🎤 What do you get when you mix papal vestments and Memphis, TN? No, it is not Elvis in a mitre… it is today’s Lent Madness matchup!!!! 😎
In one corner, from Vatican City, 🇻🇦 The defeater of Apostles Thomas and Paul. The man with keys to pearly gates. It is PETER 🔑
In the other corner, from Memphis, TN 🏥 The nuns who stayed when others fled, their healthcare outmatched Cosmas and Damian’s. The Martyrs of Memphis outshined the Martyrs of Uganda. It is Constance and her Companions ✝️
Two more than worthy contenders, two powerful stories of faith and witness, and one step closer to the Golden Halo.
They bring the best kitsch of Memphis and Vatican City swag out today, as they battle for a spot in the Faithful Four… alongside yesterday’s winner 👀
THE ARCH himself, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who dominated Archbishop Janani Luwum 71.69% to 28.31% 🔥 Watch the video, read the blogs, and VOTE 🗳️
We’ve been looking forward to this one all week 🔥 It is the battle of the 🇿🇦Arches🇺🇬!!! The Elate Eight brings us a showdown for the ages. The man who took out Elizabeth Seton, Edith Stein, and apartheid itself… it is Archbishop Desmond Tutu 🙌
But his opponent is no slouch. He has taken down Wang Zhiming, Damien of Hawaii, and stood boldly against Idi Amin. Bishop Pogo’s favorite saint… Archbishop Janani Luwum ✝️
The whole continent of Africa has to be watching as the Archbishop of Cape Town🇿🇦 meets the Archbishop of Uganda🇺🇬. This is a vote to watch across time zones
Who will join our first entrant in the Faithful Four after a huge upset… Martin Luther, who just took down Joan of Arc 54.35 to 45.65% ⚔️🔥
🔥 This is the ELATE 8 🔥 Join Fr. Christian and Fr. Michael for a full breakdown of our final rounds, crown new Canons of Comments, and lift up how these saints have transformed our faith.
The Elate 8 is all about SWAG. We have read the bios. We have heard the legends. Now it is time to see what kind of kitsch and merch these saints bring to the table.
First matchup of the round…
The denominator of denominations. The man who froze Wesley’s warmed heart and kicked the stool out from Richard Hooker… it is MARTIN LUTHER.
But he faces his toughest challenge yet.
Noah had the ark, but Joan has been sailing through this bracket. She sent Marina the Monk packing, put Nino on the midnight train back to Georgia, and now the pride of Orléans steps into another divine showdown… JOAN OF ARC.
Two giants. One spot in the Faithful Four. The Elate Eight is fully set after Constance and Her Companions sent Cosmas and Damian to Graceland, 82.49% to 17.51%. Will the Martyrs of Memphis make it onto the faithful four with either Joan of Arc or Martin Luther?
Watch the video, read the blogs, maybe even grab some merch… and VOTE.
🚨 Special Guest Picker Alert! 🚨 A familiar face returns and we have missed him. The Rev. Tim Schenck is back to help decide who takes the final spot in the Elate Eight. Today is a true healthcare showdown 🏥✨
Cosmas and Damian, the brothers who healed for free, are "Walking in Memphis" to face Constance and her Companions, the nuns who gave their lives caring for those suffering from yellow fever in Memphis, TN
Healing hands vs. sacrificial hearts. Two powerful legacies. One final spot.
Only one will join the original healthcare hero in the Elate Eight, Blessed Gerard. His Hospitallers just sent Clare and the Franciscans home in a nail-biter, 51% to 49%. We expected upsets. We expected heart stopping moments. But who knew we'd all this holy healthcare to bring us through it!
Watch the video, read the blogs, go see your Primary Care Physician, and VOTE!
Another week in the books and we’re one holy showdown closer to the Elate Eight. Today’s matchup is giving family feud, but make it saintly.
It’s sister vs. brother, blessed vs. beloved, hospitalers vs. holiness heavyweights
Clare of Assisi vs Blessed Gerard
Will the founder of the Knights of St. John, yes those legends of Malta and the original ambulance crew 🚑, need to call in backup for Clare? Or will the Franciscan faithful and Clare’s cloistered crew quietly and prayerfully carry her straight into the Elate Eight?
Meanwhile, Archbishop Janani Luwum has already punched his ticket, sending Fr. Damien off to an early offseason with a final score of 69.75% to 30.25%. Somewhere, Damien is catching waves and wondering what could have been.
🚨 SPECIAL GUEST PICKER ALERT 🚨
Apparently this matchup was just too saintly for us to handle alone… so we called in reinforcements 😅
Today’s Lent Madness episode features a celebrity guest picker none other than the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Bishop Anthony Poggo! 🙌 A huge thanks to the good bishop for dropping in and lending some holy wisdom to the madness.
