668 comments on “Nominationtide has arrived!”

1. What a wonderful group we have nominated! the committee has its work cut out for it.
   It seems as though most nominations are American (as in USA) or old so I would like to nominate a Canadian First Nations woman who I had the privilege and blessing to know personally; The Rev Dr Ellen Bruce. Here is a bit of a biography written I think by the Bishop of Yukon, The Right Rev Larry Robertson.
   Ellen Bruce (1911 - 2010)
   Ellen Bruce was born in Rampart House in 1911. Her early years were spent living nomadically following the caribou with her family. As a young child she learned to read Tukudh and to conduct church services from her father (Joseph Kay). Her grandfather knew Archdeacon Robert MacDonald. In 1928, a First Nation minister, Julius Kendi, came to Old Crow with his wife. It was through the Women's Auxiliary that Bruce
   became involved in the church. She continued her nomadic lifestyle, only coming to Old Crow for supplies or to celebrate religious holidays.
   She moved permanently to Old Crow in 1949 and she began to be more involved in the Church. After her father died in 1972 she began to take on more serious responsibilities. In the early 80s, Bruce, along with Edith Josie, Effie Linklater and Charlie Peter Charlie were licensed as lay readers. In 1984, she was ordained a deacon. She became an ordained priest in 1987 at the encouragement of then Bishop Ferris.
   Bruce was the first ordained First Nations woman in the North in the Anglican Church.
   Bruce was nominated for an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Stephen's College in Edmonton. She was accepted and flew to Edmonton in1986 to receive her degree. The Up Here magazine January/February 1988 edition said "Her ministry is a labour of love."
   Don Sax, who co-nominated her for the degree, wrote in the July 6, 1989 edition of Western People, "Her ministry is a matter of being, not doing." She was a social centre of Old Crow. She visited with everyone she saw. Bruce often held services in English
   and the Gwich'in language.
   On October 25th, 1990, it was announced that Ellen Bruce was awarded the honour of becoming a Member of the Order of Canada. The citation read "The spiritual leader of Old Crow and the North's first native woman to be ordained an Anglican minister, she has sustained and promoted the cultural integrity of the Vuntut Gwitch'in for over 50 years, helping them adapt from camp life to community life. She was a strong and holy woman who has a powerful impact on natives and non-natives alike." Bishop Larry
   Robertson writes, "When one entered into her presence you knew you were meeting with someone who radiated the presence of the loving Father. It was like becoming young again looking into the eyes of someone who was at peace in the presence of the Almighty and so much bigger spiritually then myself. It was an honour to know her and sit under her ministry."
   Ellen Bruce died October 16, 2010 at 98 years old.

   1. After 10 years of Lent Madness I want to suggest it is time a Saint whose primary ministry
      was Downunder-Australia and New Zealand be considered.
      I would like to nominate :
      JOHN COLERIDGE PATTERSON< Bishop of Melanesia,missionary
      and martyr-Born 1827 died 1871
      Bishop John has been described as a man of the Imperial Age, but his learning and manners were very different..
      He was in advance of his times when he made it an Anglican policy that the manners and customs of the islanders in the South Pacific whom he served were to be respected and disturbed as little as possible . He ministered to his people sailing around the islands on a small boat-"The Southern Cross".
      He spoke many of the languages used by the people of his Islands' Diocese.
      The visits to the islands were becoming yearly more dangerous. In 1869 he wrote: 'the vessels
      which have been taking away South Sea islanders for the Fiji & Queensland labor market
      have in some cases to my knowledge acted in a very sad miserable way.
      I have a good deal of moral, not perhaps strictly legal, evidence of treachery, violence etc.
      The effect is … to embitter the islanders against any white man whom they do not as yet know
      well to be their friend'. Patteson noted the depopulation of many islands and that
      unscrupulous traders used his name to entice natives aboard their ships.
      In July 1870 he wrote that 'it is the regulation rather than the suppression of
      the employment of native laborers that I advocate'.
      In an official memorandum he advocated the licensing of a few ships to transport the
      islanders; all others were to be treated as pirates and confiscated summarily when caught,
      and frigates were to cruise constantly among the islands.
      In January 1871 he made another appeal for imperial legislation on Pacific Island labor.
      In April Patteson sailed to the islands in the Southern Cross.
      On 20 September he landed alone on Nukapu near Santa Cruz where he was clubbed
      to death in retribution for a recent outrage by blackbirders.
      His body was launched in a canoe which drifted back to the ship.
      It was soon discovered that five stab wounds had been made on his breast, one each
      for five islanders who had been kidnapped and kileed by unscrupulous white traders. Bishop John's five wounds were covered with a palm branch tied in five knots. It was a martyr's stigmata!
      Despite the plea of missionaries at Norfolk Island for no retribution Captain Markham of
      H.M.S. Rosariofired at and killed some natives.
      The Melanesian Mission continued to expand on Patteson's foundations while his life
      was a lasting inspiration to the Anglican Church in Australasia.
      Patteson's death led to the imperial Kidnapping Acts of 1872 and 1875 along the lines he had suggested.
      John Coleridge Patteson is remembered in the Australian and New Zealand Calendars
      on September 20 along with the Saints and Martyrs of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific

2. Walter Rauschenbusch, who is honored in the Episcopal calendar on July 2. He wrote eloquently about how sin corrupts our social structures, not merely our individual lives, and how it is important to reform our social structures as an act of obedience to Christ.

3. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who is honored on April 10th, was a Jesuit priest & ground breaking paleontologist whose ideas about evolution had both material & spiritual components. What I like is what he asked God before he died. He prayed, "O God, if in my life I have not been wrong, allow me to die on Easter Sunday". He died on April 10, 1955: Easter Sunday. This is a direct quote from "Holy Women, Holy Men". This is significant because the Catholic Church hassled him about his radical & heterodox writings.

4. I would like to nominate Elizabeth Ann Seton, wife, mother, educator, foundress of the Sisters of Charity in the US. First American born saint. A woman of faith and stamina for all times. A role model.

5. I would like to nominate Sir Thomas More, who died on the block because of his refusal to accept Henry VIII as head of the Christian Church in England.

6. St. Thaney.
   Please find excellent information
   Mull Monastery of Celtic Saints
   on Facebook.

7. I nominate St. Benedict,, the first great monastic, whose Rule is followed even to the present day!

8. St. Cyprian

9. I nominate Oscar Romero because he spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture.

10. St.Patrick is my nomination he’s so cool he has his own holiday and he may or may not
    have banished all snakes from Ireland

    *pretend this was sent with a 20 dollar bill*

11. I would like to nominate St. Clare of Assisi. St. Clare (1194-1253) was the first female follower of St. Francis of Assisi. Clare was a noblewoman drawn to Francis' evangelical charism and his commitment to living a life of absolute poverty and preaching the Gospel. Clare is the first woman to have written a Rule of Life for women religious, with the Pope granting her and The Poor Ladies of San Damiano (later known as The Poor Clares) the Priviledge of Poverty on her deathbed. Her mother and her sisters followed her into this life. Clare was known as a healer and is the patron saint of Television.

    1. I like your choice!

    2. Good choice.

12. I nominate Jeremy Taylor—“He who promised his spirit to assist his servants in their trouble will not, because they are in trouble, take away the comforter from them; who cannot be a comforter but while carries our sadness, and relieves our sorrows, and turns our persecutions into joys, and crowns and scepters.”

13. I would like to nominate a saint who was eliminated in the first round of Lent Madness in 2017, much to my dismay. I had predicted Joan of Arc would be the Golden Halo winner that year! Since you already have biographical information on this remarkable teen age saint, I refer you to 2017's Saintly Countdown even though I would emphasize the spiritual over the military aspects of her life. Joan is the patron saint of France and should be the patron of teen age activists. She has been my hero since I learned about her as an adolescent and took Joan as my "confirmation name". Also, her making it to the Kitch Round would be a real bonus for her spokesperson: there are a lot of souvenirs, figurines, armor, books, music (Leonard Cohen's "Joan of Arc" for instance) and many movies, one starring Ingrid Bergman!
    Let's give Jeanne d'Arc a second chance!

    1. Oh and how could I forget G.B. Shaw's play "Saint Joan", soon to be opening in New York!
       Do I seem to be pushing Joan too hard?

    2. She would be my nominee too! Imagine, we could gild the Lily (Maid of France) with the Golden Hal.

14. What a Cloud of Witnesses has been nominated thus far! I am sticking with Eric Liddell, but every saint nominated is worthy of the Golden halo!

15. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle is my nomination. He is the patron saint of teachers (of which I am one). He was born wealthy, but used his wealth training lay teachers and opening schools as a way to life people (including girls!) out of poverty. He was also a priest and started a new order.

16. I nominate St. Aidan of LIndisfarne. Since he died in 651, he clearly meets the first criterion. He meets criterion #2 with room to spare. He is venerated by the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Communion on August 31, while the Lutherans prefer to honor him on June 9. Asked to leave Ireland to re-evangelizing the English--at least the Northumbrians at that point--he established a monastery on the incredibly beautiful Isle of Lindisfarne. From there he and his monks set out on foot to walk the land, talk to the people and spread the gospel. The monastery he established went on to be the home of many saints, including St. Cuthbert, and produced the very beautiful Lindisfarne Gospel book which is now housed in the British Library.

    If that weren't enough to make him a worthy nominee, he is the patron saint of my oldest grandchild!

17. I DONT CARE!! I LOVE YOU , YOU HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE!!!
    I would be the biggest groupie to the celeb bloggers! (Maybe not over Smokey Robinson or Al Green)
    I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! You SO ROCK!!

18. I nominate the Rev'd Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, aka: "Woodbine Willie", whose feast day is March 5 on the calendars of the C of E and TEC. The best-known Chaplain in the British Army in World War I, who was awarded the Military Cross for heroism in combat, he was a poet and prophet. His hymn "Not here for high and holy things--awake, awake to love and work" is included in both the 1940 and 1982 Hymnals. His inclusion would also honor the selfless service of all military chaplains.

19. St. Nicholas...also the patron Saint of Mariners!

20. Nomination: St. Odilo of Cluny, d. 1049; Roman Catholic feast day is May 11;
    Elected the abbot of the Benedictine (reform) monastery of Cluny in 994;
    Known for his care for the poor; was instrumental in establishing both All Souls' Day (Nov. 2, the day after All Saints' Day) and the medieval practice of the Truce of God;
    Called the "Archangel of Monks"
    (sadly, my webpage is a few years out of date; I am now a Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, and am serving a second term on ARC-USA--have been a big fan of "Lent Madness" for a few years now!)

    1. So many thoughtful posts! One correction to my nomination of St. Odilo: he seems to have three feast days in the RC calendar. Today it is celebrated on January 19 at Cluny itself, and February 6 in Switzerland. Everywhere else, it is May 11. (He actually died on January 1).

21. St. Anthony of Padua, patron saint of lost things. He has NEVER failed me. St. Anthony, St. Anthony please come round. Something is lost and must be found - insert lost item, a job, a piece of jewelry, a dog, whatever!. When the item is found, and it will be found, you pray again, St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please come round, something was lost and has been found - thank you St. Anthony. If you'd like specific examples, happy to provide them.

22. St. Florian, patron saint of firefighters, among others. His feast day is May 4, though I don't think there is any Star Wars connection.
    I learned a bit about him when I was a chaplain to a fire department. He was born in what is now Austria, became a Roman soldier, rose through the ranks to a commanding position. He organized and trained a specialized group of soldiers to fight fires.
    He refused to enforce orders under Diocletian to persecute Christians and was killed. His executioners reportedly were going to burn him but instead drowned him in the Danube.
    One of the things I admire in him and the fire service in general, is the recognition that being able to offer help in a time of need is likely to succeed more if there is a plan and continual ongoing preparation. Certain kinds of suffering that people encounter are petty predictable, and we as a community will be better able and ready to respond by planning ahead, making special provisions specifically for that crisis and maintaining readiness and availability. There are several professions that exhibit this kind of intentionality in their works of mercy, and firefighting is an obvious one.
    Another thing I admire about Florian in particular is that he refused to do a terrible thing despite being ordered to. I think it especially important for someone who is part of the dominant power structure to take that kind of responsibility. He didn't rely on the 'just following orders' reasoning and made a stand, even though he'd die for doing so.

23. I nominate St. David, the patron saint of Wales. The David Cross (Dewi Croes) is based on the cross symbol found on an altar in Wales where St. DAvid was said to have preached. He preached with such passion that the altar rose into the air. He was celebrated as a teacher and preacher, and founded monastic communities in Wales. At the synod of Brefi he eloquently defended the church against Pelaliganism. His feast day is March 1 His final sermon before his death on March 1 incluced the words, " "Lords, brothers and sisters, Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed, and do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. And as for me, I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us."

