668 comments on “Nominationtide has arrived!”

1. I nominate Bishop Desmond Tutu for his work heading up the reconciliation program in South Africa. The transition to Black-led government could have been divisive and bloody.

   1. The Archbishop is not qualified. He is not on any calendar of commemoration. This is probably because he is also disqualified for being alive.

2. Saint Laura of Cordoba was a Spanish Christian who lived in Muslim Spain during the 9th century. Quite a story.

3. I would like to nominate King Kamehameha because of the great work bringing Christ and dignity to the Hawaiian Islands.

4. I nominate Paul Carlson. Doctor Carlson was a missionary doctor working in the Democratic Republic of Congo under the auspices of the World Missions Department of the Evangelical Covenant Church. In 1964 he was captured by the Simba rebels, taken to Stanleyville, and held for several months. When Belgian paratroopers were dropped on the city to liberate the hostages, he was shot by the Simbas as he helped another hostage escape over a wall. The Paul Carlson Project of the Evangelical Covenant Church carries on medical work in the Congo in his memory. I believe he meets all the criteria for inclusion in Lent Madness with one possible exception: because the Covenant Church does not formally recognize saints or keep any official list of saints, he may not be on any official list. He is worthy of a Golden Halo, however, and should be considered.

5. I nominate Teresa of Avila. She is a doctor of the church and a reformer of the Carmelite order of nuns and brothers. Her writings, especially the Interior Castle, remain important in spiritual reading to this day.
   She was an advisor to many, including monarchs. Also, she was funny. As the story below shows:
   Teresa describes the journey thus: “We had to run many dangers. At no part of the road were the risks greater than within a few leagues of Burgos, at a place called Los Pontes. The rivers were so high that the water in places covered everything, neither road nor the smallest footpath could be seen, only water everywhere, and two abysses on each side. It seemed foolhardiness to advance, especially in a carriage, for if one strayed ever so little off the road (then invisible), one must have perished.” The saint is silent on her share of the adventure, but her companions relate that, seeing their alarm, she turned to them and encouraged them, saying that “as they were engaged in doing God’s work, how could they die in a better cause?” She then led the way on foot. The current was so strong that she lost her footing, and was on the point of being carried away when our Lord sustained her. “Oh, my Lord!” she exclaimed, with her usual loving familiarity, “when wilt Thou cease from scattering obstacles in our path?” “Do not complain, daughter,” the Divine Master answered, “for it is ever thus that I treat My friends.” “Ah, Lord, it is also on that account that Thou hast so few!” was her reply.

6. I like to nominate Oscar Romero, who is venerated more and more by Episcopal (and Roman Catholic) Latino congregations in El Salvador and specially here in the United States. Oscar Romero is an example of integrity and a voice for the poor and oppresed. Murdered while presiding the Eucharist, Romero is a marthyr and prophet, a saint and exceptional Christian.

7. St. Ambrose. Patron saint of beekeepers.

8. St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769 -1852) She was a frontier missionary of the Sacred Heart. There are 27 schools in the USA that are a result of her work. Her feast day is November 18.

9. Hildegard von Bingen. Theologian, visionary, healer, musician, mystic. A woman for our times.

10. Catherine Mowry LaCugna (August 6, 1952 – May 3, 1997)
    was a feminist Catholic theologian and author of God For Us. Her contribution was to make the doctrine of the Trinity relevant to the everyday life of modern Christians. LaCugna earned her bachelor's degree at Seattle University, her Master's and Doctorate at Fordham University, and joined the faculty at University of Notre Dame in 1981. There, she taught systematic theology to graduate and undergraduate students, eventually holding the Nancy Reeves Dreux Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.

    Catherine LaCugna died at the age of 44, of cancer, and is buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery on the Notre Dame campus.

11. How about St. Scholastica? Long overshadowed by her brother, St. Benedict, she deserves some stand-alone respect. She's the patron saint of nuns and education.

12. St. Jude! He's my patron saint! Plus, Florence + The Machine wrote a song about St. Jude (loose theology, but come on, its Florence!!)

