A day after Stephen became the first saint to make it to the Faithful Four, by defeating Augustine of Canterbury 62% to 38%, the Elate Eight rolls on!
Today it's Martin Luther taking on Florence Nightingale in a matchup featuring two saintly heavyweights of kitsch. To make it to this point, Martin defeated David Oakerhater and Joseph Schereschewsky while Florence got the best of Anselm of Canterbury and Henry Beard Delany.
Yes, folks, March Madness may be done (congrats to the North Caroline Tar Heels) but Lent Madness is just heating up!
Martin Luther
Martin Luther loved life! He loved to drink beer. He loved to eat. And, he loved to wrestle with his faith with other clever, inquisitive people.
As we commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, the creation of Martin Luther kitsch (or lovely commemorative keepsakes, depending upon your perspective) has cranked up.
If you make the pilgrimage to Wittenberg, Germany you’ll certainly want to taste some of their famous Luther Biere which you may drink from a Luther stein!
And, since you wouldn’t want to drink too much beer on an empty stomach, you might as well purchase some Luther wurst topped off by Lutherbrodt (Luther bread) for dessert.
Of course, you’ll want to bring home a souvenir or two from your sojourn. There are plenty of t-shirts to be found, as in any town catering to tourists. 
But, for something truly special, you’ll stand proudly in your “Here I Stand” socks. Or, for warmer weather, Luther flip flops.
Scholars may think that Brother Martin never actually stated “Here I Stand, I can do no other” at the Diet of Worms, but it is popular and we aren’t going to let go of this catchy phrase anytime soon!
Or, perhaps you could tuck small souvenirs in the corners of your suitcase for the kitchen workers in your church back home; a Martin Luther cookie cutter!
Courtesy of several websites, you don’t have to go to Wittenberg to collect Martin Luther paraphernalia. In February 2015, the Playmobil company announced that their then newly launched Martin Luther Playmobil figure had sold out of the first 34,000 figures manufactured in less than 72 hours! Sales are now over 500,000 of the little plastic reformer!
If you’d like something equally fun, but a bit more edifying, you’ll enjoy Papa Luther: A Graphic Novel or, The Life of Martin Luther: A Pop-Up Book.
A popular decorative element on a wide range of Luther kitsch is the Luther Rose. This seal was designed in 1530 for Martin at the behest of Luther’s protector, John Frederick, Elector of Saxony.
Earrings? Tie? Pillow? Temporary tattoo? (you just can’t make this stuff up!)
Martin Luther had a sense of humor, so while I’m guessing he would be astonished by the fuss in this 500th year after he hoped to share some reforming ideas with other scholars, I think he’d chuckle and go right along with the jokes! And, he’d especially enjoy the fact that Pope Francis and Protestant leaders from around the globe are commemorating this 500-year milestone together.
-- Beth Lewis
Florence Nightingale
If you have a nurse in your life that you’d like to thank, here are the top 10 “Florence Nightingale” gifts that you can give!
1. Every nurse secretly wants to be the original Florence Nightingale. For just $19.99, you can give your special nurse that opportunity with his/her own special Florence Nightingale costume:
2. Is your nurse not the type to dress up? Never fear, you can get your special nurse their own troll doll dressed like Florence to ride on the dash of their automobile for a cheap $10.00 on Etsy: 
3. If you really love your nurse, grab that special person a 1st edition copy of Florence Nightingale’s “Notes on Nursing.” Drop your bid over on Ebay for a mere $625.00. Every nurse should have a copy of “Notes on Nursing.”
4. If your nurse likes to show his/her Nightingale pride, this shirt is just the thing for $21.99.
5. Every nurse today needs a Nightingale lamp for those graveyard shifts when the generator fails. For just $18, your nurse can let their light shine, just like Florence Nightingale.
6. Many nurses take, or have taken, the Nightingale Pledge when they graduate from nursing school. You can purchase your special nurse this beautifully framed copy of the pledge that shows their dedication to their fellow man:
7. Have you been so moved by the story of Florence Nightingale that you’d like to encourage your son or daughter to follow in her footsteps? Start telling them the story of Florence Nightingale and her courage during the Crimean War. It’s now on SALE in the Easy store.
8. Share the prayer of Florence Nightingale with your special nurse and let them know that they touched your life in a special way.
9. After a long shift at work, what every nurse really wants is a foot rub. Known as the “Nightingale Special,” a foot, back, or any kind of massage is just the ticket to show your special nurse that their work matters.
10. Finally, while someone is giving your nurse a foot rub, whip up the “Nightingale cocktail” to help your special nurse unwind:
The Nightingale cocktail recipe is made from banana liqueur, triple sec, light cream and egg white, and served in a chilled sherry glass.
Shake all ingredients vigorously with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a chilled sherry glass and serve.
More seriously, forget the kitsch and craziness above, if you have ever been sick, or injured, or afraid, and have been blessed by the caring hands of a nurse, say a prayer of thanks for Florence Nightingale. Every nurse today has been influenced by her legacy. Thanks Flo, the love of God is indeed in the face of every patient we touch.
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238 comments on “Martin Luther vs. Florence Nightingale”
For Martin, despite all his many flaws, because he dared to proclaim that God was available to any person and without an intermediary. Truly a revolution of religious freedom. His contribution is simply incomprehensible. Martin, on this 500th anniversary for the win!
My sister, my godchild, my mother-in- law, my sister-in-law... only a vote for Florence is possible for me today!
Bible and a beer.
Grace with a growler.
Prayer with a pint.
Go, Martin Luther!
Although, the Outlander reference was good!
Good one, Sue.
The t-shirts, the beer stein(s), the socks, the coloring book, I want ALL the Martin Luther kitsch! But I voted for Florence. I know a few nurses and have been blessed by kind, helpful ones in my all too many hospital stays.
