The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived: Lent Madness 2016 kicks off RIGHT NOW! For those who thought "Ash Thursday" would, like a desert oasis, never arrive, your penitential dreams have come true.
In any case, we’re delighted to welcome you to this year’s Saintly Smackdown with a First Round battle between Helena and Monnica. Or as we like to call it, the Matronly Meltdown®, as we open with two famous mothers doing battle (of course motherhood isn't either one's full claim to fame, so read on).
If you’re new to Lent Madness, welcome! You may want to check out our recent Voting 101 post which includes a step-by-step how to vote video. You can also read through the Lent Madness Glossary which highlights all sorts of phrases and terms you'll encounter along this unique Lenten journey.
Be sure to sign up for e-mail updates on our home page so you never miss a vote, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and encourage your friends to jump into the fray. While you are on our Facebook page today, please “Check In” to Lent Madness so all your friends will know you have gone to Lent Madness.
We can assure you this will be a wild, joyful, educational, ocassionally gut-wrenching ride. Let the Madness begin!
Helena
During her long life, Helena gathered the most-sought-after relics in Christian history, including splinters of what is known as the True Cross.
Helena was born around 246 CE, somewhere in Asia Minor—most likely the city of Drepanum. She grew up as a stable maid, but her fortunes changed radically when she met the emperor, fell in love with him, was whisked away to Rome, and gave birth to Constantine in 272 CE.
Some describe Helena as the royal wife, some as the royal concubine, some as the royal consort. What is clear is that after Constantine was born, the emperor sent Helena away. Helena and Constantine were exiled from court in 289 CE.
This was not the end of Helena. Constantine became the Roman emperor by winning the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 313 CE, after being told in a vision that if he and his troops marked their shields with the Greek letters Chi and Rho—the first two letters of Christ, the battle would belong to them. Depending on the source, Constantine and his mother converted promptly after this victory was secured.
Upon being recognized as the emperor of Rome, Constantine sent Helena on an official mission: travel to Palestine to bring back relics of Jesus and the Apostles and to do whatever good she felt necessary in the name of Christ. To accomplish this, he put the entire imperial treasury at her disposal.
Helena (who was at the very least every day of seventy-five-years-old) set out with gusto and built the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem as well as the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives. She tore down the Roman temple that had been constructed on the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and gave orders for the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. She unearthed fragments of wood that she believed to be the True Cross as well as the nails that were used on Jesus’ hands and feet and carried them with her back to Rome.
In all, she built over eighty churches in the Holy Land, including Saint Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. Helena also preserved for generations the history of the Holy Land and the early faith of the Church. And she did it all in the second act of her life.
Collect for Helena
Almighty God, you caused Helena of Constantinople to seek the cross of Christ with energy and devotion; Grant that through her example we may be inspired to seek your face and bear your cross for the sake of your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Monnica
Monnica, a model of the praying mother and wife, was the mother of Augustine—the father of Western Christian thought. Married to a pagan bureaucrat named Patricius, who would later convert to Christianity under her influence, Monnica was mother to several children; Augustine was the eldest. After her husband’s death, Monnica made fierce and tireless efforts to secure Augustine’s conversion, even going so far as to push the local bishop to track Augustine down and argue with him.
By the time he was twenty-nine, Augustine decided to journey to Rome to teach rhetoric. Monnica, while opposed to the plan, persisted in going with him. By fits and tricks, Augustine managed to embark for Rome, leaving his bereft mother behind. Yet Monnica could not be deterred, and she sailed for Rome, only to find him in Milan. In 386, she witnessed the event for which she longed: Augustine’s full acceptance of catholic Christianity, followed a year later by his baptism. Monnica had persisted, prayed, and worked nearly two decades to see Augustine’s conversion.
Monnica died in the port of Ostia, and when asked if she wished for her remains to be carried home, she replied, “Nothing is far from God; neither am I afraid God will not find me.” Her conviction that nothing is far from God has earned her devotion to this day. Monnica is the patron saint of married women and mothers and those battling alcohol addiction.
Collect for Monnica
O Lord, through spiritual discipline you strengthened your servant Monnica to persevere in offering her love and prayers and tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine their son: Deepen our devotion, we pray, and use us in accordance with your will to bring others, even our own kindred, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
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303 comments on “Helena vs. Monnica”
As a collector, I had to vote for Helena. She's like a Byzantine-era Indiana Jones.
My vote goes to Monnica - perhaps the original Helicopter Mom (although since there were no helicopters at that time, maybe a hummingbird mother). Let's hear it for the moms who don't give up on their children!
Sometimes in this time and place of violence and uncertainty, I think about how I might meet my end far away from home or loved ones or in a cold unfamiliar place. How wonderful that Monnica can say with purity of conviction while stranded in Ostia "Nothing is far from God, neither am I afraid God will not find me." Also to know that my earthly parents (and my heavenly one) be they incarnate or not, persist unceasingly in their concern for my soul's salvation. Monnica!
Monnica was my choice. Like her,I pray for my husband and children. I admire her persistence.
Our Altar Guild is named for St Monica, as a co-director, how could I not vote for our patroness.
Welcome back, Oliver! I always look forward to your comments.
