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!”
Julie Billiart!
To appeal to Scott and Forward Movement's hometown, she founded the sisters of Mount Notre Dame de Namur, who, upon sending sisters to the United States, based themselves in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Also Julian of Norwich, Elizabeth of Hungary, Cecilia, and the Dorchester Chaplains.
why does it keep saying "leave a reply to RHEE"? anyway- as always FRED ROGERS,,,and PLEASE no POPE contest. i would NEVER, as an Episcopalian in good standing since birth, walk around with a Pope mug or tote.
Linda, I hear you loud and clear(and I was Catholic for 23 years, I'm a born-again Anglican and completely happy to be so)!
From the article itself: "Also, please note that the saints you nominate should be in the sanctoral calendar of one or more churches." In other words, we're talking about people who've already been declared saints.
Which means that "justification" isn't really necessary; the main object here is to learn more about the saints of the church. Many of these people are from very distant times and places, and Lent Madness helps bring their names and lives back to our consciousness - which is a very good thing, I think.
And, yes: it's fun.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Yes! I think FDR would be a grand choice, also Winston Churchill
Two, please. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Anselm of Canterbury/Aosta/Bec
Any active or retired servicemember should be able to appreciate a saint with multiple "addresses"
Two come to mind, Pope John 23rd, and Fred Rogers
I just remembered another worthy candidate: Albert Switzer
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
Aidan of Lindisfarne
Columba of Iona
Notice the pattern?
In addition to Hildegard, St. Paschal--patron saint of those of us who cook.
St. Jarlath - was an Irish priest and scholar from Connacht, remembered as the founder of the monastic School of Tuam and patron saint of the Archdiocese of Tuam.
Also...
St. Brigid of Kildare
St. Hildegard of Bingen... who described herself as a "feather on the breath of God".
St. Brigid of Kildare
Hildegard von Bingen
Fred Rogers
Anne and Joachim - grandparents of Jesus
St. Joseph
St. Cecilia
Lucy
J.R.R. Tolkien
St. Nicholas of Myra
Madeleine L'Engle
Christina Rossetti
Saint John XXIII
Elizabeth of Hungary
Joseph, the father of Jesus
Mary Townsend
A pair of obscureish, twin saints: Sergius and Bacchus (Oct 7 in the Orthodox Church) might be an interesting one for people to learn more about.
How about John Paul II? Wasn't he just officially made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church? I also nominate Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Archangel St. Rapheal! He answered my prayers and brought me my wife!
Martha Washington, who could be in holy women, holy men based on her faith practices and the role it played in her life.
Anselm of Canterbury; faith seeking understanding FTW!
Definitely one of my favorite saints: Dame Julian of Norwich and also Saint Teresa of Avila both of whom are written up most indearingly in Carol Lee Flinders great book: Enduring
Grace subtitled Living Portraits of of Women Mystics (1993).
Enmegahbowh, the first Native American to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in the United States.
Bishop Henry Whipple, the first Episcopal Bishop in Minnesota, a humanitarian and an advocate for Native Americans.
Father Damien of Moloka'i, known for his ministry to people with leprosy who were quarantined on the island of Moloka'i in Hawaii.
Edith Stein
St. Bridget. Her feast day is February 1st.
BROTHER LAWRENCE - interesting fellow: sought a place where he could suffer for his failures. He thus entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Paris. We could all suffer there. Despite his lowly position in life and the priory, his character attracted many to him. He had a reputation for experiencing profound peace and visitors came to seek spiritual guidance from him. The wisdom he passed on to them, in conversations and in letters, would later become the basis for the book, The Practice of the Presence of God. (All from Wikipedia)
ANNE HUTCHINSON - A doer , not a dummy.
"Her strong religious convictions were at odds with the established Puritan clergy in the Boston area, and her popularity and charisma helped create a theological schism that threatened to destroy the Puritans' religious experiment in New England. She was eventually tried and convicted, then banished from the colony with many of her supporters."
(above from Wikipedia)
Nominations:
St Columba
Hildegard of Bingen
Eglantine Jebb
Octavia Hill
Oscar Romero
Mary Sumner
Wiiliam Temple
Brother Andre of Montreal.
I nominate the Rev. Vivian Redlich, one of the Martyrs of New Guinea: a young missionary who, having been sent away from his post to recover from an illness, returned to be with his flock at Sangara, an area being shelled by Japanese warships. He celebrated Holy Communion with the members of his congregation, and wrote to his father that, "If I don't come out of it, just rest content that I have tried to do my job faithfully." He was killed there in 1942, not by the Japanese, as was originally thought, but members of an indigenous tribe with whom he and his staff had taken shelter.
Hildegard of Bingen
Fanny Crosby....for SO many reasons.....