Welcome to the Faithful Four. After weeks of learning and deliberating and voting and eschewing chocolate, we have whittled the field of 32 saintly souls down to four spiritual heroes: Constance, Julian of Norwich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Sojourner Truth. All are worthy of the coveted Golden Halo, yet only one will end up with his or her mug on a mug.
Today Constance (Anna Courie) takes on Julian of Norwich (Amber Belldene); tomorrow Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Beth Lewis) battles Sojourner Truth (Megan Castellan). And on Spy Wednesday the championship round will take place with the Golden Halo announced at 8:00 am EST on Maundy Thursday.
In this round, we let our four remaining Celebrity Bloggers loose as they answer the question “Why should Saint XX win the Golden Halo?” In other words, they’ve been charged with letting us know why their particular saint is so awesome. We have also invited them to share their two favorite images of their saints.
To make it to the Faithful Four, Constance dispatched Dominic, Helena, and Vida Dutton Scudder with relative ease. Julian snuck past William Wilberforce, before defeating Roch and Albert Schweitzer.
Maybe one of these remaining four will end up on a future Pocket Lent card. What's that? Well the SEC released two new ones yesterday for your cutting and pasting pleasure.
Let the voting (once) begin!
Constance
Inside everyone is a secret desire to be a superhero at a time when the world needs heroes. We want to stand up and be more than we think we are capable. We want to have the passion for great deeds. We want to be the change we want to see in the world. I think this is what St. Paul calls the "Holy Spirit within us." This spirit-spark calls us all to greater things.
Constance and her Companions had this God-spark within them. They were called as educators, but took on the role as nurses and caregivers during the epidemic of yellow fever that destroyed Memphis, Tennessee in 1878. They took action when great deeds were needed in the town where God planted them. Constance and Her Companions stayed to make a difference. As one avid reader noted in response to my coined term, "Constance would Go," the appropriate tag-line should be "Constance Would Stay."
God calls us to stay through many difficult times. We all have the opportunity to bear witness to Christ's love to others in disease, infirmity, poverty, social ills, and wrongs, during times when humanity seems to bear down on us as a disease rather than a gift. God calls all of us.
Sure, voting for Constance and her Companions is a vote recognizing the wonder of a giving soul during a horrific disease. She not only gave of her
time, her energy and her passion, but in the end, she also gave of her life. With her last words, she continued to honor her love of God with a joyful, "Alleluia, Hosanna." Constance understood that even in death, we have the joy of the resurrection. Constance understood at her death that God was there, was a part of her, and a part of both life and death. God was a part of all of Constance.
A vote for Constance is a vote recognizing the God-spark in us all. It is a vote that acknowledges each of us in our own individual ways are saints that are called to honor God with our actions, deeds, words, writings, and lives. "Constance Would Go" may ring a bell with you, but you could easily replace it with your own name: "Anna Would Go;" "Tim Would Go;" "Scott Would Go;" "Joe Would Go;" "Jane Would Go." We all should Go (or stay) as God calls us. "A faith without works is no faith."
To "go" means to bear witness to all the actions of the saints. Therefore, whether you are called to the social activism of your saints, or the liturgical writings, or the creative songs, or passionate political stances, remember, a vote with "Constance would Go" is a vote for all the actions of all the saints.
Constance watercolor by Bill Branch. You can see more of his art online at his website, www.billbranchartist.com.
Julian of Norwich
It astonishes me as both a priest and a parent how quickly, even in the twenty-first century children come to think of God as male. I strive to use inclusive language in liturgy, preaching, teaching and our household God talk, and yet all it takes is the occasional male pronoun slipping in for children to make the leap.
Therefore, Julian’s feminist Trinitarian theology born in the fourteenth century is utterly astonishing. She sees Christ in the role of mother alongside God the father. God incarnate is best imagined via the physical nurture and love of a mother—birth, breastfeeding, and boo-boo tending.
And how does she know? Not by rigorous scholarship and systematic inquiry, but divine revelation—God showed her! I am immensely grateful for the education that allowed her to write down these showings, making her the first female author of a book in English.
Though her contributions are not only intellectual or theological, but pastoral. I know of countless people who have taken comfort in her optimistic vision of God, humanity, and eschatology. Many people have a favorite quote or passage they can reference—being clothed in God’s love, or the assurance that all will be well.
Personally, her vision of the hazelnut has brought me great comfort. Years ago, before becoming a mother of twins, I experienced years of 
infertility, culminating in a miscarriage. My wonderful spiritual director pointed me toward Julian, and I remembered the Bridge Building Images Icon of her that sat in the chapel at CDSP when I was in seminary.
