by writing visas for them in defiance of his government. He died impoverished and censured by his government. He had 12 children and a lot to lose but he followed his conscience.
*** Jacopone da Todi**** (aka: Crazy Jim)
There are too many reasons why Jac is perfect for Lent Madness (AND the Golden Halo) but just a few:
1) He was a lawyer who gave up the law for Jesus (thank you!!!)
2) He was married to a woman named Vanna (I know, right???)
3) His life of being a “Fool for Christ” has clearly influenced/inspired Lent Madness
4) He once tarred and feathered HIMSELF to go to a wedding
5) He was the first or one of the first to recast gospel stories for the stage
Plus of course he was a man of faith.
WOW- Jacopone in 2021!!!!
(and PS: don’t forget to call me to be his Celebrity Blogger! Operators are now standing by!)
I nominate Mary MacKillop is Australia’s first and only saint. Feast Day 8th August
She took the title Mary of the Cross, because she did suffer much in her life.
She was excommunicated by the Bishop of South Australia.
But these are the six qualities that Pope John Paul II highlighted for us at her Beatification Ceremony.
• Genuine openness to others
• Hospitality to strangers
• Generosity to the needy
• Justice to those unfairly treated
• Perseverance in the face of adversity
She was a woman ahead of her times that “never saw an evil without trying how they may remedy it”.
Santa Louisa de Marillac – the patron saint of social workers
Polycarp. Disciple of St. John. Martyr….and what a martyr at that! His martyrdom blows me away.
This is not my nomination, but does a dog qualify? St. Guinefort? Just wondering.
First, I second St. Corona, for the reasoning of knocking-out in an early round alone. Next, I nominate St. Giuseppe Moscati, because he’s a modern day saint, cannonized in 1987 and for inspiring street performers to use his slogan in their centuries old Neopolitan basket custom revived in the corona-era. For more details (and an audio link) https://www.npr.org/2020/04/07/828021259/in-naples-pandemic-solidarity-baskets-help-feed-the-homeless
I nominate Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys (born in Troyes, France on Good Friday April 17, 1620). In 1640, she had a spiritual experience during a process of Our Lady of the Rosary and joined a group dedicated to teaching poor children. She was asked to serve the needs of children in “New France” and went on to become a co-foundress of Montreal and is Canada’s first woman saint (at least as recognized by Roman Catholics); she was canonized Oct 31, 1982. She opened the first school in Montreal, forged relationships with First Nation peoples, and founded the Congregation of Notre Dame in 1676. The sisters of the CND currently serve in the Americas, Japan, France, and Cameroon. They are inspiring in their dedication to those in need and they live by the idea of the “liberating power of education.”
I nominate Saint Methodius of Thessaloniki. He and his kid brother Cyril were the Apostles to the Slavs, now commemorated on February 14, formerly the date of some other guy. I nominate Methodius, because his sibling got an alphabet named after himself even though both of them worked on it.
I nominate St. Padre Pio, A capuchin priest. He was a twentieth century miracle worker, who had the gifts of bilocation, being at two places at once, healing, and the gift of reading minds. He also bore the stigmata, the wounds that Jesus got from the cross.
So many great nominations here! Next Lent’s voting is going to require LOTS of contemplation!
I also nominate St. Gertrude of Nivelles, the “other” March 17 saint. Patron saint of cats, also of plague victims and of brewers. Beer and cats — what’s not to like?
I nominate Alexander Schmorell, St. Alexander of Munich, a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. He was born in Russia of a German father and Russian mother. His family moved to Germany during the Bolshevik Revolution. During World War II, he was a member of the White Rose, a group who printed pamphlets against the Nazis and advocated resistance to them. He was captured by the Nazis and executed by guillotine in 1943. He is counted among the New Martyrs of Russia.
I nominate St. Camillus of Lellis, the patron saint of nurses and hospitals. He was a gambler, and after becoming penniless in 1574, he devoted his life to caring for the sick, became ordained, and founded his own order. They eventually cared for the plague stricken on ships in Rome’s harbor in 1588, and established the first field medical unit as they tended to wounded troops n Hungary and Croatia.
