In the final battle of a week filled with saintly thrills and spills, Balthazar squares off against Cecilia. And you, yes YOU, get to decide whether to vote against Christmas pageants or against church choirs. So good luck with that. Actually, both saints have inspired many people over the generations -- from those who love frankincense, to those who are allergic to it; from those with melodic voices to the tone deaf.
Yesterday's hotly contested battle between Egeria and Hildegard of Bingen ended with the bracket-busting Egeria edging out Hildegard by the slimmest of margins, 51% to 49%. With almost 6,800 votes cast, Egeria prevailed by less than 140. See, your (single) vote counts!
While we've had our share of nail biters over the years, this ranks up there and was the first truly close battle of Lent Madness 2015. And the comments. The comments! We set a record for most comments ever with nearly 370. Kudos to the commenters!
Balthazar
The story of the Three Wise Men is a beloved part of Christmas crèches and pageants, albeit exercising a bit of editorial license. In Matthew’s Gospel, the text only says that sages and magi traveled from the East to find the infant King — not how many there were or what their names were.
Nonetheless, over time, tradition has narrowed the number of the Eastern travelers down to three and assigned them names — one of which is Balthazar. (In many medieval depictions of the Wise Men, Balthazar is depicted as a young African man). Aside from his presence in Matthew’s story, we don’t know much about Balthazar. He’s a mysterious figure, along with Melchior and Caspar, the other two kings named by tradition. The story goes that they brought frankincense, myrrh, and gold to the baby, carried all the way from the distant lands of Africa, Asia, and Europe.The kings were warned in a dream not to return to the genocidal King Herod, so they headed for home by a different path.
At some point, Balthazar and the other kings were martyred and buried, but we aren’t quite sure where. The explorer Marco Polo thought they were near Tehran, while Saint Helena thought she had found them in Palestine, along with the true cross, and brought everything with her to be enshrined at the Hagia Sophia. When Constantinople fell, the kings were moved to Milan, then Germany. You can now see what are believed to be Balthazar’s bones at a cathedral in Cologne, Germany.
But here is where the story gets really good.
It’s easy to dismiss Balthazar’s story as medieval hagiographic fan fiction. Yet alongside these Western Christian stories ran traditions from within Ethiopia and within Central and Southeast Asia, which traced their Christianity back to the return from Bethlehem of theWise Men. In 1243, Sempad, the elder brother of the Armenian king wrote a letter to his sister, Queen Stephanie of Cyprus, saying “Tanchat [Tangut, or Western Xia], which is the land from whence came the Three Kings to Bethlem [sic] to worship the Lord Jesus which was born. And know that the power of Christ has been, and is, so great, that the people of that land are Christians; and the whole land of Chata [Khitai, or Kara-Khitai] believes those Three Kings. I have myself been in their churches and have seen pictures of Jesus Christ and the Three Kings, one offering gold, the second frankincense, and the third myrrh. And it is through those Three Kings that they believe in Christ, and that the Chan and his people have now become Christians.”
At the time of Christ, the trade routes of present-day India, China, Egypt, and Ethiopia, all flowed through Jerusalem, so it’s not unreasonable to imagine that a curious young trader heard of an unusual baby, grabbed some friends, and decided to go investigate.
What is clear, however, is that his investigations, and the fruit of his travels, changed the world.
Collect for Balthazaar
Lord God, you set the stars in motion and give us wisdom. Bless us this day with the curiosity of Balthazar, that we would seek your will and know your ways, even as those signs pointing toward them would lead us over and beyond the horizons of familiarity. Make us restless to seek your face and your kingdom, knowing that resting in your knowledge and love is to truly come home. Bless all those who travel, and all those who seek the truth as part of their journey. Amen.
Cecilia
Cecilia is the patron saint of singers, musicians, and poets. She was martyred in Rome in the third century. Finding historically factual information regarding her life is a real heartbreaker and can shake the confidence of even the most devoted researcher.
Nevertheless, it is believed that Cecilia was born into nobility and privilege. She was a woman of strong faith and was credited with converting four hundred people. She was married to a pagan named Valerian. With Cecilia’s faith as a living example, Valerian and his brother Tiburtius, along with Maximus, a Roman soldier, were converted. After their baptism, the two brothers devoted themselves to burying the martyrs who were being slain daily. In about 230 CE, the brothers were arrested for practicing their faith. They were executed—and while she was burying her husband and brother-in-law, Cecilia was arrested.
There were several unsuccessful efforts to slay Cecilia, including stabbing, suffocation, and attempts at beheading, but she clung to life. After three days, she died as a result of the injuries.
