Today is the one and only weekend vote of Lent Madness 2018. Every other matchup will take place on the weekdays of Lent. And it's an intriguing pairing! We get Genesius, a saintly cut-up (he was a comedian and, more literally, had his head chopped off) facing off against Quiteria, a nonuplet Christian warrior and martyr. Which saint will be "re-martyred?" Well, that's up to you.
Yesterday, in a rout of Biblical (see what we did there?) proportions, Margaret of Scotland destroyed Charles I 89% to 11% and will face the winner of Mary of Egypt vs. Richard Hooker. Speaking of future rounds, if you're interested in seeing when your favorite saint will be doing battle, check out our Matchup Calendar. Better yet, print it out and tape it to your bathroom mirror.
Lent Madness will continue first thing Monday morning as we dip into the Mostly Modern quadrant of the bracket for the first time with Anna Alexander taking on Peter Claver.
Genesius
A comedian, Genesius led a theatrical troupe in Rome in the third century. Desperate to advance his career, he decided to write and star in a play for the Emperor Diocletian.
As he contemplated the subject matter, Genesius decided to mock the mysteries of the Christian faith and expose the ridiculousness of the sacraments. Of course, he needed some inside knowledge on the subject matter, so Genesius studied for the role by lying to members of a Christian community, telling them that he wanted to prepare for baptism.
The community welcomed Genesius into the catechumenate. While he learned the teaching, more details for the play came to him. He would act like a man on his deathbed, calling out for baptism.
He wrote the play and began the performance before the emperor. In the middle of a scene, Genesius depicted a dying man calling out for his faux sacrament. An actor arrived in clerical garb and baptized Genesius. Somehow, the ridicule ended there. Genesius was overcome with the grace of God, and what began as a farce became a real act of faith. Genesius was transformed, and while he was still on the stage, he urged the emperor to convert to Christianity.
Diocletian did not have the same change of heart. Instead, he became enraged and demanded that Genesius be tortured until he recanted. Genesius suffered greatly, but he never denied his faith. So Diocletian had him beheaded.
Genesius is the patron saint to the comic, the actor, and the tortured.
Collect for Genesius
God of laughter and suffering, we pray that through all of our art, we might reflect the goodness of your grace. May our lives be transformed through creative work, as we serve in the likeness and the image of our Creator; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Quiteria
Quite often, little is known about the saints beyond their existence and stories that have arisen among Christians to honor them over centuries. At first glance, many overlook Quiteria, in part perhaps because little is known beyond her naming in the Roman Martyrology as a saint and martyr.
But in southern France and northern Spain, churches remember Quiteria as a virgin and martyr. The most compelling legend of Quiteria, however, is Portuguese. Quiteria was a nonuplet—one of nine sisters born at the same time. Her mother, wife of the Roman governor, contemptuously likened her daughters to a litter and worried that she might be compared to a common animal for giving birth to so many children at once. In her vanity, she ordered her children drowned in a river by their nurse. Unwilling to kill the children, the nurse took the nonuplets to her own village and raised them away from their mother and father. It was in this village that Quiteria and her sisters were raised as devout Christians.
As they matured, the sisters’ faith compelled them to form a sort of gang–-one that went around freeing Christians from prisons in the area. Ultimately, Quiteria and her sisters were caught and commanded to worship a Roman god. Refusing, they were hauled before the Roman governor— their father—who immediately recognized the women as his daughters. He begged them to marry Roman pagans. The sisters refused and were thrown in prison.
As a rule, nonuplet warrior gangs don’t take imprisonment lightly. Resourcefully, they broke out of jail, freeing fellow prisoners with them. Upon gaining their freedom, rather than retreating into the woods, Quiteria and her sisters engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Roman Empire. Their campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, and Quiteria was captured, beheaded, and thrown into the ocean, while her sisters escaped. Legend holds that when guards were sent to capture her sisters, Quiteria emerged from the ocean, holding her own head and warding off the Roman guards from their pursuit. Two of her sisters, Marina and Liberata, were also martyred and ultimately canonized.
Collect for Quiteria
Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Quiteria triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death: Grant us, who now remember her in thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with her the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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280 comments on “Genesius vs. Quiteria”
Very tough choice today... but voting for Quiteria because it is the only way I can vote for the courageous nameless nurse who rescued the nine babies. So glad that, in Christ, we are all identified as saints. 🙂
Both had to stand against pagan leaders. Quiteria had a life of faith in community and siblings to fight shoulder to shoulder, back to back. Genesius was a catechumen having no community of his world to support him in his time of trial. A tough decision but for me, but Genesius' refusal to recant when his past screamed that he should gives him my vote today.
I have to go with Genesius even though my rational side was bent toward Quiteria with all her bravado and courage, dismissing the holding-her-head-in -her-arms bit (a bit much). In these dismal times, laughter really is the best medicine.
Genesis gets my vote because we need humor. Without laughter we can be lost.
“As a rule, nonuplet warrior gangs don’t take imprisonment lightly.”
Best single line of Lent Madness possibly ever.
