Welcome to the Faithful Four! From an initial field of 32 saints, we are down to a holy four: Stephen, Franz Jägerstätter, Amelia Bloomer, and Florence Nightingale. The spiritual nets have been cut down and one of these saintly souls will, in a few short days, be awarded the coveted Golden Halo.

The odds-makers in Las Vegas are working overtime as people everywhere are putting their ecclesiastical coin on one of these four remaining ponies of the faith [here endeth the bizarre mixed metaphors].

While much remains a to-be-revealed penitential mystery, one thing about today's match-up between Stephen and Franz Jägerstätter is clear: Celebrity Blogger David Hansen will be participating in the Championship Round. How are we so sure of this? For the first time ever, David will be advocating for BOTH of his remaining saints who just happen to be named Stephen and Franz.

To make it to the Faithful Four, Stephen got past Alban, Henry Budd, and Augustine of Canterbury while Franz defeated Joan of Arc, Sarah the Matriarch, and Mechtild of Magdeburg.

Throughout Lent Madness, our saintly heroes have battled via basic bios, quirks and quotes, and event kitsch. In this round, we let our remaining Celebrity Bloggers loose as they answer the question “Why should Saint XX win the Golden Halo?” In other words, they’ve been charged with letting us know why their particular saint is so awesome. We have also invited them to share their two favorite images of their saints. Away we go!

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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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Welcome to the Saintly Sixteen! From 32 saints we have narrowed the field to 16. For this round, rather than the basic biographical information we enter the realm of Quirks and Quotes. Our Celebrity Bloggers will provide unusual information or legends surrounding their saints along with quotes either by or about their saints.

Don't forget, you can always go to the Bracket Tab to easily find previous battles if you need to refresh your basic knowledge on these saints. This is yet another free courtesy extended to you, the Lent Madness Global Public.

Today we kick things off with Stephen, the Church's protomartyr vs. the Canadian Henry Budd. At stake? The Elate Eight.

Yesterday in another close contest, Fanny Crosby defeated G.F. Handel 53% to 47% to claim the last remaining spot in the Saintly Sixteen. Speaking of which, the Saintly Sixteen begins RIGHT NOW! Time to vote...

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As some Lent Madness fans will know, the bishops of the Episcopal Church gather a few times a year to engage in important bishop activities. Normally, those who are not bishops are not privy to exactly what goes on at these meetings, but we know it's vital and holy, because bishops. Right now, the bishops are meeting at the Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina. When they're not eating world-famous Kanuga Toast, the bishops are bishoping.

The Supreme Executive Committee has placed a spy inside the House of Bishops, and we are pleased to share exclusive photos of bishops doing important bishop things. We have learned that, in fact, Lent Madness is an important part of this bishops' meeting.

Even the Presiding Bishop has purple fever, not the kind that comes from a purple shirt, but the kind that comes from Lent Madness. See, pictured in the top-right, Bishop Michael Curry sporting a Dietrich Bonhoeffer 2016 Golden Halo winner mug (and you can get one too).

Here are some more exclusive photos showing the behind-the-scenes work of the House of Bishops.

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Today marks the last matchup of a full week of saintly action! Raymond Nonnatus, a 13th century Spaniard, takes on John of Nepomuk, the 14th century patron saint of Czechoslovakia.

Yesterday, in the closest vote of Lent Madness 2017 to date, Odo of Cluny held off Theodore the Studite 52% to 48%. Odo will advance to the Saintly Sixteen where he'll face Mechtild of Magdeburg.

One point we want to stress before you start pulling levers for Raymond or John. You should know that our fabulous Celebrity Bloggers are kept to strict word counts on their write-ups. Of course so much more could be said about each saint presented in Lent Madness. If you're curious about learning more about a particular holy soul, we encourage you to dive deeper! Often additional information gleaned by participants is shared in the comments sections below each post. Feel free to share tidbits and resources with your fellow Lent Madness pilgrims. In the next round, the Saintly Sixteen, we get into Quirks and Quotes (either by or about said saint). So fear not. The further a saint advances, the more information you'll be given. [Here endeth the Lent Madness lesson].

Those of you who read the comments will be very familiar with Oliver--Nine Years Old. Well, we are pleased to report that Oliver's mom sent us this picture of the boy himself, posing in front of the pictorial bracket he created for his home church, St. John's in Stamford, CT.

We'll see everybody bright and early on Monday morning for the Battle of the Augustines™ as Augustine of Canterbury squares off against Augustine of Hippo.

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This week, Lent Madness spans the globe as Tim and Scott come to you "live" from Cincinnati and Cape Town. Every episode of Monday Madness is always an adventure, and this one is no exception. Celebrity Blogger Week and SEC Day are among the important topics of this show.

