"Ash Week" continues with an intriguing match up between two martyrs, Lucy and John the Baptist. It's a tough choice but please don't lose your head over the decision. The winner will get ahead and make it to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen. The loser will be metaphorically re-martyred. See, Lent Madness is easy: we present all of our choices to you on a silver platter.
In the very first match up of Lent Madness 2013, Jonathan Daniels soundly defeated Macrina the Younger to advance to the next round. We're pleased to report that voting was very heavy with over 4,500 votes cast. And if you're new to Lent Madness, make sure to check out the comment stream throughout the day and perhaps even leave one of your own. It's fascinating and informative to hear why people are voting a certain way and many share their own personal experiences with a particular saint. In other words, you're now part of a true online community of people seeking inspiration during Lent from an amazing and diverse group of spiritual heroes.
Can't get enough of Lent Madness? You're in luck because tomorrow is the one and only day in Lent that we'll have a weekend vote. The anticipated Battle of the Iggys -- Ignatius of Antioch vs. Ignatius of Loyola -- will take place on Saturday. In the meantime, keep spreading the word about Lent Madness! Share links with your friends of all denominations, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or walk around your neighborhood with a homemade Lent Madness sandwich board.
Lucy
Not much is actually known about St. Lucy (Santa Lucia in Italian) other than that she was born into a wealthy family in Syracuse (Italy) in the late Third Century and was martyred while still a young woman in the Diocletian persecution in 303.
Tradition has it, however, that Lucy, like many young women of her day, wished to remain a virgin rather than marry the pagan to whom her parents betrothed her. After Lucy's prayers of intercession healed her mother of a debilitating illness, her mother granted Lucy's fervent wish to remain unmarried and instead distribute her dowry to the poor in Syracuse. The erstwhile fiancé, however, was not a fan of this distribution plan and in his rage at her rejection of him denounced Lucy to the Roman Governor as a Christian. She was first taken to a brothel so that she might be forced to surrender her virginity, but the guards who came for her found her too heavy to move even when hitched to a team of oxen, so filled was she with the Holy Spirit. Still, she was imprisoned, tortured, and finally killed when she did not renounce her dedication to Christ and affirm allegiance to the Emperor.
Sometimes Lucy is depicted as holding a platter with a pair of eyes upon it. The story goes that Lucy’s eyes were either plucked out by her torturers or plucked out by Lucy herself in repudiation of her fiancé, who found Lucy’s eyes appealing. Some versions of the story have God restoring her sight with even more beautiful eyes. At any rate, she is the patron saint of the blind and those with eye diseases.
Her name means "light" and her feast day is celebrated by families in Northern Europe by dressing the eldest daughter in a white robe and placing a wreath with lighted candles on her head. Sometimes a village’s “Lucy” carries bread and coffee to all the homes in the village as a re-enactment of Lucy’s kindness to the poor in the distribution of her dowry. Her feast day is a day of special devotion in her native Italy, as well, where the emphasis is on food, particularly hot chocolate with grains of wheat (to represent her eyes) in it.
Lucy was a much venerated, very popular saint in the early Church, and her name is included, along with only six other women, in both the Roman and Ambrosian Canons of the Mass.
Collect for Lucy
Saint Lucy, your beautiful name signifies light. By the light of faith which God bestowed upon you, increase and preserve this light in my soul so that I may avoid evil, be zealous in the performance of good works, and abhor nothing so much as the blindness and the darkness of evil and of sin. By your intercession with God, obtain for me perfect vision for my bodily eyes and the grace to use them for God's greater honor and glory and the salvation of all men. Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr, hear my prayers and obtain my petitions. Amen.
-- Penny Nash
John the Baptist
He’s one of the reasons more Episcopal Churches are named St. John than any other name.
John the Baptist (not to be confused with John the disciple or John the Divine, author of Revelation – yes, like today there were lots of Johns back then…) was the son of a priest in the Temple – Zachary. His mother was Elizabeth, who was related to Mary, Jesus’ mother. Thus, John the Baptist was related to Jesus, perhaps his cousin. Many people believe John the Baptist was born in Ain-Karim, which is southwest of Jerusalem. This followed an apparition in which the angel Gabriel told Zachary and his wife that they would have a child, even though Elizabeth was past child-bearing years.
Many scholars believe John lived in the desert, perhaps as a hermit. He may have been affiliated with a group known as the Essenes, whose communal life was chronicled in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This pietistic, separatist group had removed itself from the evils of the big city, Jerusalem, in order to practice the Jewish faith with greater purity in a desolate, desert environment. We find expressions of this in John’s later preaching of repentance.