"And in this Christ showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, 'What may this be?' And it was answered generally thus, 'It is all that is made.' I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God."
When I thought of the pregnancy I had lost, an embryo about the size of a hazelnut, I was deeply comforted by the idea that it had begun by God’s love and in some mysterious way would always have life in that love. Since that time, I have shared the quote with other grieving women in my pastoral care, and it always brings comfort.
Courageous, compassionate and ahead of her time, Julian is an inspiration and comfort to the modern Christian. She most assuredly deserves the Golden Halo.
NOTE: At about 3 p.m. EDT, we blocked an address in Towson, MD. While there were some legitimate votes from this address, there was also a concerted effort to cast extra votes for Constance. We are removing 500 votes for Constance, which is a very conservative number. More that 800 votes were cast for Constance, and we suspect that some of these votes are legitimate votes.
Reminder: Vote once only per person. Lobbying others to vote is fair game. Voting hundreds of times is not.
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229 comments on “Constance vs. Julian of Norwich”
My best friend and I, separated by the Atlantic these days, have "invented" the text abbreviation of Julian's famous reassurances:
AWBW! Feel free to share ! No contest in my mind
AWBW--love it!
Love it!
AWBW is a Great idea, and I will use it too. Julian's words have been of comfort often in tough situations.
There's never a wrong vote in Lent Madness; they're saints after all! "Constance would go" made me go with Constance. I appreciate Julian but, lately, I've been touched and awed by the doers in my life, so Constance gets my vote.
With my fellow deacon, Dutton M. I tend more toward "action in the real and messy world over contemplation.....". Therefore, my vote is for Constance, her companions, and the lone prostitute. As learned women, they taught and encouraged their students but laid aside books for medicine and bedpans and bandages and finally gave their lives to save the sick and dying. Today's bloggers are nearing sainthood...just hope they don't lose their mischievous natures...BE LIKE THE SEC !!!
The comments today are as wonderful as both blogs. Powerfully written summaries pulling for each saint. And each pulled me in her direction, but in the end, I went with Constance because I didn't know of her, loved the God-spark understanding, and know that knowing her now challenges me to go places when I struggle to do so. And, yet, I must thank Amber for her beautiful personal story. I can imagine how very comforting that would be in the loss of a child, and truly, in all losses of our lives. Thank you. Beautiful work.
One of my first theology class assignments was a paper on how to decide between two "goods", which very nearly persuaded me to withdraw from the program. Instead, I put in an emergency call to the teacher, who helped me choose instead to reflect and write about my lifelong difficulty in making choices. In the end, for me, contemplation only takes me so far; I must do in order to be. So, I choose Constance.
I would hope to live the life that Constance showed the world, but it's a small book of some of the writings of Julian of Norwich that I read when "the world is too much with me" and I need to go to sleep at night. TOUGH CHOICE!!!!
I just spent a three day retreat at St. Mary's Convent and retreat center in Sewanee, Tennessee. The Benedictine chapel there is dedicated to Constance and her companions. I would have loved to vote for Julian, but not this time. Constance it is!
the dreaded match-up. I literally flipped a coin. Heads Constance, tails Julian... heads.
I have used Constance's 'God-spark' approach in many a religion class and seek it in all I meet, but I do not think the idea originated with her. As dear to me as the thought is, it is Julian's spirituality that speaks to my heart. AWBW. (with kudo's to L Hildrey!)
I just wish I could vote for both!
Constance- a modern day saint caring physically for those in great distress and giving her life to service and losing it in the great yellow fever epidemic- I will vote for a life lived for others today.
“Constance would Go,” the appropriate tag-line should be “Constance Would Stay?" It was my understanding that Constance and 1 other Companion had just arrived at the Mothers House when word of the outbreak reached them and that they immediately got back on the train to RETURN to Memphis to help !!! Go ? Stay ? Return ? She and all her Companions get my vote !
Wow! This is the hardest decision for me yet. Both write ups are superb and both moved me. All the comments still have me vacillating between the 2. I will decide as I scroll up the comments back to the vote box.
Me, too.
Thank you, Amber,for sharing from your vulnerability for I too was there. Your blog today also brought echoes of the rose in Le Petit Prince.
For those who are drawn to action yet want to vote for Julian, remember "the pen is mightier than the sword."
That said, "Constance will stay" with me as a guide and inspiration for caregivers as I go forward after Lent. Thank you both, Anna and Amber for bringing the essence of these godly women to us. All manner of things shall be well.
As several others have mentioned, this year the choices we have had to make have been really difficult. I have loved the writings of Julian for many years, but this time I had to vote for Constance. We are encouraged to go outside the Church walls and spread The Word. That is exactly what these women of Faith did for a community is crisis.
