"Ash Week" continues with an intriguing match up between two martyrs, Lucy and John the Baptist. It's a tough choice but please don't lose your head over the decision. The winner will get ahead and make it to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen. The loser will be metaphorically re-martyred. See, Lent Madness is easy: we present all of our choices to you on a silver platter.
In the very first match up of Lent Madness 2013, Jonathan Daniels soundly defeated Macrina the Younger to advance to the next round. We're pleased to report that voting was very heavy with over 4,500 votes cast. And if you're new to Lent Madness, make sure to check out the comment stream throughout the day and perhaps even leave one of your own. It's fascinating and informative to hear why people are voting a certain way and many share their own personal experiences with a particular saint. In other words, you're now part of a true online community of people seeking inspiration during Lent from an amazing and diverse group of spiritual heroes.
Can't get enough of Lent Madness? You're in luck because tomorrow is the one and only day in Lent that we'll have a weekend vote. The anticipated Battle of the Iggys -- Ignatius of Antioch vs. Ignatius of Loyola -- will take place on Saturday. In the meantime, keep spreading the word about Lent Madness! Share links with your friends of all denominations, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or walk around your neighborhood with a homemade Lent Madness sandwich board.
Lucy
Not much is actually known about St. Lucy (Santa Lucia in Italian) other than that she was born into a wealthy family in Syracuse (Italy) in the late Third Century and was martyred while still a young woman in the Diocletian persecution in 303.
Tradition has it, however, that Lucy, like many young women of her day, wished to remain a virgin rather than marry the pagan to whom her parents betrothed her. After Lucy's prayers of intercession healed her mother of a debilitating illness, her mother granted Lucy's fervent wish to remain unmarried and instead distribute her dowry to the poor in Syracuse. The erstwhile fiancé, however, was not a fan of this distribution plan and in his rage at her rejection of him denounced Lucy to the Roman Governor as a Christian. She was first taken to a brothel so that she might be forced to surrender her virginity, but the guards who came for her found her too heavy to move even when hitched to a team of oxen, so filled was she with the Holy Spirit. Still, she was imprisoned, tortured, and finally killed when she did not renounce her dedication to Christ and affirm allegiance to the Emperor.
Sometimes Lucy is depicted as holding a platter with a pair of eyes upon it. The story goes that Lucy’s eyes were either plucked out by her torturers or plucked out by Lucy herself in repudiation of her fiancé, who found Lucy’s eyes appealing. Some versions of the story have God restoring her sight with even more beautiful eyes. At any rate, she is the patron saint of the blind and those with eye diseases.
Her name means "light" and her feast day is celebrated by families in Northern Europe by dressing the eldest daughter in a white robe and placing a wreath with lighted candles on her head. Sometimes a village’s “Lucy” carries bread and coffee to all the homes in the village as a re-enactment of Lucy’s kindness to the poor in the distribution of her dowry. Her feast day is a day of special devotion in her native Italy, as well, where the emphasis is on food, particularly hot chocolate with grains of wheat (to represent her eyes) in it.
Lucy was a much venerated, very popular saint in the early Church, and her name is included, along with only six other women, in both the Roman and Ambrosian Canons of the Mass.
Collect for Lucy
Saint Lucy, your beautiful name signifies light. By the light of faith which God bestowed upon you, increase and preserve this light in my soul so that I may avoid evil, be zealous in the performance of good works, and abhor nothing so much as the blindness and the darkness of evil and of sin. By your intercession with God, obtain for me perfect vision for my bodily eyes and the grace to use them for God's greater honor and glory and the salvation of all men. Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr, hear my prayers and obtain my petitions. Amen.
-- Penny Nash
John the Baptist
He’s one of the reasons more Episcopal Churches are named St. John than any other name.
John the Baptist (not to be confused with John the disciple or John the Divine, author of Revelation – yes, like today there were lots of Johns back then…) was the son of a priest in the Temple – Zachary. His mother was Elizabeth, who was related to Mary, Jesus’ mother. Thus, John the Baptist was related to Jesus, perhaps his cousin. Many people believe John the Baptist was born in Ain-Karim, which is southwest of Jerusalem. This followed an apparition in which the angel Gabriel told Zachary and his wife that they would have a child, even though Elizabeth was past child-bearing years.
Many scholars believe John lived in the desert, perhaps as a hermit. He may have been affiliated with a group known as the Essenes, whose communal life was chronicled in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This pietistic, separatist group had removed itself from the evils of the big city, Jerusalem, in order to practice the Jewish faith with greater purity in a desolate, desert environment. We find expressions of this in John’s later preaching of repentance.
