"Wait, St. Swithun was a real person?" We get that a lot. "Wait, Molly Brant was a real person?" We never get that. Nonetheless, welcome to the first and only Saturday match-up of Lent Madness 2015. Go ahead, sleep late and dally over your coffee while you read about these two saintly souls. But don't get used to it: after today's battle, voting will return bright and early on Monday morning with Hadewijch facing off against Juan Diego.
In yesterday's action, David Oakerhater stunned Teresa of Avila in the first major upset of the season. In heavy voting (another day, another record total), David scored 60% of the vote to Teresa's 40% and will go on to face the winner of William Laud vs. King Kamehameha in the Saintly Sixteen.
Yes, folks, it's called Lent Madness for a reason. If your bracket is busted, you're not alone. But stick around -- the real goal is to learn about some amazing people, not to "win" Lent. Of course if you do stand victorious at the end of the season, you have every right to gloat. In a loving, Christian kind of way, of course.
As long as you're enjoying a leisurely morning, why not listen to Tim chatting about all things Lent Madness from yesterday's edition of Boston Public Radio? Click here and then scroll to 1:28 of the broadcast to catch the only segment that really matters.
Swithun
Saint Swithun, often humorously referenced as the patron of the generic country church “in the field” or "in the swamp," was an actual Anglo-Saxon bishop and was enshrined at Winchester Cathedral. He is revered for posthumous miracle working and is believed to hold sway over the weather, especially the rain. According to tradition, the weather on his feast day of July 15 continues for forty days. And Californians, take note: Saint Swithun can also be prayed to for the relief of drought.
Swithun was a pious Bishop of Winchester in the ninth century. He convinced King Æthelwulf to bequeath a tenth of his royal lands to the Church, and with those lands Swithun built and restored churches with noted zeal. The king relied on the revered bishop for spiritual counsel, while another bishop advised him on temporal matters. Swithun was known as a friend of the poor who traveled his diocese on foot. A single miracle was attributed to the bishop while he was alive. Workmen were said to have maliciously broken an old woman’s eggs. He picked them up, and they were miraculously restored.
Very little else of his life was recorded, and the history of his bodily remains was most notable to his sainthood. He died on July 2, 862. On his deathbed the bishop was said to have begged to be buried outside where people might pass over his grave and raindrops fall upon it. Consequently, British lore holds that Saint Swithun’s day foretells the weather.
July, it will rain for 40 days.
For forty days it will remain:
St. Swithun’s day if thou be fair:
For forty days ‘twill rain nae mare.
More than a hundred years after his death, Swithun was made patron of Winchester Cathedral. His body was transferred from its earthen grave to Æthelwold’s new cathedral, and the move was accompanied by many reported miracles. Subsequently, his body was divided among a number of smaller shrines. His head was taken to Canterbury Cathedral, while Peterborough Abbey came to be in possession of one arm. The Winchester shrine to Swithun was demolished in 1538 during the English Reformation, but a modern representation of it was rebuilt in the cathedral, so one can still visit with pleas for rain and egg repair.
Collect for Swithun
Almighty God, by whose grace we celebrate again the feast of your servant Swithun: grant that, as he governed with gentleness the people committed to his care, so we, rejoicing in our Christian inheritance, may always seek to build up your Church in unity and love; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Molly Brant (Konwatsijayenni “Someone Lends Her a Flower”)
Molly Brant was born in 1736 along the Mohawk River in present-day central New York. In an age when women, much less Native American women, rarely had a voice in public discourse, Molly Brant became a well-regarded Mohawk leader, helping to promote peaceful relations between the Iroquois nation and the British government during the Revolutionary War era. A dedicated Anglican, she came to be known by the Church as the “Witness to the Faith Among the Mohawks.”
Raised in the Ohio Territory, Molly Brant returned to her native village, where she quickly established herself as a leader among the Mohawk Nation. She sought to draw fellow Mohawks into the Anglican faith without dismissing their native culture and spirituality. Her work garnered the attention of Sir William Johnson, a widower and the superintendent of Northern Indian Affairs. She became his common-law wife, and together, they had nine children. As Johnson’s wife, Brant served as an influential and authoritative voice of the Iroquois people in dealing with the British and an essential factor in Johnson’s reception as superintendent among Native Americans. The respect and esteem the British held for Brant was not only unique during that era but it was also key to preserving peaceful relations between the two nations and cultures.
