Nominations for next year’s field of 32 saints are currently being accepted by the Supreme Executive Committee.
As always, we seek to put together a balanced bracket of saints ancient and modern, Biblical and ecclesiastical representing the breadth and diversity of Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
Inevitably, some will disagree with certain match-ups or be disappointed that their favorite saint didn’t end up in the official bracket. If you find yourself muttering invective against the SEC, we implore you to take a deep cleansing breath. Remember, there’s always Lent Madness 2029.
The 2013 bracket was the first time we included nominations from the Lent Madness faithful and a number of your suggestions made it in. While the SEC remains responsible for the formation of the final bracket, we encourage your participation in the nominating process.
That’s not to say the (usually) benevolent dictatorship that is the SEC is showing cracks in its junta-like Lenten power. The only time true democracy rears its ugly head in Lent Madness is during the actual voting. However, nominations from the floor mean that if you are unhappy with the 2014 bracket you can transfer your angst away from the SEC and toward one another. As for us, we can always blame the ancient Greeks.
We may have play-in rounds again this year, depending on where the mystical dove lands on our blank bracket as we discern which saints to include. Play-ins allows everyone to get a small foretaste of the Madness that is to come as eight saints vie for four spots in the official bracket on to-be-determined dates. On the other hand, play-ins cause endless confusion for those who are new to bracketology.
As you discern saints to nominate, please keep in mind that a number of saints are ineligible for next year’s “saintly smack down.” This includes the entire field of Lent Madness 2013, those saints who made it to the Round of the Elate Eight in 2012 and 2011, and those from the 2010 Faithful Four. Here is a comprehensive list of ineligible saints. Please keep this in mind as you submit your nominations -- which you can do by leaving a comment on this post.
Also, please note that the saints you nominate should be in the sanctoral calendar of one or more churches. Anglican calendars are a bonus, but we're open minded. To a point. Fred Rogers is not eligible, despite the royal pleas of King Friday XIII. If you are looking for lists of actual saints, you might check here, here, here, or here, among other places.
Remember that when it comes to saints in Lent Madness, many are called yet few are chosen (by the SEC). So leave a comment below with your (eligible) nomination!
The Field from 2013 (all ineligible)
Hilda of Whitby
Thomas Tallis
John Donne
Macrina the Younger
Martin Luther King, Jr.
T.S. Eliot
John Merbecke
Lucy
Nicholas Farrar
Jonathan Daniels
Martha of Bethany
Luke
Elizabeth Ann Seton
Gregory the Great
Frances Perkins
Dorothy Day
Ignatius of Loyola
Absalom Jones
Harriet Tubman
Oscar Romero
Damien of Molokai
Florence Li-Tim Oi
Janani Luwuum
Martin Luther
George Berkeley
Benedict of Nursia
Theresa of Lesieux
Anne
Ignatius of Antioch
Samuel Seabury
Chad of Lichfield
John the Baptist
Martin of Tours
Agnes of Rome
Edward Thomas Demby
Past Golden Halo Winners (ineligible)
George Herbert, C.S. Lewis, Mary Magalene, Frances Perkins
From 2010 -- 2012 (ineligible)
Emma of Hawaii
Margaret of Scotland
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Evelyn Underhill
Enmegahbowh
Jerome
Thomas Cranmer
Polycarp
Clare of Assisi
William Tyndale
Thomas Beckett
Constance
Perpetua
Vincent of Saragossa
Francis of Assisi
Julian of Norwich
Theresa of Avila
267 comments on “Nominations Open for 2014!”
I'd like to nominate St. Christopher.
Théophane Vénard, from France
Ruth Burrows, Thomas Merton, Edward Hays, Henri J. M. Nouwen, St Thomas the Apostle, and John of the Cross.
I hereby nominate:
St. Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea, he of the Cappadocian Three, a father of communal monasticism, defender of the Nicene faith, destroyer of the pneumatomachi, denier of worldly comforts, generous benefactor...
...also author of "On the Holy Spirit," a small treatise on which I wrote my dissertation!
St. Philip where I attend
I nominate St. Fiacre, patron saint of gardeners. (If you see a garden statue holding a shovel, rather than welcoming bird-St. Francis- that's Fiacre) He has a great story, even if he was a trifle misogynistic, and the kitsch would be abundant.
Second St. Fiacre
Tommy Douglas 1904 - 1986
Canadian. Baptist Minister. Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944-1961. Brought about Universal Health Care for the people of his province which all of Canada later adopted. Voted "Greatest Canadian" based on viewer supported survey, CBC television, 2004.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Douglas
speaking of kitsch- for st. valentine it would be so plentiful( I don't think I have ever used that word in a sentence). and I also nominate st. lucy for Rev. K. Jeanne Person who campaigned so mightily for her in 2013 LM
Some calendars assign the prophets feasts. If the prophets can be included, I would like to nominate Samuel.