John’s public ministry started when he was around 30-years-old. The Gospels tell us that John preached a harsh message, calling his hearers a ‘brood of vipers’ and imploring them to repent and start anew. John also understood his role to pave the way for Jesus, declaring he was not worthy to untie the sandals from the Messiah’s feet. John would go on to baptize Jesus in the River Jordan. During this event a dove came down from heaven and the voice of God was heard announcing that Jesus was God’s son.
Following his ministry of baptism, John remained critical of those who did not fear God. He was eventually imprisoned by Herod for correctly accusing the leader of taking his brother’s wife. During his incarceration, John began to have doubts, at one point sending some of his followers to Jesus to confirm he was really the Messiah.
John was needlessly executed after a young dancer named Salome so impressed Herod with her performance that he promised her anything – and, at the urging of her mother, she chose John the Baptist’s head to be served on a platter.
John inspired many of his followers to trust Christ when he designated Him "the Lamb of God." Some of those followers were Andrew and John, who came to know Christ through John's preaching. John is described in the New Testament as the last of the Old Testament prophets and the precursor of the Messiah. His feast day is June 24th and the feast for his death is August 29th.
Collect for John the Baptist
Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-- Chris Yaw
Vote!
UDPATE: The Supreme Executive Committee has found several instances of voting irregularity in this poll. At this point, three addresses have been cast into the outer darkness of Lent Madness. We have adjusted the vote totals by removing 35 votes for John the Baptist. Remember: in Lent Madness, we encourage you to mobilize your friends to vote. But we frown mightily on those who vote more than once.
[poll id="41"]
245 comments on “Lucy vs. John the Baptist”
I vote for Lucy in honor of women who have been abused and used and killed because they were they who stood up for themselves and their faith.
John the Baptist got my vote he paved the way for people to know Christ our Lord. We are to have a relationship with our God, Three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Jesus is the way)
A women to stands up against the violence by men perpetrated upon her.
A women who feeds the poor with her dowry
A women who is faithful to her convictions and stands up against the oppression by the husband who was arranged FOR HER.
In thanksgiving for the life of the wonderful sightless people I've lived with and who have taught me so much -
Lucy!
John the Baptist! The great model for ministry! He baptized them, and sent them back one at a time, never knowing what, if any, impact his ministry would have in the world.
One of them turned out to be Jesus, and the world was changed...
Had eye cancer, so went with Luvy. But also was married on what was then called John the Baptist day but sometimes shows up in calendars as "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist." BCP still calls it "The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist" but omits the rememberance of his death. Nothing on Aug. 29 in the BCP calendar, but the Christian Planning Calendar gives it to [John Bunyon].
I vote for Lucy in honor of my son, Sean who is legally Blind and for all who are visually impaired. Lucy is also my confirmation name.
I've noticed that now that Lucy is about to trounce JtheB, certain ones of us are panicking and pooh-poohing the validity and truthfulness about Lucy's life and struggles and victory over the powers-that-be/were! Ha! Let that be a lesson to naysayers. The truth will find a way and the paternalistic way of thinking is falling by the wayside. On to victory Lucy! JtheB may eventually win this but you put a real scare into the doubters!
I'm sure the Baptist has a much larger role in heilsgeschichte but I voted for Lucy because a) her name proclaims the Light of Christ in the darkness of winter, b) my mother grew up in Italy and my sister-in-law lives in Scandinavia so I get those traditions pretty directly, c) her Feast date stayed in the BCP even when her name wasn't in the Calendar (as an Ember Day indicator), and d) I've worn glasses for more than 65 years (though this was not a major consideration). I'm glad to see she's kept a lead -- however small -- through much of the day, and I think the early predictions for John Baptist ignored the human and spiritual appeal of her story.
Wow, they are neck and neck. Hooray for the girl! Macrina was robbed yesterday so am glad to see Lucy holding her own. Had to go with my Scandinavian heritage on this one!
Yes, Aleathia!! Like what you said!
This is not a fair match up at all. John is a wonderful figure/saint what chance does Lucy stand!
I could do no other than vote for Lucy!!!!
I vote for Lucy. She was just a regular chick, NOT related to Jesus, just like us.
The "eyes" have it! I vote for Lucy, also a patron saint of electricians. And my daughter was born on St. Lucy's day, which means we remember Santa Lucia with candles
the eyes have it!
I am pained and dismayed to see how the Lenten faith of so many voters is swayed by the lure of chocolate, saffron, and the mere thought of cinnamon buns. Oh, the weakness of the flesh against the smell of baking!
By contrast--John the Washer will not be puffed up with the Holy Spirit (how did that work, anyway?) No, he goes about his rounds clean, and all natural. Honey: no refined sugars for him! An earthy aroma of native goat hair. The healthy, plaque-reducing crunch of locust. A man ahead of his time, a locavore. Here's an environmentalist's vote for John the Washer.
As the "Holy Fool" I am going with Lucy. How could the Holy Fool vote any other way?
