For one full week, the Supreme Executive Committee will be accepting nominations for Lent Madness 2022. The nominating period will remain open through Monday, June 7, at which point this brief exercise in Lenten democracy will cease and the SEC will return to their regularly scheduled benevolently authoritarian ways.
Nominationtide, the most underrated of liturgical seasons, never begins at the same time other than the vague "sometime after Easter Day." This is partly because Tim and Scott have day jobs and partly because "whim" is one of their ecclesiastical charisms. But it's here! And the world rejoices!
To insure your SUCCESSFUL nomination, please note the Nominationtide Rules & Regulations, which reside in an ancient illuminated manuscript tended to by aged monks who have been set aside by saints and angels for this holy calling.
As you discern saints to nominate, please keep in mind that a number of saints are ineligible for next year’s Saintly Smackdown. Based on longstanding tradition, this includes the entire field of Lent Madness 2021, those saints who made it to the Round of the Elate Eight in 2020 and 2019, and those from the 2018 Faithful Four.
Needless to say Jesus, Mary, Tim, Scott, past or present Celebrity Bloggers, and previous Golden Halo Winners are also ineligible. Below is a comprehensive list of ineligible saints. Please keep this in mind as you submit your nominations. Do not waste your precious nomination on an ineligible saint!
For the sake of "transparency," the rest of the process unfolds thusly: Tim and Scott will gather for the annual Spring SEC Retreat at a secure, undisclosed location/coffee shop to consider the nominations and create a full, fun, faithful, and balanced bracket of 32 saints. Then all will be revealed on All Brackets' Day, November 3rd. Or at least, "that's the ways we've always done it."
Time to nominate your favorite saint! But first, look over this list. Don't throw away your shot.
The Saints of Lent Madness 2021 (ineligible)
Camillus de Lellis
Matthias
Hermione
Melangell
Evagrius the Solitary
Euphrosyne
Nino of Georgia
Benedict the Moor
Jacapone da Todi
Ives of Kermartin
Dunstan
Maryam of Qidun
Arnulf of Metz
Vincent of Saragossa
Tarcissius
Egeria
Albert the Great
Leo the Great
Theodora of Alexandria
Theodora the Empress
Isadora the Simple
Simeon the Holy Fool
Catherine of Bologna
Catherine of Genoa
Henriette Delile
Absalom Jones
Bartolome de las Cassas
Marianne Cope
Joan of Arc
Catherine Booth
Miguel Pro
Constantine
Past Golden Halo Winners (ineligible)
George Herbert, C.S. Lewis, Mary Magdalene, Frances Perkins, Charles Wesley, Francis of Assisi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Florence Nightingale, Anna Alexander, Martha of Bethany, Harriet Tubman, Absalom Jones
From 2018 to 2020 (ineligible)
Joseph
Joanna the Myrrhbearer
Margaret of Costello
Brother Lawrence
Hildegard of Bingen
Herman of Alaska
Elizabeth Fry
Photini
Ignatius of Loyola
Gobnait
John Chrysostom
William Wilberforce
Zenaida
Pandita Ramabai
Maria Skobtsova
Richard Hooker
Esther
As you contemplate your (single!) nomination, why not aid your reflection and sharpen your focus with a hot mug of your favorite beverage? The most effective way to do this, of course, is by reverently sipping out of a Lent Madness mug from the Lentorium. We assume you’ve already ordered your Absalom Jones 2021 Golden Halo winner mug, but if not, here’s the link.
331 comments on “Nominationtide is upon us!”
I nominate St Dismas, known as "the Good Thief." He is one of the two men who were crucified with Jesus, the one who rebuked the first criminal: "Have you no fear of God? You received the same sentence he did, but in our case we deserved it; we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus said: Today you will be with me in Paradise.
On earth our main goal in life is to attain such faith in God that we rely on Him completely. Dismas was dying on a cross, no possible help in sight. Another man dying there on the next cross, and he (Dismas) asked him humbly to remember him when he gets into his kingdom. Think about that. That is the apex of faith. Dismas was the first Christian to die and go to Heaven with Jesus. I will line up with Dismas any day of my life - singing and praying for his faith.
I have nominated St Disman, but my wife wanted me to nominate St DYMPHNA. I was happy to see that she has already been nominated. She was killed by her father in what is now Belgium but what had been The Netherlands in a town called Geel. My name is Geels (originally Geelsohn =son of Geel). I first heard of St Dymphna when I was introduced to a Dutchman and he said: "Geels, huh? Are you one of the sane ones or one of the sick ones?" He said the town of Geel is well known for their "natural" care of people with mental problems. The residents take the mentally ill into their homes so that with a normal life the ill may get better. This all started due to St Dymphna and her mentally troubled father back in the 14th century. My wife and I visited the church there; the work of Sy Dymphna is still going on, helping the
less fortunate.
I nominate Fr. Emil Kapaun who was a Catholic Chaplin in the Korean War. He died as a prisoner of war. His comrades who bore witnesses to his tireless ministry to the prisoners, petitioned the U.S. government until his was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Obama. His remains were found a couple of months ago, which was considered a miracle. He was laid to rest in his native Kansas. Steps have been taken in Rome to declare him a saint. He lived the gospel.
St. Mesrop Mashtots, creator of the Armenian alphabet. Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as its national religion in 301 A.D. But, there was no alphabet to translate the Bible into the Armenian language. Mesrop Mashtots created this new alphabet in the early fifth century. Besides the Bible, many things were translated into Armenian solidifying the transmission of Christianity within Armenia and unifying the Armenian people. Many works in Greek were translated into Armenian and are preserved in their entirety in Armenian manuscripts while only fragments are extant today in Greek. Plus, he has a cool sounding name! He is recognized as a saint across several churches including the Roman Catholic Church.