331 comments on “Nominationtide is upon us!”

1. I would like to nominate Martin de Porres. He is the patron saint of mixed-race people, barbers, innkeepers, public health workers, and all those seeking racial harmony.

   1. I second the nomination of Martin!

2. Phoebe Palmer (1807 – 1874) was a major mover among the Methodists in the United States and a primary thinker in the promotion of the holiness strain of Methodism. A dynamic speaker, a tireless advocate for the poor, women, and others on the margins of society. She was a powerful proponent of the belief that all people were capable of living in perfect love.

3. Roland Allen - mission strategist - Patron Saint of Total Ministry - advocate for local/alternative ordination. A visionary well before his time.

4. I support the nomination of Pauli Murray. She was the first African American woman to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church.

5. I nominate St. Augustine of Hippo. His body of work stands above just about everyone in the early centuries of the church and provides both universally praised as well as highly controversial commentary and guidance. Please include him this year.

6. St. Ignatius of Loyola

7. I nominate Jonathan Daniels because his story is so inspiring as the church continues its work to build the beloved community. He knew that racial justice requires relationship and risk and he gladly took that on, even giving his life. Though he was part of Lent Madness back in 2013, the tribe has grown much larger and it is time to welcome Jonathan back to the bracket to inspire our hearts and lives.

8. St. Stephen - first martyr. His words as he is being killed are inspirational.

9. I nominate St. Brendan of Clonfert, one of the twelve apostles of Ireland. While much of his life is the stuff of legends, Clonfert Cathedral still stands as beacon for all who are navigating this life.

10. Aloysius Gonzaga, died helping people in an earlier pandemic. Im sure we could have saints like him today if we see them with similarities.

11. I nominate George Frederick Handel (feast day July 28). I used to think I hated the music of Handel, because I had heard heavy-handed performances. Now I love it. We all know the glorious Messiah, but did you know he assigned the rights to London’s Foundling Hospital? Did you know he became a naturalized British subject? Did you know Beethoven called him “the master of us all”? I didn’t know these things, which proves that Handel merits a closer look.

12. I nominate the Rev. Frederick Bingham Howden; I believe there is a movement to have him recognized on the Episcopal calendar. Son of a Bishop, he became a chaplain in WWII, endured the Bataan Death March and died in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines, where he ministered to other prisoners interned there and gave his food rations to them, resulting in his death by starvation. Full disclosure: he is a distant relative of mine.

13. I nominate St. Margaret of Scotland. Hurray for those who have already done so!

    Linda B.

14. I nominate Dorothy Day, American Catholic lay woman, mystic and activist. She was born in 1897, and died in 1980, and lived her entire life seeking communion with God and social justice for all. She is best known for being a co-founder of the "Catholic Worker" movement and newspaper. Radical Christians of all denominations admire and emulate her, and the Catholic Worker movement continues today, a small but stalwart network of houses and farms. Many icon artists have done her likeness, and Pope Francis named her one of four remarkable American Christians in an address to the US Congress. She is listed for Nov. 29 in the Episcopal Church Calendar of Supplemental and Local Commemorations.

15. I have grown weary of the "liturgically recognized" saints. I think some of the contestants were wierd or odd, which made it fun. But we do not need to resort to only the liturgical. I know of so many saints in the non liturgical ralm that would be worthier, and possible wierder or nuttier. Wish we could become more inclusive.

    1. I too am frustrated with the requirement that the person has to on a list of saints. I never understood how Francis Perkins could win the Halo. On what basis was she eligible? It is limiting, and it does seem to lead to some rather silly choices. There are so many worthy people I would rather learn more .

16. I nominate St. Edmund, King of East Anglia. He is said to have been martyred by Danish invaders on November 20, 869 for refusing to forsake his Christian faith. After being beaten, he was tied to a tree and shot with arrows, but still refused to renounce Christ. The Danish leader was infuriated and had Edmund cut down and beheaded. When Edmund’s followers went searching for him, they found his head being guarded by a wolf. His head and body were interred but when the coffin was opened as they reinterred him at the shrine of Bury St Edmund, his head and body had reattached and his skin was soft and moist, with only a thin line on his neck where he had been beheaded. Although not “official “, Edmund was regarded by many as the patron saint of England before being supplanted by St. George.

    St Edmund is the patron saint of kings and wolves (naturally!) and also the patron saint of pandemics, which makes him a perfect addition for veneration these days! And the Magna Carta was signed by King John at Bury St. Edmund, which was a premier pilgrimage site until the abbey was destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. St. Edmund is honored by the Roman, Orthodox, Anglican and Episcopal churches, who celebrate his feast on November 20.