Many reports tell of Cecilia’s courage and unfailing faith, revealing that she sang praises to God throughout her torment and slow death, hence her musical connection.
Cecilia is among the most famous and honored of the Roman martyrs. Since at least the fifth century, a church named in her honor has been located on the site of ruins believed to have been her home.
Cecilia is widely depicted in art, from paintings and sculptures to stained glass and mosaics and of course, music. Musical works by the greats — Handel, Purcell, Gounod, and Britten, and even contemporary artists such as Paul Simon, The Andrews Sisters, and Blue Oyster Cult, draw on Cecilia’s life and legacy as part of their own expressions. John Dryden, Alexander Pope, and W. H. Auden are among the great poets whose works honor Cecilia. Musical societies and choirs are also frequently named in her honor, including the National Academy of Saint Cecilia. In some places, concerts are presented on her feast day, which is November 22.
Collect for Cecilia
Most gracious God, whose blessed martyr Cecilia sang in her heart to strengthen her witness to you: We give you thanks for the makers of music whom you have gifted with Pentecostal fire; and we pray that we may join with them in creation’s song of praise until at the last, with Cecilia and all your saints, we come to share in the song of those redeemed by our Savior Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
-- Neva Rae Fox
Vote!
[poll id="120"]
225 comments on “Balthazar vs. Cecilia”
I was in a St. Cecilia choir growing up and am now an aging chorister, but this was a hard choice for me. I love that the Wise Men were the source of belief in areas not covered by early missionary journeys!
As a professional musician, I would be expected to vote for the legendary Cecilia, who inspired so much great music (forgive me, also, granddaughter). Why Balthazar? Holy Week is coming, and one of my annual disciplines is to reread the extraordinary cycle of radio plays by Dorothy L. Sayers, "The Man Born to Be King" (1943). She brings Balthazar back in the Passion Play (#11 of 12) in a remarkable appearance. These plays (still in print), and the extensive commentaries provided for each, are filled with insight (e.g., she gives the only plausible explanation I have ever encountered for "the Penitent Thief on the cross") and inspiration. In honor of her (I'd say brilliant) use of the character, I voted for Balthazar.
Although I can't express this as eloquently, I have sung in choirs for many years and might be expected to vote for Cecilia. However, this is all madness anyway, and I fell in love with Balthasar via "Amahl and the Night Visitors", and found Megan Castellan's piece most interesting too. So it is Balthasar for me!
Cecelia Day is my birthday. And feast day if CS Lewis. Gets my vote
I have seen the Drei Konige in Cologne, but Cecilia, music and singing win my heart and vote........to be able to sing her way through the pain inflicted......WOW!
I'm voting for Cecilia partly because of the musical connection, but I also admire what we know of her life. In grad school days, I had a friend named Cecile who couldn't sing a note. I, on the other hand, share a name with the patron saint of vision, St. Lucy, and my vision had always been poor due to Marfan Syndrome. Cecile and I thought maybe we should trade names! I'm relieved to learn that others had trouble with the website this morning too. First I got error messages saying that Safari (The Mac's browser) couldn't access the server. Later, I got on the website but there was another error message there--404 or some such thing. I thought that somehow all this trouble was due to my software upgrade, but the old computer had the same problem. Seems to be working just fine now. Hallelujah!
If the vote total is low, it may be due to error 404 (whatever that is). However, one of the side effects of being infected with lentmadness is tenacity. So I did manage to find the post and vote for Balthazar. After all that was a long journey, and he did not even get frequent camel miles.
Voted for Balthazaar on the basis of that fabulous collect!
For the St. Cecelia window with Kansas blue glass in St. Scholastica Chapel at the Benedictine Convent in Atchison, KS, and for my dad calling her a b*&%^, yelling at us to turn off that damned song when Cecilia broke Paul Simon's heart, and now how the song is one of the few things that makes dad smile, for that it must be Cecilia.
Benjamin Britten's beautiful "Hymn to St. Cecilia" with text by W.H. Auden:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P6c7SdHAak
Thank you for the beautiful Hymn to St. Cecilia. Made my day.
Thank you, Cassandra for posting this glorious Britten/Auden Hymn. My community choir made a valiant effort in learning and performing this. It was truly an out-of-body experience. Myth or not. Cecilia continues to be a muse and an inspiration.
The optimist whose vote wouldn't go through at 825AM--- I couldn't even get the biographical material at 215PM. The fix on the page didn't work. I had to go round through Facebook. Probably the reason there have been very few voters. The section carries a 4o4 error
My first degree relatives are ALL choir singers, as am I. One of them even carries Cecilia's name. Of course I voted for Cecilia.