John’s public ministry started when he was around 30-years-old. The Gospels tell us that John preached a harsh message, calling his hearers a ‘brood of vipers’ and imploring them to repent and start anew. John also understood his role to pave the way for Jesus, declaring he was not worthy to untie the sandals from the Messiah’s feet. John would go on to baptize Jesus in the River Jordan. During this event a dove came down from heaven and the voice of God was heard announcing that Jesus was God’s son.
Following his ministry of baptism, John remained critical of those who did not fear God. He was eventually imprisoned by Herod for correctly accusing the leader of taking his brother’s wife. During his incarceration, John began to have doubts, at one point sending some of his followers to Jesus to confirm he was really the Messiah.
John was needlessly executed after a young dancer named Salome so impressed Herod with her performance that he promised her anything – and, at the urging of her mother, she chose John the Baptist’s head to be served on a platter.
John inspired many of his followers to trust Christ when he designated Him "the Lamb of God." Some of those followers were Andrew and John, who came to know Christ through John's preaching. John is described in the New Testament as the last of the Old Testament prophets and the precursor of the Messiah. His feast day is June 24th and the feast for his death is August 29th.
Collect for John the Baptist
Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-- Chris Yaw
Vote!
UDPATE: The Supreme Executive Committee has found several instances of voting irregularity in this poll. At this point, three addresses have been cast into the outer darkness of Lent Madness. We have adjusted the vote totals by removing 35 votes for John the Baptist. Remember: in Lent Madness, we encourage you to mobilize your friends to vote. But we frown mightily on those who vote more than once.
[poll id="41"]
245 comments on “Lucy vs. John the Baptist”
In hopes that she'll aid my eye problems, I vote for Santa Lucia!
Both of my daughters have portrayed Lucy at church so guess where my vote went.
I was originally going to vote for John, but when one of the comments identified Lucy with chocolate, I changed my mind. Chocolate v. Locusts. Go Lucy!
And Lussekatter (St. Lucia Buns), delicious saffron buns made in any number of figures. YUM! The obvious foodies choice.
I voted for Lucy for two reasons-one was I felt a little sorry for her being put oposite someone as famous as John the Baptist, when I had never heard of her. Second was in honor of her being saint of the blind and the wonderful bionic surgery to help the blind to see that was announced yesterday.
Torn by indecision, I opened the mail to find my grandson's birthday present, "Skylanders Giants Eye-Brawl- 'I've got my eye on you'". Lucy wins.
Yikes! A dead heat. In heavy voting.
What I'd really like to see is how John would've dealt with Lucy's evil fiancé. BOOM!
I had to explain to the twins that this particular Lucy wasn't Charlie Brown's crabby friend. They voted for her anyway!
This is tough, but Lucy has my vote. Many have articulated the reasons for supporting Lucy. One thing which I didn't see mentioned was the force behind the martyrdom. John was beheaded mostly for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Salome's mom, as an antagonist, doesn't really achieve the toughness of opposition that Lucy faced. Secondly, John the Baptist was really tiresome complainer...that whole viper business. Others may see it as speaking truth to power, but I think he had more than a tinge of evangelical/in your face/judgmentalism, which has made a lot of enemies. Lucy does not pose that difficulty. Finally, I think John the B gets a bit of a free ride because of family connections, so I am happy to vote for plucky Lucy (pun intended). A fine heroine.
Robert, there's no "right" way to participate in Lent Madness. Some people fill out brackets and then try to "win" Lent as they compete with friends or fellow parishioners (not that these groups are mutually exclusive) while others simply read about the saints and vote as the match-ups arise. As long as you're learning something and having fun, you can't go wrong!
Kooper M with his lyrics helped me decide, John, John, won't you wash 'em away
Make us ready for the Judgement Day
Take us down and hold us under
Make the heavens roar with thunder "
Feel da rhythm feel da rhyme, vote for John all da time!
While Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna is wonderful, and Strauss' Salome is too, the beginning of Godspell is still the most fun. And I'm tired of female saints who are noted for their virginity -- this is just male oppression in a different disguise.
I'm with you on the beginning of Godspell! And I too am sick of hearing about virgin saints as if their virginity was the point. But as I learned in my early church history class last semester, it does seem that in the early church, virginity was precisely a means of opposing male oppression: it was about autonomy and agency. Plus, there usually *is* much more to the stories of these "virgin saints" than virginity.
