985 comments on “Nominations Open!”

1. I second/third/maybe fourth St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. I've been thinking of how he carried young Jesus over the water as I've been listening to news of families displaced by flash flooding.

2. Macrina the Younger: Eldest of nine children, daughter of two saints. Three of her brothers, whom she brought up, educated and led into holy lives, are also saints. Her brother Gregory of Nyssa, a noted theologian, was astounded by her insight into the mysteries of faith. She founded a convent which welcomed women of all social backgrounds. A worthy candidate for the Golden Halo.

3. St. Walburga. The Abbey of St. Walburga is a truly sacred place in Colorado.

   1. She has my vote. The Abbey brings peace to everyone who visits.

4. Bishop James Theodore Holley

5. I nominate Therese of Liseaux. Wise beyond her years, understands and adapts John of the Cross and memorizes the Imitation of Christ so she can internalize it. What a girl!

6. As a living descendant of St. Arnulf of Metz (d. 640 AD) I would like to put his name forward and suggest that another year's Lent Madness be comprised of saints with known progeny so that all of us living descendants can fight it out amongst ourselves. Still haven't figured out why he became a saint; his best miracle was filling up a beer keg when the parishioners that were charged with returning his mortal remains to Metz ran short and someone had the bright idea to pray to Arnulf to help them out of their quandary. Beer beats loaves and fishes, right?

7. fred rogers would be great as well!

8. Gregory Spinks, Episcopal priest in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, who through his compassion for one homeless, abandoned child, started an orphanage.

9. I nominate Biddy Bridget Mason, what a story!
   Biddy Bridget Mason (1815-1891) was born into slavery and given as a wedding gift to a Mormon couple in Mississippi named Robert and Rebecca Smith. In 1847 at age 32, Biddy Mason was forced to walk from Mississippi to Utah tending cattle behind her master’s 300-wagon caravan.

   After four years in Salt Lake City, Smith took the group to a new Mormon settlement in San Bernardino, California in search of gold. Biddy Mason soon discovered that the California State Constitution made slavery illegal, and that her master planned to move them all to Texas to avoid freeing them. With the help of some free blacks she had befriended, she and the other slaves attempted to run away to Los Angeles, but they were intercepted by Smith and brought back. However, when he tried to leave the state with his family and slaves, a local posse prevented his flight. Biddy had Robert Smith brought into court on a writ of habeas corpus. She, her daughters, and the ten other slaves were held in jail for their own safety until the judge heard the case and granted their freedom.

   Now free, Mason and her three daughters (probably fathered by Smith) moved to Los Angeles where they worked and saved enough money to buy a house at 331 Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. Biddy was employed as a nurse, midwife, and domestic servant. She was one of the first black women to own land in the city of Los Angeles. She had the gumption to use part of her land as a temporary resting place for horses and carriages, and people visiting town paid money in exchange for the space. This can be considered the first "parking lot" in Los Angeles!

   Knowing what it meant to be oppressed and friendless, Biddy Mason immediately began a philanthropic career by opening her home to the poor, hungry, and homeless. Through hard work, saving, and investing carefully, she was able to purchase large amounts of real estate including a commercial building, which provided her with enough income to help build schools, hospitals, and churches. Her financial fortunes continued to increase until she accumulated a fortune of almost $300,000. Her grandson, Robert Curry Owens, a real estate developer and politician, was the richest African-American in Los Angeles at one time.

   Her most noted accomplishment was the founding of First African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, now the oldest church founded by African Americans in Los Angeles, where she also operated a nursery and food pantry. Moreover, her generosity and compassion included personally bringing home cooked meals to men in state prison.

   In 1988, Mayor Tom Bradley had a tombstone erected at her unmarked grave site and November 16, 1989 was declared “Biddy Mason Day”. In addition, the highlights of her life were displayed on a wall of the Spring Center in downtown Los Angeles, an honor befitting Los Angeles’s first Black female property owner and philanthropist.

   Thank you Morris Spinner for sharing this with the page!

10. from facebook, "If someone's in Lesser Feasts & Fasts 2006 or A Great Cloud of Witnesses, they're in. We'd consider Holy Women, Holy Men for this purpose, even though it's defunct as an official resource. Basically, if a person appears in an official listing for a church (of any denomination), we'll look at the nomination carefully."

    In this case I would like to nominate Dorothy Sayers

11. I think Benedict of Nursia is a worthy nominee because of his deep influence on Anglican spirituality and ethos. His rule of simplicity, stability, and amendment of life along with ideas about the role of community in the Christian life, grounded in the rhythm of daily prayer are central to our way of our self-understanding as Episcopalians.

