With the final battle of Elate Eight week, we will head into the weekend with the full slate of the Faithful Four. After yesterday's victory by Franz Jägerstätter over Mecthild of Magdeburg 67% to 33%, three of the four tickets have been punched. Franz will join Stephen and Florence Nightingale while we await the outcome of today's battle between Raymond Nonnatus and Amelia Bloomer.

To make it this far, Raymond defeated John of Nepomuk and Moses the Black while Amelia made it past Philipp Melanchthon and Fanny Crosby.

Are you ready for the final three days of the 2017 Saintly Smackdown? Here's how it will go: On Monday Stephen will face Franz. On Tuesday today's winner will face Florence Nightingale. On Spy Wednesday, we'll send one of the two remaining saints to (additional) eternal glory by awarding the coveted Golden Halo. There's a lot more Madness to come but that's how next week will go.

In the meantime, vote! And spend the weekend preparing for next week's final flourish.

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Holy upsets, Batman! Florence Nightingale has spoiled the 500th year of the Reformation with a 54% to 46% victory over Martin Luther. That sound you hear? Brackets being busted everywhere and fans of Luther crying in their beer steins. Florence has joined Stephen in the Faithful Four with two more spots remaining open.

Speaking of Luther and Lutherans (and Germany, for that matter), our two Lutheran Celebrity Bloggers, David Hansen and Beth Lewis, are going head-to-head today. Now, some saints have an incredible amount of kitsch in their kollective kupboards. Franz Jägerstätter and Mechtild of Magdeburg are not those saints. But does this stop our Celebrity Bloggers from scouring the internet? Of course not! They are always looking for the next kitsch to die in.

To get to the Elate Eight, Franz beat Joan of Arc and Sarah the Matriarch while Mechtild got past Isaac the Syrian and Odo of Cluny. Who will take the third spot in the Faithful Four? Well, that's up to you.

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A day after Stephen became the first saint to make it to the Faithful Four, by defeating Augustine of Canterbury 62% to 38%, the Elate Eight rolls on!

Today it's Martin Luther taking on Florence Nightingale in a matchup featuring two saintly heavyweights of kitsch. To make it to this point, Martin defeated David Oakerhater and Joseph Schereschewsky while Florence got the best of Anselm of Canterbury and Henry Beard Delany.

Yes, folks, March Madness may be done (congrats to the North Caroline Tar Heels) but Lent Madness is just heating up!

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And then there were eight. We started with 32 saints and 3/4 of them have been sent packing. Welcome, friends, to the Elate Eight.

Who remains? Well, after Amelia Bloomer made it past Fanny Crosby yesterday 59% to 41%, she will join Stephen, Augustine of Canterbury, Franz Jägerstätter, Mechtild of Magdeburg, Raymond Nonnatus, Martin Luther, and Florence Nightingale. One of these remaining eight will be awarded the coveted 2017 Golden Halo!

Things kick off with two heavyweights of the faith as Stephen takes on Augustine of Canterbury. Yes, it’s the Church’s Protomartyr vs. the Apostle to the English. To make it to this point Stephen defeated Alban and Henry Budd while Augustine took down Augustine of Hippo and Scholastica. Don't forget to click the Bracket tab and scroll down to be reminded of what was written about these two in the earlier rounds.

The Elate Eight is also known as the round of Saintly Kitsch. After basic biographies, quirks and quotes, what else could there be? Now, there are always some folks who take offense to this approach — we call them Kitsch Kranks. Please remember that this round is not meant to belittle or demean our saintly heroes but to have some fun and gaze in wide wonder at the breadth of devotional practice. So kindly relax and enjoy the spirit of the Madness as we push ever onward toward our goal.

Finally, if you want to know more about, and see some examples of, saintly kitsch, tune in to this week’s episode of Monday Madness in which Tim and Scott reveal the Great Shema of Lent Madness (along with cameos by George T. Dog and 150 seventh grade boys from BC High in Boston).

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Tim and Scott preview what's coming with the Elate Eight, also known as the Round of the Saintly Kitsch. Some people, whom we call Kitsch Kranks, are unable to enjoy the humor of this round. For this reason, the Supreme Executive Committee has given the Lent Madness Shema, the two great rules of the Saintly Smackdown that we especially need to hear at this point in the competition.

Twitter celebrity George T. Dog (@georgetdog) makes a brief cameo, and viewers will be delighted to know he's named after the first-ever Golden Halo winner, George Herbert, who claimed the crown in 2010. But that's not the only cameo. Tim went on a field trip to Boston College High School, and the seventh-grade class from BC High take up an important role in this week's action-packed episode.

If seeing selections from the SEC's kitsch collection makes you envious, remember you can buy your own kitsch in the Lentorium.

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Much to the relief of the entire Lent Madness global public, the Supreme Executive Committee has reconciled -- temporarily -- which means the Saintly Smackdown will proceed after Saturday's all-t00-real April 1st scare. Yes, there WILL BE a 2017 Golden Halo winner.

So let's get back to the holy business of saintly competition! Today, we continue with the final matchup of the Saintly Sixteen as Amelia Bloomer faces Fanny Crosby. To get to this round, Amelia dispatched Philipp Melanchthon while Fanny got the best of G.F. Handel. The winner will join seven other saintly souls to make up the Elate Eight. Who will Amelia or Fanny be joining? Just to refresh your memory, that would be Stephen, Augustine of Canterbury, Franz Jaggerstatter, Mechtild of Magdeburg, Raymond Nonnatus, Martin Luther, and Florence Nightingale. One of this group will, soon enough, be crowned in (extra special) glory.