During the American Revolution, Brant remained loyal to Great Britain, providing lodging and food to British soldiers and uniting four of the six Iroquois nations as Loyalists. Two years into the war, she and her family were forced to flee to Onondaga, where she remained until the war’s end in order to avoid imprisonment by the Patriots. Despite her forced relocation, Brant continued to work for harmony among the Iroquois people and their European neighbors. Her deft leadership led one commander of the British military to declare that Brant was “far superior to that of all their chiefs put together.”
Upon the surrender of the British in Yorktown, Virginia, in 1783, Brant moved with her family to Cataraqui in Canada’s province of Ontario, where she served as a founding member of both the town of Kingston and its first Anglican church. She remained near Kingston until her death in 1796.
Collect for Molly Brant
Maker and lover of all creation, you endued Molly Brant with the gifts of justice and loyalty, and made her a wise and prudent clan mother in the household of the Mohawk nation: Draw us also toward the goal of our faith, that we may at last attain the full dignity of our nature in our true native land, where with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Vote!
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279 comments on “Swithun vs. Molly Brant”
Another tough vote today. I love the stories of ST Swithin, my sister was born on his feast day but I had to go with Molly Brant. She was a peace maker and through her efforts, brought many in her nation to the Church.
It would seem that Swithin's weather influencing abilities would give him an advantage as we expect another winter storm on the east coast--he got my vote!
As usual, there are good and saintly people on each side of almost all earthly conflicts. Molly Brant rose above such differences, but showed loyalty the people who brought her to Christ. She continued to be a great peacemaker and evangelist for Christ. She became a war refugee, yet continued to spread the true Kingdom. I vote for Molly.
A peacemaker is a wonderful thing but pursuing peace with an invader you're unlikely to defeat anyway is an example of pragmatism more than saintliness. Molly's faithfulness as a Christian on the other hand is an example to all.
Alas, I am also pragmatic and, being in Chicago, see the value in getting on the good side of the guy who controls the weather. St. Swithun it is!
I would vote for Molly Brandt if my page would allow me. The voe page says vote =110???????
So did mine. So I went to the website (just click on the header and you'll get there), where everything is working just fine.
A lifetime ago, I was life professed in a religious order on St. Swithun's Day.
Over ten years ago, I was married on St. Swithun's Day.
Need I say more?
Go, Swithun, Go!
And, a repeat request to those ferrets, please stop pairing old time saints versus relatively modern.
A lifetime ago, I was life professed in a religious order on St. Swithun's Day.
Over ten years ago, I was married on St. Swithun's Day.
Need I say more?
Go, Swithun, Go!
My page does not give me the opportunity to vote. Help!!
Hi Catherine, try refreshing the page, also could try a different browser .. good luck.
Catherine, go to the website to vote. http://www.lentmadness.org
Molly lost me when I read that she left peril, instead of staying to work and bring people together. Taking sides was not her spiritual job, in my opinion; I reserve that to God. I live in a rural area, and the story of Swithun put a smile on my face--he gets my vote.
Swithun. He was an attentive and energetic pastor. He wanted to be with his flock even after death. He can make it rain. (Can he stop snow?) Go, Saint Swithun!
My vote goes to Molly today. It would be great to see a Native person do well and perhaps allow for more attention for their positive legacy and that of all Native peoples. Of indigenous faith or Christian, the folks I knew in SD always had something to teach me about God. Hece tu welo.
Molly Brant! She took an ally against the invaders of her land -- like the French before, the English were interested in political alliance with the tribes. The colonists just wanted lebensraum. She took the right side -- the losing side. So did my GGGGGGF, Gideon Corey, UEL, exiled to New Brunswick.
My family lost their home in the Mohawk Valley to the Irquois during the Revolution. Many of their neighbors lost more than their homes.
Russ; Hmmm I guess you did not vote for Molly
Hands down, had to go with Swithun. Here in North Texas we are under stage 3 water restrictions. I been you St Swithun intercede on our behalf to bring rain upon our land.
I was born on St. Swithun's feast day, so I have to go with him. Also I'm a gardener and we can always use the rain. However, I'm 0-2 so far in the bracket and if you look at it as one who mends eggs to one who joins nations, I'm thinking I'll be 0-3 tomorrow. Who would have thought St. Teresa would already be out? Go Swithun!!!