Josephine Bakhita, ex-slave and nun. She heard the gospel and knew that she was meant to be free. Even though she spent her life doing simple tasks—cooking, sewing—she knew that she was doing God’s work. At the end of her life, she was in a wheelchair. A visiting bishop asked her what she did all day in her wheelchair. She said, “Exactly what you are doing—the will of God.”
Blessed Stanley Rother, American Priest and Martyr. He is the first US-born declared a martyr by the Catholic Church. He served as a priest in Guatemala during the country’s civil war and was warned multiple times to leave. He did leave for a short period, but he went back, knowing that it would probably lead to his death. He was a simple person, raised a farmer, but became a priest. He farmed alongside his parishioners in Santiago Atitlan. He is a model of strength in adversity. A quote from him: “The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger … I still don’t want to abandon my flock when wolves are making random attacks.”
I would like to nominate St. Tarcisius. His feast day is August 15th. He was martyred delivering communion. I miss communion greatly in these days of isolation!
Respectfully, I submit the nomination of St. Katharine Drexel(Nov.26, 1858-March 3, 1955). She was an American heiress, philanthropist, reglious sister, educator and founder. She was the second American to be canonized a saint and the first one born in the U.S.A. She was inducted into the National Womans Hall of Fame in 2011. The reason for her nomination is that St. Katharine is she was “woke” before the term had any meaning. Upon her father’s death, she inherited a one third interest in his estate of 15.5. million dollars. In current terms his estate would be worth about 400 million. When she entered the convent, instead of marrying, it rocked the Philadelphia social circles. She dedicated herself to working among the Indians and African American in the southwestern United States. She established 145 missions, 50 school for African Americans, 12 schools for Native Americans. Xavier University, the only historically black Cathodic college received financial support from her. She established her own reglious order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, which continues this work today. She was truly a visionary and compassionate woman who worked tirelessly for the unity of all peoples. Thank your consideration.
Sarah because she laughed when she found out she would have a baby when she & Abraham were in their nineties.
I nominate Maximillian Kolbe.
John E. Hines – pioneer for racial and social justice and women’s ordination. Presiding Bishop from 1965-1974
I nominate Oscar Romero. He was a great champion of the poor and the marginalized, those living in poverty. He also was a strong advocate for social justice. With the wide spread of homelessness in the USA today we need more people to step up and help bring concrete solutions to end homelessness.
I nominate The Rev Henry Whitehead, priest at St Luke’s Anglican Church in Soho during the cholera outbreak of 1854. We have COVID-19, Soho had cholera in the mid-1800’s. It was widely believed at that time that cholera was caused by “miasma”– bad air. John Snow and Henry Whitehead showed that it was caused by water, contaminated by human waste, and showed how to control this dread disease. Fr. Whitehead was much liked and was able to get into homes and document the disease’s reach. He also discovered the index case and its cause — waste from a diaper. So, he was an early contact tracer and data collector. We don’t give public health its proper due.
He is in Wikipedia and on Crawford’s list of clergy of the 1800’s, but may not be on an official list of saints. But, he is a saint in a “you can meet them in schools or in lanes or at sea; in church or in trains or in shops or at tea…” sort of a way.
Besides if you picked Henry Whitehead, you could have the famous map of cholera cases around pumps in the Lentorium.
St. Albert the Great
“If any man bore witness that faith and science can coexist, it was St. Albert the Great (c.1206-1280), whose feast day is today.
“St. Albert wanted to see and understand the workings of nature first-hand. ‘The aim of natural science is not simply to accept the statements of others,’ he wrote, ‘but to investigate the causes that are at work in nature.’ Insisting that ‘experiment is the only safe guide’ in scientific inquiry, he looked upon the whole world as his laboratory. In his book on geography he taught how latitude affects climate. In his book on zoology he disproved the colorful but wildly implausible fables about the animal kingdom that were current in his day (for instance, that barnacle geese are hatched from trees). Albert was the first man accurately to describe a Greenland whale (and to get first-hand information about the creature he joined a whale hunt in Friesland). During his 40 years as a teacher he wrote over 40 books, including ground-breaking works on botany, astronomy, physics,
mineralogy and chemistry.”