    1. I second the nomination for St Edmund.

17. St. Damian of Molokai

    Knowing the risk of contracting Hansen’s Disease (leprosy), he accepted his assignment to minister to the people of Molokai, suffering from that disease. He did contact Hansen’s Disease after many years of service. He was canonized in 2009.

18. I would like to nominate St. Mesrob Mashdots, who created the Armenian alphabet so that people could have a written language that met the needs of their spoken language. After traveling the Caucasus region to research, he struggled with his task until receiving a vision from God while meditating in a cave. The first words written in the Armenian language were from the Book of Proverbs: “To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding” (Proverbs 1:2). He also helped create the Georgian and Albanian alphabets, scripts that meet the unique needs of those languages. He gave to the Armenian people and the world the gift of literacy and is an inspiration to generations of poets and writers. He died February 17, 440. As a library teacher, I can’t imagine a better life to aspire to - helping others read the Word of God in their own language and giving them a way to tell their story to others.

19. I would like to nominate Jonathan Myrick Daniels (March 20, 1939 – August 20, 1965). He was an Episcopal seminarian and civil rights activist. In 1965, he was murdered by a shotgun-wielding special county deputy, Tom Coleman, who was a construction worker, in Hayneville, Alabama, while in the act of shielding 17-year-old Ruby Sales.[1] He saved the life of the young Black civil rights activist. They were both working in the civil rights movement in Lowndes County to integrate public places and register Black voters after passage of the Voting Rights Act that summer. Daniels' death generated further support for the civil rights movement.
    In 1991, Daniels was designated as a martyr in the Episcopal church, and is recognized annually in its calendar. [Jonathan Daniels - Wikipedia]
    Here is a link to a YouTube video produced by the Episcopal News Service on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Daniels’ death, https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2015/08/13/remembering-jonathan-daniels-50-years-after-his-martyrdom/
    When I was a very young child, he was my babysitter on rare occasions when my parents went out for the evening.

20. I nominate Charles Schulz, American cartoonist and creator of the Peanuts comic strip. Schulz was a devote Christian and wove spirituality into his work.

    “Many familiar with the Peanuts strip don’t think of Charles Schulz as a Christian pioneer,” said Stephen Lind, the author of A Charlie Brown Religion: Exploring the Spiritual Life and Work of Charles M. Schulz. “But he was a leader in American media when it comes to both the strength and frequency of religious references.”

21. I nominate Jane Parker Huber. who died November 17, 2008.
    Born to missionary parents in China, Jane descends from a long line of Presbyterian leaders. She has served as interim program coordinator for Presbyterian Women, as well as on the PC(USA)’s Council on Women and the Church, Joint Committee on Women, Social Justice and Peacemaking Ministry Unit, and the General Assembly Council.

    She has been recognized as a “Valiant Woman” by Church Women United and in 2002 received the PC(USA)’s “Woman of Faith Award.”

    Most notably she is known for her hymn words using inclusive, contemporary, inspiring language.

    For

22. I would like to nominate Juana Inés de la Cruz. I had never heard of her until I decided one day, as church nerds are eventually wont to do, to look up the saint commemorations for my church anniversaries (baptism, confirmation, etc.). There are some pretty badass saints in that list (the Venerable Bede and Teresa of Avila are in there), but then I decided on a further whim to check the date I transferred into my most wonderful unicorn of a parish. It was like the universe was telling me that the real badassery began right there, because there's no way that the "Phoenix of America" and the first published feminist in the Americas could not be a complete badass.

    There is a lovely short video about her life here (the title of which totally cracks me up): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wSOt3z_-YY

23. Julian of Norwich! She was robbed in 2016 and deserves another go!

24. I nominate Saint Margaret of Antioch. Margaret is one of the 14 Holy Helpers and is one of those Joan of Arc claimed to have spoken with. I tend to go for the Martyrs. After all "the blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church". She was beheaded in 304 for consecrating her virginity to God and for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. I know! I know! She claimed to have been swallowed by Satan in the form of a dragon and then escaped because her crucifix kept polking the dragon's innards, but that is just as believable as a Saint's head rolling down the street still preaching the Gospel.
    She is the patron Saint of childbirth, pregnant women and of those "falsely accused". I like this last one -- you can't do much worse than being on the receiving end of "false witness". And then there is St. Margaret's Church in Westminster, England dedicated to her, on the grounds of the Houses of Partiment.
    Her feast day is July 20 in the Church of England.