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
'nuff said
Wow, Lucy is out in front by about a head's length or so. How might have seen this outcome? (sorry). John should go out and baptize some voters. Here ends the puns (from me anyway).
how = who
Okay, then I'll do it:
"...they're neck and neck...."
(sorry - had to be done)
I got to put Lucy over by 1 vote. I love those feisty young girl saints who struck a chalenge at part of the foundation of the Roman empire. They dared to disobey their fathers and other men and all for Jesus sake.
Lucy is not the underdog, I see! As of this posting she is ahead!! Hah!
I must admit I voted for St. Lucy because someone dear to me died on her feast day (meaning, in my mind, that he shares her feast day). But I also love a wild story like hers! Tough call, John the Baptist has a wild story too...
As I voted, they were neck and neck - 50/50, in fact. Clearly a good match-up!
Lucy: Scattering the dowry and dashing the desires of a patriarchal power structure. A saint for our times, indeed!
I cast my vote for St Lucia in honor of my sister Lucia, a brave and faithful follower of the Light.
Just ask yourself, HWJV? (How would Jesus vote?) And besides, John pointed us in the right direction: "Here's the Lamb of God.."
In my case I have to ask, HWJSV? (How would John Saville vote?) He's my boss, for the sake of my own head I follow his lead as he along with JtheB points me in the right direction...
This is tough, but the weight-heaviness is just too great to ignore. John T. Baptist it is. Plus, they named a whole bunch of denominations after him.
Oh come on, people! John is the Forerunner of Our Lord! We can't let Lucy leave him in the dust!
It was a tough call for me. While I admire Lucy for her feminist behavior, I had to vote for John the Baptist because I grew up at St. John's parish in Brooklyn and it shaped the rest of my life!
As others have mentioned so little is known about Lucy that much of her story could be simply made up. In fact some scholars point out that the story of Lucy is very similar to the story of St. Paraskevi, a woman who lived several hundred years before Lucy and who is considered the Patron Saint for the Blind by some faiths.
John the Baptist however clearly lived since so many details of his life exist in various texts. In addition baptism is such an important part of a christian's life that I had to vote for the baptist, John that is and not the denomination.
I like the way Lucy carries her eyeballs while still having her eyeballs in her head. Always has an extra pair!
But mostly I find myself feeling *antagonistic* about John. My husband is Greek Orthodox and it seems like EVERY OTHER DAY is a feast day honoring the first, second, or third finding of the Forerunner's head. They can't seem to keep track of it. His godmother says that John wanders around in some particular church in Lebanon. Not only have I not gotten into the whole "What do you mean, like a ghost?" question with her, but I also haven't asked if he has his head on, or carries it around with him like the Headless Horseman, or has one on his shoulders and carries a spare. I don't want to know.
A no-brainer for me: I was ordained deacon on St Lucy's day .
Ash Wed. eye doctor appointment showed Lycentis injections no longer staving off wet macular degeneration of my retinas [both], Trying another injectable med, the Dr said, "to see if we can keep you from going blind this month, or in two months, or in six months". It's beginning to sink in..
I needed to hear about Lucy today. Thanks.
On behalf of those with limited vision and women I voted for Lucy!
Wow! You keep challenging us with tough choices, although I find today's much tougher than yesterday's. How could I not vote for a saint who was so very faithful, even when the rigors of prison wracked his mind with doubts? OTOH, suffering as I do with diabetic retinopathy, how could I not vote for my patroness saint of people with blindness and eye disease? I also admire her diaconal ministry of distributing to meet the needs of the poor, as the first deacon, St. Steven, also the first martyr, did. I have a very soft spot for people who do the work of the Book of the Acts deacons (unlike modern Anglican Communion transitional deacons), perhaps in part because my late husband was a Presbyterian deacon in the Steven tradition (caring for the widows and oorphans--and all the needy)for 37 years, and is part of why I voted for Macrina the Younger yesterday, and am ending up choosing Lucia today. She chose to distribute her dowry so the hungry could be fed. This is in direct obedience to our Lord who told his disciples that he rejects those who see the hungry and fai to feed them but has a place in his kingdom for those who even give a cup of cold water in his name. So Lucia it is.
Um, Jesus. See, John sent me to ask you...understand that I have no doubts...but he wants to know...jeez this is difficult...he kinds wants to ask you...ok, here goes...if you really are the Messiah.
JtB is Jesus' fullback. Lucy suffers from being from Syracuse. JtB gets the vote.
I voted for Lucy for two reasons- my dad's side of the family is Swedish, and the Swedes, as stated, are very fond of Lucy. And one of the nicest people I know was born on her feast day and is actually named Santa Lucia.