From https://catholicexchange.com/a-patron-saint-for-scientists
I nominate Juan Diego.Great story of the roses in December; plus his contribution to Mexican history and culture.
I’d like to nominate a man whose songs really light me up! You, guessed it; I’m talking about Isaac Watts (1674-1748). My favorite is the Christmas hymn “Joy to the World” he wrote as a paraphrase for Psalm 98. He was said to be a beloved minister who knew both his Bible and his people.
I want to nominate Julian of Norwich, because she wrote what she wrote even though she lived through a plague much worse than the disease circulating through our world now.
I nominate Sr. Ursula Ledochowska, who dedicated her life to educating girls under the eyes of Communism.
Adomnan biographer of Columba of Iona. Abbot of Iona.
I nominate St Adomnan, whose feast day is 23rd September. Adomnan was Abbot of Iona some 100 years after St Columba. Adomnan wrote a life of at Columba, which can be read today. He also promulgated the first law to protect women and children in times of war, and travelled widely to persuade kings and nobles to adopt the new law. He deserves to be better known, and is worthy of a place in next year’s bracket alongside the many excellent suggestions above.
I like this one!! I second this nominee! I wish I had known about him sooner.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Feast Day July 28
“The aim and final reason of all music should be none else but the glory of God and refreshing the soul. ” – Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach, March 21, 1685-July 28, 1750 was a dominant figure in the history of church music whose output embraces practically every musical genre of his time except opera.
Submitted by the Rev. Nancy Streufert and Diana Cooper, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Arcata, California
I nominate Fr. Mychal Judge, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department, who died while ministering to victims of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11th. He was the first identified victim of the attacks, as the fire fighters at the scene knew him.
Fr. Judge is recognized as a saint by the Orthodox Catholic Church of America.
I think Fr. Judge would be a good candidate for Lent Madness because I can’t remember there ever being a person who lived in the 21st century in the bracket. Including Fr. Judge would be a good reminder that there are still people willing to respond to the call of God at great cost to themselves even in our own day.
Justin, Martyr in Rome. Died around 165 AD. Became a Christian in Ephesus. Described his conversion this way, “Straightaway a flame was kindled in my soul and a love of the prophets and those who are friends of Christ possessed me.” Justin was arrested and jailed for practicing an unauthorized religion. When he refused to renounce his Christian faith, he and six others were beheaded.
William Tyndale for his many Biblical “firsts,” bringing the Bible to the people, and influence on Biblical scholarship through the ages.
Josiah Henson
Born in slavery and brutalized to the point of permanent deformity, Josiah Henson was extremely resourceful with practical, hands-on work. His fine gift for listening to educated people and learning to speak with elegant precision, as they did, helped him when he became a Methodist minister while still a slave.
At age 42, he led his wife and their 4 young children from western Kentucky to Ontario, Canada, to be free. He was instrumental in founding a community of former slaves and other impoverished people who came along. He traveled to England to raise money and met numerous people in the British anti-slavery movement.
Josiah Henson returned to the U.S. to lead others, including relatives, to freedom. He kept spending his own funds to keep the community of Dawn, Ontario, going when others were not as dedicated and frugal as he. Faced with the realistic possibility of losing his home and land in his mid-80’s, he again traveled to Britain and raised money to save his house and garden in Dawn.
He dictated his autobiography and it became the main source of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I have twice visited the house where he was the slave in Rockville, MD, although it’s rarely open to the public. It’s being turned into a museum, and a visitors’ center is being added. You will eventually be able to visit it.
His biography finally came out several years ago, by a Canadian researcher and author who also produced a documentary entitled “Redeeming Uncle Tom: The Josiah Henson Story.” The fascinating book is “The Road to Dawn.”
While Josiah Henson memorized the Bible before he could read, he joined the Methodist Church that does not have saints except for the historic, Biblical saints. Therefore, I have been unable YET to discover any church in which he’s a saint.
As a Methodist-Episcopal elder & preacher, he had a 300-mile district under his care.
Josiah Henson had a marvelous visit with the Archbishop of Canterbury who wept after hearing his story.