25. I nominate Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. One of the Celtic Saints who along with Columba, snd Aiden, shared the gospel in Scotland and Northern England

26. I'd like to nominate Raoul Wallenberg, a Swede who defied the Nazis, his own government and any other traditional diplomatic route to save over 100,000 Hungarian Jews in the 1940's.

    1. I second this

27. My nomination is OSCAR ROMERO (1917-1980). He was Bishop of El Salvador, appointed because of his conservative views that would support the dictatorship there. They were wrong. Romero was outspoken in his criticism of the government and in support of justice for the poor and oppressed of El Salvador. He was assassinated by an unknown gunman while saying Mass. Crowds gathered for his funeral were also attacked. He was canonized by Pope Francis. His Saint’s Day is March 24.

    1. Thank you. I wanted to nominate him as well, but we were allowed only one nomination. I am very happy to see his name on this petition. I would love to see him win the golden halo at some point.

28. I don't want to give away my shot! I'm withdrawing my earlier (in error, apologies) nomination, and want to substitute Constance and Her Companions, the Martyrs of Memphis (1878).
    Quoting ENS:
    ‘Martyrs of Memphis’ have lessons to teach those battling COVID-19
    Episcopalians reflect on the selfless service of Constance and her companions during 1870s' yellow fever epidemic. The martyrdom of Constance and her five companions, who died within a month of each other while ministering to residents of Memphis, Tennessee, amid the 1878 yellow fever epidemic, has always inspired the ministry of St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral.

29. I nominate Father Hiram Hisanori Kano, who was added to the Great Cloud of witnesses at General Convention 2015 (died October 24, 1986). He is the first Asian-American saint in the Episcopal Church. The stories of Asian-Americans who endured anti-Asian hate are particularly important in these days!
    Father Kano advocated for the rights of Japanese-Americans to own land and become full US citizens at a time of increasing discrimination and prejudice against Japanese-Americans. After his arrest on December 7, 1941, Hiram continued to preach the Gospel and organize his fellow inmates during his imprisonment in several US internment camps throughout the war. Many Japanese-American Episcopalians trace their faith story back to his evangelism! Here are a couple sermons I preached about him and his witness: http://proclaimia.blogspot.com/2018/10/tuesday-october-30-rev-hiram-hisanori.html and http://proclaimia.blogspot.com/2019/11/sunday-november-3-our-sainthoods.html

    Full disclosure, Father Kano is my great-grandfather-in-law!

    - Rev. Mia Kano, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Wellesley, MA

    1. I second this one too!

30. While wandering through the darker and more ancient parts of the family forest, I chanced upon my 38th Great-Grandfather, Brochwel Ysgithrog ap Cyngen Glodrydd by Tudwystl sitting under an oak. He urged me to nominate his favorite saint, which upon review, seemed to be an excellent candidate for the 2022 Brackets. (Even without review, I would honor the King of Powys' request, modal monarchian that I am.) That saint's name is Melange [Latin: Monacellall] . Her feast day occurs on Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox calendars, most commonly May 27. Church register of 1723 records the following magnificent pun
    Mil engyl a Melangell
    Trechant lu fyddin y fall,
    which on its merits alone should guarantee her inclusion in the brackets. If a pun isn't enough, her story carved upon a wooden rood screen should make her a shoe in. Here's the story.according to my 37GGF, he was instantly smitten by her beauty even tho she was protecting a brace o' coney's -- destined for his stew pot-- from his hounds. He quickly made a proposition to wed and bed this Irish princess who had found refuge in his valley. Melangell would not break her vow of virginity she had uttered as an anchoress. )Her refusal is the reason that I'm here today, by way of the womb of a different good wife.) Still, smitten and impressed by her piety, Brochwel wrote up a charter (aka contract) giving her land in the Vale to establish a house of hospitality for like minded sisters and those needing sanctuary or healing. It took a few more centuries for a church to be built on the site, but it remains today as one of the oldest romanesque churches in the world and is a site mentioned on the most discerning of pilgrimage guides.
    https://saintspreserved.com/small_creatures/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melangell
    https://orthochristian.com/71372.html
    https://www.orthodoxmanchester.org.uk/ourpatronsaints.htm
    https://gwallter.com/travel/a-walk-to-see-melangell.html
    Wedi'i gyflwyno'n barchus, byth eich gwas,
    Mark M.

    1. That was such a horrible time in Uganda. It would be good to recognize someone who spoke up and who most of us will not have heard of.

    2. I believe Melangell was part of the 2021 group (as many struggled to pronounce the name), so not eligible this year