The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived: Lent Madness 2016 kicks off RIGHT NOW! For those who thought "Ash Thursday" would, like a desert oasis, never arrive, your penitential dreams have come true.
In any case, we’re delighted to welcome you to this year’s Saintly Smackdown with a First Round battle between Helena and Monnica. Or as we like to call it, the Matronly Meltdown®, as we open with two famous mothers doing battle (of course motherhood isn't either one's full claim to fame, so read on).
If you’re new to Lent Madness, welcome! You may want to check out our recent Voting 101 post which includes a step-by-step how to vote video. You can also read through the Lent Madness Glossary which highlights all sorts of phrases and terms you'll encounter along this unique Lenten journey.
Be sure to sign up for e-mail updates on our home page so you never miss a vote, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and encourage your friends to jump into the fray. While you are on our Facebook page today, please “Check In” to Lent Madness so all your friends will know you have gone to Lent Madness.
We can assure you this will be a wild, joyful, educational, ocassionally gut-wrenching ride. Let the Madness begin!
Helena
During her long life, Helena gathered the most-sought-after relics in Christian history, including splinters of what is known as the True Cross.
Helena was born around 246 CE, somewhere in Asia Minor—most likely the city of Drepanum. She grew up as a stable maid, but her fortunes changed radically when she met the emperor, fell in love with him, was whisked away to Rome, and gave birth to Constantine in 272 CE.
Some describe Helena as the royal wife, some as the royal concubine, some as the royal consort. What is clear is that after Constantine was born, the emperor sent Helena away. Helena and Constantine were exiled from court in 289 CE.
This was not the end of Helena. Constantine became the Roman emperor by winning the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 313 CE, after being told in a vision that if he and his troops marked their shields with the Greek letters Chi and Rho—the first two letters of Christ, the battle would belong to them. Depending on the source, Constantine and his mother converted promptly after this victory was secured.
Upon being recognized as the emperor of Rome, Constantine sent Helena on an official mission: travel to Palestine to bring back relics of Jesus and the Apostles and to do whatever good she felt necessary in the name of Christ. To accomplish this, he put the entire imperial treasury at her disposal.
Helena (who was at the very least every day of seventy-five-years-old) set out with gusto and built the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem as well as the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives. She tore down the Roman temple that had been constructed on the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and gave orders for the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. She unearthed fragments of wood that she believed to be the True Cross as well as the nails that were used on Jesus’ hands and feet and carried them with her back to Rome.
In all, she built over eighty churches in the Holy Land, including Saint Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. Helena also preserved for generations the history of the Holy Land and the early faith of the Church. And she did it all in the second act of her life.
Collect for Helena
Almighty God, you caused Helena of Constantinople to seek the cross of Christ with energy and devotion; Grant that through her example we may be inspired to seek your face and bear your cross for the sake of your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Monnica
Monnica, a model of the praying mother and wife, was the mother of Augustine—the father of Western Christian thought. Married to a pagan bureaucrat named Patricius, who would later convert to Christianity under her influence, Monnica was mother to several children; Augustine was the eldest. After her husband’s death, Monnica made fierce and tireless efforts to secure Augustine’s conversion, even going so far as to push the local bishop to track Augustine down and argue with him.
By the time he was twenty-nine, Augustine decided to journey to Rome to teach rhetoric. Monnica, while opposed to the plan, persisted in going with him. By fits and tricks, Augustine managed to embark for Rome, leaving his bereft mother behind. Yet Monnica could not be deterred, and she sailed for Rome, only to find him in Milan. In 386, she witnessed the event for which she longed: Augustine’s full acceptance of catholic Christianity, followed a year later by his baptism. Monnica had persisted, prayed, and worked nearly two decades to see Augustine’s conversion.
Monnica died in the port of Ostia, and when asked if she wished for her remains to be carried home, she replied, “Nothing is far from God; neither am I afraid God will not find me.” Her conviction that nothing is far from God has earned her devotion to this day. Monnica is the patron saint of married women and mothers and those battling alcohol addiction.
Collect for Monnica
O Lord, through spiritual discipline you strengthened your servant Monnica to persevere in offering her love and prayers and tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine their son: Deepen our devotion, we pray, and use us in accordance with your will to bring others, even our own kindred, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
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303 comments on “Helena vs. Monnica”
It may be pure madness, but I gave my vote to Monnica. She's getting trounced, but I don't care. There's always tomorrow and then that long weekend of waiting for Monday.
I voted for Monica because I admire the influence she had on her son St. Augustine. Even though St. Helena did many good things for the faith she could not restrain her son from his madness. The cross itself ,which Constantine raised to prominence, has had a terrible effect on Christian-Jewish relations.
As a member of St. Augustine's parish in Oakland, California and a member of St. Monnica' s Guild,of course I voted for Monnica, who like me is a mother of sons.
Although I was leaning towards Helena when I read that Monnica was the patron saint of those battling addiction I had to vote for her because being a person in recovery who knows how many times I prayed to her and didn't even know it. have now been sober over 27 years so she must of heard me so here's a vote for her. Thank you Monnica!
What a dilemma! Choosing between two fierce and devoted mothers is not easy, but I went with Helena who accomplished so much after 75, which in her day must have been equivalent to being 110! Also as someone else noted, Monnica would seem to be the precursor of the "helicopter mom" of today...not exactly commendable.
Voted for Monnica. It was an easy choice. We naggers have to stick together.
