Category Archives: First Round
Frances Joseph-Gaudet vs. John Mason Neale
In the penultimate (we love that word here at Lent Madness) matchup of the first round, it’s Frances Joseph-Gaudet facing off against John Mason Neale. Six names, two saints, only one will emerge victorious and advance to the next round. Yesterday Vida Dutton Scudder skated to an easy win over F.D. Maurice, 72% to 28%. […]
Vida Dutton Scudder vs. F.D. Maurice
Congratulations on surviving another looooooooong weekend without Lent Madness voting to anchor your day, ground your faith, and generally infuse your soul with the will to live. The only lifeline we tossed out was a chance to win your very own life-sized cardboard cutout of 2015 Golden Halo winner Francis of Assisi. Learn how here. […]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer vs. Athanasius
In the last battle of a madcap week of Lent Madness, it’s two spiritual giants facing off in the first round. Not fair to pit Dietrich Bonhoeffer against Athanasius so early in the Madness? Perhaps. But remember…life, like Lent Madness, is not fair. Yesterday, Albert Schweitzer soundly defeated Lawrence 60% to 40% to advance to […]
Lawrence vs. Albert Schweitzer
As the drive toward the Golden Halo continues, we meet a martyred 3rd century deacon and an early 20th century renaissance man, humanitarian, and Nobel Prize winner. Lawrence lived out his faith in Rome, giving all that he had to the poor while Albert Schweitzer gave much of his energy and talents to building hospitals […]
Sojourner Truth vs. Søren Kierkegaard
Today we meet two 19th century contemporaries who lived in very different worlds — the United States and Denmark, to be literal about it. Sojourner Truth — slave, abolitionist, radical vs. Søren Kierkegaard — philosopher, theologian, writer. Two complex, passionate individuals who influenced and inspired many throughout their lives and beyond. Yesterday Clare of Assisi […]
Clare vs. Denis
Let’s just state right off the bat that there is no room for nepotism in Lent Madness. Saints related to members of the Supreme Executive Committee are ineligible to compete for the Golden Halo. Therefore, just because Francis of Assisi won the coveted Golden Halo last year, there was no funny business going on that […]
Columba vs. Kateri Tekakwitha
Congratulations! You have officially survived your first full weekend without saintly voting. Veterans of this online devotion know well the desperate void that comes during the weekends of Lent, which is why there is even an official diagnosis for this phenomenon: Lent Madness Withdrawal (aka LMW). This is precisely why the Supreme Executive Committee, in […]
Roch vs. Gertrude
“Are you a dog person or a cat person?” Not to get too philosophical on you, but this is one of the fundamental questions of human existence. A question that, had the Supreme Executive Committee in its infinite wisdom chosen the other Saint Gertrude (“of Nivelles” rather than “the Great”), could have perhaps been decided […]
Christina Rossetti vs. Joseph
Today in Lent Madness, we head back to the time of the “bleak midwinter” to encounter Joseph of Holy Family fame and then zoom up to the 19th century to meet an English poet, Christina Rossetti, who coined that very phrase. To the outside world this is an unlikely pairing. To us, it’s just another […]
Constance vs. Dominic
Only in Lent Madness would you find a monk battling a nun across the centuries. Yet this is exactly what we have today as Constance, a 19th century American nun takes on Dominic, a 12th century Spanish monk. Yesterday Meister Eckhart squared off against Drogo, and, sadly, it appears that the Patron Saint of Coffee […]
