With another weekend rife with Lent Madness Withdrawal (LMW) behind us, we turn our attention to the final three first round match-ups. Now, to our credit, we did try to help everyone get through the weekend with a Group Hug. But today it's back to business with Gregory the Great (who defeated Gregory of Nyssa in an earlier play-in round) taking on Martin of Tours. As two bishops square off for the first time in Lent Madness 2013, we're left to wonder which one will leave the arena with a cracked crozier?
After today, the remaining first round battles pit Therese of Lisieux against Martha of Bethany and Edward Thomas Demby versus Dorothy Day. On Thursday the Round of the Saintly Sixteen kicks off with two modern martyrs: Jonathan Daniels vs. Janani Luwum. But in the meantime, hang onto your hats, miters, or any preferred headgear of your choice!
Gregory the Great
Long before he was known as “Gregory the Great,” he was just another boy born to an elite Roman family. His father owned estates in Sicily and the family home was a mansion on Caelian Hill. However, the mighty empire was in decline by his birth in 540. As a boy Gregory lived through repeated invasions by the Goths and Franks and a devastating plague. While his experiences are not recorded, it would be unlikely that he was unaffected by the uncertainties of civil society and his place in it.
Highly skilled in grammar and rhetoric and possessing a noble pedigree, he was destined for a prestigious career in public life. Indeed at age 30 he became a prefect of the city of Rome, but after much soul-searching and prayer he left his post to become a monk. He devoted himself to the ascetic life and turned his vast Sicilian estates into monasteries and his family home in Rome into one as well.
Gregory lived happily as a monk for several years until he was forced by the sitting pope -- much against his will -- to be ordained as one of the seven deacons of Rome. Because of the vast instability of Rome and his skills as a civil leader, he was swiftly dispatched to Constantinople to serve as the ambassador to the Byzantine court in order to plead for Rome’s need of protection from the Lombards. His mission was pretty much a failure, but he became very popular with aristocratic Greek ladies of a certain age. After six years he was recalled to Rome and so began a period of writing, studying, and preaching.
His contentment at returning to the monastic life was not to be, however. In 490 after a terrible year of floods, plague, and pestilence, Gregory was elected pope. The story that upon the confirmation of his election to the episcopate he ran away and hid in the forest for three days is considered apocryphal, but it does shed light on his frame of mind. Nevertheless, he did his duty.
He is known as the liturgical innovator of the 6th-century whose contributions to the order of worship endure to the present day. The form of music known as western plainchant is attributed to Gregory. (Though naming it after him a couple of hundred years after he died was a marketing move to capitalize on his venerated name in order to standardize liturgical practice across the Frankish empire under Charlemagne).
Hundreds of his sermons, letters, commentaries as well as his dialogues and his still well-regarded “The Rule for Pastors,” remain. A remarkable thing.
As pope he was a staunch advocate for the health and well-being of the poor and those displaced by war. He gave lavishly from his own substance and and became a gadfly to wealthy Romans by inducing them to give generously as well.
Gregory the Great’s compassion for the plight of young Anglo-Saxon slaves (Non Angli, sed angeli -- “They are not Angles, but angels”) he encountered at the Roman Forum so moved him that, later as pope, he sent St. Augustine to England as a missionary. But for his compassion, we might still be worshiping gods with names like Woden and Tiw.
Shortly after his death in 604, he was canonized by popular acclaim, and John Calvin called him “the last good pope.” Gregory the Great skillfully navigated a complex landscape between the ancient and the medieval church and the wider world. Quite a skillset for a man who talked to doves.
Collect for Gregory the Great
Almighty and merciful God, you raised up Gregory of Rome to be a servant of the servants of God, and inspired him to send missionaries to preach the Gospel to the English people: Preserve in your Church the catholic and apostolic faith they taught, that your people, being fruitful in every good work, may receive the crown of glory that never fades away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-- Heidi Shott
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours was born in 330 in Hungary. He spent much of his childhood in Italy where he was reared by pagan parents. His father, a soldier, enlisted Martin into the army when he was 15.
Surely he had some Christian leanings, for one winter day he saw a beggar at the gate in Amiens (France). Martin, who had no money to give the ill-clad man, offered, instead, a portion of his cloak. The accompanying photo shows this famous event, in which Martin cut his cloak in half so that he could share it with the beggar.
