Today's match-up features two saintly souls with devilish potential for misspellings. Calling Phillips Brooks "Philip" is like calling Johns Hopkins "John" while spelling Catherine's home of Siena with two "n's" rather than one is like spelling Saint Monnica with one "n" rather than two. Wait, what? Anyway, there's a lot of spelling on the line in today's match-up.
Yesterday, besides hearing Lent Madness featured on NPR, Lydia sent John of the Cross to Dark Night of the Soul redux 58% to 42%. It was a bad day for snails but something tells us we'll be hearing more about escargot during the Saintly Kitsch Round when Lydia faces Basil the Great.
Phillips Brooks
A dozen years ago Ellen Wilbur, a short story writer and member of Trinity Church, Copley Square in Boston, sought out Phillips Brooks’ sermons. A search yielded fragile, incomplete copies, some of which fell apart in her hands.
“I’d never read a book of sermons in my life, and now wanted to read nothing but Phillips Brooks. There was something wondrous about the loving voice with which he spoke and the utter faith which underlay and glorified all of his preaching,” Wilbur wrote in the preface to a collection of sermons she edited in 2003 titled The Consolations of God.
Peter Gomes, the late professor at Harvard Divinity School, wrote in the book’s foreword, “Even in print, and at the remove of a century, Brooks sounds well, which is no small thing when few sermons last beyond lunchtime.”
In one sermon Brooks inspired people to serve God whatever their station in life, not least, perhaps, his wealthy Back Bay parishioners.
Strike God's iron on the anvil, see God's goods across the counter, put God's wealth in circulation, teach God's children in the school— so shall the dust of your labor build itself into a little sanctuary where you and God may dwell together.
If you are not spiritually minded, do not wait for mysterious light and vision. Go and give up your dearest sin. Go and do what is right. Go and put yourself thoroughly into the power of the holiness of duty.
All the world is an utterance of the Almighty.
Brooks seemed not to worry about the scholarly detractors who dismissed him as an intellectual lightweight. Gomes wrote, “Brooks consistently practiced biblical preaching...he understood that part of his task was to open the treasures of the Scriptures to his people; and it was his pastoral concern for the human condition and its relationship to the eternal truths of the Christian gospel that made him a biblical preacher and not merely an orator on religious themes.”
In lectures at Yale, Brooks was famous for positing that preaching is “truth through personality.” He said, “the personality of the teacher invad[ing] the personality of the scholar, bringing the personal Christ to the personal human nature.”
Brooks was a rare breed of priest: a standing-room-only preacher and a deeply caring pastor, something people of all faiths and classes recognized. In 1893, after serving only 15 months as bishop, Brooks died, and the city of Boston grieved. M.C. Ayers, editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser, wrote after his funeral, “It was the people who were quickest to discern the incomparable worth of Phillips Brooks. They knew him, flocked to him, loved and trusted him.”
As usual, it comes down to love. Brooks knew he was entirely beloved of God and thus free to bestow upon his people lavish attention and words to stir their hearts to serve God.
Brooks once said, “Duty makes us do things well, but love makes us do them beautifully.”
-- Heidi Shott
Catherine of Siena
Catherine of Siena, the 14th century mystic, politician, carer for the poor, and all-around saintly all-star, was an overachiever on several fronts.
She was only seven when she had her first vision of Christ, but her visions kicked into high gear when she was in her mid twenties. She received the stigmata when the crucifix she was praying in front of exploded with five red beams of light, which pierced her hand, feet and heart. That same year, she had a vision in which Jesus appeared, and seemed to exchange her beating heart for his. When she received the Eucharist, she saw the bread become the Child Jesus floating down from heaven to earth to rest in the priest's hands. Once, when she gave the usual response to receiving the host ("Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof"), she heard a voice respond, "But I am worthy to enter you." As she received the bread, she said later that her soul merged with God so that "the soul is in God and God in the soul, just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish."
But all this vision-having did not make her popular with the local clergy of her time, most of whom found her befuddling, even frustrating. One Franciscan, Fr. Lazzarino, was very bothered by her, and sought a meeting to explain why she was Doing Faith Wrong. This did not go well for him, since meeting Catherine in person, and asking for her prayers, caused an acute attack of guilt that evening. He realized that he had not been following the Franciscan path as he had vowed as a youth, and he raced back to Catherine the next morning to apologize, and to give away all he owned to the poor.
As Catherine's reputation as a great persuader spread, she was sought out by popes and politicians as well -- and not just for guilt trips. She was a sought-after counsel to two popes, including Urban VI. She and Urban had such a close relationship that she would chide him frequently to curb his arrogance, and he insisted that she come to Rome to help him lead the Vatican.
After her death at age 33 in Rome, the people of Siena wanted to bring her body back home to be honored. One man from Siena tried to bring back just her head, but was stopped at the Roman gates by soldiers. He prayed to St. Catherine, and miraculously, when the bag was inspected, it had transformed into rose petals. To this day, Catherine’s head (and thumb) reside in Siena, and her body resides in Rome.
Vote!
[poll id="100"]
108 comments on “Phillips Brooks vs. Catherine of Siena”
I guess I'm just not that into mystics. Brooks!!!!
“Brooks consistently practiced biblical preaching…he understood that part of his task was to open the treasures of the Scriptures to his people..."
Since Lovely Wife's namesake, Catherine of Alexandria, was voted out in an earlier round (Siena, Schmiena!), and since my own ministry focuses on opening "the treasures of the Scriptures" to the people I serve, I'm all for Phillips Brooks today.
Another hard choice, but I'll go with Phillips Brooks. Maybe one day, I'll be able to vote for Peter Gomes!
