Lent Madness

Did you miss us? We do hope you survived two consecutive days without the opportunity to exercise your right to vote. But we’re back and loaded up with another full week of first round matchups. In fact, we’re exactly halfway done with the first round — eight matchups down, eight to go.

In case you missed Friday’s result, Margaret of Castello easily defeated Simon Gibbons 70% to 30%. She’ll go on to face Eva Lee Matthews in the Saintly Sixteen.

It’s not everyday in Lent Madness that we have two saints whose lives overlapped, but that’s exactly the situation in today’s matchup. James Solomon Russell, born a slave in the American South, was a church planter and cleric. He faces Evelyn Underhill, English mystic, writer, and teacher. Time to vote!

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One of the joys of examining the lives of the saints is observing how their lives take twists and turns that lead them to the places they are ultimately called to serve. This is the case with both Brother Lawrence, whose life was forever transformed through his experience as a soldier, and Patrick, whose early years as a slave in a foreign country changed the trajectory of his life. Through simple faith and legendary acts, the lives of these two faithful servants of Jesus begin to shine through. And yet, only one will advance to the Saintly Sixteen.

Yesterday, in the biggest margin of victory of Lent Madness 2020 to date, Joseph trounced Joshua 73% to 27% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen, where he’ll face the Biblical Elizabeth. None of this gets easier as we move ever closer to the awarding of the Golden Halo.

Time to vote!

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A Tuesday during Lent, can mean only one thing: time to cast a vote in Lent Madness! But first, some results. Yesterday, Eva Lee Matthews soundly defeated Hervé (and his little dog too!) 61% to 39%.

Today, the second of the four Elizabeths in the 2020 bracket makes an appearance, as Elizabeth of Hungary takes on Herman of Alaska. Will this 13th century Hungarian royal with the generous heart prevail? Or will it be the Russian-born 18th century missionary monk? Two compelling saints but, alas, only one will move on to the Saintly Sixteen.

In case you missed yesterday globe-trotting edition of Monday Madness (and if you did…for shame!), you can watch it here. In it, we gave a shout out to the good people of St. Stephen’s in Terra Haute, IN, who have embraced Lent Madness with reckless abandon. Read an article in the local paper about their foray into the Saintly Smackdown, led by their pastor, the Rev. Drew Downs.

And if you have compelling stories or photos to share from your own context, please do send them our way. Now go vote!

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Welcome back! After a day off from voting, we hope you’re ready for the first full week of Lent Madness action. On Friday, we saw Eustace behave like a deer in the headlights against Margery Kempe, as he was slain 70% to 30%.

Today’s matchup features a late-19th century American nun vs. a 6th century French monk, in a monastic showdown between Eva Lee Matthews and Hervé.

As you read, reflect, and vote, don’t forget you also have a built-in opportunity to pray. Each saintly write-up in the opening round includes a collect (pronounced COLL-ect), or brief prayer, inspired by the respective saints. Some days you may breeze past them or ignore them altogether, but we do encourage you to linger when you can. Perhaps there’s a phrase that jumps out at you or connects to your own Lenten journey. Anyway, we just wanted to point out that small morsel of added bread for your journey.

Since it’s Monday, stay tuned later today as Tim and Scott thrill Lent Madness fans everywhere with another exciting episode of Monday Madness. Same Lent time, same Lent channel.

Now go vote!

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