Today is the one and only weekend vote of Lent Madness 2018. Every other matchup will take place on the weekdays of Lent. And it's an intriguing pairing! We get Genesius, a saintly cut-up (he was a comedian and, more literally, had his head chopped off) facing off against Quiteria, a nonuplet Christian warrior and martyr. Which saint will be "re-martyred?" Well, that's up to you.
Yesterday, in a rout of Biblical (see what we did there?) proportions, Margaret of Scotland destroyed Charles I 89% to 11% and will face the winner of Mary of Egypt vs. Richard Hooker. Speaking of future rounds, if you're interested in seeing when your favorite saint will be doing battle, check out our Matchup Calendar. Better yet, print it out and tape it to your bathroom mirror.
Lent Madness will continue first thing Monday morning as we dip into the Mostly Modern quadrant of the bracket for the first time with Anna Alexander taking on Peter Claver.
Genesius
A comedian, Genesius led a theatrical troupe in Rome in the third century. Desperate to advance his career, he decided to write and star in a play for the Emperor Diocletian.
As he contemplated the subject matter, Genesius decided to mock the mysteries of the Christian faith and expose the ridiculousness of the sacraments. Of course, he needed some inside knowledge on the subject matter, so Genesius studied for the role by lying to members of a Christian community, telling them that he wanted to prepare for baptism.
The community welcomed Genesius into the catechumenate. While he learned the teaching, more details for the play came to him. He would act like a man on his deathbed, calling out for baptism.
He wrote the play and began the performance before the emperor. In the middle of a scene, Genesius depicted a dying man calling out for his faux sacrament. An actor arrived in clerical garb and baptized Genesius. Somehow, the ridicule ended there. Genesius was overcome with the grace of God, and what began as a farce became a real act of faith. Genesius was transformed, and while he was still on the stage, he urged the emperor to convert to Christianity.
Diocletian did not have the same change of heart. Instead, he became enraged and demanded that Genesius be tortured until he recanted. Genesius suffered greatly, but he never denied his faith. So Diocletian had him beheaded.
Genesius is the patron saint to the comic, the actor, and the tortured.
Collect for Genesius
God of laughter and suffering, we pray that through all of our art, we might reflect the goodness of your grace. May our lives be transformed through creative work, as we serve in the likeness and the image of our Creator; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Quiteria
Quite often, little is known about the saints beyond their existence and stories that have arisen among Christians to honor them over centuries. At first glance, many overlook Quiteria, in part perhaps because little is known beyond her naming in the Roman Martyrology as a saint and martyr.
But in southern France and northern Spain, churches remember Quiteria as a virgin and martyr. The most compelling legend of Quiteria, however, is Portuguese. Quiteria was a nonuplet—one of nine sisters born at the same time. Her mother, wife of the Roman governor, contemptuously likened her daughters to a litter and worried that she might be compared to a common animal for giving birth to so many children at once. In her vanity, she ordered her children drowned in a river by their nurse. Unwilling to kill the children, the nurse took the nonuplets to her own village and raised them away from their mother and father. It was in this village that Quiteria and her sisters were raised as devout Christians.
As they matured, the sisters’ faith compelled them to form a sort of gang–-one that went around freeing Christians from prisons in the area. Ultimately, Quiteria and her sisters were caught and commanded to worship a Roman god. Refusing, they were hauled before the Roman governor— their father—who immediately recognized the women as his daughters. He begged them to marry Roman pagans. The sisters refused and were thrown in prison.
As a rule, nonuplet warrior gangs don’t take imprisonment lightly. Resourcefully, they broke out of jail, freeing fellow prisoners with them. Upon gaining their freedom, rather than retreating into the woods, Quiteria and her sisters engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Roman Empire. Their campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, and Quiteria was captured, beheaded, and thrown into the ocean, while her sisters escaped. Legend holds that when guards were sent to capture her sisters, Quiteria emerged from the ocean, holding her own head and warding off the Roman guards from their pursuit. Two of her sisters, Marina and Liberata, were also martyred and ultimately canonized.
Collect for Quiteria
Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Quiteria triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death: Grant us, who now remember her in thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with her the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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280 comments on “Genesius vs. Quiteria”
Had to go with Quiteria. She kept her head about her, no matter what! And used it to come to the aid of her sisters in distress. You might say she was free of attachments, leaving her free to free others. Besides...if one is to receive "the crown of life", one needs a head to put it on!
I vote for the nurse who raised the nonuplets. 🙂
As a proud member of Actors Equity and Screen Actors Guild for over forty years, and a priest of the church you just gotta know who I voted for, Genesius!!!
Two weird early martyr stories, so I went for the leader of the sister gang freeing persecuted Christians.
I agree, truly weird
I voted for Genesius because his story was more real. Also it is an example of how God can find his way into your life even when you’re not seeking Him.
The Saint Quiteria was a brave woman. Some of her story may have been expanded to almost unreal. The story surrounding her birth seemed a bit far fetched.
So, I voted for Quiteria because I'm interested in seeing women gain equal stature in the world, though I'm conflicted by the term "warrior" since I'm not sure that bodes well. But in my opinion, the servant to who took on nine unwanted babies is the real Saint today.
