Welcome to the first and only Saturday matchup of Lent Madness 2022. Today Mesrop Mashtots faces off against Madeleine Sophie Barat. And, yes, that's Barat not Borat -- that's something else entirely. Haven't heard of these two saints? Meeting some new spiritual companions is, of course, one of the joys of Lent Madness.
Yesterday Kateri Tekakwitha trounced Olaf 72% to 28% to advance to the next round.
We're testing out a new even-more-secure voting system today, so casting your vote will look sightly different. But fear not! We still support universal (one vote) suffrage.
Enjoy the First Sunday in Lent tomorrow (make sure to talk about Lent Madness with all your friends at coffee hour) and we'll look forward to seeing everyone back here first thing Monday morning as Hilary of Poitiers faces Melania the Elder. Now go exercise your God-given right to vote (once) in Lent Madness!
Mesrop Mashtots
If you like words, reading, and sharing good news, you will love Mesrop Mashtots. In 405 CE, he invented the Armenian alphabet and translated the Bible into Armenian, bringing the Word of God to the people of Armenia.
After serving in the military and the Armenian royal court, Mashtots joined the Christian church and worked as a missionary in southern Armenia. As a student of Greek, he could read the Bible but realized that most people could not. He believed that the ability to read the Bible would be an excellent tool for encouraging people to join the church. But Mashtots couldn’t make this happen alone. Where could he find help?
Fortunately, Vrampshapuh, the ruler of the Armenian dynasty, was Christian. He sponsored the project along with the head bishop of the Armenian church, Sahak the Great. Beyond enlightening their people about God’s story, they had goals of securing Christianity as the main religion in Armenia, and they wanted to build national community and unity. With this backing, Mashtots got to work.
As he spent time traveling and researching different languages to adapt to the new alphabet, Mashtots realized he’d have to start from scratch. Mashtots worked with Rufinus, a Greek calligrapher, to create an alphabet with 36 symbols to cover all the sounds in the Armenian language.
He and Bishop Sahak translated the Bible, obtaining an official copy from Constantinople and checking it against other versions to create their Armenian version. Mashtots put together a team of linguists to translate canons of the church councils, liturgies, and other important texts. The alphabet, with the addition of two letters, is still used today.
Armenians responded enthusiastically to the ability to read in their own language. Mashtots continued to translate and write Armenian hymns and other works until he died in 440. He chose this verse from Proverbs 1:2 for his first sentence of translation: For learning about wisdom and instruction.
Collect for Mesrop Mashtots
O God, by your Holy Spirit you give to some the word of wisdom, to others the word of knowledge, and to others the word of faith: We praise your Name for the gifts of grace manifested in your servant Mesrop Mashtots, and we pray that your Church may never be destitute of such gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Madeleine Sophie Barat
You could say Madeleine Sophie Barat was baptized by fire. On the night of December 12, 1779, a house fire raged next door to the Barat family home in Joigny, France. Terrified and exhausted, Madeleine Fouffé Barat went into premature labor; the fragile baby Sophie was baptized at her local church early the next morning, with her 10-year-old brother, Louis, by the font.
That her brother was her spiritual guardian from the first was fitting: Louis felt a strong call to the priesthood from an early age. As he studied, Louis shared all that he was learning with his little sister. It was an education that a young woman would otherwise never receive, and it stoked both Sophie’s passion for learning and her deepening faith. A seminarian at the start of the French Revolution, Louis took the dangerous stance of opposing the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and was eventually arrested and jailed for two years. After his release, Sophie boldly followed him to Paris, where they lived in a safe house so they could continue to practice their faith. Unable to explore a religious vocation for herself due to the abolition of most religious communities in France, Sophie secretly taught catechism to local children and tried to keep busy with prayer, study, and helping her family in their vineyard.
In the early 1800s, Sophie could no longer wait. Inspired by local Jesuits’ desire to organize more religious education for women, Sophie and three other women in her safe house consecrated themselves to God on the evening of November 21, 1800, pledging their lives to “make known the revelation of God’s love.” While devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus remained illegal in France, the Society of the Sacred Heart was born. Madeleine Sophie Barat was only twenty years old.
Sophie and her sisters in Christ established schools across France focused on the education of girls and young women, offering academic rigor regardless of a family’s ability to pay. Barat’s faith was a coherent philosophy of education: children needed guidance to grow, and education is meant to “reveal the heart of Christ.” Mother Barat served as superior of the Society of the Sacred Heart for 65 years and was beloved for her strong life of prayer, her mentorship of others, and her collaborative leadership style.
Collect for Madeleine Sophie Barat
O God, by whose grace your servant Madeleine Sophie Barat, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
235 comments on “Mesrop Mashtots v. Madeleine Sophie Barat”
Before there was even bebop
Armenia had Mesrop
so in their native tongue
the Psalms were admirably sung
and of souls the church had a bountiful crop.