That night, as the story goes, Martin had a dream in which he saw Christ wearing a coat -- in fact, the same cloak that Martin had given the beggar just hours before. This is when Martin knew he had to devote his life to serving Christ. He resolved to get baptized and become a Christian. At the conclusion of his next military campaign, Martin petitioned for release from the army with the famous words, "Hitherto I have faithfully served Caesar. Let me know serve Christ.” At the time Martin was accused of desertion and being a coward. He was subsequently imprisoned but soon released.
Martin became a disciple of Hilary of Poitiers, who was a chief opponent of an unorthodox believe called Arianism. These Christians denied the full deity of Christ, which Martin defended with such vigor and skill that he began to make a name for himself. Surviving persecution in Italy, he fled to France where he founded a monastery that was so successful it remained open until the French Revolution. Martin was eventually named bishop of Tours, a notoriously pagan diocese. However his compassionate personality, skill in dealing with people, and devotion to his mission, prevailed.
Today Martin is the patron saint of soldiers and his shrine in France has become a famous stopping point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela.
Collect for Martin of Tours
Lord God of hosts, you clothed your servant Martin the soldier with the spirit of sacrifice, and set him as a bishop in your Church to be a defender of the catholic faith: Give us grace to follow in his holy steps, that at the last we may be found clothed with righteousness in the dwellings of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-- Chris Yaw
Vote!
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165 comments on “Gregory the Great vs. Martin of Tours”
Both are examples of concern for others, so that didn't help. It was the "liturgical innovator" that swung me over to Gregory. But I *totally* agree with Anne Case: "Let’s keep soldiers safe and eventually put them out of work!"
Enjoying Lenten Madness.
I went with Martin I was totally swayed by the comments - the lasting damage done to our cherished Mary Magdalene, and the origin of the word "chaplain". Thank you, Lent Madness comments participators.
Amen to that!
Good to see someone with a music connection still in the bracket.
Please double Maple Anglican's salary, or send an extra mug, or some such.
I just had to leave a post with the new name that Maple Anglican bestowed upon me. That bit with Damien reading his reproof to vote scammers in French totally killed me. Go Maple Anglican!
Voted for Gregory, against my bracket again. Martin is SO COOL, but in this year of papal election I think GG gets the win.....
Rats! - when will I learn to read comments before voting? Sorry Mary, I should have voted for Martin.
Same here!
I voted for Martin for two reasons: he is from Eastern Europe, and 2) The evil Gregory imposed Roman Catholicism on the innocent British Isles and set the stage for centuries of confusion, pain, and conflict.
I voted for Gregory the Great, because he was born into a wealthy, privileged family, yet he had a heart for the poor and enslaved. He could have "had it all" -- wealth, political power -- but he chose monastic life instead.
I wasn't sure which way to vote, but after discovering that G the G helped contribute to the decline of the Celtic Church (because there were Christians in the British Isles before Augustine!), I have to go with Martin.
Here I go against my grain to vote for Gregory, because he told Augustine to accept that which does not harm the faith. That has had a huge influence on my life as a missionary, as I move from culture to culture, trying to adapt to the way things are done in new places.
I'm voting for Gregory the Great today. There's a lot to like about him (no offense, Martin), but I have to say it always irks me that he gets credit for the evangelization of Britain. The Celtic monks and missionaries were doing a great job (thank you very much) and connected with the indigenous culture much better than the Roman missionaries did. OK, that's my little rant for the day.
Why do you say Martin must have had Christian leanings because he shared his coat with a beggar? Kindness is not owned by Christians... Surely there were those who were not Christian who were kind and generous to others, then as now.
Well, I'm voting this week for Gregory. I admire his compassion for the poor and the slaves, sending St. Augustine to England He was called "Great" for a reason. I do NOT, however, admire his treatment of Mary Magdalene. She was NOT a prostitute; get your story straight, Greg. He just didn't like how close she was to Christ and the influence she had over Him and the early Church. That wasn't a woman's "place". Heavens! It helps to read the comments before you vote. Duh!! As a cradle Episcopalian who's always loved the Church, it's incredible how much I'm learning through Lent Madness. It's creative, fun, well-written, a real power-pack! I look forward to every day! And this is my first year; where has Lent Madness been all my life?
Gregory gets all too much publicity. He wasn't that great. And he couldn't tell the difference between a Saxon and an angel. Bloody uninformed about anywhere but Italy clerics anyways. Martin deserves this if only because his "Bon mot" actually makes sense. Besides he was Hungarian and moved to France, he must also be the patron saint of a whole generation of Hungarian émigrés, starting in about 1953. Go Martin.
