Nominations for next year’s field of 32 saints are now being accepted by the Supreme Executive Committee. Yes, for the next week we invite you to revel in the joyful, anticipatory Season of 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 ubiquitous Lent Madness mug featuring 2015 Golden Halo winner Francis of Assisi, the novel pint glass featuring Silver Halo winner Brigid of Kildare, or the de rigeur purple Lent Madness t-shirt.
And now, on to the main event: the call for nominations for Lent Madness 2016!
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 2034.
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 previous Golden Halo winners, the entire field of Lent Madness 2015, those saints who made it to the Round of the Elate Eight in 2014 and 2013, and those from the 2012 Faithful Four. Here is a comprehensive list of ineligible saints. Please keep this in mind as you submit your nominations — which you can do ONLY by leaving a comment on this post. Did we mention that the only way to make a nomination for Lent Madness 2016 is to leave 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!
Past Golden Halo Winners (ineligible)
George Herbert, C.S. Lewis, Mary Magdalene, Frances Perkins, Charles Wesley, Francis of Assisi
The Field from 2015 (all ineligible)
Gregory the Illuminator
Brendan the Navigator
John Keble
Thecla
Francis of Assisi
John Wycliffe
Balthazar
Cecilia
Bernard Mizecki
Margaret of Antioch
Margery Kempe
Jackson Kemper
Bede
Cuthbert
Molly Brant
Swithun
Hadewijch
Juan Diego
Dorcas
Frederick Douglass
Egeria
Hildegard
Barbara
Thomas Ken
Dionysius the Great
Irene the Great
Brigid of Kildare
Elizabeth
William Laud
Kamehameha
Teresa of Avila
David Oakerhater
From 2012 — 2014 (ineligible)
Basil the Great
Lydia
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Bedell
Anna Cooper
Phillips Brooks
Julia Chester Emery
Jonathan Daniels
Hilda of Whitby
Luke
Dorothy Day
Li-Tim Oi
Oscar Romero
Emma of Hawaii
Margaret of Scotland
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
After a mysterious process of bracket discernment at the upcoming SEC Retreat, the 2016 Bracket will be released on All Brackets Day, November 3, 2015. You have until Ascension Thursday, May 14, to make your nomination. In other words, your time is up when Jesus goes up.
For now, we wish you a joyous Nominationtide.
Update:
Thanks for your nominations! Nominations for Lent Madness 2016 are now closed. But stay tuned - All Brackets Day, and the grand unveiling of next year's bracket - is November 3.
443 comments on “Accepting Nominations!”
I nominate a Swedish saint, Saint Ansgar (8 September 801 – 3 February 865).
Constance and Her Companions, the Martyrs of Memphis 1878
St Paula and St Jerome
Let the smack down begin!
Guthlac of Crowland
Bring on Lent Madness 2016!
Kateri Tekakwitha, born in 1656.
Thomas Merton, born in 1915.
I nominate Columcille (Columba), for his booming voice & community-building gifts.
I’d like to nominate Matthew Talbot. You may have never heard of him, which is one of the reasons I find him so appealing. Matt was a common laborer in Dublin and considered a hopeless alcoholic. He’d take the pledge again and again, only to fall off the wagon. One day, when he was in his late twenties, he decided to try once more. He never took another drink and lived a very simple and humble life of prayer, study, asceticism, and charity for more than forty years. He was one of the little guys who lived in obscurity but tried to live heroically. He inspires a lot of people dealing with addiction, but his story is also about never giving up and shows how a quiet cheerful life dedicated to God can give glory to God as much as those who do great things in the eyes of the world. Two good biographies are Matt Talbot and His Times and Matt Talbot by Eddie Doherty. There are several shorter studies of him as well. He is recognized as venerable by the Roman Catholic Church, by the way, and is cause for beautification is open, so he fulfills the calendar requirement.
He was also a member of the Third Order of St. Francis and is venerated especially by Franciscans of every stripe.
Thank you for pointing that out - I'm glad some one else recognized him.
Great nomination for Matt Talbott! Let's add Maximillian Kolbe the Patron Saint of addiction.
I nominate the Grimke sisters...Angelina and Sarah. If I have to pick just one, let it be Sarah.
I concur with the nomination of Sarah Grimke.
St. Gertrude of Nivelles, Patron Saint of cats, gardens, and against mice and mental illness. I can think of all kinds of great kitsch.
I second St. Gertrude. I once got to portray her when, as a Sunday School teacher, we did an All Saints' presentation, each teacher taking on the persona of a different saint. I beg to differ, though, she was not "against" mice. My research showed that she had a pet mouse who lived in her convent cell with her.
Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker Gilbert and Annalivia Plurabelle Gilbert also second the choice of their patroness St Gertrude. Humphrey is an Anglo-Catholic cat, but Annalivia is neo-pagan Zen, so choosing St Gertrude might be a way of evangelizing her. It's tricky enough living in a bi-species household, let alone a bi-faith household.
