Nominationtide is upon us!

For one full week, the Supreme Executive Committee will be accepting nominations for Lent Madness 2023. The nominating period will remain open through Monday, May 16, at which point this brief exercise in Lenten democracy will cease and the SEC will return to their regularly scheduled benevolently authoritarian ways.

Nominationtide, the most underrated of liturgical seasons, never begins at the same time other than the vague "sometime after Easter Day." This is partly because Tim and Scott have day jobs and partly because "whim" is one of their ecclesiastical charisms. But it's here! And the world rejoices!

To insure your SUCCESSFUL nomination, please note the Nominationtide Rules & Regulations, which reside in an ancient illuminated manuscript tended to by aged monks who have been set aside by saints and angels for this holy calling.

  1. The nominee must, in fact, be dead.
  2. The nominee must be on the official calendar of saintly commemorations of some church.
  3. We will accept only one nomination per person.
  4. You must tell us WHY you are nominating your saint.
  5. The ONLY way to nominate a saint will be to leave a comment on this post.
  6. That means comments left on Facebook, Twitter, attached to a brick and thrown through the window at Forward Movement headquarters, or placed on giant placards outside the residences of Tim or Scott don’t count.

As you discern saints to nominate, please keep in mind that a number of saints are ineligible for next year’s Saintly Smackdown. Based on longstanding tradition, this includes the entire field of Lent Madness 2022, those saints who made it to the Round of the Elate Eight in 2021 and 2020, and those from the 2019 Faithful Four.

Needless to say Jesus, Mary, Tim, Scott, past or present Celebrity Bloggers, 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. Do not waste your precious nomination on an ineligible saint!

For the sake of "transparency," the rest of the process unfolds thusly: Tim and Scott will gather for the annual Spring SEC Retreat at a secure, undisclosed location/coffee shop to consider the nominations and create a full, fun, faithful, and balanced bracket of 32 saints. Then all will be revealed on All Brackets' Day, November 3rd. Or at least, "that's the ways we've always done it."

Time to nominate your favorite saint! But first, look over this list.

The Saints of Lent Madness 2022 (ineligible)

Stephen
Wenceslaus
Teresa of Avila
Crispin
Perpetua
Cecelia
Juliana of Liege
Blaise
Juana Inés de la Cruz
Gabriel the Archangel
Origen
Hilda of Whitby
Columbanos
Drogo
Mesrop Mashtots
Madeline Sophie Barat
Melania the Elder
Hilary of Poitiers
Aloysius Gonzaga
Thomas of Villanova
Felix of Burgundy
Oscar of Ansgar
Thomas Aquinas
Jerome
Emma of Hawaii
Hugh of Lincoln
José Gregorio Hernández
Constance of Memphis
James Holly
Lydia
Olaf
Kateri Tekakwitha

Past Golden Halo Winners (ineligible)

George Herbert, C.S. Lewis, Mary Magdalene, Frances Perkins, Charles Wesley, Francis of Assisi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Florence Nightingale, Anna Alexander, Martha of Bethany, Harriet Tubman, Absalom Jones, José Hernández

From 2019 to 2021 (ineligible)

Gobnait
Zenaida
Pandita Ramabai
Herman of Alaska
Hildegard of Bingen
Elizabeth Fry
Joseph
Camillus de Lellis
Benedict the Moor
Ives of Kermartin
Albert the Great
Theodore the Empress
Catherine Booth
2022 Golden Halo mug

As you contemplate your (single!) nomination, why not aid your reflection and sharpen your focus with a hot mug of your favorite beverage? The most effective way to do this, of course, is by reverently sipping out of a Lent Madness mug from the Lentorium. We assume you’ve already ordered your José Hernández 2022 Golden Halo winner mug, but if not, here’s the link.

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260 comments on “Nominationtide is upon us!”

  1. I wish to nominate Jonathan Daniels. He was an Episcopal seminarian who was killed while working for black voter rights in Selma, Alabama. He was a year away from graduating from seminary when he was killed in 1965.

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  2. Mother Theresa. She's dead. She is honored by the Roman Catholics. She is awesome! We can all learn from this modern day saint.