Remember, there's not much more time to get your Saintly Scorecards (individual or bulk) or giant bracket posters. By the way, the bracket posters have been discounted to a close-out special price! Supplies are limited! If you don't want to buy anything, you can study on your own and then print out your own bracket to fill out.

We want to give a few shout outs to places that are featuring Lent Madness.

• Grow Christians wrote about us, and we think they're a swell way to bring your faith into your home.
• The entire state of New Jersey gets plaudits due to an article on MyCentralJersey.com featuring Celebrity Blogger Neva Rae Fox.
• We were featured as a Lenten resource by Anglicans Online.
• St. Peter's in St. Louis, MO clearly has purple fever.
• We think maybe the entire state of South Carolina could have a Lent Madness smackdown, as both the Diocese of Upper South Carolina and Diocese of South Carolina love the madness.
• St. Stephen's in Monett, MO shows how it's done with a widget on the home page.
• St. Martin in-the-Fields in Keller, TX might want us to sing, "The halos at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas."

If you have a website, we expect that you've already put a Lent Madness widget on your home page? If not, this is a great way to get Jesus and/or the SEC to love you more. And make sure you follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

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Looking for a way to promote Lent Madness in your congregation's newsletter or local newspaper? You're in luck! Below is a FREE article about Lent Madness 2017 -- no strings attached (well, besides the harp strings of the heavenly angels).

But that's not all! The Supreme Executive Committee is also tossing in widgets for your parish or personal websites ABSOLUTELY FREE. Click here to download your FREE widget. If you have no idea what a "widget" is, just ignore this paragraph.

Of course, while you can purchase a copy of the Saintly Scorecard or Bracket Poster, there is no purchase necessary to participate in Lent Madness. You can even download the 2017 Bracket for...wait for it...FREE!

Finally, if you would like Lent Madness graphics to accompany this article or to share on social media, you can download the ones here for...FREE!

Proving, once again, that sometimes the best things in Lent are free.

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We embarked upon this Lent Madness journey over five weeks ago on “Ash Thursday.” With your help we have narrowed the field of 32 saints down to just two: Julian of Norwich and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (who edged Sojourner Truth yesterday 52% to 48%). Who will win the coveted Golden Halo of Lent Madness 2016? Only 24 hours and your voting participation will reveal this holy mystery.

Regardless of the ultimate outcome, we’ve met some truly remarkable saintly folks along the way. Perhaps you learned about some saints you’d never heard of or maybe you renewed acquaintances with saints who have long offered inspiration. Of course the entire notion of placing saints in a bracket is absurd — each “contestant” has already earned a crown of righteousness in addition to a “golden halo.” But at the heart of Lent Madness is the abiding conviction that encountering those who have come before us in the faith enriches and enlivens our own walk with the risen Christ.

In the process of this whimsical Lenten devotion we’ve all made some new online friends, encountered a community of believers who take their faith but not themselves too seriously, learned a few things, were inspired by saintly witnesses, and had a lot fun along the way.

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Welcome to the Faithful Four. After weeks of learning and deliberating and voting and eschewing chocolate, we have whittled the field of 32 saintly souls down to four spiritual heroes: Constance, Julian of Norwich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Sojourner Truth. All are worthy of the coveted Golden Halo, yet only one will end up with his or her mug on a mug.

Today Constance (Anna Courie) takes on Julian of Norwich (Amber Belldene); tomorrow Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Beth Lewis) battles Sojourner Truth (Megan Castellan). And on Spy Wednesday the championship round will take place with the Golden Halo announced at 8:00 am EST on Maundy Thursday.

In this round, we let our four remaining Celebrity Bloggers loose as they answer the question “Why should Saint XX win the Golden Halo?” In other words, they’ve been charged with letting us know why their particular saint is so awesome. We have also invited them to share their two favorite images of their saints.

To make it to the Faithful Four, Constance dispatched Dominic, Helena, and Vida Dutton Scudder with relative ease. Julian snuck past William Wilberforce, before defeating Roch and Albert Schweitzer.

Maybe one of these remaining four will end up on a future Pocket Lent card. What's that? Well the SEC released two new ones yesterday for your cutting and pasting pleasure.

Let the voting (once) begin!

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By now you've probably gone to the Lent Madness website looking to read about a couple of saints, maybe make a comment or two, and then vote. Or you've wondered why you haven't received the morning e-mail that's become as much a part of your daily routine as drinking that first cup of coffee or putting in your contact lenses. Maybe you've even called tech support to see if something is wrong with your computer or smart phone? "Why can't I vote!" you've screamed, waking up everyone in your household and/or neighborhood.

These next two days mark the first full weekend of Lent Madness, in which fans must survive 48 hours of vote deprivation. Lent Madness Withdrawal (LMW) is a well-known phenomenon, though its cure remains elusive.

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