In the fullness of time, the Supreme Executive Committee rests from its Lenten labors and begins accepting nominations for Lent Madness 2018.
In other words...
Welcome to Nominationtide!
For one full week, Tim and Scott will be accepting nominations for Lent Madness 2018. The nominating period will remain open through the evening of Monday, May 22. At which point the window will unceremoniously slam shut.
Please note that the ONLY way to nominate a saint is to leave a comment in this post. Nominations will not be accepted via social media, e-mail, carrier pigeon, brick through a window at Forward Movement headquarters, singing telegram, sky writer, or giant billboard along I-95. Also, at least officially, bribes are discouraged.
As you discern saints to nominate, please keep in mind that a number of saints are ineligible for next year’s “saintly smackdown.” This includes the entire field of Lent Madness 2017, those saints who made it to the Round of the Elate Eight in 2016 and 2015, and those from the 2014 Faithful Four. Needless to say Jesus, Mary, Tim, Scott, and previous Golden Halo Winners are also ineligible. Below is a comprehensive list of ineligible saints. Please keep this in mind as you submit your nominations.
It takes Herculean amounts of shade grown, single-origin coffee for Tim and Scott to put together the Lent Madness bracket.
Also, note that the saints you nominate should be in the sanctoral calendar of one or more churches. When it comes to nominations, the SEC has seen it all over the years: people who are still alive, people who are not Christians, non-humans, etc. While these folks (and animals) may well be wonderful, they are not eligible for Lent Madness. To reiterate, being DEAD is part of the criteria.
As always, we seek to put together a balanced bracket of saints ancient and modern, Biblical and ecclesiastical representing the breadth and diversity of Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
And remember that when it comes to saints in Lent Madness, many are called yet few are chosen (by the SEC). So leave a comment below with your (eligible) nomination! The 2018 field of 32 awaits your input.
The Saints of Lent Madness 2017 (all ineligible)
Fanny Crosby
G.F. Handel
Sarah
Elizabeth Ann Seton
Joseph Schereschewsky
Nikolaus von Zinzendorf
Scholastica
Macrina the Younger
Amelia Bloomer
Phillip Melanchton
Franz Jagerstatter
Joan of Arc
Martin Luther
David Oakerhater
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Canterbury
Raymond Nonnatus
John of Nepomuk
Odo of Cluny
Theodore the Studite
Florence of Nightingale
Anselm of Canterbury
Henry Budd
Cecilia
Moses the Black
John Wycliffe
Mechtild of Magdeburg
Henry Beard Delaney
Aelred of Riveaulx
Stephen
Alban
Past Golden Halo Winners (ineligible)
George Herbert, C.S. Lewis, Mary Magdalene, Frances Perkins, Charles Wesley, Francis of Assisi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Florence Nightingale
From 2014 to 2016 (ineligible)
Thecla
Bernard Mizecki
Frederick Douglass
Molly Brant
Egeria
Brigid of Kildare
Columba
Albert Schweitzer
Julian of Norwich
Absalom Jones
Sojourner Truth
Constance
Vida Dutton Scudder
Kamehameha
Phillips Brooks
Lydia
Harriet Bedell
After the SEC culls through the hundreds of nominations at their annual spring retreat, the 2018 Bracket will be announced on All Brackets’ Day (November 3rd).
In the meantime, we wish you all a joyous Nominationtide.
527 comments on “Nominationtide Is Here!”
I would like to nominate:
the Trappist martyrs of Atlas
Maria Gabriella Sagheddu
Titus Brandsma
Manche Masemola
Nominations (courtesy of Exciting Holiness First Edition)
Seraphim of Sarov Russian Orthodox
George Fox Society of Friends
Gilbert of Sempringham
Catherine of Sienna
Christina Rossetti
Etheldreda
Ignatius Loyola
Catherine Booth Salvation Army
John Bunyan
Thomas Traherne
Elizabeth Fry Prison Reformer
Margery Kempe
Charles de Foucauld
Saints Sergius and Bacchus - there are quite a few parings of saints, and I think theses guys definitely deserve to be in the Madness as such!