Reluctant vote for Helena. At least she'll have some great swag. I was confirmed on what would have been Monnica's feast, had it not been Sunday. I was fascinated by her story, but looked and looked for some kind of icon showing Monnica's tears. They pretty much all showed her holding an unraveled scroll. I remember having read the significance of that, but also remember not caring so very much. So I've forgotten what that's about. It's her other son whose story I liked. Again, I forget why. All this forgetting may be why Helena got my vote. She's much more monumental.
Hard choice between heavenly Helena and marvelous Monnica. After much hand wringing, Skye and Hope voted for Helena because of her energizer bunny church building efforts. To paraphrase twin twelve-year-olds: "80 churches in the Holy Land? Wow! That's a lot of churches."
This is my first time to take part in Lent Madness and I think it will be a lot of fun. I also think that I am going to learn a lot. I voted for Helena in the end but I loved the comment about Monnica travelling to Rome, only to find that her son was, in fact, in Milan! I think that says a lot! 😉
I had real problems voting for Helena. On the one hand, her church building and church heritage efforts are impressive. On the other she aided and abetted the church's cozying up to the empire, a problem that vexes the church to this day.
Monicca may have been the original helicopter mom, BUT she seemed genuinely interested in both the following and worshipping of Christ, hence my vote for her.
Monnica, all the way. Not age, primitive traveling conditions or her son's attempts to ditch her could stop this mom from following her son around the known world until he got his act together.
Having journeyed to the quarry far below the rock called Golgotha, where Helena is reputed to have found the remnants of the True Cross, in the Church of the Holy Sepluchre, I have to cast my vote for her. As my guide repeatedly said, "If not here, somewhere." I finally came to be believe, "Yes, here!" Thank you Helena.
Both remarkable women worked a long time in promoting the love of Christ. Monnica persistently reminded her wayward son that God's way was the better way. Monnica's faithful prayers led to Augustine's conversion and, eventually, to his massive (but, not without controversy) impact on the Christian faith.
I voted for Monnica for her persistent prayer.
Any woman who produces a saint like Augustine gets my vote.
I cannot resist the woman who inspired and promoted building those magnificent churches. Now if we could just fill them.
Maybe we would be better at filling those churches if we, like Monica, were more persistent in our prayer and encouragement of other to follow Christ.
I used to be an antique dealer. I can relate to Helena. When did Monica sprout an extra n?
Hooray! Lent Madness is back! Go Helena!
Monnica, because as a parent of adult children, I pray that faith might find them
First time participating, cast my first vote. Was so amazed at what Helena accomplished.
Monnica, whose name is spelled "Monica" in All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time," by Robert Ellsberg, got my vote. Why? The collect. I love the collect, and but the story here of Monnica (aka Monica) is remarkably like the one presented by Ellsberg, and I'm sure there are plenty of sources of that same story, but attributions, links, sources for further study would be appreciated. Ellsberg included a quote from Augustine in his Confessions, crediting his mother by saying, "in the flesh she brought me to birth in this world; in her heart she brought me to birth in your eternal life" (369). That's beautiful.
What? No edit function to go back and fix punctuation and other errors????? Take out the "but" where it currently reads "and but," and also remove the quotation mark after the word "Time" since I couldn't use italics when writing. Oops. Probably no biggles as my daughter would say....
Outstanding women! Had to go with St. Monica, her persistent prayer gave us St. Augustine? What an example she is to all parents who long for their children to follow Christ.
Well, if we didn't have Monica, we wouldn't have Augustine. As a Roman Catholic, I read a monthly Jesuit publication called The Magnificat. It has the daily Office, the Mass readings and a commentary. On occasion, the commentary will be from Augustine. I have been shocked and delighted to read Augustine's opinions. He is so contemporary. Monica gave us a major saint. We owe her a big thanks.
Ok, not too fond of either, and not over the top about either of their sons. One ruled an empire, the other threw out his common law wife and son because he 'got religion' and then burdened the theological world with double superlapsarian predestination for good measure. Could their mothers have influenced them? But despite her falling for all those pieces of true cross, i went for Helene. Constantine got together the saints and thinkers of his time to talk about this emerging tradition at Nicea, so maybe his mum taught him a little about listening? And Oliver's right - her son put paid to the gladiators - definitely better parenting there.
I was predisposed against Monica because of the chasing her son all over the continent bit, but had forgotten or never known that Helena had helped to establish churches at so many sites in the Holy Land. Surely her time there constitutes one of the earliest forms of the via crucis, or what we now more commonly call the Stations of the Cross: a good solid Lenten connection. 🙂
In earlier years of Lenten Mdness I have sometimes voted first and other times have read the comments before I voted. I have learned so much from al of you. Particularly I have valued the different perspectives presented. I loved t Monnica's prayer: Nothing is far from God; neither am I afraid God will not find me". But since I am now "entering my second act" I appreciated the example of St Helena that much can be accomplished by elders and women. You rock, St Helena.
I voted for Helena because she was so dedicated to spreading the gospel.
I voted for Helena because by the life she lived as Constantine's mother she had earned such a depth of love and trust from her son that he would not only send her on an autonomous mission with the support of all the resources of his office but also follow her into the dangerous ridiculous journey of following Jesus!
I vote for Monnica because she's the underdog. As the patron saint of mothers, married women, and those who are addicted, she deserves that and more. Thank you, Monnica for looking over us.
I vote for Monica. She is the mother we all should be. Or maybe I should say she is the Parent we all should be.