331 comments on “Nominationtide is upon us!”

1. Pauli Murray was the first Black woman ordained an Episcopal priest. She was a lawyer, a civil rights activist, a feminist, and one of the founders of the National Organization for Women. Her feast day is July 1.

2. Good choice!

3. #truth

4. i second this one too!

5. I would like to nominate Phoebe, the first female deacon. I chose her because I would like my dog to know whom she is named after.

   1. I would also like to nominate Phoebe, among the first of the deacons and definitely the first woman of that order. There is an increased interest in the ministries of deaconesses, and there is a proposal to put the order as a whole (while it lasted in The Episcopal Church) on the church calendar/LFF. She is a role model for many.

6. Martin de Porres, (November 3 Feast Day). A "17th century saint born of a black mother and Spanish father in a world and culture that separated types and classes of people with a vengeance. But he accepted who he was and used that awareness to make himself sensitive to the needs of others. He served the poor and sick, especially the forgotten black population of the period, and is remembered as a patron of social justice." (Quote from "A Monastery Almanac" by Joan Chittister)

7. St. Giles. Not only is his blue the color of the 80th General Convention's Blue Book, He is traditionally one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Another Hermit with a cult following. Lot's of towns and Churches named after him and patron Saint of many, most notably cancer paitents and mental health.

8. I would like to nominate Melania the Elder, a 4th century Desert Mother and benefactor, who founded a monastery in Jerusalem and had a tremendous influence on the pilgrimage tradition and Christian intellectuals of her time. She was a close mentor to Evagrius of Pontus, who wrote the Philokalia, and her granddaughter, Melania the Younger, who also became a saint, endowing many monastic communities. She is part of the 2018 Lesser Feasts & Fasts, a saint in various other churches, and is included in The Forgotten Desert Mothers by Laura Swan. Before learning about this remarkable saint, I had only heard this name associated with the current well-known Melania.

9. I would like to nominate the Rev. Dr. Florence LI Tim-Oi, the first Anglican woman priest; she was ordained in Free China on 25 January 1944. She initially was licensed as a Deacon to preside at Holy Communion as no priest could make the journey to Macao from Japanese-occupied Hong Kong. Her ordaining Bishop did so because God had already given Rev. Florence the gift of priesthood, even though to do so was against the traditions of the world wide Church at that time. In Maoist China, she suffered at the hands of the Red Guard who made her cut up her vestments with scissors. Rev. Florence died in Toronto on Feb.26/92 and is buried there. Her archives are at Renison Univ. College, Waterloo, Ontario. The Anglican Church of Canada in 2004 agreed to include Rev. Florence in the Calendar of Holy Persons on the anniversary of her death. In 2003, The Episcopal Church of the USA agreed to insert the Anniversary of Rev. Florence's priesting in the Church's Calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts. It is observed on January 24th. She is commemorated in windows in Church buildings at St George's, Dayton, Ohio; the Chapel of the Good Shepherd in Chautauqua N.Y. among others. Listeners to the BBC named a dahlia flower "Dahlia Florence Li Tim-Oi" on the Centenary of her birth. After her death, the Li Tim-Oi Foundation was founded by a family member to supply funds and assistance to women in the third world to train for Christian work in their own countries. The website for the foundation is http://www.ittakesonewoman.org/
   It is so named because in Jan 1984, after meeting Rev. Li Tim-Oi at Lambeth Palace, Archbishop Runcie said,"It Takes One Woman" to change the thinking of the Church.

   1. Thank you- I wanted to nominate her too.

10. I nominate Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini patron saint of immigrants and hospital administrators. I am nominating her because her patronage and work is so relevant with today’s situations—young children coming to the US alone, anti-immigrant sentiment, medical staff overworked during the pandemic. She valued and cared for the young and ill establishing school, orphanages, and hospitals. Her head is enshrined in Rome, one arm in Chicago and the rest of her body in New York. Several churches bear her name including one in Manhattan. She has many shrines—one in Chicago, Manhattan and golden Colorado, etc.