Yes, the connection with Gomes fortified my inclination to vote for Brooks. I miss Gomes and his eloquence and brilliance.
Tough choice - both a bit weird - but preaching or visions? Hmmm.
While Catherine was very spiritual and had amazing encounters with God, I had to vote for Phillips. His sermons touched so many more people (than her stigmata) with the command to go and serve others in His name. He spread the Gospel to the sheep God had given him and they in turn spread it further. I have to vote for one who preaches the Bible and spreads the Gospel.
I'll be amazed if Phillips Brooks actually wins, since some voters mention that they are choosing solely on a gender basis. He's my vote in this case.
I voted for the Catherine because her name is spelled correctly. And her story is most compelling.
I had to vote for Phillips Brooks: his great-niece, Phyllis Brooks Bartlett, was my graduate advisor at the City University of New York.
Wow a hard choice today. But as someone mentioned earlier, a Pope consulting a woman in that day and age was unheard of. Had to go with Catherine today.
As the daughter of a faithful priest and then the wife- 56 years in June- of another I voted for the fine priest and preacher. In drama and fiction clergy seem often to get the short end of the stick and so hurray for the clergy- masle and female- who give possibility and sustenance to even themselves.
male and female that should be
10:12AM CDT and already more people have voted in today's Lent Madness than voted in local city council elections here in my hometown on Tuesday.
I have to admit that I love the mystics, but even if I didn't, when Catherine received the Host and responded “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, and heard a voice respond, “But I am worthy to enter you.”, and felt her soul merge with God, that got me. I feel that unworthiness every time before receiving the sacraments. To feel that Christ doesn't care that you feel that way, and blesses you anyway is very comforting to me.
Really, really tough call! I have the greatest respect for Phillips Brooks' ethos - but Catherine & her influence with the popes in that time and place... Also great quotes from both of them
I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that my deciding factor was that my mother named me after Catherine, and I'm truly afraid that she'd make a visit from heaven just to yell at me - don't laugh - those of you who have met her know that she would! Wish I could have split my vote... Or being from Cook County, voted twice - but I didn't!
Once again, I voted for both of them in round one, and I was very impressed by Catherine's being called to have influence with two popes, but today Phillips Brooks spoke more to me. Nothing against mystics, yesterday I voted for John of the Cross.
Having misspelled an important name in this fair game, I come to make amen(d)s.
My vote today goes to the family namesake of our family friend Peter Brooks. He is a
Harvard, Yale and Princeton scholar and prolific writer. Although, Peter might well vote for Catherine, I vote for Phillips Brooks, hands down. Peter told us his great grandfather
was Captain of the first ferryboat to and from Faulkner's lighthouse in L.I.Sound, in the
1800's. That alone might qualify for sainthood, but I suspect Peter has other greats in his ancestral chart. But that's not all, Philips (oops) Phillips philosophy persuades. Amen.
Lynn Bonney...you spoke to my heart and soul as I, too, await the day Peter Gomes becomes eligible to be in Lent Madness. Then it will truly be a contest no matter against whom he is pitted.
I must admit that Catherine of Sienna is an interesting character, but I must stick with Philips Brooks this round. Every time I read the prayer on Forward By Day, I feel a great sense of happiness and blessing. I also have a hard time believing that any Pope would have asked for help from any woman back then and even today!!
I love the "gentle" priest.
“Duty makes us do things well, but love makes us do them beautifully.”
These words were the deciding factor for me today.
The hardest decision yet as both have special places in my heart! But Brooks won by being and doing the "best" that he could due for his flock!
I voted for Phillips Brooks because I want - biblical preaching…pastoral concerns and not an orator on religious themes.
Wonderful thoughtful discussion today, in my humble opinion. When the contest is close sometimes the only way to decide is to use not very important criteria, e.g.. who has a same name. Seems a good way to decided between "equals". Which is what I did. Boston is one of the places of my soul and home of the Bruins, Celtics, and Red Socks or Sox depending.
What about the NE Patriots?!!
I don't mean to sound crabby, but the voting may be more fair in 2015 if the SEC only puts Americans born after 1800 into the brackets. First Bach, and now Catherine? Sigh.
It's Catherine all the way - a "doctor of the church" and a Dominican!
PS until 2012 there were only two female doctors of the church, Catherine and Theresa if Avila. In 2012 the pope named one of my favorite saints, Hildegard of Bingen, a new doctor of the church. I'm sure whoever speculated that Catherine was mentally ill (being hungry can lead to hallucinations, ya know) would speculate the same about Hildegard. The bios today do not do justice to Catherine' s preaching, if preachers are the elect. Catherine, like Hildegard, was sought out by princes and paupers alike for her counsel.
I belong to a Daughters of the King chapter namded for Catherine of Siena. As several others have mentioned, Brooks' statement, “Duty makes us do things well, but love makes us do them beautifully” was the deciding factor.
Sorry to disappoint you, Carol T.
My vote for Phillips Brooks is vengeance for Catherine of Siena's defeat of my predicted winner, Catherine of Alexandria!
Choices, choices. Um, is Lent supposed to be this hard? Silly me,. Here I was thinking Lent Madness would be fun and easy....
I have tremendous admiration for Bishop Brooks but I don't think the bio captures quite captures the essence of Catherine. Some of her more well known quotes:
“There shall be love in proportion of faith and faith in proportion to love.”
“You are rewarded not according to your works but according to the measure of your love.”
"If you are what you should be, then you will set the world on fire."
My favorite -“To the true servant of God every place is the right place and every time is the right time. “
I have to go with Catherine.
Yes, h ow could I not vote for the one who wrote "O Little Town of Bethlehem!" (besides having worked at Trinity Church)