Nominations for next year’s field of 32 saints are currently being accepted by the Supreme Executive Committee. Yes, in addition to Eastertide, today begins Nominationtide.
But before we get to the main attraction, we encourage you to visit the Lentorium. You can prove your love for Lent Madness by loading up on Lent Madness merchandise, including the Lent Madness 2014 tote bag, the Lent Madness wall clock, some Lent Madness 2014 coasters, a Lent Madness 2014 magnet, and much, much more. And, of course, don't forget to stock up on Charles Wesley or Lent Madness perpetual purple mugs.
And now, on to the main attraction, the call for nominations for Lent Madness 2015!
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.
While the SEC remains responsible for the formation of the final bracket, we encourage your participation in the nominating process. As in past years, we might even listen to some of your suggestions.
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 2014, those saints who made it to the Round of the Elate Eight in 2013 and 2012, and those from the 2011 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. We’re open minded. To a point.
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 2014 (all ineligible)
Mary of Egypt
David of Wales
Ephrem of Edessa
Catherine of Siena
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Alfred the Great
Lydia
Catherine of Alexandria
Antony of Egypt
Moses the Black
Thomas Gallaudet
Joseph of Arimathea
John Wesley
Charles Henry Brent
Christina the Astonishing
Alcuin
Julia Chester Emry
Charles Wesley
FD Maurice
SJI Schereschewsky
Phillips Brooks
Harriet Bedell
JS Bach
Anna Cooper
John of the Cross
James Holly
Nicholas Ridley
Aelred
Louis of France
Thomas Merton
Basil the Great
Simeon
Past Golden Halo Winners (ineligible)
George Herbert, C.S. Lewis, Mary Magalene, Frances Perkins, Charles Wesley
From 2011 — 2013 (ineligible)
Jonathan Daniels
Harriet Tubman
Hilda of Whitby
Luke
Dorothy Day
Li-Tim Oi
Oscar Romero
Enmegahbowh
Emma of Hawaii
Margaret of Scotland
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Evelyn Underhill
Jerome
Thomas Cranmer
Clare of Assisi
Thomas Beckett
Perpetua
By the way, it's worth remembering that all the talk you hear these days about transparency and accountability is moot for the SEC. We reveal little and answer to no one. So if you don't like the choices that we'll announce at an unspecified future date known only to us (see what we did there?), start your own online devotional.
For now, we wish you a joyous Eastertide and Nominationtide.
985 comments on “Nominations Open!”
Have you ever considered St. Columba who began the abbey on Iona?
And perhaps a female nun from the Iona nunnery though I do not know any names ... maybe others do.
Bishop Jackson Kemper. As the Episcopal Church's first missionary bishop, his jurisdiction eventually covered Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska. He was the presider at conventions that created several Midwestern dioceses, before he became Bishop of Wisconsin, where he founded additional institutions. He's also the namesake of the new Bishop Kemper School for Ministry educating lay people and clergy for four dioceses that he helped create about 150 years ago.
St George patron saint of England
I nominate John Muir!
St. Raphael of Brooklyn! The Christians from/in the Middle East are widely unknown/misunderstood in the West (who knows why?). St. Raphael helped establish the first orthodox churches in America for Middle Eastern immigrants to this country. Today the Christian community in The Holy Land/Middle East is rapidly shrinking for a variety of reason - all the more reason to include St. Raphael. See more here: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Raphael_of_Brooklyn
More Celtic saints-Patrick, Cuthbert, Columba
Matthew and Mark
Madeleine L'Engle
Yes! thank you -- I was trying to remember her!
I totally agree - both popes/new saints!!!!
I second Madeleine L'Engle.
Me too. "a wrinkle in time" was decades ahead of its time!(plus how many authors have the same name, with the same spelling, as yours truly?)
For Lent Madness, 2015, consider including Dame Julian of Norwich.
I would like to nominate Verna Dozier, long time school teacher, lay preacher and theologian who espoused social justice before it was a buzz word. I heard her speak once and was highly moved by her message.
I nominate Canon David Gibson of Chicago, Illinois
In the 50's he was studied as a saint in our Sunday School curriculum. I met him in his church when I was little. My mother told me he had been a business man and then felt God calling him to the priesthood and that when he prayed for someone he prayed until he got an answer to his prayers. He was known and well loved by people who needed guidance and help.
Teresa of Avila
St. Kinga aka Cunegunda--what an awesome name!
Henry Suso (carved Jesus's name on his chest)
Peter Verona (is depicted with an axe in his head)
Henri Nouwen
Josephine Bakhita
Kateri Tekakwitha
Isaac Jogues
Once again I recommend St. Fiacre. He is one of the Irish monks who "Saved Civilization" by bringing Christian knowledge back to the European continent during the Dark Ages, in his case, to France. He is often depicted with a shovel propped before him, and is considered a patron saint of gardeners. Great legends, great kitch. Check him out!
Gregory Palamas, Maximus the Confessor
I nominate Saint James of Jerusalem. I am not certain, but, I thought he ran the first church council, The Council of Jerusalem. He died a martyr.
Dear SEC,
- The Blessed Virgin Mary,
- Saint John the Evangelist,
And why not put a Canadian on the Bracket this year like:
- Archbishop Robert Machray, first Primate of all Canada
- Bishop Charles Inglis, first Bishop in British North America
Kateri Tekawitha
You go, Kateri.
So, I'm confused. Is Fred Rogers' dog eligible or not?
Verna Dozier
I nominate Mary Flannery O'Conner who wrote some of the deepest and thought provoking Christian Fiction of the 20th century while in the final throws of the insidious disease Lupus. She passed at age 39 after providing a great body of work.
Dorcas
St Teresa of Avila
Hildegarde of Bingen
Augustine of Hippo
St. Hydroc
St. Therese of Lisieux
Candidates I would like to see:
Cesar Auguste Franck (not a saint, but was a great and very devout church musician)
St. Caecilia, patroness of the musicians
St. John Paul II
St. Christophorus (or Christopher)
respectfully submitted,
Andres
Michelangelo, Toyohiko Kagawa, Philipp Melanchthon, Jan Hus, Dag Hammarskjöld, Katharina von Bora Luther, Martyrs of Japan
I want to add:
St. Benedict! Ora et labora!
Priscilla, aka "Prisca" (July 8 on the RC calendar)
Brigid (Feb 2)
Julian of Norwich (May 8)
John Donne (March 31)
Isaac Watts (November 26)
Thurgood Marshall (May 17)
John Woolman (Quakers don't have calendars, but he would be on it if they did.)
Harriet Starr (May 7)
I want to add:
St. Benedict! Ora et labora!
Sister Emily Cooper, Deaconess, who named and baptized children who would have been forgotten. She was named the director of The Home of the Innocents in Louisville, Kentucky in 1880 by the Bishop of Kentucky, Benjamin Bosworth Smith. The Home was a place for the care of sick, abandoned or abused children. Many children were abandoned there, unnamed. She gave each of these children Christian names and assisted at the baptisms of 244 children. (From Holy Women, Holy Men - March 28)