Saint Arnulf (Arnold) of Metz is always a crowd-pleaser -- lots of kitsch, if he can make it to that round.
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha is a newly canonized by the Roman Church; I saw some terrific kitsch with her image at the North American Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville, New York. I also saw a relic -- bone chip, though from what part I cannot say.
Oh, and the Four Chaplains -- Lt. George L. Fox, Methodist; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Jewish; Lt. John P. Washington, Roman Catholic; and Lt. Clark V. Poling, Dutch Reformed. Their heroism and ecumenical spirit is canon-worthy, even if they are not yet in any canon. http://www.fourchaplains.org/story.html
I'd like to nominate Julia Chester Emery and Agnes of Rome.
Several of my family love St Sebastian. He will try to help with any problem that torments you
Anyone who has been to Napoli can but love Santa Lucia. We often pray to her.
okay, SEC, you guys need to get off your ecclestical butts and make it possible for Fred Rogers to be nominated!!!! I mean it!!!!!!!
My childhood was not what one would call a romp around the maypole. Ask any survivor of bullying. after coming home with my self-esteem dragging behind me(in tatters no less), it ALWAYS made my day to see his kindly face and know that I was likable "just the way you are."
I do not want to hear that he was never canonized, blah-blah-blah.
I do not want to hear any excuses because they're all lame in the extreme.
Just DO it!!!!!!!
I totally agree with you. fred rogers was the most wonderful, kind, self esteem builder, authentic man. I loved to watch him with my kids.
Thank you, Linda. I too watched him with my daughters(now grown), and his message is as valuable now as it was then, maybe more so.
SEC, do not make me come down there.....it'll be Katie bar the door!!!!
I KNOW you can hear me!!!!
I like the Episcopal Relief and Development idea as a lobbying tool. And the coffee should be Bishop's Blend.
I would like to nominate St. Timothy
Many people will not see Pauli Murray because she is not in their copy of Holy Women, Holy Men, having just been added at General Convention. A good reason to put here story before the whole church!
I nominate St. Margaret of Antioch, the original Dragonslayer!
How about my favorite, Saint Anthony of Padua?
Can Corrie ten Boom be nominated?
Is she on the list of the Righteous Gentiles?
One thoguht about Sugihara, Maximilian Kolbe, Corrie ten Boom, and others who stood up to the Nazis -- an argument against nominating them is that it's going to be difficult for the SEC to walk the line between "amusing kitsch" and "appallingly bad taste".
I don't know enough about the others, but there are a lot of Corrie ten Boom quotes that appear in various forms that would definitely qualify under the kitsch category. Since she survived the Holocaust (and went on to a long a fruitful ministry after it), that sort of thing isn't bad taste for her.
I nominate the following:
Priscilla, friend and co-worker of Paul and a Christian teacher in her own right
Irenaeus, Great refuter of the Gnostics
Clotilda, Queen of the Franks, who helped get her husband, Clovis, converted
Maximillian Kolbe, Polish Roman Catholic monk who took the place of a prisoner to be starved to death by the Nazis.
Dorothy Sayers, 20th century apologist
I would like to nominate:
Deaconess and Missionary Harriet Bedell
Awesome! I also just nominated her!!
St. Andrew, St. Swithun, The Wesleys, William Tyndale, St. Francis de Sales. Too many prospects, too little time.
I would like to nominate St. Joseph, Hildegard of Bingen, and Sarah Josepha Buell Hale.
I nominate Deaconess Harriet Bedell (Jan 8)
Sincerely,
Willie Allen-Faiella
St. Stephen's, Coconut Grove
Miami, FL
I would like to nominate W. Don McClure, Presbyterian martyr in Africa (1977). Was missionary in Africa for 50 years. Books: Red Headed Rash and Religious and Adventures in Africa by Charles Partee
I would like to second (or third) the following:
Columba
Genesius
Stephen the Martyr
Sir Arthur Sullivan -- he must be on some holy person list somewhere
Hildegard
Blessed Frederich Ozanam. French Roman Catholic who personified gracious service to the Lord.
I would like to nominate two gorgeous souls:
1. St. Hildegard of Bingen, an abbess who wrote about health, about her visions, corresponded with popes and emperors, composed music (changing medieval church music), and composed a morality play that may have paved the way for opera.
2. Brother Roger Schutz, founder of the Taizé Community. He was a gentle soul who started an ecumenical movement.
Since I have not heard back from the SEC regarding Fred Rogers,(pertinent pause at this point......)I nominate St. Drogo. what impresses me the most about him is his ability to be two places at once, one of the locations always being at church. Such faith is awe-inspiring!