I love the "Dude, don't drop the goldfish!" suggestion.
This was a tough choice right out of the gate. I love that Helena did so much for the early church and spreading Christianity especially in the second act of her life. I love that Monnica never gave up on Augustine and worked so tirelessly to bring him to Christ. In the end, I have to go with Monnica for her example of perseverance and love.
O Crafty are the Ways of the SEC. I found this choice impossible: "try, try again" vs. "take the ball and run with it." The fairest resolution would have been by coin toss; but I chose the craven path of voting my demographic, out of fear that there might be a special place in hell for septuagenarians who don't help each other.
LOL on your reference, Davis.
I like the way you think!
Voting for Saint Monnica is like a member of AA voting for a member of AlAnon.
Kinda...but thank God for all those Al-Anon-ers out there...somebody needs to keep an eye on us AA-ers! Ha!
Monnica is the consummate mother figure- steadfast, long-suffering and a genuine model for motherhood. She deserves some kudos for stepping up to the tasks placed before her. God knows, it ain't an easy job.
As a mother, and grandmother, I commend Monnica on her dedication to her faith and to her son. However, I voted for Helena because I feel as though she went above and beyond the call of duty, especially being and Elder! Monnica did good things, but nothing that 99% of mother's wouldn't do.... Sorry Monnica, Helena wins this round, in my thoughts....
Another Holy Land pilgrim here, I, too had to vote for Helena; though I wonder if her trip to the Holy Land was as much about the new emperor finding his mother something to do far away so he could govern without her looking over his shoulder...
I could only vote for Helena because I am 75 and wonder at her ability to accomplish so much at that age and in that age.
I'm an associate of the Order of St. Helena, so no doubt here who I was to vote for. I also appreciate Helena's establishment of churches. She seemed dedicated to the faith; Monnica seemed to be mostly dedicated to her son. Not bad, but not my definition of Saintly.
I wanted to vote for Monnica, but was outvoted by two of my children with whom I am reading & praying the Lent Madness journey each day, so Helena it is!
I have to confess that I've never really liked Monica--way too pushy for my taste, although God clearly used her devotion for God's purposes. Helena, it is!
The prayer of Monnica's cited at the end swayed me to her side, but not a fan of either son. Augustine's writing can be beautiful but his imprinting the disgust of sensuality on Christianity is tragic, and the alligment of Christianity that occurred with Constantine the state still is having repercussions to this day.
appreciative of Helena and all her hard work, but grateful to Monnica for this:
“Nothing is far from God; neither am I afraid God will not find me.”
that's what I'm going to think about for today's Lenten meditation.
Having no particular inclination either way, I voted for Monnica as underdog. It can't have been easy having a major theologian for a son.
On the other hand, it can't have been easy for Augustine to have
Monnica for a mother. All that nagging. . . .
He probably had his Bible permanently opened to Proverbs 21:9. :
Better to live on the roof of the house than inside the house with a nagging woman.
Although Helena did wonderful work for the early church, as the mother of a recalcitrant child, I had to cast my vote for Monnica.
Helena for me! She's really rockin' the hat. Even though their hats were layered and flat, I saw her pointy hat and thought Devo, the rock band from the 80's. Something to consider for the "kitsch" round... On the serious side, I admire her ability to raise her son as a single mom. Not easy to do, I'm sure, in the fourth century. And then to build churches at seventy years old? You go, girl!
Tough choice, but Helena it is if only because she did so much in her second act.
I'm not voting for either of them. One brought back artifacts that she self-authenticated, the other broke up her son's long term relationship with the mother of his child. Neither very admirable, in my estimation.
Monnica was a trailblazer! she converted to Christianity so early. It was a very tough decision but Monnica made it easier for Helena.
I was struck by Helena's strength of will to build something in honor of Christ and her desire to collect the precious relics. The fact that she was just about the age I am now is very impressive.
I will use Monnica's dying sentiment as a Lenten meditation. She was, however, too much of a nag for me. I voted for Helena. Her tireless work at the end of her life is so inspiring to me.
Both Helena and Monnica were long-suffering wives and mothers of famous and influential sons. Through them, both Constantine and Augustine have had major positive and negative impacts on the history and development of the Church and the history of the world, and I think in the long run Augustine's negative impact has been more harmful than Constantine's. However, it's not really fair to judge a parent by her child. Monnica was a good and pious woman, but so was Helena and I'm impressed with her energy and can-do attitude to lead a major archaeological expedition. My first vote goes to Helena
Two more present day Helenas for me, my dear departed grandmother and my force-of-nature daughter, and a deep connection to the Sisters in New York, are resounding echoes of women doing what needed to be done in the name faith and love, and not necessarily driven by others in their lives. Helena for me.
I, too, can relate to Monnica, but I still voted for Helena.
I'm grateful to have the first match up be an all-female round. Well done Supreme Executive Committee!
I'm enthusiastically looking forward to a trip to the Holy Land sometime next year, and St. Helena appears to be largely responsible for many of the places I plan to visit. My thank and my vote go to her.
Correction: "thanks"
Exactly why I voted for her!
Me too Carol! That and her conviction that nothing is far from God.