The Saintly Sixteen continues with a matchup between two inspiring women, Anna Alexander and Edith Cavell. To get to this round, Anna got by Peter Claver while Edith surprised John Wesley.
Yesterday, Maria Skobtsova advanced to the Elate Eight by trouncing Quiteria by what is likely a record margin, 91% to 9%. We're too lazy to look back at all the previous matchups to figure out if this is an actual record margin, but knock yourself out and let us know. She'll face the winner of Martin de Porres vs. Dymphna.
"Hey, wait," you're thinking to yourself, "What happened to this week's episode of Monday Madness?" Don't worry, you're not losing a step. Due to some technical difficulties based on being in exotic locales like outside-of-Cleveland, there was a glitch in the production process. Look for a better-late-than-never edition later today.
Anna Alexander
“The Bar is Open!” is not a phrase uttered by Deaconess Anna Alexander, but it could be. Stories tells us that when the diocese would not build her a new church, she took over an abandoned whiskey bar and converted the bar to an altar to God. Come one, come all to the Bar of Christ! Maybe church membership would not be in decline if we decided to implement such creative practices in getting the job done as Deaconess Anna.
But Deaconess Alexander’s zeal for her fellow brothers and sisters in Christ did not just begin or end at the Altar of God, she walked the talk right out into her community and kept walking by foot to spread the word of God to African American Georgians between the towns of Brunswick and Darian. That’s what I call a real ChristWalk (™)! The children she touched along the way went on to become teachers, nurses, and advocates in their own communities for the education and inclusion of black people in the south. Deaconess Alexander is the pebble that was dropped in the pond of Georgia that had ripples of impact that went on for generations.
Recollections from her students account Deaconess Alexander as both mother and father to the children in Pennick, Georgia. No matter how bad her students acted, she responded with kindness and a firm assurance that learning to read and write would make a difference one day, even if her students did not realize it now. Students remember that Anna Alexander would not just ensure her students were well educated enough for college, she would drive them there if they did not have the means to do so. She was known for providing not just education, but clothes, food, and shelter to ensure the well being of her flock.
What comes to my mind as I read about Deaconess Alexander is a saying my father said to me growing up. He would say, no matter the situation, “Anna, soft overcomes hard.” Like my father, Deaconess Alexander responded to all from a place of consistency, tough love, and enduring kindness, to soften the hardest hearts. Her love established something that the community recognizes it needs more than ever today: how do we love others, more than we love ourselves? How do we love others enough to not just fix things on the surface, but to strive for a change that makes the world a better place? Through this softness she made a place for her children, assured their future, established a place for women and African Americans in the Episcopal church and lived the words that Jesus charged to us when he said, “Love one another.”
Edith Cavell
While some saints were deeply devout to all things God and church from infancy, Edith was not one of these saints. She was a typical child of her era. An avid artist (several of her paintings survive) and active outdoorswoman, she found Sundays tedious, as her father kept a strict Sabbath – no reading from any book other than the Bible, no play, and certainly no card games. We glimpse Edith’s opinion of this Sunday routine in a letter to a cousin, where she says, “Do come and stay again soon, but not for a weekend. Father’s sermons are so long and dull.” Servants of the household also frequently discovered the Cavell children deeply involved in card games while their father made Sunday parish calls.
Edith eventually found her way into nursing. Again, while some saints discovered their vocation and received glowing reviews, Edith reminds us of the beautiful holiness of mediocrity. Her nursing instructor said of her, “Edith had plenty of capacity for her work, when she chose to exert herself,” noting, “She was not at all punctual.”
As the daughter of a priest and an educated woman of her time, Edith was not expected to become a career woman. In fact, she received heavy criticism for her desire to become a career nurse. Edith observed in a letter to her family, “The old idea that it is a disgrace for women to work is still held in Belgium and women of good birth and education still think they lose caste by earning their own living.”
Nevertheless, she persisted in her calling and career as a nurse.
Edith ministered at the Red Cross Hospital in Belgium, where all wounded soldiers, regardless of nationality, received equal care. Edith was eventually arrested and tried for “assisting men to the enemy.”
In the hours before her execution, her chaplain reports she said, “I have no fear nor shrinking; I have seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me.” She said goodbye to her priest, adding she would see him again in the presence of God.
Edith was executed by a German firing squad on October 12, 1915.
Edith, quite contrary to her desire only to be remembered as a nurse who did her duty, was recast as a national martyr. She has numerous memorials in England, including a statue near Trafalgar Square in London inscribed with her most famous quote, “Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”
Her other memorials include Mount Edith Cavell in the Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, several movies, musicals, and masses and an opera composed in the late 1920’s, of which two of three acts have been found.
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196 comments on “Anna Alexander vs. Edith Cavell”
I agree with everyone; this is a tough choice. In the end I think I will go for Anna because she did all that work and went unrecognized.
Anna serves as an example for all of us, striving every day to help others and to spread the Christian faith. Thank you Anna for reminding us that we all are called to share our gifts.
"Soft comes hard." I need to remember this.
I wanted both of these women to win. Both did God's work through their own life choices. Edith was killed on my birthday, Oct 12, so that gave her a little edge, but I live in Georgia and I know how important it is to instill love of learning to children who don't always have opportunity, so I went with Anna.
