266 comments on “Happy Nominationtide!”

1. I nominate St. Padre Pio, A capuchin priest. He was a twentieth century miracle worker, who had the gifts of bilocation, being at two places at once, healing, and the gift of reading minds. He also bore the stigmata, the wounds that Jesus got from the cross.

2. So many great nominations here! Next Lent's voting is going to require LOTS of contemplation!

   I also nominate St. Gertrude of Nivelles, the "other" March 17 saint. Patron saint of cats, also of plague victims and of brewers. Beer and cats -- what's not to like?

3. I nominate Alexander Schmorell, St. Alexander of Munich, a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. He was born in Russia of a German father and Russian mother. His family moved to Germany during the Bolshevik Revolution. During World War II, he was a member of the White Rose, a group who printed pamphlets against the Nazis and advocated resistance to them. He was captured by the Nazis and executed by guillotine in 1943. He is counted among the New Martyrs of Russia.

4. I nominate St. Camillus of Lellis, the patron saint of nurses and hospitals. He was a gambler, and after becoming penniless in 1574, he devoted his life to caring for the sick, became ordained, and founded his own order. They eventually cared for the plague stricken on ships in Rome's harbor in 1588, and established the first field medical unit as they tended to wounded troops n Hungary and Croatia.

5. Josephine Bakhita, ex-slave and nun. She heard the gospel and knew that she was meant to be free. Even though she spent her life doing simple tasks---cooking, sewing---she knew that she was doing God's work. At the end of her life, she was in a wheelchair. A visiting bishop asked her what she did all day in her wheelchair. She said, "Exactly what you are doing---the will of God."

6. Blessed Stanley Rother, American Priest and Martyr. He is the first US-born declared a martyr by the Catholic Church. He served as a priest in Guatemala during the country's civil war and was warned multiple times to leave. He did leave for a short period, but he went back, knowing that it would probably lead to his death. He was a simple person, raised a farmer, but became a priest. He farmed alongside his parishioners in Santiago Atitlan. He is a model of strength in adversity. A quote from him: "The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger ... I still don't want to abandon my flock when wolves are making random attacks."

7. I would like to nominate St. Tarcisius. His feast day is August 15th. He was martyred delivering communion. I miss communion greatly in these days of isolation!

8. Respectfully, I submit the nomination of St. Katharine Drexel(Nov.26, 1858-March 3, 1955). She was an American heiress, philanthropist, reglious sister, educator and founder. She was the second American to be canonized a saint and the first one born in the U.S.A. She was inducted into the National Womans Hall of Fame in 2011. The reason for her nomination is that St. Katharine is she was "woke" before the term had any meaning. Upon her father's death, she inherited a one third interest in his estate of 15.5. million dollars. In current terms his estate would be worth about 400 million. When she entered the convent, instead of marrying, it rocked the Philadelphia social circles. She dedicated herself to working among the Indians and African American in the southwestern United States. She established 145 missions, 50 school for African Americans, 12 schools for Native Americans. Xavier University, the only historically black Cathodic college received financial support from her. She established her own reglious order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, which continues this work today. She was truly a visionary and compassionate woman who worked tirelessly for the unity of all peoples. Thank your consideration.

9. Sarah because she laughed when she found out she would have a baby when she & Abraham were in their nineties.

10. I nominate Maximillian Kolbe.

11. John E. Hines - pioneer for racial and social justice and women's ordination. Presiding Bishop from 1965-1974

12. I nominate Oscar Romero. He was a great champion of the poor and the marginalized, those living in poverty. He also was a strong advocate for social justice. With the wide spread of homelessness in the USA today we need more people to step up and help bring concrete solutions to end homelessness.

13. I nominate The Rev Henry Whitehead, priest at St Luke's Anglican Church in Soho during the cholera outbreak of 1854. We have COVID-19, Soho had cholera in the mid-1800's. It was widely believed at that time that cholera was caused by "miasma"-- bad air. John Snow and Henry Whitehead showed that it was caused by water, contaminated by human waste, and showed how to control this dread disease. Fr. Whitehead was much liked and was able to get into homes and document the disease's reach. He also discovered the index case and its cause -- waste from a diaper. So, he was an early contact tracer and data collector. We don't give public health its proper due.
    He is in Wikipedia and on Crawford's list of clergy of the 1800's, but may not be on an official list of saints. But, he is a saint in a "you can meet them in schools or in lanes or at sea; in church or in trains or in shops or at tea..." sort of a way.
    Besides if you picked Henry Whitehead, you could have the famous map of cholera cases around pumps in the Lentorium.

