Welcome to the Saintly Sixteen! From 32 saints we have narrowed the field to 16. For this round, rather than the basic biographical information we enter the realm of Quirks and Quotes. Our Celebrity Bloggers will provide unusual information or legends surrounding their saints along with quotes either by or about their saints.
Don't forget, you can always go to the Bracket Tab to easily find previous battles if you need to refresh your basic knowledge on these saints. This is yet another free courtesy extended to you, the Lent Madness Global Public.
Today we kick things off with Stephen, the Church's protomartyr vs. the Canadian Henry Budd. At stake? The Elate Eight.
Yesterday in another close contest, Fanny Crosby defeated G.F. Handel 53% to 47% to claim the last remaining spot in the Saintly Sixteen. Speaking of which, the Saintly Sixteen begins RIGHT NOW! Time to vote...
Stephen
On the day following Christmas, Christians move from hearing the stories of the Christ child to hearing the account of the death of Saint Stephen. The connection between Christmas and the first martyr of the church does not seem to be an accident. The Golden Legend proclaims that “Yesterday Christ was born in earth, that this day Stephen should be born in heaven.”
The date (December 26 in the West, December 27 in the East) of Stephen’s commemoration was observed very early, and could have been the actual day of his death, the day his remains were discovered and transferred, or simply an observation that nothing says “Christmas” like a good public stoning – in fact, in Germany the day is sometimes called “second Christmas.”
Regardless of the reason for the date, the remembrance of Deacon Stephen as a servant of the poor caused a particular 10th century Bohemian royal to head out into the deep, crisp, and even snow to provide for a local peasant – a journey memorialized by John Mason Neale’s carol, “Good King Wenceslaus.” The last line of that carol is a witness to the work of Stephen as one of the first Deacons: “Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.”
What we know of Stephen’s life comes to us in the brief account of Acts 6 and 7. But the legend of Stephen continues the story – in death, Stephen’s work was not done. According to the Golden Legend, Stephen sent none other than Gamaliel to arouse a priest in Jerusalem to come and uncover his remains.
Augustine of Hippo devotes an entire chapter of his Confessions to the miracles attributed to Stephen when his relics were in North Africa. These included the healing of wounds, blind gaining sight, and numerous accounts of raising the dead.
The remains of Stephen eventually wound up at the Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls – the resting place of Saint Lawrence, one of the first seven deacons of the church in Rome. Apparently, Lawrence was excited to welcome the first martyr of the church and the patron saint of deacons. When Stephen’s remains were brought there, the remains of Lawrence “as if enjoying his coming and smiling” moved over on their own accord to make room for Stephen.
In the book of Acts, Stephen preaches the longest of the sermons recorded in that book – a sermon which ends with the accusation of his hearers: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit.” Stephen’s honesty is commendable, as is the realization that it directly leads to his martyrdom.
Preaching on St. Stephen’s Day, Kaj Munk draws out the Christmas connection of Stephen’s martyrdom: “True Christmas joy, no matter how much or how little of it you comprehend, means that you go where He wants you to go.”
Henry Budd
The Rev. Henry Budd was the first First Nation person in North America to be ordained in the Anglican Church, and he spent most of his ministry in the Canadian west in an area commonly known as The Pas. Some of Henry Budd’s journals have been preserved, giving us a vision of the challenging ministry in the 19th century in the wilderness.
Budd’s ministry for Christ thrived because he lived with and loved the people he served. He writes of a typical day in August: “The whole week have been devoted to the hay, and our hay is nearly all done. More canoes have arrived. In the evening assembled the people in the Schoolroom for prayer and praise.” He worked with those he served and love, and prayed with them.
Life in ministry is not without challenges. Budd shares his frustration on the Sunday after Christmas: “The Lord’s-day [and] We went over to the Fort at the usual time, in hopes that we would have as good a congregation as we had yesterday, but I found but few that were in a fit state for the worship of God. The greater part of them had been drinking the whole of last night, and of course were unfit this morning for the service of God. They have lost a sermon this day on account of the rum, and who can say whether they will have the opportunity of hearing another? There were, however, some of them who attended, and were present at the morning service.”
The day-to-day tasks of Budd’s ministry are entwined together with longer entries reflecting his deep faith in Christ. “I always think that it is time that I should do something, while in perfect health and strength, to make manifest my gratitude and love to that God, who, I can truly say, has been so good to me all my life…. But by the grace of God alone, we have succeeded in our object in a great measure.
The Rev. Henry Budd died after over 35 years of dedicated ministry. A member of the Cree tribe, reflecting on Budd’s death, shared, “sorry does not express what we felt. My own father died some years ago, but when Mr. Budd died, I felt for the first time what it meant to be an orphan.”
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160 comments on “Stephen vs. Henry Budd”
It's Budd today, my father died recently so I could relate to the orphan comment.
Joanne, I'm sorry about the death of your father.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Voted again for Stephen, this time for 3 reasons. My son was baptized on his feast day; On the day of a vote most likely FOR the horrible health for too many unaffordable careless act, Congress needs to heed the deeds of King Wenceslaus: “Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.”; and finally the Golden Legend deserves the Golden Halo!
I voted for Harry because!
My second son is named for St. Stephen so it was no contest, no matter how worthy Henry Budd may be.
Stephen's forgiveness as he was being stoned, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing," and his service are exemplary.
What was Henry Budd's Cree name, please?