I'm not sure if "Edith, quite contrary to her desire only to be remembered as a nurse who did her duty, was recast as a national martyr" is quite accurate. Recently discovered information has revealed that she was in fact sending secret intelligence to the British and thus essentially acting as a spy. The MI5 wanted to suppress this information and also use Cavell's death as a useful propaganda tool.
I suppose how this plays into one's view of her saintliness depends on one's views of WWI.
A difficult choice, but I had to go with Anna. Have lived in both Georgia and Belgium, so I couldn't use "Where have I lived? " to make a connection. Why do you have to make it so difficult?
It was so hard to pick today. I thought about closing my eyes and hitting the screen. Both were remarkable women. I am blessed to have learned about their lives and wonderful works. In the end, I think I will vote for Edith.
We owe so much to african-Americans for our history of slavery and bigotry. Anna worked tirelessly in the face of adversity. She has my vote.
Anna got my vote but “the beautiful holiness of mediocrity”, in reference to Cavell, is the phrase that stuck with me. I’m going to go hunt for some holiness in my mediocrity.
I am a nurse, could I vote for anyone other than Edith? Anna comes close but Edith won my vote! Tough choice today.
A very difficult choice - both such amazing women who greatly enriched the lives around them. What tipped my hand was a simple and frivolous thing... that my mother chose to climb many times into the crawl space under their home to retrieve the cards that my grandfather had tossed through the unfinished floor to keep her from utilizing the devil's playthings! Nevertheless, Edith, and my mother, persisted in their passion for cards!
This is a really tough matchup, and either one is worthy of the Golden Halo in my book! But as a practicing RN for almost 40 years, who also didn't get glowing reviews as a student at times, today I must go with Edith.
Yes this is a very difficult choice. I too am one of those who just kind of skates through life with only mediocre effort. I really could do much better if I applied myself. I am however, very punctual. But when I read Anna's story, I immediately thought of one of my favorite fellowship activities "Beer and Hymns". Anna gets my vote.
Since I admire both, I followed my habit in such situations by checking vote totals and voting for the one with the lower total. Either would be a good example for us, but I want the vote to be close.
In today's political climate, Edith's quote, "Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness toward anyone", was the tipping point for me. She got my vote!
Tough choices today! I agree, Golden Halo for both women would be most appropriate. As a nurse and a nursing instructor, I had a hard time to decide between the nurse and the teacher. In the end I went with Edith, but am blessed by now knowing about Anna as well. I will strive to follow in both their footsteps.
Tough choice today. I'm still pondering my vote.
Anna Alexander was virtually unknown to me before this edition of Lent Madness, while as the result of many visits to the UK I knew the story of Edith Cavell fairly well. It took me a while to agree with the "recasting" of her as a "national martyr" in the '20s partly because it sounds as though Edith was being co-opted into a form of civil religion rather than being recognized as a saint in Christian terms. I view her differently today. However, my dawning recognition of the role of African-American in all aspects of American life--the nearly invisible brought into our vision by a certain softening of our hearts--makes the example of Anna one I can strive to follow wholeheartedly, so she received my vote.
As a nurse I support the nurse and the call to care
Edith's unwillingness to be bitter is even more admirable when you know the full extent of what happened to her, which hasn't been mentioned. Britain thought they would go in and win WWI rapidly and be home by Christmas. By the time Edith was tried, the Brits were weary of the war, the Americans weren't involved yet, and the end was nowhere in sight.
The Americans and the Spaniards made desperate efforts to save her life; the Brits did not. I am English, BTW. From what I've read, it seems Edith was a pawn, at least to an extent, in rallying public opinion in support of the war - a young woman martyred for God and Country. Had she been spared, the support of the war might not have sustained the effort until the Americans joined in.
A terrible thought, but Edith may well have saved many, many more lives than anyone will ever know.
I've read that, too. But I can't agree with you that Edith's death being used to gain more support for the war saved lives. If the war had ended in 1915 or 1916, far fewer people would have died.
“Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”
Edith's quote is striking a cord with me today. In my mind, respect for humanity should outrank everything. It doesn't matter the source of a disrespect, my personal responsibility is respect.
As a teacher and as a Georgian, I had to vote for Anna. I loved both choices in the earlier round, but Anna is the one I find myself gravitating to here. Her work built more than just educated people, it built a legacy of caring which is long lasting.
I decided on anna. What a difficult choice. Both are saints in my book. I'd like to vote for both! Not possible and a no vote doesn't count.
I chose Edith because she had a relatable child life.
Had me a bar.
Both these biographies were so beautifully written! Really made both of these remarkable women come alive for me. Wish I could vote for both.
The apparently somewhat controversial quote about Edith having "plenty of capacity for her work, when she chose to exert herself,” actually helped me to identify with her. I do admire Edith, but Anna is the clear choice here, and she got my vote.
"... the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church" Tertullian
We sometimes forget that Christianity was built on the blood of martyrs because it happened in such a remote past. Edith has my vote.
Anna gets my vote, partly because of her father's maxim, "Soft overcomes hard." That is a difficult maxim to live by, but I have seen it prevailing in so many situations.