14. St. Albert the Great

    "If any man bore witness that faith and science can coexist, it was St. Albert the Great (c.1206-1280), whose feast day is today.

    "St. Albert wanted to see and understand the workings of nature first-hand. 'The aim of natural science is not simply to accept the statements of others,' he wrote, 'but to investigate the causes that are at work in nature.' Insisting that 'experiment is the only safe guide' in scientific inquiry, he looked upon the whole world as his laboratory. In his book on geography he taught how latitude affects climate. In his book on zoology he disproved the colorful but wildly implausible fables about the animal kingdom that were current in his day (for instance, that barnacle geese are hatched from trees). Albert was the first man accurately to describe a Greenland whale (and to get first-hand information about the creature he joined a whale hunt in Friesland). During his 40 years as a teacher he wrote over 40 books, including ground-breaking works on botany, astronomy, physics,
    mineralogy and chemistry."

    From https://catholicexchange.com/a-patron-saint-for-scientists

15. I nominate Juan Diego.Great story of the roses in December; plus his contribution to Mexican history and culture.

16. I'd like to nominate a man whose songs really light me up! You, guessed it; I'm talking about Isaac Watts (1674-1748). My favorite is the Christmas hymn "Joy to the World" he wrote as a paraphrase for Psalm 98. He was said to be a beloved minister who knew both his Bible and his people.

17. I want to nominate Julian of Norwich, because she wrote what she wrote even though she lived through a plague much worse than the disease circulating through our world now.

18. I nominate Sr. Ursula Ledochowska, who dedicated her life to educating girls under the eyes of Communism.

19. Adomnan biographer of Columba of Iona. Abbot of Iona.

20. I nominate St Adomnan, whose feast day is 23rd September. Adomnan was Abbot of Iona some 100 years after St Columba. Adomnan wrote a life of at Columba, which can be read today. He also promulgated the first law to protect women and children in times of war, and travelled widely to persuade kings and nobles to adopt the new law. He deserves to be better known, and is worthy of a place in next year's bracket alongside the many excellent suggestions above.

21. Johann Sebastian Bach, Feast Day July 28

    "The aim and final reason of all music should be none else but the glory of God and refreshing the soul. " - Johann Sebastian Bach

    Johann Sebastian Bach, March 21, 1685-July 28, 1750 was a dominant figure in the history of church music whose output embraces practically every musical genre of his time except opera.

    Submitted by the Rev. Nancy Streufert and Diana Cooper, St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Arcata, California

22. I nominate Fr. Mychal Judge, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department, who died while ministering to victims of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11th. He was the first identified victim of the attacks, as the fire fighters at the scene knew him.

    Fr. Judge is recognized as a saint by the Orthodox Catholic Church of America.

    I think Fr. Judge would be a good candidate for Lent Madness because I can't remember there ever being a person who lived in the 21st century in the bracket. Including Fr. Judge would be a good reminder that there are still people willing to respond to the call of God at great cost to themselves even in our own day.

23. Justin, Martyr in Rome. Died around 165 AD. Became a Christian in Ephesus. Described his conversion this way, "Straightaway a flame was kindled in my soul and a love of the prophets and those who are friends of Christ possessed me." Justin was arrested and jailed for practicing an unauthorized religion. When he refused to renounce his Christian faith, he and six others were beheaded.

24. William Tyndale for his many Biblical “firsts,” bringing the Bible to the people, and influence on Biblical scholarship through the ages.

25. Josiah Henson

    Born in slavery and brutalized to the point of permanent deformity, Josiah Henson was extremely resourceful with practical, hands-on work. His fine gift for listening to educated people and learning to speak with elegant precision, as they did, helped him when he became a Methodist minister while still a slave.

    At age 42, he led his wife and their 4 young children from western Kentucky to Ontario, Canada, to be free. He was instrumental in founding a community of former slaves and other impoverished people who came along. He traveled to England to raise money and met numerous people in the British anti-slavery movement.

    Josiah Henson returned to the U.S. to lead others, including relatives, to freedom. He kept spending his own funds to keep the community of Dawn, Ontario, going when others were not as dedicated and frugal as he. Faced with the realistic possibility of losing his home and land in his mid-80's, he again traveled to Britain and raised money to save his house and garden in Dawn.

    He dictated his autobiography and it became the main source of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. I have twice visited the house where he was the slave in Rockville, MD, although it's rarely open to the public. It's being turned into a museum, and a visitors' center is being added. You will eventually be able to visit it.