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On Sundays in Lent, we've been highlighting opportunities to follow Jesus in new ways. After all, you can't yuck it up with the Saintly Smackdown forever. Today we're talking about Grow Christians.

A couple of years ago, Scott (of SEC fame) and Nurya Love Parish rode to the airport together after a conference. They started talking and were lamenting how there weren't great blogs around for Christian parenting that worked for Episcopalians and other mainline Protestants. Soon Nurya and Scott were plotting and scheming, and the result is Grow Christians.

Grow Christians aims to create an online community of discipleship focused on the practical details of life at home. Gathering reflections, stories, images and recipes from diverse folks, this group blog inspires generations to come together as they celebrate the presence of God through the Christian year.

Grow Christians started as a pilot project for Lent 2016, a partnership between Forward Movement and Plainsong Farm. Today Grow Christians is operated by Forward Movement, and Nurya serves as editor and visionary-in-residence.

Several times each week, Grow Christians publishes on topics related to faith at home. Lent Madness fans will be especially interested in articles about how to celebrate the saints' days at home. But there are also article on raising kids in the Christian faith or talking about difficult subjects. You'll find great writing, ranging from poignant to prophetic, from humorous to handy.

Visit Grow Christians (www.growchristians.org), where you can sign up to receive emails whenever there's a new post. You can also find Grow Christians on Facebook. You might like to know that Grow Christians sometimes gives stuff away, and there's a giveaway running right now. You could get a bunch of great kids' books for free! Find the details on how to enter over at Grow Christians.

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Lent Madness has been canceled, effective immediately. Even though fans will be disappointed, tensions grew too great within the Supreme Executive Committee. Known widely as archnemeses, it turned out that Tim and Scott just couldn't put aside their bitterness long enough to complete the season.

Expect legal action between them over the name Supreme Executive Committee. For now, Tim has formed a one-man Supreme Executive Council. He is planning to use connections to establish headquarters at 1 First Street NE,
Washington, DC, a facility that knows how to cater to supremes. Meanwhile, Scott is setting up the Supreme Executive Commission. He's going to take up residence in Avignon, within a palace that knows a thing or two about hosting supremes (or anti-supremes).

Newly unemployed Celebrity Bloggers will face a cruel return to the world of mere mortals, absent the crush of autograph-seeking bracketologists. Distinguished Celebrity Bloggers Laurie Brock, Megan Castellan, and David Sibley issued a joint statement on hearing the news, saying, "Now we know the true meaning of that ancient proverb, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. We wish Tim and Scott had never named us Distinguished." It's expected that a collection will be taken up for a therapy fund for bracket czar Adam Thomas, who won't know what to do each morning of Lent without the onerous burden of posting each day's results and updated bracket.

A passer-by in Hingham overheard Tim muttering to himself, "I knew Scott might not ever forgive me for shutting him out of the Toledo Blade in 2012 but I didn't think it would come to this." Meanwhile Scott was seen writing and then deleting the same Tweet over and over again without posting it, "Jesus said take up your cross and follow me, not take up your JERK and follow me. So long, @FatherTim." Go ahead and follow Scott and Tim on Twitter for what promises to be an epic Tweet-storm.

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In yet ANOTHER close battle in this historic week of Lent Madness thrill-a-minute action, Martin Luther finally put away the feisty Joseph Schereschewsky with a late surge 52% to 48%.

Today it's an intriguing battle between two saints: one ancient, one modern. In fact, Sarah is the most ancient saint ever to make an appearance in Lent Madness while Jägerstätter is about as modern as we get. If nothing else you, valued Lent Madness voter, have a clear choice. The choice itself may not be clear, of course, without some serious discernment, but Sarah and Franz represent quite distinct eras in the realm of faith. To get to this round, Sarah narrowly defeated Elizabeth Ann Seton and Franz upset Joan of Arc.

This is both the penultimate battle of the Saintly Sixteen AND the last matchup of the week. We'll take a deep cleansing breath over the weekend and be right back to it first thing Monday morning with Amelia Bloomer facing Fanny Crosby. Lent Madness rolls on!

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Whew! So far, this has been a week of close battles unparalleled in Lent Madness history. On Monday Mechtild of Magdeburg defeated Odo of Cluny 52% to 48%. On Tuesday Raymond Nonnatus bested Moses the Black 51% to 49%. And yesterday Augustine of Canterbury snuck past Scholastica 51% to 49%.

This heart-pumping saintly action is enough to make you want to do some yoga. Or deep breathing exercises. Or drink some chamomile tea. Something calming! But instead, the battles just keep coming. Today it's the scrappy Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky taking on the heavyweight Martin Luther. Is an upset in the making? Another tight race? Or will a blowout break the string of hotly contested, halo-busting battles?

Note that yesterday's battle was not without controversy. The following was posted by the Supreme Executive Committee:

The SEC noticed an irregular surge of votes for Scholastica around midnight. Well over 6,000 votes were found to be cast irregularly in an attack using bots around the world. We have removed what we believe to be the correct amount of votes, and will continue to monitor this race. One person, one vote. If you break this rule, your votes will be removed and you will be cast off into the outer darkness of Lent Madness.

We are confident in the final result. But remember, Big Lent is watching.

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