And what a showdown he stepped into…
🔥 The Archbishop who stood fearlessly against Idi Amin
vs.
🔥 The priest who walked straight into a leper colony
It’s Janani Luwum vs. Damien of Molokai, courage meets courage, sacrifice meets sacrifice. No easy votes here, folks.
Meanwhile, yesterday gave us another heart-stopper: Joan of Arc pulls off her SECOND buzzer-beater of Lent Madness, advancing 53.20% to 46.80% 😱⚔️
Who joins Joan in the next round?
That part’s up to you… 🗳️
This matchup sounds like a Southern football rivalry… but it’s actually a global showdown: Orléans vs. Georgia. 🇫🇷🇬🇪
That’s right… Joan of Arc vs. Nino of Georgia.
Will Nino send Joan packing on a midnight train? 🚂
Or will the People’s Champion charge ahead with sword and shield? ⚔️
Two nations’ favorite daughters. Two fearless defenders of the faith. One coveted spot in the Elate Eight.
And waiting there? None other than Peter, who just edged out Thomas by two percent in an apostolic nail-biter.
Who advances? That part is up to you. Vote now.
Nino of Georgia
There’s no shame in admitting you hadn’t heard of Nino before this year’s Lent Madness. I mean, I hadn’t, but now I’m basically an expert, and I’m fully convinced that this is one of the most overlooked and under-celebrated holy women in history.
Everything about Nino’s story is larger than life. She was born in Cappadocia but was raised by nuns in Jerusalem and it was there, in childhood, that she fell in love with Jesus and religious life. Because she was a superstar, she was chosen to go to Rome. There, she made such a name for herself as an evangelist that the anti-Christian emperor pursued her until she was forced to flee to Armenia with a crew of 35 virgins (or so, some accounts say 37!). She baptized all the virgins herself.
In Armenia, another king wanted to get rid of her. (Imagine having one king try to get rid of you, let alone 2?!) And so she fled again and finally reached the land with which she would always be associated, the Kingdom of Iberia which is the modern-day country of Georgia.
If you try to google Nino, you might be confused, since the word is often associated with the child Jesus. The “Santo Nino” is revered by Filipino Catholics, an image of the baby with arms outstretched. But Saint Nino of Georgia’s name is more ancient than a romance language’s association with the child. Some research suggests a link to the Sumerian word "Nin," which means "Lady" or "Mistress." This root is found in the names of ancient deities like Inanna (Nin-ana), hinting at a "great mother" or divine teacher connection.
And Nino is certainly great. Once she reached Georgia, buoyed by a visitation from Mary the Godbearer, she converted hundreds of people to Christianity, until she finally reached the Queen Nana and her husband King Mirian, a third king who wanted nothing to do with her! But with this one, Nino’s religious power prevailed. Seeing his wife healed through the waters of baptism and her new Christian faith, he came to Nino and asked to be baptized.
Nino had fulfilled the mission from God she received at Mary’s visitation: convert the people of Iberia. To this day, she is the “Enlightener of Georgia,” and the Orthodox Church has given her the title “Equal to the Apostles.” But did you know that there is an Episcopal Church in Tbilisi, Georgia? And a Georgian Episcopal Mission in Brooklyn, New York, both indirect legacies of Nino’s influence on the Christian landscape in Georgia.
The best part about Nino, though, is that once she had converted an entire country (to-do list, done!), she retreated to the mountains and spent the rest of her life chilling with other nuns, her OG crew. Now that’s retirement!
Just before the turn of the 4th century, a young girl was born to a Greek-speaking Roman family in Cappadocia. The baby, Nino, would go on to receive the title “Equal to the Apostles” from the Orthodox Church for her role as the “Enlightener of Georgia” -- the woman who converted an entire country.
Nino had prominent parents in Roman society and so was raised by a nun in Jerusalem, immersed in the rhythms of early Roman Christianity. Perhaps because she showed promise as a future religious herself, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was also her uncle, helped her make her way to Rome. There she met and served the lady Hripsime, who had caught the eye of the Emperor Diocletian, a notoriously anti-Christian figure. To avoid his pursuit, with the help of Nino, Hripsime and her companions fled to Armenia. Along the way, Nino baptized the whole crew of women. These “35 virgins” went on to preach the word of God throughout Armenia.
They did not escape the notice of nobility in their new location, however, and soon King Tiridates III called for their beheading. Hripsime was martyred, but Nino made her way out and over to the Kingdom of Iberia, the modern-day country of Georgia.
There, she had her famous vision: Mary the Godbearer extending a cross of grapevines, with the instruction that Mary would be her shield in the work of converting the people there to the saving faith in Jesus. Nino received the grapevine cross and tied it with her own hair. Today, the “grapevine cross” is distinct for its drooping arms.