As a Lutheran, fun or not, this is not helpful.....because in Christ is in Christ and the view of us or by us on a given Saint and Sinner from this side of the Mirror ever so dim of the deeds of any of them is imperfect and the Golden Halo in the end is the Glory of God's goodness not ours whether you wrote wonderful Theology, wrote devotionals, sat in trance, were martyred or you didn't even get an obituary written about you because the world forgot you...BUT GOD DID NOT! Again In Christ is In Christ.
You're in luck! Lent Madness is OPTIONAL.
Can I change my vote? Tim gets it this round!
Indeed it is optional. And I should not disparage a tool that gets people looking at these people of faith...although the Golden Halo and mug on a mug got me as in my mind it can push towards "I've earned this mentality". The saints would not stand for that. Please, study on, vote on keep at it... And yes, I know you don't need my permission. lol
Constance has been on my heart since the beginning of this year's Madness. A worthy candidate for the Golden Halo. Constance did go.
When I started this, my first year of LM, little did I know how much I would learn and how difficult this would become! Both of these women were spectacular in their time and each can inspire us, still. I had to vote for Julian - I have voted for her from the Round of 32 and would love to see her with a golden halo. I'm certain that tomorrow will be just as difficult. Blast you and thank you SEC!! (Please don't take the "blast you" to heart...)
I expect Lent Madness to make me laugh appreciatively. I don't expect you to make me cry. Tough choice this morning, but the hazelnut embryo in God's love made my decision. Thanks to both writers for beautiful testimonies to God's grace in human lives.
Really tough choice today. I thought I was going to go with Constance but both CB's were so wonderful and moving. In the end I went with Julian because I have so often been inspired by her writing.
Thanks Anna and Amber. Your words made this round special.
I was conflicted about my vote today. I have been trying to go for those saints who bore witness to their faith by action for the helpless and hopeless people in their own time. So I voted for Constance. I was also very drawn to Julian whose mystical theology has guided so many. Both giants of faith.
Julian! Matron Saint of all manner of thing!
Both saints recognized that God cares about all of Her creation, even in the midst of our losses and trials. Constance cared for orphans who were ostracized, and Julian gave us the powerful image of the universe as a fragile hazelnut protected by God.
Constance wins my vote today, but both saints inspire me.
By far, the hardest vote this year. But descending through a line of brave nurses in my family, Constance gets the vote.
I love Lent Madness but I so hate the use of the non-word "snuck."
Please note: "snuck" isn't a "non-word" but a non-standard verb form a little over a century old, and dictionaries mark it as such, noting that it is more common in the US than in the UK and marking it as non-standard but acceptable. Most people (and you are not alone on this one) will identify it as originating with whoever they were reading when they first encountered it, but this is not a good guide as to its age. Many Americans will tell you that "booze" originated during Prohibition and even tell you the name of the speakeasy proprietor who invented it, but the OED will tell you that it dates from the 13th century, hence was at least a century old when Julian was in her cell. You are free, Amy, to retain your hate (I myself retain many of mine), but as a teacher I am obligated to state facts when they need stating. Peace and joy be yours in this Lent and the Eastertide about to follow it!
As my linguistics professor would have put it, "If 'snuck' isn't a word, what is it?"
Joining in on the "tough choice!" chorus, I've decided to vote for Julian. In this busy, often scary world, we need those who remind us to reflect, abide in God's presence (even for just a little while), and remember Who's really and ultimately in charge.
Besides, the next two were also "doers" and I'd like to give the contemplative one last chance.
The most challenging vote thus far.... thanks for that. I voted for Constance.... a true servant leader....
By the way, what is your homunculus icon? It has fascinated me.
The choice between Constance and Julian has brought me to tears. This evening, I will go to one of the most important Vestry meetings I have ever attended in two terms on the Vestry. We will choose to bring in priest candidates for site visits to our parish as we continue the process of calling a new rector. One of the candidates is very like Constance and another is very like Julian. The question I am now asking myself is which of these choices do I personally want to be more like, and which do I want to guide my parish through the next decade? The pairing of these two women in the Faithful Four is not just a fun vote for me today, but a clear outlining of the task before our Vestry in the next 24 hours. Please hold us in your prayers this day.
Praying for you and your fellow Vestry members, Luri Owen. We went through something like this last year.
Been praying all day for you and your vestry, Luri. May the Spirit be present in your deliberations and votes.
I just cannot resist Julian. She was such an early feminist and besides that I can go buy some Nutella to celebrate with on Easter.