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  3. St. Dorothy. The one who condemned her challenged her to produce fresh fruit or flowers on the winter's day of her execution to prove the power of her God. Shortly after her death, a young boy appeared to the condemner with a bowl of fresh fruit. He was converted and ultimately martyred for his faith. Dorothy is the patron saint of gardeners and florists.

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  4. I nominate St. Francisco Marto, one of the youths to whom Our Lady of Fatima appeared to between May and October of 1917. I choose him for two reasons. First, because his name was the name I chose when I was confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church. Second, because regardless of what you believe about the Fatima apparitions, it is clear that the event had a lasting impact on young Francisco, his sister Jacinta and their cousin Lucia. As such they are great examples of faithfulness and piety in the youngest members of the Church.

    4
  5. Corrie Ten Boom -- She fought to save Jews during the Nazi occupation.
    I don't know if she is recognized as a saint on a calendar, but maybe this counts "The Yad Vashem Remembrance Authority in[23] Israel honored her by naming her Righteous Among the Nations on December 12, 1967.[23]" From Wikipaedia.

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  6. St Barbara, because she and I share a name, and because of the complexity of her supposed existence: the Orthodox Church recognizes her, but she was booted out of the communion of saints in Vatican II. She’s the patron of artillerymen and brewers, and thus must be unique among the saints in having her own baseball team.

    4
  7. My nomination is Mother Alfred Moes who supported the financing of the Mayo Clinic. My reason for nominating her is 3 fold. First, history as recorded by Ken Burns in his documentary on the Mayo Clinic’s demonstrate that they would not have existed or, not in the same way, without her assistance and persistence. Second, this is another instance in which a significant contribution by women has been unacknowledged and ignored. Third, the Mayos were neither Roman Catholics nor “religious”, yet the combination of the Sisters and the Mayos resulted in significant change within the health care system world wide.

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  8. I suggest St Gerard. He is the patron saint of mothers, and in these trying times, I think he would be an excellent candidate. With all of the controversy over Roe GSS Wade, abortion legislation, and the emotional conflict involved with these issues, St Gerard should be “ in our corner.”

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    1. questio n

      why would a man be the patron saint of mothers??

      besides, i alwsys understood that to be Mary's role.

  9. I nominate St Mark

    He is the patron saint of my church family, but truly I know little about him! For shame!

    I would love to see him win the Golden Halo!

  10. I wish to nominate St Cuthman of Steyning (pronounced Stenning). Thought to have been converted by St Wilfred, he took his disabled mother with him on his travels by pushing her in a wheelbarrow, eventually settling in Steyning where he founded the church there. He is credited with many miracles.

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  11. Archbishop Desmond Tutu - because blessed are the peacemakers. His role in combatting apartheid, in the truth and reconciliation commission, in interfaith dialog with the Dalai Lama.

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    1. I second your pick. The Archbishop has always been a favorite of mine. His book "God Has a Dream" I reread often. Also his book "The Book of Joy" with the Dalai Lama is a keeper. W

      1
  12. I nominate Pauli Murray. Clearly Murray’s star is in the ascendant, and we could avoid all the hoopla and declare Murray the winner by fiat.

    More seriously, Murray’s life and witness speak to us of the limitless love of God. Rooted in her family’s past, speaking to our futures, Murray’s life stands at the busy intersection of race and gender, sexuality and justice, pointing us to that still center of the turning world.

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    1. Hear, hear! I was sorely disappointed that Murray didn't make it on the bracket for 2022.

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  13. Harry T Burleigh his music has inspired so many. His feast day is Sept. 11th.

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  14. St. Katherine Drexel who devoted her life and the congregation she founded to the care of the Native American and African American peoples of the United States. She was an heiress and gave up her fortune to care for the less fortunate.

    10
  15. It isn’t right that a person be ineligible just because they’re not on the official calendar yet. The Rev Suzanne Radley Hiatt, one of the Philadelphia Eleven, was the impetus for that event on July 29, 1974. Those women who are priests today, myself included, owe Sue their thanks. Who knows when the ordination of women would have taken place without her tireless commitment.

    3
  16. Gladys Aylward is my nominee because she overcame enormous obstacles to follow the call from God. She didn’t let lack of education, lack of money or lack of support from the church stop her mission. She is a wonderful modern example for today’s people of God.