11. I would very much like to nominate Mr. Rogers. To me, Fred Rogers embodied the Christ like walk on earth as much as anyone. I have only just lately come to learn more about him and his mission in this world. He is truly a man of inspiration.

    1. I second this

12. I respectfully nominate Otis Sargent Huntington (1854-1935), the son of a Bishop and devout mother, who lived a life dedicated to serving the poor. After ordination as an Episcopal Priest he left what would have been a comfortable life, as laid out by his parents, to follow a call to serve “the least of these” at Holy Cross Mission in the poorest section of 1880’s New York Lower East Side. This was a world far beyond his experience – immigrants living in overcrowded tenements amid poverty and filth. Huntington would have crossed paths with social reformers of the time including Jacob Riis who, in 1889, published “How the Other Half Lives” containing photos of real conditions illuminated by a flash pot. Exploitation of workers led Huntington to become involved with the labor union and Georgist land-tax movements. In 1884 he made his profession as the first monk and Founding Father of a Benedictine monastic order for men to Bishop Henry Codman forming the Order of the Holy Cross. Bishop Porter, in his defense to objections raised by Presiding Bishop Alfred Lee cited Huntington’s profession that he believed that to serve the poor he had to be willing to be poor, to live alone and to obey a fixed rule of life within a monastic order.

    As an example of one who was committed to the social witness of the Church and his commitment to service in the face of obstacles Huntington will be a worthy participant in 2022 Lent Madness.

13. I nominate St Kassiani (Kassia, Cassia), a 9th century Byzantine abbess, poet, composer and hymnographer. Her feast day is September 7th and her works are still incorporated into the music of the Eastern Orthodox rite. Beginning on the evening of Palm Sunday and continuing through the evening of Holy Tuesday, the Eastern Orthodox Church observes a special service known as the Service of the Bridegroom. Each evening service is the Matins or Orthros service of the following day (e.g. the service held on Sunday evening is the Orthros service for Holy Monday). The name of the service is from the figure of the Bridegroom in the parable of the Ten Virgins found in Matthew 25:1-13. At the service on Tuesday night (for the Wednesday commemoration) there is sung a hymn that is not sung at any other time of the year-the Hymn of St Kassiani. This hymn was written from the perspective of the woman who anointed Jesus head with myrrh. It is considered the high point of the Tuesday night liturgy, with many attending especially to hear this sung. Two versions of this Hymn are provided as an illustration of the power of her work -- the first sung by a women's choir and the second a mixed choir with subtitles. The first provides an impact of the music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDz6zmwEqJQ&list=RDBDz6zmwEqJQ&start_radio=1), the second the impact of the words (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zY5x1kPlwE (English with subtitles). An important note is that Kassiani might have been the Empress instead of Theodora (March Madness 2021) but her quick tongue apparently upset Theophilos and he rejected her and chose Theodora for his wife instead. Kassiani was one of a few women of her time who wrote under her own name. She left a legacy of religious poetry with music she composed for it that is still used to this day, as well as a body of non-religious work. She was a truly remarkable woman.

14. I nominate Pauli Murray. A summary of her life is in this New Yorker article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/the-many-lives-of-pauli-murray?fbclid=IwAR1Yxv0iqfhCPDPXcokRgtkWNhzN1YJLLGD5eKKLVaMSWUfhe9xsOXNDYbg
    She was the first African-American woman ordained as an Episcopal priest. Before that, she was a lifelong fighter against Jim Crow and sex discrimination.

    1. I forgot to mention - I know she is officially considered a Saint, because she has a day in Lesser Feasts and Fasts.

    2. Thank you for including the link to the New Yorker article. Ire-read it at 6am! She is certainly a saint.

15. I nominate Father Eusebio Kino, a seventeenth century Jesuit priest who founded 21 missions in Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona. Father Kino was an explorer, a cartographer, an advocate for social justice and an ally to the tribal peoples of the Arizona territory. He is well remembered in Arizona, California, and Mexico as a teacher, scholar and missionary and was declared “venerable” by the Roman Catholic Church.