13. I nominate William Alexander Guerry, Bishop, Reformer and Martyr, 1861-1928

    William Alexander Guerry, native of South Carolina, was born in 1861, served as the bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina from 1907 to the time of his death in 1928. He had an illustrious career as a parish priest and bishop and as Chaplain and Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology at the University of the South

    The bishop’s life on earth ended on June 9, 1928, five days after he was shot in his office at St. Philip’s Church by a priest who had attacked the bishop’s position on advancing racial equality in South Carolina, and especially on his proposal to install a black suffragan bishop in the diocese. The priest who shot the bishop had written that the bishop, given his way, would root out the principle of white supremacy in the south. So, overtaken by hatred, and perhaps other mental problems, he fired the shot that killed the bishop and then turned the gun on himself, taking his own life.

    Before Bishop Guerry died in Roper Hospital, he said of his assailant, “Forgive him, Father, he knew not what he did.”

14. I want to nominate Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Her stand for equal rights for all, especially women's rights that included birth control are as true today as it was during her own lifetime. Given the issues of today, I would love to have her wear the golden halo next year!

15. The Strong Saint Abba Moses the Ethiopian (circa 330 - 405). One of the great elders of the monastic explosion in Egypt in the fourth century. Moses story of redemption and humility is remarkable. In addition, the teachings he left behind remain insightful for us today.

16. I would like to nominate Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Her stand for equal rights especially women's rights and birth control are as true today as in her own lifetime. I'd Love to see her wearing the golden halo next year!

17. Jonathon Daniels, 1929-1965. Graduated valedictorian from Virginia Military Institute. Felt a call to the priesthood and entered the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Mass. In 1965 he responded to a call from Martin Luther King to join the march from Selma to Montgomer7. After the march he took a work/study leave from school and remained in Alabama, working to integrated public places. After the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, he worked to register voters. On an August afternoon, Jonathon, with a RC priest and 2 African American teens, went to a convenience store that would accept black customers to buy a cold drink. They were met at the door by a man with a shotgun. He leveled it at one of the girls. Jonathon pushed her down and took the bullet in the heart, dead before he hit the ground. His assailant was acquitted of manslaughter by an all white jury. In 1001 Jonathon was named by the Episcopal Church as a martyr and his day is observed on Aug. 14. Although there are memorials to him, a book about him, and he appears in a film about Selma, his story is largely unknown. He deserves a wider audience.

18. Rose Hawthorne would be a worthy chose. She was the daughter of the famous writer her life was filled with struggle until she listen to GOD. Rose began hospice care in the early 1900's in NYC, by renting flats so cancer patients had someplace to be and be cared for. She and her team of volunteers became The Hawthorne Dominican Sisters. They are still caring for cancer patients today. Rose is up for Sainthood in the Catholic Church. An American making a difference even after death.

19. I nominate Nicolaus Copernicus. now more than ever we need to acknowlege the importance of science and the impact of that knowlege in our life and world.

    " To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge."

    1. Tassie: AMEN! Yay Copernicus! I nominated him, too, and paired him with Johannes Kepler. Their paired-together feast day was 5/23/19, and you're right: these courageous men bear witness to the bridges that can span faith and reason. Here's their Collect: As the heavens declare your glory, O God, and the firmament shows your handiwork, we bless your Name for the gifts of knowledge and insight you bestowed upon Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler; and we pray that you would continue to advance our understanding of your cosmos, for our good and for your glory; through Jesus Christ, the firstborn of all creation, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

20. I nominate saint Michael, he’s the patron saint of soldiers and policemen. Soldiers and policemen help us all and don’t get much credit, so they need someone looking out for them. Go Saint Michael.

21. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.... he deserves another chance to win!

22. I would like to nominate St. Genesius. After all theatre came out of the church and has made a great impact on the world. Where would we be without those mystery and miracles plays that taught the folks in the early church.

23. I nominate Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. She was a wife, a mother, a widow, a convert and founder of the Sister of Charity who originally were devoted to educating young girls.

24. I nominate St. Antoninus of Florence, who beyond his exemplary and pious life was a famed theologian who defended early abortions when necessary to save the pregnant person's life. He was canonized in 1523, and his feast day was originally May 10 but was changed in 1969 to May 2. According to Wikipedia his body, buried in his cathedral of San Marco in Florence, is still incorrupt.

