Today in the Saintly Smackdown, we encounter a 19th century Canadian missionary and a 3rd century Roman martyr, as Henry Budd faces Cecilia. Will the entire nation of Canada rise up to vote for one of their own? Or will Cecilia, patron saint of musicians, strike a chord? Only the next 24 hours and your vote, will tell!
In yesterday's matchup, Moses the Black defeated John Wycliffe 65% to 35% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen where he'll face the winner of Raymond Nonnatus vs. John of Nepomuck.
Oh, and in case you missed yesterday's stirring edition of Monday Madness, watch it here. Tim and Scott give shout-outs to parishes and schools who are all in for Lent Madness 2017 (send us your photos!), discuss the importance of the comment section, and invite viewer mail. Yes, YOUR QUESTION for the SEC could be answered in an upcoming episode. Submit them via Facebook or Twitter.
Henry Budd
Sakachuwescam (Going-Up-The-Hill) was born to Cree parents in what is now Manitoba, Canada. He was baptized in 1822 by an Anglican missionary, who gave him the name Henry Budd (Budd is thought to be the surname of Henry’s father). Budd, his wife Betsy, and their children, as well as extended family moved to the Red River area where he taught at St. John’s parish school and served as a lay minister in the church. Budd proved a capable and enthusiastic teacher and a dedicated Christian serving the Cree community.
His success at St. John’s eventually led Budd to move with his family to W’passkwayaw (The Pas). He built a house church and held regular worship services. In June 1842, John Smithurst (another Anglican missionary) was overjoyed to see the result of Budd’s dedicated ministry: baptisms of 39 adults, 27 infants, and 22 schoolchildren. Pretty impressive numbers!
Budd was tutored and mentored by other clergy in the area, including Bishop David Anderson. Budd was ordained to the diaconate on December 22, 1850—the first person of First Nations ancestry to be ordained in the Anglican tradition in North America. Ordained a priest three years later, Budd served in Saskatchewan until 1867 and then resumed his previous ministry in The Pas. That same year, the local ministry board recommended reclassifying The Pas from a missionary station to one requiring a priest, preferably a First Nations pastor. Four previous English missionaries had failed to establish any thriving mission, complaining of “lack of evangelistic opportunities.” For all his success and exemplary ministry, Budd was paid half of what white missionaries in the same position made.
Budd was an eloquent preacher in Cree and English. His missions exhibited the highest standards of good management, self-sustainability, and outreach to the community. He translated the Bible and The Book of Common Prayer into Cree. He remained at The Pas until his death in 1875. His legacy includes the Henry Budd College for Ministry in Canada, which seeks to form Indigenous people for Christian ministry in the Anglican Church in Canada and to further the Christian expression of faith within the traditions of First Nations’ cultures and languages.
Collect for Henry Budd
Creator of the light, we thank you for your priest Henry Budd, who carried the great treasure of Scripture to his people the Cree nation, earning their trust and love. Grant that his example may call us to reverence, orderliness and love, that we may give you glory in word and action; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Cecilia
Cecilia harkens from the second century in Rome. Like many of the ancient saints, she is found somewhere in the mix of truth, legend, myth, and fiction. Whichever pieces of the story are “real,” they combine for a compelling picture of faith, belief, and devoutness to God’s calling.
Born to a wealthy Roman family, Cecilia was betrothed to a man named Valerian. Her family wanted her marraige to strengthen the bonds between the two families. Cecilia did not listen, instead insisting that she heard a chorus of angels calling her to a life of chastity and virginity. In the days before her wedding, Cecilia prayed, fasted, and sang, imploring God to protect her virginity. God sent an angel to protect Cecilia on her wedding bed. She told her husband that if he tried to consummate their marriage, the angel would smite him. Valerian could not see the angel, so Cecilia instructed him to walk to the third milestone on the Roman road, Via Appia, where his eyes would be opened. True to Cecilia’s word, an angel appeared to Valerian and his brother, and in short order, both converted to Christianity and were baptized. The brothers dedicated their lives to burying martyrs of the church who were persecuted by the local Roman officials.
While Valerian and his brother tended the dead, Cecilia preached and encouraged more than 400 souls to dedicate their lives to Christ. Her fervor attracted the wrath of the local prefect, and Valerian and his brother were executed, with the presiding prefect ordering Cecilia to be killed as well. They attempted to drown her. Then, they tried to burn the building down around her. An executioner was summoned by the prefect to behead her, and though he struck her three times, Cecilia remained in possession of her head. Three days later, she succumbed to her wounds and was buried by Pope Urban.
About 1,300 years later, in 1569, the church exhumed her body and found it to be incorrupt—without decay, the first saint to be found in such condition. The feast of Saint Cecilia is celebrated on November 22. Cecilia is the patron saint of music, in commemoration and honor of the heavenly chorus she is said to have heard each time she prayed to know and do God’s will in her life.
Collect for Cecilia
Saint Cecilia, heroic martyr who stayed faithful to Jesus your divine bridegroom, give us faith to rise above our persecutors and to see in them the image of our Lord. We know that you were a musician, and we are told that you heard angels sing. Inspire musicians to gladden the hearts of people by filling the air with God’s gift of music and reminding them of the Divine Musician Who created all beauty. Amen.
UPDATE This morning at about 11:45 EST, we became aware of voting patterns that are against the rules of Lent Madness. We discovered some 546 votes for Cecilia cast from a computer in Austin, TX, apparently at St. Andrew's Episcopal School (according to IP address databases). These votes have been removed, and the address in question has been banned. Please remember: vote once only! If you can encourage your friends to vote, that is wonderful. But do not attempt to cheat the system by using a single computer to vote multiple times. Big Lent is watching.