Nino traveled all over the Kingdom of Iberia converting people to Christianity. Eventually, she encountered Queen Nana, who had long suffered from debilitating illness. Nino healed her, and baptized her. Her husband, King Mirian, initially rejected his wife’s conversion, until his own miracle occurred. After being struck blind on an excursion, he prayed to the God of his wife and begged for healing. With his sight restored, he, too, was baptized, and became the first Christian King of Iberia, securing the role of Christianity in the kingdom. Nino, seeing that she had fulfilled the instructions from her vision, she retreated to the mountains, where she spent her remaining days living a monastic life.
Today, Nino is a Georgian national hero, whose faith laid the groundwork for the Georgian Orthodox Church. The name Nino is still to this day the most popular name for women in the country.
— Julia Offinger
Joan of Arc
Let's get the wondrously ridiculous part out of the way up front: Joan of Arc is the only person in recorded history to be condemned and canonized by the same institution. The Catholic Church burned her as a heretic in 1431 and declared her a saint in 1920. Now, the Church did eventually come around…it just took 489 years.
In the meantime, she has accumulated a patronage list that covers a surprising amount of ground: France, obviously, but also soldiers, prisoners, and, perhaps most fittingly, people ridiculed for their piety. If you have ever been the person who said grace at a restaurant and caught a sideways look, she is apparently your girl.
Something her accusers probably wished they hadn't pressed her on: Joan never actually killed anyone in battle. She went into combat carrying her banner rather than a weapon quite deliberately. She refused to take a life. She was shot with an arrow between the neck and shoulder and still returned to the field to lead the final assault, all with a banner as her beacon. When asked whether she preferred her banner or her sword, she had an answer ready:
"Better — forty times better — my banner than my sword!"
Then there is the matter of that sword. Before her first campaign, Joan sent men to a church in Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois with instructions to dig behind the altar. Her voices had described it to her: ancient, rusted, marked with five crosses. To everyone’s great surprise, it was exactly where she said it would be. When the rust was cleaned away, the five crosses appeared. For the skeptics in the room, evidence suggests she had never been to that church.
Her trial transcripts are one of the great documents of the medieval period — and one of the more remarkable examples of a teenager refusing to be outmaneuvered by grown men, much less a room full of hostile clerics. When pressed with a question designed to trap her, she replied:
"Children say that people are hanged sometimes for speaking the truth."
And when she left her village for the first time to seek the king, she said not "I am not afraid" which is the version that gets stitched onto throw pillows. She said something with considerably more edge to it:
"I do not fear the soldiers, for my road is made open to me. It was for this that I was born!"
She was nineteen when she died. She never learned to read or write. Everything we know of her in her own voice comes from the transcript of a trial designed to destroy her. That her voice comes through so clearly anyway is, in its own way, a kind of miracle.
Who needs a March Madness bracket when today’s Saintly Sixteen matchup is basically a championship game? 🏀
First, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! ☘️ We wish everyone a wonderful feast day… though sadly Patrick didn’t make the cut in this year’s Lent Madness bracket. But today we do have two #1 seeds going head to head in the Apostles & Allies region, and the prize is a trip to the Elate Eight.
In one corner: The Rock. The man with the keys to the kingdom and a chair with his name on it in Rome… St. Peter. 🔑 In the other: The Apostle to India, the man stuck with the most unfair nickname in history… St. Thomas (who asked one honest question and has been hearing about it ever since). 🤨
It’s PETER vs. THOMAS.
Watch today’s video for our surprising picks, read the blogs for an incredible breakdown of myths and legends, and cast your vote to see who joins St. Benedict, who just sent Anthony the Great back to the desert 77.22% to 22.38%, in the Elate Eight. 🏆 #LentMadness
It’s officially the Saintly Sixteen's Monday Madness as we power through the entire second round this week! In today's video we’ll crown two new Canons of Comments, share stories of how these saints have shaped our faith, and gear up for today’s GREAT matchup.
It’s St. Benedict of Nursia vs. St. Anthony the Great.
Can Padre Alberto’s favorite saint work and pray his way to the Elate Eight after already knocking off a "Great," Basil? Or will the Father of All Monks remind Benedict how monasticism was done before it was cool? Rule of St. Benedict vs Desert Father energy. Monastery life vs cave life. Schedule vs solitude.
Only you decide. Watch the video, read the blogs, and vote! 🏆
Day 2 of the Saintly Sixteen is underway, and yesterday’s matchup certainly shook things up. Martin Luther hammered Richard Hooker and his famous three-legged stool, after already knocking John Wesley and the Quadrilateral out in round one. The question now: can anyone stop Luther?