I nominate Ida B. Wells!
If one has to be in a sanctoral calendar, how would one go about petitioning for Fred Rogers (of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood) to be added? This is a serious question. Mr. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister, and I believe a truly Christ-like individual. I feel he should be recognized as a saint - unless there's some reason he hasn't yet been?
First off, look and see whether he's commemorated by any part of the Body of Christ. One of the TEC criteria for an addition to the sanctorale is an ongoing local "cult" of the person to be commemorated by the larger Body of Christ. Start a commemoration at your parish and keep it going for the duration. Your diocesan would have to approve, but that would get the ball rolling.
Thank you, sir - That's helpful. 🙂 I guess I'll soon see whether anyone else shares my admiration for him...
I nominate Richard Hooker, William White, John Henry Hobart, Jeremy Taylor, John Wycliffe, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer. Go Lent Madness! 🙂
I am proud to nominate the following two Saints:
Saint Lucia - The eyes have it.
Saint Aphrodisius - Bishop of Beziers, a juicy story about his decpitation. We love that,don't we? He sheltered the Holy Family on their flight into Egypt.
Good Luck SEC on picking only 32 of all these great Saints!
Nominations (courtesy of the ELCA sanctorale via Wikipedia)
Harriet Tubman
Toyohiko Kagawa Renewer of Society (Look this guy up, he's amazing)
Esther
Chief Seattle
Ruth
Birgitta of Sweden
Dag Hammarskjold
Martyrs of El Salvador (Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan)
so happy to see Dorothy, Ita , Maura and Jean's names here! I have had a devotion to these 4 friends since I was a teenager and even at one point applied to the Maryknollers out of love for their example
Been holding these names for a year, since I missed last year by a couple of hours....so
I nominate now, Paul Jones, Bishop and Peacemaker - Feast Day Sept 4, Dorothy Day - "saint and troublemaker", Jonathan Myrick Daniels - Feast Day Aug 14
I also like Howard Thurman and Harriet Tubman too.
Thank you so much for Lent Madness!! and thank you SEC!!
Nominations (courtesy of the Anglican Church of New Zealand's FATS)
Sava of Serbia
(George Herbert) AND All Saintly Parish Priests Wink Wink Nudge Nudge
Gabriel Archangel
Saints and Martyrs of the Americas Wink Wink Nudge Nudge ie CESAR CHAVEZ!!!
William Law
John Vianney Cure de Ars
Saints and Martyrs of the Anglican Communion Wink Wink Nudge Nudge
By virtue of the authority granted by the New Zealand commemoration of All Saintly Parish Priests, by the specific mention of Cesar Chavez in the instructions for Saints and Martyrs of the Americas, and by this clause in the instruction for Saints and Martyrs of the Anglican Communion ("Then there are the others who patiently and faithfully served Christ
in their day, some of whom suffered for their commitment. All these
are commemorated for their part in the life and witness of the An-
glican Communion.") I hereby nominate:
Cesar Chavez
Charles Williams Author Mystic
Conrad Noel Vicar of Thaxted
Stewart Headlam Parish Priest Social Reformer
Kenneth Leech Parish Priest Social Reformer Mystic
More to come . . .
Fred Rogers. I doubt that the Presbyterian church has a sanctoral calendar, but if they did, he'd be on it. His influence for good was enormous and still ongoing.
Dr. Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, Feb. 28, 1865-Oct. 9, 1940, who, as a medical student in his native England, asked himself what Jesus would do if Jesus had been a doctor. He decided Jesus would take medical care to people who had none. He arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1892 and gave his whole life to the service of Labrador and the northern peninsula of Newfoundland. I am an American who lived there for 25 years. He is still revered there. He was a man of deep faith who said he preferred "Well done" to "Correctly thought." He had enormous energy and courage, traveling long distances by dogsled in winter and hospital ship in the short summer. He founded a network of hospitals, nursing stations, schools and home industries that survives in a modified form to this day. He is depicted in the Physicians Window in the National Cathedral in Washington, and he is listed in Holy Women, Holy Men, with his feast day being Oct. 9. The Collect:
Compassionate God, whose Son Jesus Christ taught that by ministering to the least of our brothers and sisters, we minister to him; make us ever ready to respond to the needs of others, that, inspired by the ministry of Wilfred Grenfell to the sick, and to seafarers in Labrador and northern Newfoundland, our actions may witness to the love of our Savior Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, forever and ever.