I am so pleased to see that St Gertrude has been nominated. Let's hear it for cats !
I nominate St. Gertrude of Nivelles, Patron Saint of cats, gardens, and against mice and mental illness. I can think of all kinds of great kitsch.
I nominate St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Cranmer, Henri de Lubac and Pope John XXIII.
I nominate Saint Mother Theodore Guerin (1798 - 1856). After an extraordinary journey from France, Saint Mother Theodore arrived in the dense forest of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods near Terre Haute, IN in 1840 where she started a novitiate for the Sisters of Providence and a school for girls. She was canonized and made a saint in the Roman Catholic Church in October 2006.
Andrew the Apostle
Augustine
Catherine of Alexandria, patron saint of libraries
Catherine of Siena
David, Bishop of Menevia Wales
Dominic, patron saint of astronomers
Hilda, Abbess of Whitby
Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch
James, Bishop of Jerusalem, brother of Jesus
Jerome, patron saint of libraries
John Paul II
Joseph, father of Jesus
Julian of Norwich
Mark, Evangelist
Martin of Tours
Michael, archangel
Mother Teresa
Nicholas, Bishop of Myra
Polycarp, Bishop of Syrmna
Robert Grossetteste, Bishop of Lincoln 1253
Rose of Lima, patron saint of the Americas
I second St. Jerome and John Paul II.
Sojourner Truth
I nominate Fred Rogers' dog. I'm sure he's on some canine-ical church's saints' calendar, like the Ewhiskerpal Church of America, Our Lady of St. Bernard, or followers of the Dalai Llaso Apso. Certainly Parson Russell would vote for him.
Here is a list to consider -- I nominate
St Kevin – like the hymn we sing
Sarah Josepha Buell Hall – what a gal!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer – what a man!
St Paul
Julian of Norwich
Katharine Tekawitha
John Donne
Thomas Merton
Nicholas Zinzendorf
How about St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers? My very first car was a VW bug, purchased by my father for my brothers and me as teenagers and previously owned by a nun. There was a St. Christopher medallion on the dashboard. I'm pretty sure that's why my father bought the car.
William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania.
Also Martha and Mary of Bethany.
I would like to nominate a man just recently canonized as a saint by Pope Francis. St. Ludovico (Louis) Casoria. He was a teacher by day. However, at night he walked the streets looking for homeless children who were frequently the victims of human trafficking. He founded a religious congregation to care specifically for such victims and founded an orphanage to house these children. Given the scourge of human trafficking that we see in the world today, this man stands as an example of what one person can do to end this terrible plight.
As a member of the Anti-Racism Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, I wish I could nominate Jonathan Daniels, martyred 50 years ago this August. But since he''s ineligible, I suggest Martin Luther King, Absalom Jones, and St. Stephen, for which my home parish is named.
Jonathan Daniels will be eligible again in the next few years, so keep him in mind!
Thanks, Tessa, I will! I went on the pilgrimage last year (and plan on going this year) and read his biography. He's frequently on my mind as it is.
Thomas Merton
Henri Nouwen
Francis Xavier
Ignatius of Loyola
Pope John XXIII
Flannery O'Connor
It would be wonderful to include Maximilian Kolbe
Yes!!
I second and third the nomination of Sarah Josepha Buell Hale. I'd also like to suggest the great Saint Gregory of Nyssa and his mystical vision
I nominate
Charles Frederick Menninger (March 6)
(Julia) Vida Dutton Scudder (October 10)
both on the Episcopal Holy Women, Holy Men calendar
Thanks!
Lent Madness often seems to me as a battle of the sexes, so I'll nominate Joan of Arc...who actually could be very viable candidate for the Golden Halo. What's more is the fact that she would probably be the only nominee and contender who has had the dubious honor of being excommunicated by the ecclesiastical authorities. Finally, I offer this peachy campaign slogan this fascinating Franco-feminist icon: "Vote for Joan: she's baaad to the bone!"
LIKE
Actually, Mary MacKillop (who I've nominated) was also excommunicated briefly (for criticising the laid-back way her bishop handled a matter relating to child abuse), but she was reinstated by Rome.
I have a couple...is that okay? If not, my first choice is on the top.
St. Bridget of Sweden
St. Ignatius of Loyola
St. Francis Xavier
St. Peter Claver
St. John Francis Regis
St. Peter Faber
Pope St. John XXIII
St. Mark the Evangelist
St. John of the Cross
St. Kateri Tekakwitha
Sts. Nonnatus, Laurus, and Florus.
Saint Patrick, please!
I nominate the Celtic saint Pelagius. And if you guys are as as diabolical as I know you are, you should add St. Augustine of Hippo. Nothing like a little free will vs. original sin debate to get the juices going during Lent.