Able to vote for a women who worked hard for out faith Sophie
Had to go onto my PC to be able to vote. No joy on my tablet. Please fix before Monday!!!!
I couldn’t vote on my iPad, but was able to on my iPhone.
Please, oh please tell me Mesrop Mashtots is the patron saint of potato farmers!
While I treasure the ministries of so many religious orders of women for educating girls (myself included), I am delighted in learning about Mesrop. He could have just taught the Bible in Greek and had his countrymen learn Greek. Instead, he gave Armenians an alphabet and helped grow their identity. It’s not only my love of tater tots that leads me to vote for Mesrop.
Both wonderful saints today. My vote went to Madeleine, because her activities in service of Christ were illegal according to the Civil authorities. So I feel like she risked more.
I agree, this was a very tough choice. but sometimes I'm just a sucker for the underdog. I had to admire Mesrop's drive and desire to bring God's love to the people of Amerenia.
I love the limerick. Thank you, John Cabot. I was unfamiliar with either of these saints. Wonderful to learn about both and it made for a very tough choice. Madeleine for me though as a female priest who had a tough, but blessed road to get here.
Madeleine Sophie, I mean...
This might be the hardest of choices this year
I too wish I could vote for both of them, but I chose Mushrots because of the effort that he chose to develop a means for the Armenian people to actually read things in their spoken language! And his choice was for them to read the Bible!
I agree with everyone about the difficulty of the choice. But, as usual, the prayers at the end reminds me of why I look forward each day to Lent Madness. Glad I was able to vote! Not sure what you mean by "website".
I selected Madeleine because she was teaching young girls!
Website is there when you post your comment so if you have your own blog or site you want to share you can link to it there.
Once again a hard choice. I had to go with Mesrop Mashtot. He educated an entire country and I cannot resist his name.
This time my vote is not accepted. What gives?
I definitely had to vote for MM because he invented an alphabet from scratch to bring the Bible to a whole nation!
Would not let me cote on an iPad but could on Android phone. Please test on multiple platforms before releasing! Also, please make “ Additional Comments” in larger font size - so much if the richness Lent Madness is in the comments! Perhaps your developer is not aware of this - it is so squished where it is now.
I have an iPad and have had no problem. Do you have the most current iOS?
I’m in the same situation, so will try my phone….this voting system is too secure!
This was tough! I ended up going with Madeline Sophie as my further reading uncovered the fact that The Order of the Sacred Heart owned up to its use of enslaved people in the US rather than sweeping it under the rug. Oh, that more institutions would follow their example and speak the truth of their past and the roles enslaved people played in their growth and success.
Webmaster: I can only see nine of the fifty-one comments on my iPad Air.
I’m still on the fence about my choice, so I’d very much like to see the comments — and, of course, John Cabot’s poem.
Look for a link in very small letters at the top of the comments list: “see more comments”
No, sorry, at BOTTOM of comments list! “Older comments”.
I voted for Madeleine this morning. She lived her faith in a setting that was far from supportive. Her bravery in the expression of her faith persuaded my vote.
That was a difficult choice-- I wanted to vote for both of them!
I voted for Mesdrop for a couple of reasons.
1). I have a soft spot for any former Soviet republic now independent
2). Madeline’s activities, while laudable are squarely in the realm of common women’s work.
3) having been involved in facilitating the translation of a text from English to Russian, I have a grasp of the fact that developing a completely new alphabet AND translating the Bible using it is a HUGE task.
Voted for Madeleine.
Side note: on my iPad, the vote would not go through using the Safari browser. I changed browsers and it worked like a charm.
Hum, no problem in Safari on my iPhone other that annoying banner sliding down when not wanted.
Difficult vote today! Hard choice between two amazing people. Also took several attempts to get selection to appear. Using IPad
No problem voting on my iPad. Madeleine Sophie for breaking the law and teaching young women.
I had the privilege of visiting Armenia. The Bishop gave our group the privilege of viewing the original letters used to display the Armenian alphabet. The work of Mesrop continues today.
Was MS for me, educating children.
BTW--your formatting is wonky on an Android phone around the top image
Like many I first thought this to be a tough choice. Then I stopped and reconsidered. All of Mashtots work, as important and extensive as it was, had the support of his country. He never had to fear the repercussions of his beliefs and calling. Sophie had to hide away in a safe house with a threat of jail in order to practice her faith and promote education. The choice became quite easy.
I voted for Mashtots because I like the name but also because he actually invented an alphabet and a written language for a people!
Another pair of tough choices. I finally went with Madeline because she did her work at considerable risk.to herself. Mesrop by contrast had support of the Armenian royalty.
I had to go for Mashtrots - the precursor to Martin Luther in translating the bible into the common language.
Mashy had to develop an alphabet for a spoken language first, while Marty only had to fight the Catholic church.
We are blessed to have both.
Chose M Barat because of a well known, historic girl’s boarding school, Academy of the Sacred Heart, near where I live. But this was a tough choice!