I have seconded (or thirded...) many of the nominations. Lots of good ones. Will make it hard to vote later on!!
The widest possible definition of a saint is somebody who is in heaven, which is why we celebrate All Saints. But the narrower definition insists on recognition of sanctity by the Body of Christ. Under that definition, a saint is somebody in heaven who is recognized to be in heaven by a collective within the Body of Christ in some public and legislated manner.
That recognition can, in my opinion, be either as an individual, or as a member of a specifically recognized class of people. We, for example, commemorate the Martyrs of Uganda whether we know all their names or not. A Martyr of Uganda is automatically commemorated in the sanctorale.
The Anglican Church of New Zealand commemorates classes of people such as saintly parish priests or the holy men of the Old Testament or for that matter, any Anglican who patiently and faithfully served Christ in their day.
I think that triggers the "recognition" clause for members of those classes.
Looking at the recognition process, recognition begins at a geographically local level. I would suggest that locality be open to non-geographic bodies such as websites or social media. Create a Fred Rogers for Saint Facebook page. Hash out lectionary readings and a collect. Using interactive and collaborative apps, commemorate his day. That should count.
Laurence, deacon and martyr (spell it with a u this time). Tough, sarcastic, and a trickster!!
So many great saints have already been nominated! Here's my list, some of which are duplicates of saints already mentioned in the posts of others:
Clare of Assissi
Monnica (feast day: May 4)
Jonathan Myrick Daniels (feast day is in mid-August)
Henri J. M. Nouwen
St. Joseph
I'm eager to see the who we get to meditate upon in Lent Madness 2018! Best wishes to the SEC as they cull through our suggestions, and thanks to Tim and Scott for asking for our input!
Thomas Cranmer
I would like to add my nomination for Pauli Murray, the first African-American woman ordained by the Episcopal church. There is a fascinating article on her in the April 17, 2017 New Yorker magazine. Her feast day is July 1. And while we are at, how about Thurgood Marshall whose feast was May 17th?
Charles Stuart, the Royal Martyr, aka Charles I.
A highly controversial figure, despised by many as a tyrant, revered by many as a saint.
It can't be denied that, as a king, he was a disaster. But as Defender of the Faith he was invaluable. A prisoner of Parliament, he was offered his life if he would consent to the abolition of the episcopate in the Church of England. This he refused to do, and as a result he was beheaded. By his death Charles preserved the threefold ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons in the Apostolic Succession, for the Church of England, the Episcopal Church, and the entire Anglican Communion. He truly is a Martyr for the Faith once delivered to the saints.
And I know you like him, Scott.
I'd like to nominate St. Josephine Bakhita. She was born into a wealthy family, but was kidnapped and sold into slavery. She later became a nun. She is the patron saint of Sudan.
Thomas Merton-
St. Fiacre of Breuil (patron saint of gardeners)
Fred Rogers
Perpetua and her companions
St. Joseph
Anna and Joachim (separately or together--unbeatable couple)
Richard Allen
Maximillian Kolbe
Olga of Russia
Millard Fuller
Martin de Porres
George Fox
William Penn
John Woolman
Good King Wenceslaus
How about Rosalia, patron saint of Palermo?
I nominate St Swithun who was Bishop of Winchester from his consecration in October 853
until his death on 2 July sometime between 862 and 865
Corrie Tenboom and Mother Theresa
Mother Theresa
I nominate 3 people
John Woolman, an American Quaker sometimes called the Quaker saint
Fred Rogers
19th century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (religious poetry)
Phyllis Wheatley -- first African American published poet (some poems religious in nature)
Well, I nominated four!
I add my voice to all the nominations for Thomas the Apostle (who would surely be the patron saint of Missouri if we had a patron saint) and Thomas Cranmer.