His wilderness skills were incredible. He not only turned virgin forest into farms in southern Canada, but he led his family to freedom through hundreds of miles dense, im
Once again I am nominating Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, who, as a medical student in England asked himself what Jesus would do if he were a doctor. He decided Jesus would bring medical care to those who had none. He arrived in Labrador in 1892 and devoted the rest of his life, more than 40 years, to the poor and forgotten people of Labrador and the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. He was appalled at the misery he found, with people on the verge of starvation, some sleeping on the floor of a simple cabin. He treated both Native people and “settlers,” none of whom had ever seen a doctor. He was a gifted surgeon. A man of tremendous energy and stamina, he developed a network of hospitals, nursing stations, schools and home industries, which exists in a modified form to this day. In summer when the harbors were free of ice, he traveled by hospital ship, and in winter by dogsled. His American wife gave up a life of privilege and worked hard alongside him. His memory is still revered in Newfoundland and Labrador where I lived for 25 years. His feast day in the Episcopal Church is October 9. He is depicted in the Physicians’ Window in the National Cathedral in Washington. He deserves to be better known in this time, in this country.
As a Methodist-Episcopal elder & preacher, he had a 300-mile district under his care.
Josiah Henson had a marvelous visit with the Archbishop of Canterbury who wept after hearing his story.
His wilderness skills were incredible. He not only turned virgin forest into farms in southern Canada, but he led his family to freedom through hundreds of miles dense, impenetrable woods.
This was an addition to JOSIAH HENSON, above. APOLOGIES, it does NOT belong here.
I think Sir Wilfred Grenfell is a great candidate. I suggest that he (a physician) be paired with a saint in public health. I nominated one — The Rev Henry Whitehead. Physicians treat people one-by-one. Public health saints treat the population — by looking at clean air, water, disease spread, etc. Fr. Whitehead lived in the time of the cholera plague in the mid 1800’s, a time like out own. He ministered to the sick, the grieving, the terrified among the poor of Soho, much as priests are doing now.
His pubic health contribution was to team up with John Snow to discover the cause of cholera. It was believed at that time that cholera was caused by miasma (bad air); he and John Snow showed that it was actually caused by water contaminated by human waste.
Fr. Whitehead was much beloved and was welcomed into homes to talk with people and find out where they had been and with whom they had come in contact. So, he was, in effect, doing contact tracing. By so doing, he found the index case and thus the original source of the disease — a soiled diaper from one of the impoverished infants in that area.
So, I think a medical saint and a public health saint, would be a good a good combination for the 2021 Lent Madness.
St. Servatius. A fourth century Christian born in Armenia, became
Bishop of Tongeren (modern day Belgium) and died in Maastricht (Netherlands). Known as vocal opponent of Arianism. I nominate him because he was an early defender of the faith and missionary whose story is unknown to most. Feast day May 13.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979), a faithful minister of the church whose sermons were listened to by millions weekly on network TV in the 50’s and 60’s. His gifted preaching continued up to his passing and is still relevant and listened to by young and old even today.
I nominate San Pedro Claver (1580-1654) of Cartagena, Columbia.
San Pedro was known as the slave to the slaves because he and his fellow Jesuits offered compassion and care to African slaves brought to Cartagena, Columbia. Not only is San Pedro’s ministry a stark contrast to the unspeakable evil done in the name of religion and conquest at the Spanish Inquisition Court in the same city, it would be wonderful to have a Central American saint included in the bracket for Lent Madness 2021
I would like to nominate the seven martyrs of the Melanesian Brotherhood, a community of men living a life of prayer and simplicity under simple vows. The seven were martyred in August of 2003, as they worked at peacemaking in a time of ethnic tensions. They are recognized in the calendar of the Anglican Church of Melanesia.
I nominate Mr. Rogers. He is recognized on the calendar of St. Mary Magdalene Lutheran/Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, every Sunday according to the Rev. Natalie Gessert Hall. Mr. Rogers cared about “the least of these”, the children of the world. He was an ordained minister, but he didn’t preach Christianity on his PBS television program. Instead he exhibited the best of what Christ taught every day. He meets all the Nominationtide Rules & Regulations, and in addition he is beloved by all children and their parents.
Thank you for considering Mr. Rogers. Won’t you be his neighbor?