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'd like to nominate John Eliot, "Apostle to the Indians," who translated the Bible into Mohawk for the residents of the Indian Towns of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. According to Wikipedia (dare I trust it?), the Episcopal Church celebrates him on May 21.
Should anyone wonder how I know of such an obscure gentleman, I am a native of Natick, one of those Indian Towns. In Eliot's time, I could not have lived there, as all with property rights were required to be Native Americans. All Natick schoolchildren of my generation learned about the Natick Bible, with one of the few remaining copies in the library of South Natick, on the Charles River.
I nominate St. Claire. Not only did she sneak out a window to join up with her buddy, Francis, but encouraged her sister Agnes to likewise run away from the family home. Also, though I don't know why....she's the Patron Saint of Technology! Appropriate that I nominate her via my computer!
Please consider these two saints - St. Lucia and St. Aphrodesius.
Please consider: Adoniram Judson/Walter Rausenbusch/Roger William and Anne Hutchinson
Bayard Rustin
Pauli Murray
Vida Scudder
Sts. Sergius and Bacchus
Mychal Judge
Phebe Ann Coffin
All Saints
I would like to nominate James Lloyd Breck, one of the founders of Nashotah House.
I would also like to nominate Julian of Norwich.
Worthy of consideration:
Thurgood Marshall
Copernicus
Kepler
Thomas Tallis
On behalf of our Tuesday night Healing Service parishioners, especially Ms. Betty, we would like to nominate: Frances Jane (Fanny) Van Alstyne Crosby. See Holy Women, Holy Men, February 11, pp. 216-217.
I nominate Michael, Archangel
1. Aekaterina (St. Katherine of Alexandria)
2. St. Roch
3. St. Expeditus
4. St. Quiteria
5. St. Mary of Prompt Succor
6. St. Robert
7. St. Philomena
8. St. Sarah
9. St. Rachael
10. St. Valerian
Nelson Mandela
I nominate Florence Nightingale. She was put on the Lesser Feasts and List about 2-3 years ago.
I nominate the following:
Kentigern (or Mungo) - died 614, patron of saint of salmon (read the story and find out about the bird, the tree, the bell and the fish) and Glasgow
Columbanus - died 615, patron saint of motorcycles (really?), Irish missionary, founded a number of monasteries on the European continent, has more extant writings than most other Celtic saints
James Solomon Russell - born into slavery on a plantation in VA, later was the first student in the Bishop Payne Divinity School, ordained a deacon in 1882, a priest in 1887, founded St. Paul's Church and later St. Paul's College.
How about Mr. Rogers? He was a Presbyterian minister and shared a lot of life's wisdom with my kids when they were little.
I nominate Adoniram Judson. He is an exemplary model of evangelism of the 19th century.
Cyprian
I nominate John Coleridge Patteson, first Bishop of the Church of Melanesia and martyr.
Julian of Norwich
Hugh of Lincoln
Clement of Alexandria
Julian of Norwich
Therese of Lisieux
St Bernadette
John of the Cross
Mother Theresa
St Maryanne Cope and St Fr Damian de Vesteur (sp) of Molokai
St Pope John XIII
Thomas Merton
John Duns Scotus
St Paul
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Jacopone da Todi
Catherine of Siena
Simone Weil
Robert Lax
Kateri Tekakwitha
Oscar Romero
Abraham Lincoln
thank you~
I'll second John Donne and Nicholas Zinzendorf. Unfortunately, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is ineligible.
Nominating St. Bernadette of Lourdes, France: Patron saint of poverty, bodily illness and people persecuted for their religion/beliefs.
St. Barnabas
St. Stephen
Yona Kanamuzeyi, Deacon and Martyr in Africa, 1964
Manche Masemola of Sekhukhuneland, Virgin and Martyr, 1928
Maqhamusela Khanyile of Zululand, Martyr, 1877
Boniface, Bishop and Martyr in Germany, c.755
Columba of Iona, Missionary in Scotland, 597
Thomas More, Martyr, 1535
William Wilberforce, Philanthropist, 1833
William Tyndale, Priest and Martyr, 1536
Francis Xavier, Priest and Missionary to the East, 1552
St. Jerome
St. Boniface - raised as a Roman Catholic, my childhood was spent at St. Boniface our parish. This past year I have come to really appreciate the church which has since merged with other parishes and changed names . Boniface was a prominent saint in Germany.
St. Anne - Grandmother of Jesus (nuff said) and also in honor of my Aunt Ann who turns 100 on Mother's Day 5/10/2015.
Florence Nightingale - because the world will always need great nurses
St. Thomas the apostle - I am so much the "doubting Thomas" in parts of my life
I nominate Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961) - September 18th on ECLA calendar. UN Secretary General who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after his death in a mysterious plane crash while on his way to a peace-making mission in 1961. In 1963 "Markings", a journal of his spiritual life was published and became a best-seller. Hammarskjold called it "A sort of white book concerning my negotiations with myself -- and with God." Excerpts of "Markings" can be found at http://chippit.tripod.com/markings.html
I also nominate Catherine McAuley (1778-1841), Irish heiress who used her fortune to build a house where she and other compassionate women could take in homeless women and children to provide care and an education for them in Dublin. She eventually founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831, now an international order.
I nominate St. Dunstan, patron saint of blacksmiths, musicians, and my little parish in Atlanta. He was an amazing man!
Please include St. Barnabas
Vincent de Paul. So much more than thrift stores. His story and spirituality is an inspiration.
Julie Billiart. Survived the French revolution, founded the Sisters of Mount Notre Dame de Namur, focused on education for the poor, known as the Smiling Saint.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fr. Damian of Molokai
Mother Mary MacKillop (aka St. Mary of the Cross)
Nicholas of Myra
Patrick
Cecil Frances Alexander
William Wilberforce
One more .... I'll add my voice to those suggesting Fred Rogers.
I nominate Dame Julian of Norwich.
Nomination:
Kagawa Toyohiko
HWHM, p. 340
Here, here! Theologian, Poet, Novelist, Pacifist, Labor Union organizer, mystic, and the patron saint of inclement weather!
St.Alban