Was voting for Cecilia before I saw her Feast Day is my birthday..yes to Cecilia!
Please tell me that the Paul Simon connection to St. Cecilia isn't the song, "Cecilia"...
Oh, Cecelia, you're breaking my bracket...
oops, Cecilia
If my vote - cast at 8:30-ish, just as the site was going down - was recorded, it went to Cecilia, mostly because Dryden's "Song for Saint Cecilia's Day" is one of my most favorite:
As from the power of sacred lays
The spheres began to move,
And sung the great Creator's praise
To all the bless'd above;
So when the last and dreadful hour
This crumbling pageant shall devour,
The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And Music shall untune the sky.
How can I not vote for Cecilia? It was my grandmother's name.
Cecilia got my vote (I hope, since I voted but saw a 0 afterwards). As a longtime choir member, and also a fan of Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia, she must get my vote. Balthazar's collect almost swayed me. But Cecilia won out for me.
As a faithful (mostly) member of the choir at St. Martin's, I'm practically required to vote for Cecelia. It doesn't hurt that she's (probably) a real person too...
Very easy for me, a singer. I have an icon of Cecilia in my office. 🙂
Still singing after much torture and suffering....Cecilia gets my vote!
I admire Cecelia's tenacity and inspirational example but am voting for Balthazar (and friends) who inspired three of my favourite things:
1. The song of the three kings in Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors" as they search for a kingly but poor Child "the colour of wheat...earth...thorn...dawn";
2. "The Journey of the Magi" by T.S. Eliot - even better during Lent than Epiphany;
3. James Taylor's "Home By Another Way".
Also,
4. Great collect.
Yes, Balthazar had me at the collect!
Lovely references indeed.
Blessed Cecilia! I finally picked a saint who is already ahead in the polls! My bracket was busted on day one, and I have successfully chosen the loser in every match up until today. But I refuse to take responsibility for taking down the Lent Madness website this morning - it was already broken before I could cast my vote, which is based not on Simon & Garfunkel, but on Benjamin Britten, whose Hymn to St. Cecilia is one of my favorite choral works. So there.
You're ahead of me, Jo Anne. I have "lost" every one of the 13 match-ups so far (voting before I look at results, not checking results and then voting for the underdog). Assuming statistical independence, the odds of this in probability theory are 8191 to 1. We don't even have that many voters! (To be fair, I've done rather better in the three previous years, generally about 50%.)
What an effort to cast a vote for choirs! I love incense. But I love any woman who sings as the meanies attempt to kill her.
Balthazar for me. My parish is Church of the Epiphany, so he has a home here. Or at least a place to crash on his travels.
Who is next? St. Christopher? These saints lack, shall we say, flesh and blood. I have prayed to Cecilia for a reliable high 'G', and a mystical explanation of Anglican chant.
Balthazar seems the more plausible of the two, given the trade route connection. The Early Roman Church was awash in young virgin martyrs, many of whom were probably amalgams. Some may even have been classical muses who morphed into popular saints.
I'm getting an error when I try to look at the results (which I usually check before voting to see if one of the saints needs a hand :). Even so, I feel the need to try to get a musician into the Saintly 16, so will try to vote for Cecilia.
I of course adore music and poetry, and against another opponent I'd surely have voted for Cecilia - but I voted for Balthazar.
I think it's partly because I was a wandering seeker for many years, too. But also because I love the mystical, illuminated season of Epiphany - it may be my favorite season - and I love the gathering-in of the Gentiles that the three kings represent: "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts." From one end of the earth to the other, IOW.
There's plenty of wonderful music during Epiphanytide - and "The Journey of the Magi" for poetry, too. Not to mention O. Henry's great "The Gift of the Magi"; with Balthazarr, you get the best of both worlds. Great art , too - the Ravenna mosaic in the image above, for instance. King's cake. Instead of writing to Santa, kids in some cultures write the Three Kings.
I love the Xia story, which I've never heard before. Balthazar!
having sung in church choirs since I was eight years old, and having met my husband through music, this was a no brainer. Balthasar and his fellow Magi are interesting, and important, but Cecilia all the way!
You left out the most important part of the story -- St. Cecilia is also credited with inventing the pipe organ! That is why she is so celebrated by musicians. There is a much better painting of her by Gentileschi in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, "St. Cecilia and the Angel," which shows her at the organ.
I especially like Cecilia's collect about flaming musicians...
Well, as a former chorister and church music director, I felt honor-bound to vote for Cecelia! Beside, she was a real person, as opposed to a made up one! That said, however, if B was, indeed a real person, then I suspect the crash of the website today might have been the work of his two jealous cronies...just sayin'