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.
[poll id="207"]
280 comments on “Genesius vs. Quiteria”
I am not sure why the nurse was not recommended for sainthood. Imagine raising nine babies, talk about sleepless nights. And what a great group of woman she raised.
Sisters are doing it for themselves!!!!
TEMPTING TO GO HEADLONG INTO VOTING FOR EITHER GENESIUS OR QUITERIA, BUT THE REPENTENT COMEDIAN TURNED MY HEAD
The amazing grace of seeing the real blessing of God while denying and ridiculing, and being wholly embraced to the point of evangelism made Genesius my choice.
Come on, comedy! Let’s live on in the collective last laugh on the authorities!
This was so much more difficult that the Peter/Paul match-up, for me. As a "ham" and the fact that I writing a piece that will hopefully do some awareness raising I really wanted to vote fore Genesius. But the idea of a gang of women (I led a gang when I was younger) out and about for prisoner rescuing was too much for me to pass up. Go Quinteria Girl!
Weakest choice I ever remember in Lent Madness. Both are examples of why institutionally designated Saint status can sometimes be just ludicrous. So far this year, Lent Madness is off to a very weak start, with three of the first six choices making the game feel more like a farce or satire.
Oh, lighten up! It's Lent Madness. Take off the sack cloth and wash off the ashes. LOL
Well said!
As the SEC says every year...
Lent Madness is optional!
None must, some should, all can.
Interesting quote as we talked about it yesterday in our confirmation class at church. I like this one as it is a different order , but it does speak to giving everyone permission to join in, and thus this response.
Genesius! I am so glad to see him here. Art is indeed truth, and I love the way his was first reached through his involvement with the arts.
I loved the story of those feisty sister's, but I guess I couldn't get the vision of Genesius' transformation out of my head and how he refused to back down, standing form for his faith. A tough choice for sure because of a job well done by both authors.
Who needs super heroes when you have Quiteria? When is the Nonuplet Warrior Gang movie?
I've heard of Genesius forever, but never bothered to find out who he was. His story really speaks to me, so I'm voting for him. Thanks so much for including him; next time I see a reference to him, I'll understand why!
The accounts of both saints are a bit fanciful, but surely there were good people at the root of the fanciful accounts. Because the Church seems to think about 80% of the saints are male, I have to go with Quinteria and her sisters.
Good to know about these two, but I have loved Santa Liberata for years and My vote goes to her sister.
(I got a pop up ad when I voted today...)
My vote’s for Quiteria. A feisty lady!
Tough choice today. In the end I chose Quiteria simply because she chose to give her life for others - would we do the same?.
This was a really tough vote. I love theater and I laughed out loud to hear the story of Genesius. But there's just something about feisty girls running around freeing prisoners that's compelling. I think they should make a movie about Quiteria and perhaps invoke St. Genesius while doing it! But in any case, my vote went to Quiteria.
I’m married to an actor. Naturally, I had to vote for the comedian.
Genesius. Because this great story hit me personally. As a young teen I was a hanger-on in an Episcopal youth group, but I rarely attended worship because I found their ritualistic worship style contrived and goofy. When the curate / youth pastor was ordained to the priesthood there, though, I sat up front with the rest of the youth group. And -- I am much more embarrassed now to tell it; at the time I was more completely puzzled than embarrassed -- I found myself giggling uncontrollably throughout the liturgy. I could not stop. Twelve years later after much spiritual wandering, I found my way into an Episcopal parish and almost immediately fell in love with everything about the Episcopal Church. (Well, almost everything: I still hold the same opinion about the similarity between a communion wafer and a flattened styrofoam ball that I did when I was 14!) Four years later I started seminary, and I'm now in my 29th year as a parish priest. Genesius thought he was the playwright, but we're all just players in the theatre of God's love, and the Divine Comedian always has the last and best laugh.
I am smiling broadly reading your story. God definitely loves to have the last laugh on us. Thanks for sharing!
I couldn’t vote as I just came on this site. I got a laugh out of your description of the communion wafers. I need to ask
If you ever tried the candy wafers that have beads in them? They are shaped like saucers and different colors. I would’ve also voted for Genesis as he stood his ground for his faith!
Quiteria for me, since she had the nerve and verve to stand up to authority, even after death!
Genesius because his conversion and martyrdon is more believable
Genesius. His story teaches us many things: how comedy often contains a hidden truth which reveals itself with a change in perspective; how an unexpected encounter with God can change our lives; and what a sense of humour God can have him/herself--to convert an actor while he is on stage and so cannot escape the encounter. Perfect!
Nonuplets who survived in that era...without medical intervention yet? I don't believe a word of Quiteria's story. I voted for Genesius. I love a man with a sense of humor!
Far fetched...I hate auto correct!I agree with Marilyn.
Hard choice but Quiteria was faithful for much longer, holding out against her father over a period of years. So she has my vote.
This is the most entertaining battle. I almost went with Genesius because I like his name and laughter is at the heart of love. I went with Quiteria and her gang of sisters (not quite believable but a great story) for standing up to the pagans and freeing Christians.
The French seem to like their beheaded saints to carry their own heads; St Denis did the same thing. I am sorry that Mrs. Uplet denied her children and made them non-uplets. But perhaps she would have had a tough time finding nine eligible bachelors for the Miss Uplets so drowning them seemed practical. Gilbert and Sullivan were not yet born, so there was no song to inspire them to wed Pagans of Penzance who were actually Christians gone wrong:
Here's a first rate opportunity
To get married with impunity
And indulge in the felicity
Of unbounded domesticity.
You shall quickly be parsonified,
Conjugally matrimonified,
By a Doctor of Divinity
Who is located in this vicinity.
So the girls became pirates themselves. Very practical.
To me the choice here is between two stories, since both the major actors get beheaded. I find little here to guide me in choosing responses to gun violence. But the girls break out in "feminine jouissance"; their guerrilla warfare is at least an effort to fight back. They become a major "symptom" of the denial of their personhood. The students in Parkland, FL have fought back through social media, telling their stories and demanding gun control. They refuse to be silenced and quickly sought to seize the narrative first, before the senators could say "nothing can be done; laws wouldn't help." So I vote for Quiteria, who wouldn't quit.
Toughest match up thus far. I had pretty much decided on Genesius, since the late night comedians are saving my sanity these days, but your Gilbert and Sullivan homage and Parkland commentary are making me rethink AGAIN!
Placet.
Love this response, especially because it burst into song! 😀
Also because we are shown so much about life in every Saintly story. Quiteria’s tale being so fairy-tale-ish makes it more possible that it was a lost pre-Christian tale we may never know, but whatever kernels of wisdom and grace the story possessed were treasured, and thus preserved, by Christian communities. Also FEMALE GANGS to free prisoners?! Please sign this lefty lawyer right up.
Your Gilbert and Sullivan is wonderful! Thank you, St. Celia!
Genesius has an epiphany and is moved to share the good news with the person he is with...the emperor. What an amazing, reckless act of courage. Inspiring!
Nonuplets - don't believe a word of Quiteria's story. But it sure is a great story. Voted for Quiteria!
I loved the write-ups today. Nice job bloggers but I just couldn't buy the nonuplets. 3 sets of triplets - maybe. And those that want more "serious" saints, perhaps, don't really get Lent Madness.
I love reading all your comments, your personal connections that led to your vote, and your reasoning behind the decision, And...I love the nod to Robin Williams! For me, I can ponder why I chose Quiteria over Genesius.