    His biography finally came out several years ago, by a Canadian researcher and author who also produced a documentary entitled "Redeeming Uncle Tom: The Josiah Henson Story." The fascinating book is "The Road to Dawn."

    While Josiah Henson memorized the Bible before he could read, he joined the Methodist Church that does not have saints except for the historic, Biblical saints. Therefore, I have been unable YET to discover any church in which he's a saint.

26. Once again I am nominating Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, who, as a medical student in England asked himself what Jesus would do if he were a doctor. He decided Jesus would bring medical care to those who had none. He arrived in Labrador in 1892 and devoted the rest of his life, more than 40 years, to the poor and forgotten people of Labrador and the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. He was appalled at the misery he found, with people on the verge of starvation, some sleeping on the floor of a simple cabin. He treated both Native people and "settlers," none of whom had ever seen a doctor. He was a gifted surgeon. A man of tremendous energy and stamina, he developed a network of hospitals, nursing stations, schools and home industries, which exists in a modified form to this day. In summer when the harbors were free of ice, he traveled by hospital ship, and in winter by dogsled. His American wife gave up a life of privilege and worked hard alongside him. His memory is still revered in Newfoundland and Labrador where I lived for 25 years. His feast day in the Episcopal Church is October 9. He is depicted in the Physicians' Window in the National Cathedral in Washington. He deserves to be better known in this time, in this country.

    1. As a Methodist-Episcopal elder & preacher, he had a 300-mile district under his care.

       Josiah Henson had a marvelous visit with the Archbishop of Canterbury who wept after hearing his story.

       His wilderness skills were incredible. He not only turned virgin forest into farms in southern Canada, but he led his family to freedom through hundreds of miles dense, impenetrable woods.

       1. This was an addition to JOSIAH HENSON, above. APOLOGIES, it does NOT belong here.

       2. As a Methodist-Episcopal elder & preacher, he had a 300-mile district under his care.

          Josiah Henson had a marvelous visit with the Archbishop of Canterbury who wept after hearing his story.

          His wilderness skills were incredible. He not only turned virgin forest into farms in southern Canada, but he led his family to freedom through hundreds of miles dense, im

    2. I think Sir Wilfred Grenfell is a great candidate. I suggest that he (a physician) be paired with a saint in public health. I nominated one -- The Rev Henry Whitehead. Physicians treat people one-by-one. Public health saints treat the population -- by looking at clean air, water, disease spread, etc. Fr. Whitehead lived in the time of the cholera plague in the mid 1800's, a time like out own. He ministered to the sick, the grieving, the terrified among the poor of Soho, much as priests are doing now.
       His pubic health contribution was to team up with John Snow to discover the cause of cholera. It was believed at that time that cholera was caused by miasma (bad air); he and John Snow showed that it was actually caused by water contaminated by human waste.
       Fr. Whitehead was much beloved and was welcomed into homes to talk with people and find out where they had been and with whom they had come in contact. So, he was, in effect, doing contact tracing. By so doing, he found the index case and thus the original source of the disease -- a soiled diaper from one of the impoverished infants in that area.
       So, I think a medical saint and a public health saint, would be a good a good combination for the 2021 Lent Madness.

27. St. Servatius. A fourth century Christian born in Armenia, became
    Bishop of Tongeren (modern day Belgium) and died in Maastricht (Netherlands). Known as vocal opponent of Arianism. I nominate him because he was an early defender of the faith and missionary whose story is unknown to most. Feast day May 13.

28. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979), a faithful minister of the church whose sermons were listened to by millions weekly on network TV in the 50's and 60's. His gifted preaching continued up to his passing and is still relevant and listened to by young and old even today.

29. I nominate San Pedro Claver (1580-1654) of Cartagena, Columbia.
    San Pedro was known as the slave to the slaves because he and his fellow Jesuits offered compassion and care to African slaves brought to Cartagena, Columbia. Not only is San Pedro's ministry a stark contrast to the unspeakable evil done in the name of religion and conquest at the Spanish Inquisition Court in the same city, it would be wonderful to have a Central American saint included in the bracket for Lent Madness 2021

30. I would like to nominate the seven martyrs of the Melanesian Brotherhood, a community of men living a life of prayer and simplicity under simple vows. The seven were martyred in August of 2003, as they worked at peacemaking in a time of ethnic tensions. They are recognized in the calendar of the Anglican Church of Melanesia.