25. Am mistaken ? I don't see Mother Theresa on the list of ineligibles? That is the first name that comes to mind in the selfless helping of suffering humanity. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and was canonized as a saint in 2016. She established the Missionaries of Charity which had over 4,000 members when she died in 1997 and had homes for orphaned children, HIV/AIDS patients, leper colonies and hospices. I would call that doing God's work.

26. My new puppy came from Chernobyl, Ukraine, last year and I went looking for an Orthodox Christian saint in honor of her heritage. I found Saint Tikhon, 1865-1925. His life's story is a fascinating read, and he was a leader at a time with much political upheaval (some things just never change?). He led a life that impacted many people, with a million attending services at his death. As the article I'll cite ends, "Perhaps the saint’s own words can best sum up his life: “May God teach every one of us to strive for His truth, and for the good of the Holy Church, rather than something for our own sake.”" http://oca.org/saints/lives/2016/04/07/101016-st-tikhon-the-patriarch-of-moscow-and-enlightener-of-north-ameri

27. I nominate Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks. She is the first native American to be canonized. Although her conversion to Christianity is now considered by many to be a bridge between native American and European cultures within the eastern regions where she lived, controversies about her veneration through the centuries have involved other native American nations and Protestant ecclesiastics.

28. A reasoned plea to declare the Rev. Fred McFeely Rogers eligible to participate as a “contestant” in Lent Madness.

    While the SEC has stated that in order to be eligible for inclusion in the “Saintly Smackdown” a candidate, “should be in the sanctoral calendar of one or more churches.” They have also decreed that they seek to present, “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.”

    The Reverend Fred McFeely Rogers, was a life-long member of, and ordained as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). While it is noted that the PC(USA) does not maintain a “sanctoral calendar,” it should also be noted that, in 2003 at the 215th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) the Assembly passed an overture to “observe a memorial time for the Reverend Fred M. Rogers.” The rationale for the overture stated that the Rev. Rogers, “had a profound effect on the lives of millions of people across the country through his ministry to children and families. Mister Rogers promoted and supported Christian values in the public media with his demonstration of unconditional love.” This recognition is as close as you can get to sainthood in Presbyterian circles. There is also an annual recognition of Mister Rogers as Family Communications, Inc. (producer of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood) has named March 20 "Won't You Wear A Sweater?" Day.

    Should the Rev. Rogers be selected to participate, the Celebrity Blogger tasked with promoting his cause would have ample historical documents from which to draw for biographical detail. There are many sources for quotes and quibbles, as well as an excellent place to go for the round of kitsch (https://www.fredrogers.org/frc/store/). There is also the huge fan base he has in the Lent Madness family. There’s a good chance he would show well.

    In conclusion:
    1. Fred Rogers has been recognized by an established ecclesiastical body for his Christian walk and witness. (It’s not our fault Presbyterians don’t “do” saints)
    2. Fred Rogers already has his own “day” on the calendar (maybe not a “church” calendar, but a calendar, nonetheless)
    3. Including Fred Rogers in Lent Madness would be yet more proof of the magnanimous and ecumenical nature of the SEC. (It would also give us Presbyterians someone to cheer for – the Methodists have the Wesleys, and the Lutherans have Luther, we deserve someone other than Calvin or Knox)
    4. Since the SEC makes the rules, they can also choose to bend (as in awarding a Silver Halo) or even ignore the rules.

    Thank you for your consideration

    1. Amen

    2. #143DayInPa. May 23. It may not be sacred, but don’t tell the people of Pennsylvania that!!!

       1. Could not agree more!

29. I would like to nominate Saint Chad. Even though he is not and never was the patron saint of anything hanging paper or otherwise next year is a very important election year and the election process needs all the help it can get.
    I nominate Saint Chad to help us fight against the Godless Ruskies and others.
    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Chad

30. Jacapone da Todi!!!
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacopone_da_Todi

    "Crazy Jim" has been my favorite of the Fools for Christ since I first read about him in the 1980's.
    He is great fodder for Lent Madness, because he was often thought to be mad himself.
    I don't know why, though Wiki does offer a few hints:
    ***
    Examples of this behavior included appearing in the public square of Todi, wearing a saddle and crawling on all fours. On another occasion, he appeared at a wedding in his brother's house, tarred and feathered from head to toe.
    ***
    He would offer his Saintly Biographer So Much to work with!

    And I offer myself for that honor as well!
    Let me know when it is Nomination Time for Bloggers!