16. I nominate the Right Rev. Paul Jones, Bishop of Utah, 1914 whose feast day is September 04 - The Episcopal Church
    I share this forward from "Bishop Paul Jones Witness for Peace" by John Howard Melish, written in 1942 by John Nevin Sayre in the original edition;
    "Paul Jones, by his life in two World Wars, and in the years between, helped many Christians and others to recover the true meaning of the sign of the Cross. He showed what it meant to be a Christian pacifist living in the faith of Christ crucified and manfully fighting under that banner unto his life's end....."

17. I would like to nominate Enmegahbowh Priest and Missionary. His feast day is celebrated on June 12. A full blooded Ottawa he became the first indigenous deacon of the Episcopal Church.

18. There are many worthy nominees. I’ve already nominated Handel. I just want to put in an extra word for artistic Saints. Their good works (miracles?) can be experienced first-hand today, in museums, libraries, concert halls and churches. They deserve our recognition.

    1. Last night The SPCO preformed Handel's Suite in D Major Water Music in Mears Park St. Paul MN. It was their first live performance in 14 months. The temperature was 96 F but the music was heavenly.

19. I nominate Origen of Alexander. He is worthy of inclusion for several reasons. First, his theological and philosophical works were instrumental in shaping Christian thought during his time. Second, he and his works were deemed heretical, and he is often overlooked or disregarded. Third, his approach to biblical interpretation was novel and influenced the way many people approach reading and understanding. Finally, he castrated himself; cut (pun intended?) the man some slack.

20. I would like to nominate St. Pachomius, a very early saint who is credited with creating the first Christian monastic system, as community of believers, (cenobitic) not hermits who only met occasionally for worship, (eremetic.)
    He was born in Egypt to pagan parents and was converted & baptized in 314. His Christian life began under the influence of hermits and eventually he followed St. Anthony of Egypt at Tabennisi, Egypt. It was there that he was told by a voice to build a dwelling for the hermits to come to. He established his first monastery between 318 and 323 in Tabennisi
    He had many ideas about how such a community should live together: (Ex. male or female monastics living together and holding their property in common.) Those ideas were adapted and organized as an Ascetica, by Basil of Caesarea. It is still used today by the Eastern Orthodox Church just as the Rule of Benedict is used in the West.
    By the time Pachomius died in 348 A.D. eight monasteries and several hundred monks followed his guidance. Within a generation, the monastic (cenobic) concept had spread throughout the Christian world.

21. Australia's First Saint: Mary MacKillop
    The founder of an Australian order of Catholic nuns - the Sisters of St Joseph. Born in 1842 in Melbourne Australia.
    She began the order with Fr. Julian Tenison Woods for the education of poor children.
    Within a few years there were over 100 Sisters, and they have moved to three different states of Australia.
    She was accused of being disobedient, by some of the priests who were advisors to the Bishop. The Bishop was ill-advised and excommunicated her. Some seven months later, after he had disbanded the Order of nuns, on his death bed, he brought her back into the church.
    Mary travelled for six weeks alone on a ship to Rome, where there she presented the Rule of the Sisters of St Joseph to the Pope. She was a formidable woman, who trusted in the providence of God.
    During her beatification in 1995, Pope John Paul II said that Mary MacKillop embodies the best of Australia and its people: "genuine openness to others, hospitality to strangers, generosity to the needy, justice to those unfairly treated, perseverance in the face of adversity, kindness and support to the suffering."
    Mary MacKillop definitely stands among those who deserve to be nominated and indeed be selected for Lent Madness 2022!

22. I am nominating Florence LI Tim - Oi (1907-19920) the first woman to be ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion. She was born in Hong Kong May 5 1907. She studied at Canton Union Theological College then returned to Hong Kong, ordained a deaconess and worked in Hong Kong and Macau helping refugees fleeing mainland China during the second Japanese -Sino War. The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and parts of China made it impossible for Anglican priests to get to Macau, so Li was given permission to administer the sacraments and travelled through Japanese occupied territory to be ordained Jan 25, 1944 From 1958-1974 the Communist Chinese government closed churches , Li was designated a counter-revolutionary , forced to work on a farm and a factory , go through political re-education , and was forced to cut up her church vestments by the Red guards. Florence Li Tim-Oi left China and was appointed a priest in Toronto in 1983 where she remained for the rest of her life She served the church faithfully and bravely through dangerous times , suffering persecution for her faith and deserves to be nominated for the Golden Halo