Don't know. And while I did not read the 1st round bios or comments I'm at least glad that we seem to have the dignity to avoid any "--weiser" or "Billy B--" puns. Or, if they were started at least we nipped that trend in the-- oh, oh, never mind.
Patricia,if you click the Brackets tab at the top of Lent Madness, then scroll down, you'll find a link to the page where Henry appeared in that first round. His bio is there.
As a very proud member of St. Stephen's, Houston... I simply had to vote for our patronal saint! Had to.
Was also set to vote for Stephen, but had to change after ready more about Henry.
Voted for Henry for two related reasons:
1. The history of First Nations people needs as much positive press as it can get - so many (including yours truly) know little or nothing about it.
2. Stephen's wonderful story is much better known, which is all the more reason for highlighting Henry Budd's effective missionary work with and among the Cree.
Thank you, SEC, for introducing Henry Budd to us all.
Maybe Stephen should have delivered a more loving sermon that didn't objectify the Jewish leaders, and not have gotten him killed . . . And maybe Fr. Budd should gave had rum with the guys and taken the Sunday morning after Christmas off! . . .
Stephen was no harsher to the Jewish leaders than Jesus was. And regarding the situation in which he found himself, Stephen quite likely guessed that he was a dead man anyway. He was playing to a very hostile house.
Pretty sure it's the "uncircumcised ears" jab that got to them. Only Paul can get away with metaphors like "circumcised hearts." Stephen enraged them with an image that sounded bad and yet couldn't be visualized. It was an early town hall.
A difficult choice once again. I had all intentions of voting for Stephen, but Henry claimed my heart as a reread their bios. To have a priest like that is a gift beyond measure.
While the bit about Lawrence's bones scooting over to make room for Stephen's made me smile. Add to that that I also voted for both of these in the round of 32. I chose Henry for his service as the first First nations Anglican priest and his love for his ministry and for those to whom he ministered.
Oliver has been silent for a while. I like to read his comments.
I wonder if he's on Spring Break?
Well, this time my choice lost out. Although Stephen had a much more dramatic life and death, I voted for Henry because of his efforts to bring the comfort of Christ to his people, including those suffering from substance abuse. I did so with all due respect for Stephen's miracles, heroic life and death. I mean, I wouldn't want to be one to cast stones, where Stephen's story was concerned. I'm sorry, Lent Madness...I couldn't resist. I know that's terrible and I hope absolution will be granted...
No worries, Jane. What you wrote is no worse than "…nothing says 'Christmas' like a good public stoning."
You could always try: "Stephen was the first Christian to be stoned."
This was a really hard choice today. I had to read through all of the comments before making a choice (and by 10:30 am PDT there are a lot of comments). I started out thinking that I would vote for Stephen, but like some many of you, I was swayed by parishioner comments about Henry. My vote goes to Henry Budd, one of those saints I would probably never have known without Lent Madness.
"Saint Stephen with a rose,
In and out of the garden he goes..."
- The Grateful Dead
As soon as I saw this match-up, that verse started going through my head. And "Good King Wenceslaus" is my favorite Christmas hymn, so for the music alone I had to vote for Stephen.
And for this one: https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/saint_stephen_was_a_clerk.htm
Assuming the story of the so-called protomartyr is a good recollection of an event so far removed from the time it was written down, it would seem that the man's sermon was, to say the least, ineffective. One wonders who was present to record it, but, ah, details, details...
It did seem to be a duel between a young adult with a death wish and a true minister of Christ. An unfair match-up if ever there was one.
James, the book of Acts reports that the Jew later called Paul was present. And Paul was closely connected with Luke, author of Acts.
While the story of Stephen moves me --I found Budd's Christ-like life also moving
Henry Budd's disastrous Christmas sermon calls to mind once again the enormous social wastage incurred by our North American choice of recreational drugs. Perhaps with the coming of marijuana as an alterative we can see some improvement.
That "uncircumcised of heart" quote made me cheer for, and vote for, Stephen.
This was the first time when I was truly tempted to vote twice. Both of these saintly people deserve Lenten Madness recognition. I went with Stephen but could just have easily voted for Budd.
The first should certainly not be the last! Stephen gets my vote and my devotion.
I dearly love the story of St. Wenceslaus going out on the Feast of Stephen as presented at the Boar's Head Festival each year in Hartford..BUT.. I must vote for Henry Budd . Withe the way we treated most Native Americans , to find a Cree Indian who goes out to preach Christianiiity, I find him truly brave and worthy of recognition...by tChristians and others.
I couldn't vote for Stephen, deacon or not. His preaching was designed to offend and separate, not bring people together - or at least as we have it reported. Reconciliation is so badly needed.
I don't think it was the preaching, but rather that Stephen was killed out of jealousy because he said "Look, there is a rift in the sky; I can see the Son of Man standing at God's right hand!" - that's when he was thrown out and killed.
I went to St. Stephen's School in Houston, TX . . . voted for Stephen.
I agree with Edwina - I definitely voted for the native American!
Stephen voted (shamelessly) for Stephen
A difficult choice this time. Voted for Stephen. Would have voted for Budd over many of the other remaining members of the Saintly Sixteen. Still looking forward to a Nightingale-Jägerstätter final on Spy Wednesday.
Can you guess why I voted for Stephen?
I think Henry Budd deserves my vote as he is not so well known as Stephen who got rave reviews and write ups in the New Testament !
Stephen all the way.
Henry Budd. I am Canadian.