On the last day of a full (in some ways endless?) week, the Saintly Sixteen heads back to the Biblical quadrant for a showdown between Elizabeth and Joseph. To get here, Elizabeth got past Andrew while Joseph bested Joshua. Reminder before you start complaining: No one said any of this was fair. It's called Lent MADNESS, after all!

Yesterday, Herman of Alaska became the first saint to make the Elate Eight, easily defeating Thomas More 68% to 32%

We'll see everybody first thing Monday morning as the Saintly Sixteen continues with a matchup between Brother Lawrence and Margery Kempe. Have a great weekend, everyone, and stay safe out there!

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One of the joys of Lent Madness is engaging with both well-known and virtually unknown saintly souls. Many have heard of Harriet Tubman and know of her work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Few, perhaps, know the story of Julie Billiart, a courageous French nun who lived through the French Revolution. That's your choice today as we cast our last vote of the week.

Yesterday, Elizabeth Fry scorched Florian 82% to 18% in the biggest rout of our tournament to date. Speaking of which...with the cancellation of this year's March Madness NCAA tournament, Lent Madness is officially the longest-running consecutive bracket-based tournament in the world! (11 years and counting). Sorry basketball fans.

Try to survive without us this weekend, and we'll see everyone first thing Monday Morning as Joanna the Myrrhbearer faces Junia. Now go vote!

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In a shocking, bracket-busting upset, yesterday's matchup ended with Brother Lawrence driving out St. Patrick from Lent Madness 2020 57% to 43%. Erin go bragh? Erin go HOME!

Today we have an intriguing matchup between two saints of different eras. Margaret of Costello was a blind, disabled medieval nun who overcame great hardship to follow her faith. Simon Gibbons was Canada's first Inuit priest, born in the mid-19th century.

With this decision, the door will close on the first full week of Lent Madness 2020. From here on out, voting will take place only on the weekdays of Lent. Which means the Lent Madness faithful must suffer the indignity of Lent Madness Withdrawal (LMW) on the weekends of Lent. This is a difficult condition to endure and, at this time, there is no known cure. Please be kind to yourselves, friends. And we'll see you bright and early on Monday morning as James Solomon Russell faces Evelyn Underhill.

Now go vote!

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Yesterday in a hotly contested matchup for the third spot in the Faithful Four, Gobnait stung Ignatius of Loyola 51% to 49%. She joins Martha of Bethany and Pandita Ramabai in the rarified air of Lent Madness 2019.

Who will make the Faithful Four the quartet to which it's called? We'll find out in the next 24 hours as John Chrysostom faces off against Zenaida for the final spot. To make it this far, John defeated Margaret of Cortona and Marina the Monk, while Zenaida took down Apollonia and Nicholas of Myra.

Then take a deep cleansing breath and get ready for the last three battles of Lent Madness 2019. On Monday and Tuesday it’s the Faithful Four. And then on Spy Wednesday the scene will be set as we collectively crown the Golden Halo winner. The end is near!

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In yesterday's Saintly Sixteen pairing, Pandita Ramabai trounced Marguerite d'Youville 62% to 38% to advance to the Elate Eight vs. William Wilberforce. And, yes, Pandita, much like the Grinch, stole Lent from all the d'Yous down in d'Youville.

Today's battle features Gobnait vs. Paula of Rome for a chance to square off against Ignatius of Loyola in the Elate Eight. While you may think there is scant evidence about the lives of either of these saints, you can always check back to their earlier matchups to help fill in the gaps. Gobnait defeated Hrotsvitha and Paula of Rome bested Marcella of Rome.

This also marks the final matchup of another wild and wacky week of loony Lenten learning. We'll be back first thing Monday morning for the final battle of the Elate Eight as Zenaida faces Nicholas as Myra. Then it's on to the next round!

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After Monday's cardiac arrest-inducing battle between Pandita Ramabai and Damien of Molokai, it was a bit easier on our Lenten hearts to have a close-but-not-too-close contest to determine the Battle of Rome yesterday. Paula of Rome came out on top, defeating Marcella of Rome 57% to 43% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen, where she'll face Gobnait.

Today, in the 16th and final pairing of the Round of 32, it's the long-anticipated Santa vs. Rudolph Showdown, as Nicholas of Myra faces Rudolph of Gubbio. After this battle is complete, will Nicholas remain jolly with his belly shaking like a bowlful of jelly? Will Rudolph's nose remain bright or will he no longer be allowed to join in any reindeer games? These are the questions of the day as we continue to whittle down the field of saintly souls.