Amen
Quiteria -- A real warrior, got to love a gang of nine sisters fighting for the Cause.
Strong women who survived and persisted and the nurse who saved them.... Quiteria for me.
More ladies, another water related story, had to come to work & go w/Quiteria today.
Had to vote for Quiteria, despite the improbability of her story. We need more stories of women taking on power and authority with courage and determination.
What? Seriously, what are the chances even one nontuplet would have survived? I'm thinking more likely three sisters who looked alike. Our comedic pundits need all the saintly patronage they can get these days. We need to laugh through our tears. Go Genesius!
Ahh Robin, how we miss you Laddie.
Both of today’s saints have compelling stories—warrior sisters who escaped from prison and help others do the same; a comedian who boldly and publicly defied the Emperor Diocletian. I’d heard their names but didn’t know their legenda. Truly, what a great cloud of witnesses we have to encourage us on our journey! I voted for Genesius because as a comedian he gives us permission to have fun in church while still being utterly serious about our faith.
I don’t usually weigh in but it’s certainly Quintera for me... no contest. I found the story much weightier and while exaggerated full of good works for others as well as bravery. The Genesius story was entertaining but not much to it.... maybe if he had actually worked to help other people but all seemed to want was fame for himself.
Genesius, this time. Neither seem particularly attractive to me in our times, but really nothing at all is known of Quiteria other than her name and that she was martyred. If she in fact carried out some kind of "guerilla war," then I'll go with an entertainer become martyr rather than a guerilla virgin become martyr. Oh the choices we are forced to make!
Yesterday was a loaded matchup. Charles I didn't have a chance, any more than he did when he was alive.
That scoffing can lead to conversion is a tale well worth retelling. Fr. Brown often found that the most overt scoffers were in fact those God was working in most to open to. And CS Lewis put it, that a budding atheist needed to be most careful since God was most unscrupulous about leaving things like Bibles open in hotel rooms etc.
I pray that many in our current generations will have similar experiences... not the torture, but the conversion,
The line between comedy and suffering is sometimes thin as a sword blade. I can't help thinking of Robin Williams, beloved of late, and the suffering he endured while giving laughter to many. Genesius -- the trickster who was tricked by grace -- for me!
It's interesting that you go with the 'more real' hagiography. It's what I usually do, too. But for some reason the sheer fantastical exaggeration of Quiteria and her sisters made me vote for her. Maybe all the Norse sagas I've been studying lately have given me a taste for the astounding. Both today's candidates provide saintly examples for our lives today, and examples of the miraculous.
I became acquainted with Genesius decades ago when I was a theatre student. A friend gave me a saints' medal of Genesius, which I have worn (hidden) to every performance I've been in since. The creative arts are a powerful witness to the grace of God (as St. Gene found out) and are transformative for their cultures - as well as cultures that come after them. Genesius! Vote Genesius! Calling all theatre nerds and afficiandos - this is our saint!
Both are martyrs, but I liked Q's story better.
Interesting combination of two pious (if probably apocryphal) ancient legends. While the possible non-historicity of either story leads me to have little emotional investment in today's match-up, my taste for comedy and my commitment to non-violence leads me to vote for Genesius,
I vote Quinteria. She represents the plight of many women worldwide today. As one of the nonuplets she united with her siblings to fight oppression of Christians.
I voted for the comedian because his story is, at least, believable. Even today with all our advanced medical techniques, nine babies at once is very rare, 2x mentioned on Wikipedia. Both were both boys and girls, and neither had perfect survival. The most recent one had a zero survival. I don't believe 9 girls were born and survived. Sorry, but that's just not possible. I loved their resistance to Rome. If there were sisters who did that, it's wonderful. I just wish the story hadn't been so farfetched.
How Quitteria liberated anybody while her hair was in that style with little tents on top is a miracle unto itself. She wins for Best Gang Get-up ever.
Maybe her nurse is the one who should've been Sainted.
Tough choice for me. I wanted a career in theater/film and I have 4 sisters and three brothers. Genesius was a tough act to follow. If the idea of nonuplets wasn't dazzling enough, I am a sucker for beheaded martyrs who display their own heads against their tormenters. Quitera rocked it for me.
Someone made a comment about the value of comedians and in the past year of total "madness" in Washington, D.C., we see the need for humor as never before. Thanks to John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Samantha Bee and others we've survived, laughing through tears of anger and angst. In the spirit of Lent Madness, I voted for Genesius. We need our comedians!!
The story of Quiteria sounds much too fictional to be true. I prefer the transformational act of Genesius and his experience of the redemptive power of the baptismal sacrament.
I went with Genesius because of his conversion!! I find it hard to believe that nine babies would survive in utero to all be born at all!! These days it's tough for quintuplets to survive to be born!!
This was a hard one. I had never heard of either but both were very interesting.
I had a hard time believing the story about having nine sisters born at the same time.
I voted for Genesius and commend him on his short-lived conversion.
Ow!
I too was given away by my Mother; not nearly as dramatic as her wanting me killed. Still I liked her strength. and her survival skills - particularly her carrying around her head bit!