23. Jonathan Daniels was martyred in 1965.

24. I’d like to nominate St. Roch (or Rock in English): He lived in Italy in the 1300s; son of the governor of Montpelier, he lived a poor mendicant life, dying in prison. He was known to be a healer and is invoked against many diseases: cholera, epidemics, knee problems, plague, skin diseases. He’s the patron saint of: bachelors, diseased cattle, dogs, falsely accused people, invalids, Istanbul, surgeons, tile-makers, gravediggers, second-hand dealers, pilgrims, apothecaries, Pateros, Caloocan, Philippines.

    When I lived in Pittsburgh, many neighborhoods celebrated San Rocco Day in grand style with fireworks and food. His name, of course, would be great for the humor of Lent Madness, with possibilities like “between St. Roch and a hard place.” Good kitsch potential, too. I love anyone who’s the patron saint of dogs. Plus, his feast day is on my birthday, August 16, which also happens to be Madonna’s, too.

25. I nominate the Martyrs of Uganda (commemoration date June 3), 32 members of the court of King Mwanga of Buganda who were burned to death in 1886 because they would not renounce their Christian faith. Mwanga resented the fact that these Christians put their loyalty to Jesus above loyalty to him, and his intent was to destroy the Christian Church in his kingdom.
    As the martyrs marched toward their execution, they sang hymns, and prayed for those about to execute them. Those who witnessed the way they faced their death began to seek out other Christians and the faith spread rapidly throughout the country, in spite of renewed persecution under Idi Amin in the 1970s.

    The Martyrs of Uganda provide an example of how Christians might respond in the face of mistreatment.

26. I would like to nominate missionary doctor Paul Carlson who was martyred in the Congo. Here is a snippet from Wikipedia. Before I joined the Episcopal church I was member of the Evangelical Covenant Church - the denomination that raised up Paul and have worked to keep his legacy going.
    "Carlson became known as the "Congo Martyr" and was featured on the covers of both Time and Life magazines. His tombstone, at Karawa, bears the inscription "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."— John 15:13[2] Shortly after Carlson's death, Lois and others formed the Paul Carlson Medical Program with the goal of raising money to support the Loko hospital. They expanded with agricultural programs to teach nutrition, agronomy, and microenterprise.[10] In 2000, the Paul Carlson Medical Program was revitalized and now operates under the name the Paul Carlson Partnership. The Paul Carlson Partnership[11] is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization with a mission that focuses on investing in health care, economic development, and education in Central Africa.[12]"

27. I nominate John Woolman for his abolitionist work among as well as his ministry for economic justice, against conscription, & animal cruelty. He was responsible for the Quaker's early denuncuation of slavery & was the inspiration for Wilberforce.

28. I nominate Mychal Judge, gay Catholic priest, Franciscan brother and chaplain who was killed on 9/11 while serving with firefighters and praying for victims. He also had been an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, being part of Dignity, the Catholic Church's LGBT ministry and helping AIDS patients. He was canonized in 2002 by the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America.

    1. Thank you for introducing me to an amazing person!

29. I nominate St. Swithun (d.862), bishop of Winchester, capital of the kingdom of Wessex at the time of the first Viking raids on England. Famous for charitable gifts and building churches, chaplain to King Egbert and educator of King Ethelwulf. The translation of his relics from the churchyard into the cathedral was marked by miraculous healings and heavy rainfall (both much needed just now). It is said he made diocesan journeys on foot and gave banquets for the poor rather than the rich. His shrine was a popular goal of pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages. Mostly, I just like his name (saying it three times fast is a good way to know if you've been drinking too much), and the list of nominations I've seen seems a bit top heavy on the side of, however worthy, very recent saints.

30. I nominate St. Oscar Romero. He worked very hard for the poor and the marginalized. He was strong for social justice for all. He was a very outspoken critic of the military government in El Salvador.