Is all this becoming just a tad too commercial???
Anyone but Martin Luther!
Interesting. I have to think Luther changed Christianity. The Catholic Church had lost its way. No, Luther wasn't perfect, but other than Christ, none were.
Today the collective church struggles on to do our best, maybe because folks such as Luther challenged us all to keep our eyes on God's will?
For Martin Luther and Florence Nightingale
Tune: Purpose, Hymnal ’82, 534, God is working his purpose out
God has brought forth many a saint
O’er years and centuries.
Each one is true holy gift, each one has much to teach.
Each failed to live a perfect life
Each erred in ways that grieve.
And the saints and we need as much grace
As the waters cover the sea.
Martin was a struggling monk
(an Augustinian).
Saw that power and wealth had dimmed
The Light of Love in Rome.
He nailed his truth with eloquence
On doors once closed to grace.
The hope he revealed is for every one
Of every race and all faiths.
Florence could not stay at home
When she saw tragic need.
She poured out her life and skills
To serve those suffering.
She could be tactless on the way
To making nursing real.
But her service to God and to wounded folk
Was grace with human feel.
God still works through human beings
As year succeeds to year.
God works through us in spite of us
A truth that should bring cheers.
Nearer and nearer draws the time,
The time when we’ll surely see
That the earth is as full of the mercies of God
As the waters cover the sea.
(If I might be permitted a personal note, I have long loved the hymn “God is working his purpose out”, except for one thing. I wince at the line that "the time that will surely be when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God . . .” The earth is already filled with the glory of God. We need grace to open our eyes to see it NOW as well as looking forward to when we will see more clearly. I think the saints are flawed/graced examples of that glory and am grateful for this opportunity each Lent to reflect on that incredible wonder. Thanks, SEC.)
"God works through us in spite of us...." I'm hanging on to that quote!
And this is a hymn that I haven't heard sung in many a year, so thanks for that as well.
Amen!
Bless all those marvelous nurses and their aides that have taken care of me over the years and followed in Flo's footsteps.
I think what nailed it for me for Luther was the fact that the Pope is joining the 500 year celebrations.
With all due respect to Florence Nightingale my current reading of "Brand Luther" has upped in my opinion the impact of Martin Luther on the world.
I always have a hard time with Luther because of his anti-semitism.
Where are the bobble head saintly kitsch items??? That is a real missed opportunity!
I wish I had known this! I was won over the by the Nightingale Troll vs the Nightingale Bobble Head....BUT it is out there. 🙂
In this anniversary year I MUST vote for Martin Luther. I visited Wittenberg in 2011 and purchased some Luther socks for the family but they weren't as colorful as these, must google and see where they can be acquired.
GO FLO !!
What wonderful celebrity blogs today! Not easy to stay in touch with the saint behind the kitch while displaying such unbelievable kitch, but they both did it today. I appreciate the peaks into the personalities/lives of both saints, but Beth Lewis managed to keep me hooked on Martin Luther one more time. Thanks for the fun.
It's Florence for the gold!
Florence for the win, but Martin's kitsch is way better. The t-shirt, the socks, the toy Martin. I kind of want them all.
Luther all the way for he changed the church and we are all inheritors of that great change!
Gotta go with Flo!
Baptized Luthern, but now a lapsed Catholic. I've been told baptismal waters run deep, therefore Martin. Also, my Luthern Mother may haunt me despite our deep respect for nurses.
While I love nurses, I was married in the Church of the Reformation in Washington, D.C., so I must vote for Martin Luther today.
Ah, I voted and then saw Martin is behind 🙁
A 500th anniversary year?! It ought to be Martin for the halo!
I voted with the image in my mind of dead Syrian children loaded into a truck, their glazed eyes looking up into a sky filled with . . . what? I wanted to vote for nurses for them, and physicians. But they had people frantically hosing the chemicals off their bodies, and they had people lifting their bodies into the trucks for a bumpy ride to the hospital, or to the morgue. It makes no real difference this morning whom I vote for, but I saw "Sin boldly" at the top of the page, and I remembered my own commitment to vigorous intellectual thought, not as a "gadfly" practice but as a moral discipline, a means acceptable to God of resistance to evil, and I voted for Luther.
Amen and Amen and Amen
Well said. Truly heartbreaking and beyond understanding.
Thank you, ST. Celia. I voted for Florence for the caretakers of those children, dead and alive, but standing up against evil, here and there, is what we must do.
Martin LUTHER, for God's sake!
Random observation: I think technically Florence N would be the meat or portabello to Claire Randall's sandwich, since the Crimean War falls between Claire's two time periods...
Among all the hoopla and analysis, our Madness Masters seem to have overlooked the fact that if Marty could have found a really good gastroenterologist we might NEVER have had a Reformation. The boy had a lot of time to think, if you get my drift.
As I am a former nurse and we all owe so much to Florence, I was voting for her from the get go. But you almost had me with the " Nailed it" T-shirt.
Me too! And I wrote for FloNi! The shirt was just the pip!
I'm a nurse, so Florence, of course!
Tough one! Both of these saints are favorites of mine. I love Luther's theology of the Eucharist, and always have. But Florence Nightengale is the founder of modern nursing. And I'm a RN student. But this year I think it would be especially appropriate to honor Luther with the Golden Halo for Reformation 500. And almost all of his kitsch really is Luther kitsch, whereas some general nurse kitsch snuck in to Florence's entry. Also, to Florence Nightengale a male nurse was an oxymoron (I'm a male nursing student). We have to judge her by the standards of her time, of course, but togeather these things tip me over into the Martin Luther camp.
It was a tough one for me today, as Martin Luther is inarguably and massively influential in protestant Christianity and also had the better kitsch. But....he simply leaves me cold. I went with Florence again.