As the "Holy Fool" I am going with LUCY. How could the "Holy Fool" vote any other way.
So, it's possible to vote more than once? If so, then we are operating on the honor system? Even though I am pulling for Lucy, I promise to vote only once 🙂
Fear not, friends, the SEC closely monitors potential voter fraud. If we see multiple votes from the same ISP address, said voter will be cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So far this appears to be a very clean election but we do keep Jimmy Carter on retainer just in case.
Tim, are multiple votes allowed from multiple people in the same household? My daughter is casting her own ballot. Maybe it's okay though since she is using a different device, albeit on the same internet account. Oh my, hanging chads ....
So, I guess you found out I am a celestial mole.
Now if a teacher had her class vote, would that be the same ISP address?
Kathleen, it's possible that we would think it looked like an irregularity, but if that happened, the teacher could just let us know. Last year, we had a couple of different schools that we incorrectly blocked (out of a few dozen correct diagnoses). For good measure, the teacher could give us a heads ahead, so we could the IP address (not ISP address, as my erstwhile archnemesis wrote).
It is the same tune, Davis, yes.
Sarah, we keep an eye on this. If it looks to us like a family voting, we let it slide. When we see, say, 30 votes from one residential address, we know something's up. In your case, you should be fine.
Full marks for Lucy, but I think it best to keep it in the Family. Go John!
I am in favor of those crowns of candles that the girls wear in Sweden. I mean John did eat honey which is nice, but he wasn't as stylish.
Correct. Everyone in a household is entitled to a vote. Dogs, cats, ferrets, etc, however, are not. And we're assuming no one has 15 siblings unless we see the actual birth certificates to verify.
My cat Luchy and beagle LucyLu are extremely disappointed that they are not allowed to vote on this one . . . but they are praying for Lucy!
Francis of Assisi and Pangur Ban huff noisily and turn their backs.
As a Swedish-American from Minnesota I don't see how I could vote for anyone but Sankta Lucia. She has my vote.
Natten går tunga fjät
rund gård och stuva;
kring jord, som sol förlät,
skuggorna ruva.
Då i vårt mörka hus,
stiger med tända ljus,
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.
Natten går stor och stum
nu hörs dess vingar
i alla tysta rum
sus som av vingar.
Se, på vår tröskel står
vitklädd med ljus i hår
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.
Mörkret ska flykta snart
ur jordens dalar
så hon ett underbart
ord till oss talar.
Dagen ska åter ny
stiga ur rosig sky
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.
Is that sung to the same tune as the Neapolitan version? It fits it too well to be a coincidence, and yet I can't quite imagine it.
I had noticed that if I were less than honest I could vote more than once based on how I accessed the site: email, Facebook or direct Internet link on my iPhone. Looked at the site from all three portals yesterday and, after voting via the first portal, the subsequent ones would have allowed an additional vote. If I noticed this, I'm sure others have as well. Scott, I'm glad your monitoring for voter fraud given this loophole. But, of course, I'm certain all us Lent Madness officiandos are absolutely honorable!
I knew this would happen--we are splitting our family votes. The girls are voting for Lucy because she is the patron saint of the blind and our dog is named Lucy. The boys are voting for John because they are grossed out by the plucked out eyes.
John gets my vote. John brought Jesus to His calling. Christ is the center. Christ healed the blind man. Christ is still healing the blind, the sick, and can heal our world if we reach out with our hands to do it.
I hate to let a negative issue decide this for me; but at least three correspondents have based their votes on the fact that Jesus and John were related, one going so far as to imply that of COURSE Jesus would have voted for his cousin. They must not go unchallenged.
Down with nepotism! Equal access for all to the Golden Halo! No fear, no favor! Worth before birth!
(Did I forget to mention chocolate?)
John the Baptist is certainly a momentous figure in the Bible. He prepared the world for Jesus and his ministry, he baptized Jesus, many of his followers became disciples of Jesus, he gave his life for Jesus. However, John's role was ordained by God prior to his birth; it wasn't his choice for himself.
Lucy, like John, was a Christian. Unlike John, she chose to do God's work. Lucy was born into a wealthy family and could have lived a frivolous, meaningless life. Instead she chose to do God's work. She chose to distribute her dowry to the poor; she was so filled with the Holy Spirit that she was too heavy for the guards to move her; and finally she was imprisoned, tortured and killed and still did not denounce Christ. Now some of this sounds a lot like what John the Baptist went through but, he was preordained by God to do His work; Lucy chose of her own free will (and I might mention against what others wanted her to do) to be a follower of Christ. For this, she gets my vote.
Almost went with Lucy, but had to go with John simply because he was the first person to recognize the messiah, and he did it in utero! John lept, and so goes one of the most joyful moments in the holy scriptures (and there are quite a few).
Voter fraud, for JtB? Shame! Final straw to push me Lucy's way!