Another difficult choice! Much as I appreciate Gregory for lending his name to plainsong, a musical genre that I love as a rather squeaky-voiced person, I am voting for the underdog Martin. Like St Francis of Assisi, he turned his back on military service to spread the Word in peaceful ways.
I had to go with Martin, after reading everybody's comments--very helpful today. But it was tough: I began my exploration of my call to ordination at the Church of St. Gregory the Great in Athens, GA, with a man who remains one of my personal saints, Gene Britton...and the chant is truly heavenly (even in a school cafeteria, I think--though I'm not sure the Great Litany is actually Gregorian...). But the comments about Mary Magdalene's being dissed, and the arrogance that latter-day Roman missionaries showed toward the tough-slogging Celtic church--those reminders were weighty. Plus I have good friends at St. Martin's across town! Hurray for the underdog!
"Who was Martin anyway? His history seems so very scant."
Seriously?
Now, I will admit that the story of St. Martin presented is brief, but it does do an adequate job of recounting the major events in the life of our Saint (despite the error in re: date-of-birth). Certainly it provides enough data to answer the question "Who was Martin anyway?"
"His history seems so very scant"? I'm sure that, in comparison to the hagiography by Sulpitius Severus, or even to the Wikipedia article, the Lent Madness entry is, by some definitions, very scant. And truly, Chris Yaw did not include pictures like the obscure stained glass window of St. Martin in that modest cathedral - where is it? Oh yes - Chartres. Or like that nearly unknown painting by El Greco that hangs in that quaint-and-off-the-beaten-track National Gallery in Washington, D.C. And yes, Chris wrote not a word about the development of what we know today as Advent out of the Fast after Martinmas.
But still - seriously?
Thank you, thank you!!!
Martin is such a timely saint for our days. With all the returning vets, carrying the load of war in their hearts and souls Martin is a real inspiration that God can and does do good in the most unlikely of circumstances. And, that the spiritual wounds that they have sustained can be healed. For my peeps at Camp Smith and in the Wounded Warrior project, here's to Martin!
We always have croissants on the feast of St Martin. They are the exact shape of half of Martin's cloak. You should join us next November 11.
As a Lutheran pastor, I recall that Martin Luther was baptized as a Catholic the day after his birth on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. He was named after him in fact, just as Martin Luther King, Jr. was named after the Reformer. Add in my work as a volunteer chaplain (see the comments above about that title) with a law enforcement agency and my stint as a soldier...my choice was clear. Go, Martin!
Martin gets my vote, not the seemingly reluctant but, in the long run, showy Gregory who is taking credit for far too much. Dissing Mary Magdelene is not endearing. Martin's cloak is what swayed me. When you run out of saints for lentmadness might I suggest a match between Joseph's Coat of Many Colors and Martin's Cloak? "Coat" could use Dolly Parton's " Coat of Many Colors" as it's campaign song but I am not sure what "Cloak" would choose. Any suggestions?
Forgive me, SEC, for I have sinned and not voted in the past 4 elections....but I'm on it now! Go Martin!
FYI-- I see that Women's Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls has posted on FB news of an exhibit on Marianne--re: questions about her in the Damien/Perkins face-0ff.
Yes seriously! We all cannot known everything. I for one am not we informed on saintly matters. That is one of the reasons I love LM! I am learning so very much! I read the bios and although informative Martin's seemed lacking compared to Gregory.
I'll show more lacks od knowledge (and probably wisdom) what actually did Gregory say about Mary M?
BTW can you rebuild a computer? I can.
Then perhaps you are a saint!
No not for being a techno-nut but perhaps one for being the mother of 3 teenage boy !!
I agree, we can't know everything, which is, indeed, why this is such a great exercise - so we can learn about those we don't know. Perhaps I was a bit strident in my reply, but St. Martin has a fantastic story and influence that has been every bit as far-reaching as that of Pope St. Gregory in the Western Church, one that can't simply be dismissed as if it were a "no brainer".
What Gregory actually said about St Mary Magdalene was: "She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices?"
And yes, I have been building and rebuilding personal computers since there have been personal computers to build and rebuild. 🙂
Gregory called Mary a prostitute. In the other "madness" tournament played in March over the top "trash talk" like that gets you kicked out of the game. Good thing for Gregory and his fans that we are not playing by NCAA rules.
Jesus seemed to approve of prostitutes a heck of a lot more than he approved of the priests and elders (remember, the prostitutes were going to enter the kingdom of God first!), so I'm not sure it's "trash talk" at all....
But, she wasn't one.
Well, nobody actually knows that; she could have been. The only thing we really know about her, pre-Jesus, is that she was from Magdala and had 7 demons that he cast out. But what difference would it really make?