Without making any claims for the peacefulness of the rival Indian tribes that the Iroquois brutally sought to exterminate during this period and the mass migrations that their tribal conquests caused, and similarly without making any moral claims for the behavior of the white settlers of the border and trans-Appalachian regions who were slaughtered by the Iroquois, I simply want to point out that a characterization of Molly Brant (or of her common-law husband) as a "peacemaker" is a... intriguing... one. I suppose that General Sherman was also a "peacemaker" when he resolved to "make Georgia howl" and burned a wide swathe across the American south, but it isn't the first adjective that leaps to mind, and it certainly isn't the "turn the other cheek" sort of peacemaking that we often associate with the word.... I'll happily respect fellow voters who vote for Molly Brant, but I'd like to make sure that they understand that there were many, many widows and orphans who would have argued vigorously against her "saintliness" and that of her common-law husband.
Oh dear, perhaps I should rescind my vote. I find it interesting that history is often most loudly known through its recorder, the victor.
Excellent points by both. Such conundrums challenges us in discussing many a saint and addressing hot button issues in our own lives. Life is not easy, never mind a holy one. That's why I love Luther's point that we are at best sinner-saints. Grace wins the day.
St. Swithun needs some respect. I love that all he wanted was the rain to fall on his grave. It's terrible that they split his body and put it inside in not just one, but several, locations.
Deb, My thoughts exactly. I love that he wanted to have the rain fall on his body in the earth, and what a shame he was disturbed. I think Molly may have had a harder row to hoe, so to speak because her tasks seem a lot more complicated, but still I love the idea of St. Swithun and he gets my vote.
I'm with you, Deb. I'm for Swithun.
Not really so terrible -- it was a sign of high regard that everyone wanted a piece (literally) of him.
Molly and her abilities make her, in my mind, a stand-out. A peace-maker, one who brought others to meet and worship Christ: these are foremost in comparison with human power struggles.
I voted for swithun because he felt more like one of the Narnia books (age 7)
Tough one!! I never knew there was a real St. Swithin, though for years I served in a couple of those "St. S in the S kinds of places! But he already has statues and sainthood, and Molly needs recognition for her social justice work! Therefore.....!
And how DO you spell St. S's name, anyway? You guys have spelled it both ways here!
St. Swithun in the Swamps for the win!
I was also unable to vote though I refreshed the browser twice. Due to the state of unrest in our world , I would have voted for Molly. I will trust you to enter my vote as you trust me to NOT vote again. 🙂
I was able to vote by clicking "comments". I voted for Molly, but wish she had sided with the Patriots.
Who knew there was a Saint responsible for egg repair. I wonder if he will help with the success of our classroom incubation unit?
I thought that Iriquois women and elders were part of governing councils in those days and that Benjamin Franklin and others borrowed some of their ideas in writing our Constitution. I also understood that Elizabeth Cady Stanton and friends in Seneca Falls, upstate NY, borrowed some of their ideas. On vacation so can't check sources, just saying. It doesn't take anything from Molly. You don't have to be a downtrodden women to be a saint.
I believe you are correct.
The key phrase for me which led me to vote for Molly was: "She sought to draw fellow Mohawks into the Anglican faith without dismissing their native culture and spirituality." What a pity this example was not followed by other church leaders.
I grew up with the legend of 40 days of rain if it rained on St. Swithun Day so I have to go with him – even though I'm a Loyalist at heart!
Going to the comments will bring up the voting site. St Swithun it is!! Always had a soft spot for him.
Ah, one must click on the first " x vs. y " that is blue and at the top of the page to go to the voting page.
My dad was a Brit, who used to mourn the loss of the colonies by wearing a black tie on July 4, but he eventually got his US citizenship. Come on US-ers, Molly was a Tory! We can't give her the victory. Go Swithun! My bracket was already busted yesterday....sigh.
I find it a bit baffling that yesterday there was so much consciousness in the comments about the evils of colonialism, and today we have all this chest-thumping jingoism: you "can't give her the victory" because she had the nerve to side against American settler expansionism? As a Canadian, I am rather disappointed to learn that so many voters seem to consider us automatically beyond the pale of sainthood.
I agree with you about the different tone in contemplations about which Saint to vote for - I was looking for a word to describe it but I'll have to take y0ur w0rd use of BAFFLED -
yet in a perplexed/intrigued sort of way. Put it down to a fascination with how we humans think .