UPDATE AGAIN: A student has admitted gaming the system, apology has been accepted, and we've restored voting to the school in question. Please don't try to cheat. It's Lent, for Pete's sake!
[poll id="176"]
375 comments on “Henry Budd vs. Cecilia”
If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs....Well, Cecelia did just that and kept it intact even after exhumation....good enough for me.
Today I went for Cecelia. I adore mystical visions
I am a musician, so I voted for Cecilia. Also, because when they came to execute her, she didn't lose her head.
I hope Henry Budd opened some Anglo eyes to the dignity and worth of the First Nations he so ably represented.
Even though I have sung in church choirs since the 4th grade I went for Henry Budd because I have an aunt who was French Canadian Indian. ( doesn't look like my email address will work here because it is printing the zero as an "o")
Had to go with Henry Budd for his strong conviction and dedication. Loved both stories but Henry's touched my heart more. Wonderful to see a person of First Nations ancestry recognized for the many trials that he faced. Similar to our other Henry, Henry Beard Delany, and what he did as an African American.
I notice that the positions of the two saints have changed. Typically whoever is ahead within the first 100 votes or so (even the first ten votes) stays ahead. The relative positions never change. But today the two have switched. That is unusual. Just gonna put that out there, as it's noteworthy.
I had to vote for Henry Budd in large part because I cannot get Paul Simon's song "Cecelia, your breaking my heart ...." out of my brain now!
Love the story of Henry, and so hard to vote against First Nations rep... but Cecelia! What a story, and patron of musicians. Had to go with her.
Cecilia - because she was empowered to put her own hopes and aspirations ahead of the men who tried to control her life.
I feel for Henry Budd, though St. Cecilian did not have an easy time of it either. To become a priest and also translate the Bible and Book of Common Prayer won my respect, in a time of extreme prejudice. Cecilia fought against the tide also and it was no quick decision, but early saints are easy to give recognition to, the modern day ones are often lost in the dust of our busy world. It's not easy to be a modern day saint!
The comments prompted by this matchup have been educational, enlightening, and thought-provoking. Like many others, I voted for Cecelia but would be just as please if Henry Budd won. In my little Catholic Book of Saints, when I was 6, I saw a gorgeous depiction of Cecelia - flowing brown hair, beautiful red gown - playing the organ in a room with black & white tiles. I decided then & there that my confirmation name would be Cecelia, and I even had my full name (first, middle, confirmation, last) printed in my h.s. graduation program. Throw in that my grandmother's middle name was Cecelia and my grandfather's birthday was November 22, and...well, that explains my vote.
I can't vote for Cecelia because the painting of her is not from the 2nd century! That dress is clearly from the early 1800's. I'm voting for Henry Budd.
Henry Budd for me. First Nations' spirituality is very inspiring.
Where's Oliver today? We miss you!
Cecilia's faith & beautiful courage are compelling; however, Henry Budd's brave persistence in serving and enlightening his Cree Nation won my heart!
This was very easy today. In honor of my great grandparents, who taught school in a Cree reservation near the turn of the 20th century in Alberta, Canada (and especially for my great grandmother, who wrote that she thought Cree was one of the two most spiritual languages in the world), I voted for Henry Budd.
And music shall untune the skies. Cecelia.
A tough decision today, as we have two worthy folks in Henry and Cecilia. Henry's a first-time choice, but SEC, has Cecilia been in LM before?
The choice between these two was made especially difficult as were in final preparations for the Bach B-minor Mass at the end of March and early April, so my mind and spirit are very much in the musical realm these days.
Henry.
Cecilia's story is nice and I like she is the patron of musicians... but it's still Henry
As a church musician, it had to be Cecilia.
Where is Oliver this morning? His well-reasoned choices help me decide how to vote.
People keep saying that Cecilia is a myth. But they exhumed her body. How do you exhume a myth?
Love this comment!
You exhume a recently buried body and you say: Well looky here! Here's St Cecilia, miraculously preserved
Various pious frauds have occurred in the history of the Church, but there is no evidence of fraud in connection to Cecilia's exhumation. She was originally buried in the Catacombs of St. Callistus. In the 9th century Paschal I had her remains transferred to the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. In 1599 Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati had the church renovated. As part of this process, he had Cecilia's tomb opened in order to rebury her remains. That is when they discovered that her body was incorrupt.
I so wish Maple Anglican could have done a guess commentary for Henry Budd. I do so miss him (and the archbishops of course!). This was a tough call for me; a devout, capable persoon that we have hard facts on, and a 3rd century person lost in the mists of myth. But the patron saint of music! Oy! Still, I'm going to go with Henry Budd in honor of Maple.
I, too, miss Maple. But do you know he has his own Blog? It's http://www.mapleanglican.com.
I choose day by day based on which story -and comments - resonate with me that day. Sometimes it is that I can relate or aspire to the life of a modern saints. Other days it is the timeless faith or actions of an ancient saints- real or legend. I use the stories to inspire or guide me day by day through lent.
Today it was the consistent faith and work if Henry that inspired me. This surprises because I sing and love music. But perhaps I need the saintly assistance in the other aspectside of life and ministry.
Having not heard of Henry Budd before, I am delighted to learn about him, and to vote for him. Also I can't help but wonder about Valerian's take on his not quite marriage. Was he called to virginity too or just collateral damage in Cecilia's calling?
either way I'm a winner today. Another VERY difficult choice!
Both very impressive but I was taken by the sacrifices Cecilia made for her devotion.
Despite my personal connection to Cecilia, I voted for Henry Budd. I think it is high time we started recognizing our Native American leaders!
I never knew about Henry Budd, but his story is incredible!