12. Eugene V. Debs who cared about and worked tirelessly for equality for working people of all races. Ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States. Passionate and humble.

13. I second the nomination of Pope John XXIII.
    Additionally:
    1) Thomas the apostle, who, by demanding evidence of the resurrection, asked the questions I would have asked. He was willing to believe, but only if it was true.
    2) Thomas Aquinas, who translated theology into the new philosophy of his day. We in the 21st century are called to this same task of expressing the truths of the gospel in terms of the philosophies of our own day.
    3) Thomas More (even though he opposed what would become the Church of England), because he held to his religious beliefs about the church in the face of strong political pressures from the king.
    4) Father Damien of Molokai, for caring for lepers at great cost to himself.

    I seem to be fond of people named Thomas.

14. Bertha of Canterbury, 6th C. Frankish princess who married Æthelberht, pagan king of Kent, on the condition that she be allowed to bring with her her chaplain (some sources say he was a monk, others that he was a bishop) so that she could continue in her Christian faith. St. Martin's Church, which still exists, was rebuilt by her from the ruins of a Roman church, and as I recall you can still walk the path that Bertha walked each day for decades to St Martin's Church to pray for the conversion of England. Pope Gregory I did not send St. Augustine to Canterbury until 596 on a mission to convert the English. That Augustine found them so ready to convert was in large part due to the high regard the people felt for their Christian queen who had already lived among them for many, many years. Æthelberht himself was baptized in 597 (date disputed?), and many of his subjects followed him in this. Æthelberht gave Augustine land to build a church, which became Canterbury Cathedral. For all of this we have God to thank, working through Bertha to prepare the way for Christianity in Kent and the Anglo-Saxon world --- and the rest, as they say, is history

15. Scrolling through the lists, I was inspired to put forth one more name I dont think I've seen here--St. Martha.

16. James Madison for his enormous contribution in the development of our constitution,an extraordinary document that launched an extraordinary political system that has given us a land of sucgreat promise.

17. Some suggestions from the Australian calendar.
    Feb 6 The Martyrs of Japan 1597; April 11 George Augustus Selwyn, first missionary Bishop of New Zealand; June 3 The Young Anglican and RC martyrs of Uganda 1886; September 20 John Coleridge Patterson Bishop of Melanesia, Missionary and Martyr (1827-1871);

18. Desmond Tutu, Eleanor Roosevelt, Peter, Martin Luther King, and sure why not Moses?

19. Saint Sebastian. I named my son for him!

20. I nominate Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles Wesley; and Henri Nouwen

    1. I would second the nomination of Susanna Wesley. She is an excellent choice. See http://www.path2prayer.com/article/1041/revival-and-holy-spirit/books-sermons/new-resources/famous-christians-books-and-sermons/susanna-wesley-mother-of-methodism/susanna-wesley-i-am-a-woman-letter

21. Paul

22. Some suggestions from the Australian calendar
    Feb.6 The Martyrs of Japan crucified at Nagasaki 1597
    Feb 27. George Herbert Parish priest and Poet1593-1633
    April 25 St. (John) Mark who gave us St. Peter's story
    June 3 The young Anglican and Roman Catholic martyrs of Uganda 1886
    July 26 Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary
    July 31 Joseph of Arimethea
    August 31 John Bunyan, Preacher and spiritual writer, 1628-1688
    September The Martyrs of New Guinea 1942
    September 20 John Coleridge Patterson, Bishop of Melanesia , missionary and Martyr, 1827-1871
    October 29 James Hennington Bishop and Missionary, Martyr in Uganda 1847-18885

23. William Laud

24. St. Brendan

25. "Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God's wisdom, nor our infirmity God's omnipotence."

    +St. John of Kronstadt

26. Thomas Merton
    St. Benedict of Nursia
    St. Scholastica
    St. Bernard of Clairvaux
    St. John Paul II
    Charles deFaucald

    1. A second to the nomination of St. Scholastica, twin sister of St. Benedict. She is known as the original founder of women's "Benedictine" ("Scholastican"???) religious communities. Whose ideas were whose? Hmmmmm...

    2. Second to Thomas Merton!

27. I would like to nominate the Rev. Theodore (Ted ) Hesburgh; ex-Notre Dame president.

28. Fabian, Roger Williams, Thomas Cranmer, Henry Beard Delany, Edward Thomas Demby.

29. St. John Baptist de La Salle. French priest, educational reformer, and founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.

30. I nominate St. Peter and Teresa of Avila