Gregory may have indeed been wrong about her being the same person as the other two Marys mentioned; it's true that, for instance, the Orthodox have never believed that. I think she's considered a "myrrh-bearer" in that tradition. But, it hasn't changed anything; she's been a saint for over a thousand years, and has been beloved throughout the church.
If anything, it sounds like the modern world has more trouble with the "prostitute" thing....
Okay, I'll go with that... Peter the apostle was a prostitute. There - now let's let that work in history for 1500 years, and hold him up as the model of sinfulness and redemption. Perhaps then I think I'll feel that what was done to Mary is okey dokey. Besides, we don't know that Peter, or our Lord too, wasn't a prostitute, now do we? I mean, traveling along with 12 men all the time.
Seriously though Barbara, we will have to agree to disagree on this one - truly an Anglican thing to do.
I agree about disagreeing. In those times, 7 demons could have been a headcold, the stomach flu, 2 in-grown toenails, warts on her ankle and elbow, and a case of poison ivy (or a rash from whatever demonic plants they have in Israel.)
As I said below, perhaps if we just said that Peter, or even Jesus, was a prostitute, and allow that to become the predominate view for a few hundred years, folks might understand. This isn't about whether our brothers and sisters who must sell their bodies to live are bad, it is about the subjugation of a person (due to conventional notions of this work through the centuries), who was the one to whom Jesus chose to show himself first as our resurrected Savior. It was she who was the apostle to the apostles, the one to first tell of the good news. I can assure you that in GtheG's time, and since, this did her a great disservice. Now, having won the Golden Halo, she is beaming in heaven, to be sure; but still, to deny the impact on her, and on women generally, as Lisa Green points out, is to deny the very need to not denigrate those who are prostitutes, and we all know that there is much work to be done on this. In other words, the argument that prostitutes should not be denigrated (to which I agree), means that in fact, they are denigrated and always have been, and therefore - GtheG did a great disservice to her, and knew what he was doing to her when he did it.
Whoops, said it above in this thread, not below.
Rahab? (I saw "Rehab" and immediately a continuous loop of Amy Winehouse started playing in my head. At least it wasn't Taylor Swift.)
No! No! No!
Booooo!
I, too, was hoping there was more to Martin's biography, so I did a Google search. This was the most informative page I found: http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/martin.htm I understand why Chris might not have wanted have to deal with Martin's effortsto bargain for the lives of condemned prisoners and Priscillianists, as the issues were political and complex, but I do think they were an important aspect of his ministry. I was moved enough by his compassion and sense of mercy for people of doctrinal differences (and for condemned persons in general), to give him my vote, despite my intense dislike of his destruction of temples and trees held sacred by the pagans (a very modern perspective, I know, that you can support one faith or candidate without denigrating or harming the other).
If I had known about Gregory's role in tainting Mary Magdalene's biography, that would have done it for me, too.
Had to go with Gregory, since my monastic order is devoted to liturgical scholarship, magnifying the sacraments and living sacramental lives of service within and beyond the church.
Meanwhile, I'm loving the archbishops' commentary. Here's hoping the Clairvoyatron isn't a victim of sequestration!
The comments are making me rethink my early vote and hope Martin will rally and pull ahead. But I suspect Gregory will prevail, since Martin has almost no chants.
"no chants" 🙂
I am learning so much -- we Methodists don't deal with saints very much. What is the Wounded Warrior project?
This particular LM reminds me of the Sister Fidelma mysteries which opened my mind about the Celtic Church as well as the Council of Whitby.
I like Barbara's idea that MM wouldn't mind being misidentified as a prostitute in solidarity with the slandered, but what troubles me is how the Pope's sermon undermined her power as a role model for female followers of Jesus. Gregory said, "We believe that this woman [MM] is Luke's female sinner, the woman John calls Mary [who also anoints Jesus' feet], and that Mary from whom Mark says seven demons were cast out." He also identified the seven demons with "all the vices," and said that MM previously used the ointment "to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts" . . . and by falling at Jesus' feet, "turned the mass of her crimes to virtues, in order to serve God entirely in penance." As Prostitute & Penitent, the Apostle to the Apostles is effectively tamed. The recent renovation of her image was threatening enough to a theologian I heard years ago that he reiterated Gregory's "all the vices" line and said having seven demons cast out meant MM was on par with Hitler. The "mass of her crimes" indeed. For a cheeky spin on all this, check out http://ncronline.org/blogs/just-catholic/what-would-mary-magdalene-do