24. St Teresa of Calcutta is my favorite saint because she has helped so many. And the organization of nuns she founded is continuing to help others around the world.

    1. I nominate the Little Flower, St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Carmelite nun at age 15, died at age 24, patroness of missionaries, still emulated by countless people for her little way of doing good, famous for her shower of roses.

       1. If I could have nominated two saints, Therese was my second choice. She's a fireball of heavenly wisdom packed into such a young life. I've learned a lot from her Christlike walk through the mean streets of her convent. For me, St. Therese should be the patron saint of non-profit workers!!!! Sigh.
          Another plug for St. Therese, there's a breathtaking shrine dedicated to her on a little island near Juneau, Alaska (a smallish Mt. St. Michel) called the Shrine of St. Therese.

25. I nominate Amy Carmichael, a Christian missionary in India, who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur. She served in India for 55 years and wrote many books about the missionary work there. She is commemorated on January 18 in the Anglican Communion. Her writings greatly influenced me in my walk with Christ.
    Carmichael founded the Dohnavur Fellowship in 1901, transforming Dohnavur into a sanctuary for more than one thousand children who would otherwise have faced a bleak future. Carmichael often said that her ministry of rescuing temple children started with a girl named Preena. Having become a temple servant against her wishes, Preena managed to escape. Amy Carmichael provided her shelter and withstood the threats of those who insisted that the girl be returned either to the temple directly to continue her sexual assignments, or to her family for more indirect return to the temple. The number of such incidents soon grew, thus beginning Amy Carmichael's new Ministry. When the children were asked what drew them to Amy, they most often replied "It was love. Amma (Amy) loved us."
    Respecting Indian culture, members of the organization wore Indian dress and gave the rescued children Indian names. Carmichael herself dressed in Indian clothes, dyed her skin with dark coffee, and often traveled long distances on India's hot, dusty roads to save just one child from suffering.
    In 1931, a fall severely injured Carmichael, and she remained bedridden for much of her final two decades. However, it did not stop her from continuing her inspirational writing, for she published 16 additional books. The writer Elisabeth Eliot has written extensively of Amy Carmichael in the biography "A Chance to Die."

26. I would like to nominate Anna Julia Haywood Cooper. This year, I was asked by my rector to give a homily for one of our Wednesday evening services. I chose February 28th, which is a lesser feast day, and Anna Cooper was one of two women remembered on that day by the Episcopal church. In some ways her life reminded me a bit of Anna Alexander's, as we worked our way through Lent Madness this year. I focused on Anna Cooper in my homily, because her life inspired and amazed me, both due to her longevity and to her use of the gifts that God had given her. At 62, I can no longer say, "I'm too old to start that," after reflecting upon her life. She may have been more of a social activist than a religious person, so I'll let the SEC be the judge of her worthiness to be included in next year's bracket, but Holy Cow! - I'm glad I learned about her this year, and hope to share her with more folks!

27. Irma Dulce Pontes is my nominee. Her tremendous charity work that has had a lasting effect in Brazil is the best example of Christianity I can think of.

28. I nominate St Isaac the Syrian, aka Isaac of Nineveh, a man drunk with the love of God who dared to hope for the salvation of everyone and every thing (including demons).

    1. RATS! Does that mean I can’t nominate all the Cephalores?
       I love you guys!!

29. I would like to nominate the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. These young men were alive during the persecution of Christianity around 250 ce and were pressured to recant by Emperor Decius. They refused, gave all their goods to the poor, and went to a cave to pray and fell asleep. They were sealed in by the Emperor. But instead of dying, they were awakened 300 years later to a world in which they could practice their faith. These young men who would not recant their faith are a visible symbol of the resurrection, as well as faithfulness in the face of persecution and generosity in using their worldly good to help others instead of trying to use it to escape their persecution.

    The Seven Sleepers are honored on several calendars of saints: The Roman Martyrology on June 27 (Vatican II date), commemorated on the Byzantine Calendar with feasts on 4 August and 22 October. And, the story of the sleepers is record in the Qur'an in the Sura of the Cave.

    I know you said not to mention our pets, but in the Sura of the Cave, the sleepers are sealed in with their dog, who sleeps in the mouth of the cave to guard them.

30. Mother Angelica - Rita Rizzo of Canton,Ohio.

    Founder of the Catholic TV EWTN