    4
    1. I spent some time on campus of William Carey in Pasadena for mime training (and when hanging out with friends there while in seminary)... one of the dormitories there is the Gladys Aylward house and a got to learn a (very) little bit of her story while there!

  17. I would like to nominate St. Raymond Nonnatus. He is the patron of pregnant women, midwives, newborn babies and the confidentiality of confession. A neat fact is that people bring locks to the altar of St. Nonnatus to end the sin of gossip. His feast day is August 31st.

    6
  18. Caedmon because through the grace of God, he overcame his feelings of inability to speak and ended up creating a poem of praise to God. He may not be in the official calendar, but, thanks to Hilda, we do know about him. I do agree with the person who nominated Desmond Tutu, but Caedmon is my nominee.

    4
  19. Margaret of Scotland. Why? She worked with Scottish Clergy to reform church practices regarding Lent and the Lord’s Day. She encouraged the founding of hospitals, schools and orphanages. She and Malcolm rebuilt the monastery of Iona and founded Dunfermline Abbey. She wasn’t successful in everything she attempted but some reform in the Church made her Scotland’s most beloved saint. And, why not?

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    1. She was up a couple of 2 or 3 years ago and did well. Maybe she will be given a 2nd chance.

      3
    2. I am happy to see that St. Margaret of Scotland is nominated. I would have nominated her myself. In addition to Robyn's notes on her, it is believed that St. Margaret was present at the laying of the cornerstone for Durham Cathedral in 1093. There is an altar for her in the Cathedral. (Also, the Anglican Church Women's Guild at my church is named for her).

      2
  20. Saint Seraphim of Sarov, a contemplative monk who lived in a cave in the wild among animals, and revered all God's creatures. He is often depicted with a large bear.

    3
  21. I nominate Nikolaus Ludwig con Zinzendorf because he is considered, as Karl Barth put it, “perhaps the only genuine Christocentric of the modern age” In other words, “the noble Jesus freak”(George Forell). I have this at my fingertips because I will do a reflection on him for our Wednesday morning worship service.

    2
  22. St Laura - not because of similar nomenclature to me but because I can’t figure out why she’s listed among the martyrs of Cordoba but not really one of them, also because was it burning LEAD or PITCH? No one can clear this up for me and I think the scrutiny from being part of Lenten Madness would train some far better scholarly eyes upon these cruxes (not, surely, Whorecruxes) . Thanks so much for consideration!

    1. I definitely need a coffee mug declaring St. Laura as winner of the Golden Halo. I would bring that to church every Sunday.

      1
  23. I nominate St. Martin de Porres, one of Peru’s two great patron saints. He cared for the poor, the elderly and animals, planting fruit trees around Lima so that the poor might eat. He was an apothecary, having healing gifts. He was biracial & suffered discrimination within his own Dominican order. But he prevailed by sheer goodness. He is one of a few saints known to have bilocated. Peruvian sailors encountered him as far away as Japan, though he never left Peru. Over 100 poor are fed daily in his family home up to this present time. He is a patron of social justice and people of mixed race, and dearly loved by the people of Peru.

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  24. I nominate Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf because he is considered, as Karl Barth put it, “perhaps the only genuine Christocentric of the modern age” In other words, “the noble Jesus freak”(George Forell). I have this at my fingertips because I will do a reflection on him for our Wednesday morning worship service.

    1
  25. St. Josephine Bakhita. Canonized in the Catholic Church in 2000.
    Born in Sudan and sold into slavery at age 9.Patron saint of victims of slavery and trafficked persons. I nominate her because of the horror of human trafficking throughout the world and the need for all people of faith to address its root causes in all sectors of society.

    8
  26. I nominate Pauli Murray. She was a civil rights activist in the time of FDR, a lawyer and the first woman African American Episcopal priest. According to A Great Cloud of Witnesses, her 1951 book was a basis for Thurgood Marshall’s work on Brown v. Board of Education. She is commemorated on July 1.

    6
  27. I would like to nominate John Coltrane, the jazz musician and saint of the African Orthodox Church. His spiritual conversion helped him overcome drug addiction and inspired his music the rest of his life. He was an inspiration to me, and my personal favorite jazz musician. His feast day is December 8th. His picture is also among those figures on Gregory of Nyssa church. A worthy competitor for Lent Madness.

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