Parent orders child/ren killed. Servant shows mercy, hides child/ren to be raised secretly. Sounds like the classic plot of the Moses and Romulus/Remus stories retold with feminine heroes. Go, Quiteria!
Great match up! But in the end, I had to go with the warrior ladies. Setting the captives free is just marvelous! Quiteria for me today.
I like both candidates, but Quiteria gets my vote. She started life miraculously. Imagine all the nonuplets surviving birth without an NICU to give them oxygen and medical support until they grew hardy enough to survive on their own! Or if they made it to term, that would be a miracle in and of itself. I love it that the women freed prisoners of an unjust regime, and refused to marry for safety. And Quiteria wouldn't quit just because she was dead. She returned to help her sisters.
Assured that God has a sense of humor, Genesius gets my vote.
Genesius, for unintended consequences, for God's grace when we don't expect or deserve it. And for laughter.
David Sibley is a good writer. But all of that lore about Quiteria being a guerrilla warrior is, well, lore. Even the story of her fleeing her non-Christian father and being quickly found and beheaded is legend. And there are lots and lots of stories about virgin martyrs.
For me, Quiteria is too obscure and too in keeping with a patriarchal church that likes to kill off virgins. We get excited about warrior women, but why encourage a church to creates legends about virgins and violence? As though this is the aspiration and ideal? Vote for Deacon Anna, for Queen Margaret instead!
Genesius, meanwhile, has such a unique story.
This was a hard one. Until now, I had not heard of either of these saints, so my vote is a shot in the dark. However, never hearing of them before, enticed me to seek more about them.
I thoughtof that also. It's not about quantity.
although there is a lot to be said regarding quantity in girl gangs
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Lent Madness! Learn about saints most of us have never heard of.
Anyone who risks his or her life for justice gets my vote.
Am I the only one who sees this as a Paul (Genesius) vs. Moses (Quiteria) connection? Genesius having an unexpected conversion like Paul and Quiteria being saved from death at birth (like Moses).
How interesting! Not to mention Moses' connection with the sea, both as a baby and during the journey out of Egypt.
It would appear that, like me, many of our voters have theater in their blood. Truly, the theater has the power to help us see beyond our own limited understanding. My transformative experience in theater was playing the role of Anne Frank with my high school Thespian troupe. One of her last diary entries was, "....in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart". May we all find a way to see each other as children of God.
#teamgenesius I carry a St. Genesius medal in my theatre kit. It reminds me that my talents are all gifts from God and that my performance may bring a joy, comfort, healing, laughter, etc. to someone in need.
As a retired Christian clown named Peanut and have given myself another middle name, Sarah, because she laughed when learned she was pregnant in her 90's, I voted for Genesius with a hopeful heart for his win.
A gang of warrior sisters gets my vote today!
The bio presentations may have something to do with it, and implausibility doesn’t necessarily or even usually disqualify a candidate; but Quiteria’s grand fables, presented unabashedly as such, are just too over-the-top, starting with the nonuplets who survived to adulthood back in whatever century. Genesius’s story on the other hand, could have happened word-for-word and is also uniquely touching — a dark-comedic echoof Paul’s conversion, if you will.
According to his Wikipedia article Genesius is also a patron saint of us lawyers, maybe because we too may seek the suspension of disbelief; though another article assigns that grave responsibility to Ives and Thomas More. The more the merrier — we need all the help we can get — but now that I know of him, Genesius will always be my Special Friend.
Forget Quiteria, I vote sainthood for her mother - 9!! at once!!!
CB Sibley almost swayed me with his engaging take on Quinteria. As one who is trying to express my artistic side, the collect for Genesius offering our creative attempts to our Creator God guided my vote. And like another voter mentioned, Robin Williams.
Wow! Guerilla action against the powerful versus an outward action creating internal and eternal change. I almost didn't vote so I could support both. As a teen in DC we did guerrilla theater during the marches on Washington, so I went with the actor who became that which he portrayed. Love the transformative power of art, and of course, of sacraments!
I voted for Genesius because I appreciate the “speaking truth to power” bit. Also, Genesius had to know what was going to happen to him if he witnessed and still did it.
Going with Genesius this morning, though I like both. I, too, like the idea of him acting a role and having it suddenly become real for him. I'm reminded of the way the play within the play in Midsummer Night's Dream is played in the late 90s movie version. Going from broad comedy to suddenly very real.
Today I'm finding it impossible to get into this fantasy world. There are many saints whose lives are better documented and who deserve being more widely known. These two are little more than cartoon characters, and I have other far more weighty things on my mind today. Maybe taking the saints seriously is my problem.
As an actor I have to vote for Genesius. While I admire Quiteria‘s freeing of captives and commitment to her fair, and a devout Anabaptist pacifist I just can’t support warfare or violence.
Having been comic, an actor, and somewhat tortured, it would have to be Genesius for me.
I'm going with Quiteria today. I like Genesius too but in the end, it was Quiteria for me.
Nope, not enough evidence for me that 9 birth sisters would have survived back in those days. Sorry Quinteria, but my vote is reluctantly for Genesius.