Tomorrow, the Saintly Sixteen begins as Martha of Bethany takes on Nicodemus. But that's a contest for another day. Let's go finish up this first round, shall we?

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In a week full of lopsided battles, yesterday's matchup took the A to Z prize as Zenaida routed Apollonia 81% to 19%. She'll advance to the Saintly Sixteen where she'll take on the winner of Nicholas of Myra vs. Rudolph of Gubbio.

Today, we round out the second full week of Lent Madness with another Biblical bracket buster as Ananias faces Photini.

In other news, the Supreme Executive Committee was shocked to learn this week that there is another bracket-style tournament making the rounds. But instead of saints, this one features college basketball teams. What is this...madness?! Fear not, friends. The Lent Madness Legal Team is looking into all of our available options. Stay tuned.

Next week, we'll finish up the Round of 32 and kick off the Saintly Sixteen on Thursday. But first, enjoy some sabbath time as we collectively rest from our voting labors through the weekend. Don't worry, though, we'll be back first thing Monday morning as Damien of Molokai faces Pandita Ramabai.

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In perhaps the first true resounding upset of Lent Madness 2019, Marina the Monk swept aside Dominic 62% to 38% to secure a spot in the Saintly Sixteen against Ignatius of Loyola.

In the last matchup of the first full week of the saintly season, it's Mellitus vs. Ephrem of Nisibis. Or Bishop vs. Deacon (not that we'd ever encourage the pitting of ecclesiastical orders against one another).

After a full, intense week of reading, learning, disagreeing, and hopefully being inspired, it's time for some respite from our little competition. From here on out, there will be no contests on Saturdays or Sundays. We occasionally share some weekend posts here on the website, and you can always check Facebook and Twitter for additional content, including some saintly recipes courtesy of the Lent Madness Celebrity Chef, Maria Virginia.

After today, the next vote will take place first thing Monday morning as the round of 32 continues with Tabitha vs. Dismas. In the meantime, get to it!

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Welcome to the one and only Saturday matchup of Lent Madness 2019. Grab your coffee, cook up some Eggs St. Benedict, read about some saintly souls, and cast the third and final vote of the week. But first, an update on yesterday's battle: William Wilberforce forced his way past Agatha Lin Zhao 59% to 41% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen, where he'll square off against the winner of Hannah Grier Coome vs. Richard Allen.

Don't forget, our online bracket is updated and filled in with the latest results each morning by Adam Thomas (along with his inimitable headlines) on our Bracket Page. This will come in especially handy in later rounds when you need a quick reference guide to refresh your memory on the brilliant earlier write-ups provided by our Celebrity Bloggers. If you're curious about when your favorite saint will be competing, you can scroll down on the bracket page to check out the invaluable and handy Matchup Calendar.

Today we take our first stab at the Monastics & Martyrs side of the Bracket as Ignatius of Loyola faces off against Tikhon of Zadonsk. And we should note that, in a Lent Madness scheduling quirk, Distinguished Celebrity Blogger Megan Castellan has had a saint doing battle on the first three days of this new season - Mary, Wilberforce, and Tikhon. Whew!

So, go vote, don't forget to set your clocks ahead an hour tonight, go to church on Sunday, (where you'll tell everyone at coffee hour to join in the fun over at Lent Madness), and we'll see you bright and early Monday morning as John Chrysostom squares off against Margaret of Cortona.

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The Supreme Executive Committee of Lent Madness wishes everyone a most blessed season of Nominationtide! For the next week, we will  accept saintly nominations for Lent Madness 2019. This holy season will run from Monday, April 23, at 8:00 am Eastern Time and conclude on Monday, April 30 at 8:00 am.

As we highlighted in a recent post, there are several Pharisaic rules and regulations in place to successfully nominate a saint. For easy reference, we are reprinting them here:

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 nominee per person.*
4. You must tell us WHY you are nominating the one person that you enter.*
5. Your deceased pet, as wonderful as she or he may have been, is not eligible.
6. The ONLY way to nominate a saint will be to leave a comment on this post.
7. That means comments left on Facebook or Twitter don’t count.
8. Scott and Tim may or may not be open to bribes.

* This is a new guideline as the SEC has received huge lists from individuals in the past.

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