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”
A bible translated into their own language. And no martyrs involved. In 405. What we should have learned more than a millennium later. My vote is for Mashtots.
Good Saturday,
Inventing an alphabet is awesome! Listen to the sounds in a word, now draw symbols for each sound. A real challenge!
Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity in 301 AD (having been evangelized by the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew). But without a translation of the Bible into Armenian, how could Christianity take hold with the common folk? Politically, Armenia was being split apart by the Byzantines and the Persians. You cannot overestimate the importance of a written alphabet in perpetuating a culture. Finally, Armenians had a translation of the Bible in their own language which led to the Divine Liturgy written in their own language. Christianity in Armenia flourished and was secure. Thanks be to God.
I agree that today might be the hardest choice. I also wish to mention that I have no clue what email or Ip address my Kindle uses, there are two voters in this house. He makes his own decisions.
If he uses a different device to vote, you’re fine. My husband and I manage that way.
Voting for Mashtots. No small feat to create an alphabet and a Bible after that. Sophie’s contribution is admirable too.
Extremely tough choice today, but as a professional translator myself with a good idea of how challenging his work must have been, I had to vote for Mashtots. That kind of gift to an entire people is incredible. (Plus, what a name!)
Wow! This one was hard! Voted for Mesrop, but could have easily gone the other way.
I do not get John Cabot's work. Is this part of the wonky change-over?
The comments are no longer on just one page. Click on older comments to go back a page and keep doing so until you get to the oldest.
To see John Cabot’s comment for today —> https://www.lentmadness.org/2022/03/mashtots-v-barat/comment-page-1/#comment-167662
Bless you for the shortcut!!
I had great difficulty voting Neither button worked using voice over. I hope you can fix this before Monday.Thomas Van Brunht
I too was inspired by the Collect and am seeing a pattern developing for my vote. That pattern will end once there are two males in the running.
Tough choice today for a former teacher/writer. In the end I voted for Mesrop Mashtots as much for his delightful singular name as for his accomplishments as a servant of God.
Both candidates today are fascinating. It was so fun and enlightening to learn about these two Saints whom I’d never heard of. The first really tough choice of the season and you gave us a humdinger! As others have said, I wanted to vote for both. Thank you SEC for always surprising and challenging us. I finally decided for the woman who was denied access in her society to Holy Orders yet found a way.
Decades ago,my Armenian teacher claimed that Saint Me stop also invented alphabets for the Georgians and Caucasian Albanians, but I have never investigated this.
Mashtots for the vision to see the need, the enormous amount of effort to create the new alphabet for the men, women and children of his country, and the patience to carefully translate Holy Writ (which is a job of a lifetime in itself). His alphabet, Bible, and emphasis on literacy for all is imperishable gift for his people, still in use by all Armenians today worldwide.
Both very worthy, so I hope we will see the loser again soon! I am picking Meshrop Mashtots, because the idea that the Scripture even SHOULD be translated was horrifying to the authorities later on. Plus, the work of Wycliffe before AD1000, who knew?
I am not permitted to vote on the iPad: buttons are not live. Safari, but with a VPN in use for adblocking, that might confuse the new security. No problem with Firefox in no-tracking mode on Android phone. Will report later on my husband’s Mac laptop, assuming he gets around to voting.
Yes! I have a God-given RIGHT to vote! Once.
Good morning,
I just voted-- but made an unintended error.
When you advised that "We're testing out a new even-more-secure voting system today, so casting your vote will look slightly different," I was on guard for something new.
When I voted and saw the results, I thought, "That's how it always has been."
Then, just under the results, I read: "Back to vote," and thought, "That's what's new, so I clicked on the button, voted, and then came the notice: "Not allowed."
I hope that didn't register as an attempt to vote twice. I am a (fairly) honest person.
Cheers,
Bill +
I celebrate my relationship with my brother by voting for Madeleine.
Madeleine Sophie is my choice, because she empowered girls and made counter-cultural choices in a time of danger and violence. I also love the translator and inventor of alphabets, but one just has to make a "Sophie's Choice" sometimes.
Exactly what I thought, Jenny! As a librarian I as drawn to alphabet-developer Mashtots, but as a woman I had to vote for Sophie, who was educated herself and then taught girls.
While Mashtots' contribution to Christianity was significant, Barat's founding of the order of Sacred Heart, and her living dangerously More relates to and inspires my life.
Today is truly a day where I don't care who wins; I love both these saints I had never heard of before. I finally voted for Mesrop because his way of spreading Christianity throughout his country was in stark contrast to Olaf's yesterday. Plus, Miriam had me with liking words and reading!
Thank you for the Like button!
I voted for Mashtots. Imagine the people having to learn an alphabet and how to read in their own language in order to read the Bible!
Next time I fix tater tots I will mash some of them.
As a teacher, I have a strong affinity to those who teach. Also, as a woman, I will cast my vote for Sophie, who loved learning so much she devised ways to educate all children. Both have strong teacher creds, but I will stick with the women whenever possible, because Sophie needed twice the courage and twice the smarts to further her godly work.
Choosing between the two was very hard. I have a soft spot for Armenians and language. Developing an alphabet has to be a challenge, and the value of translation of the Bible was a worthy effort, preceding its English translation by hundreds of years. On the other hand, how can one not honor a champion of women’s education in face of the perils involved. Madelaine received my vote.
Although not knowing either of these saints, I voted for Mashtots due to the tremendous task which he completed. His story shows how he needed others. Rarely do we accomplish anything without God and others. Inspirational to say the least.
Madeline Sophie gets my vote today. She empowered girls by educating them. I attended a Sacred Heart school for two years. The quality education I received was awesome!
So we have one who used the powers-that-be to help translate the Bible and another who resisted the powers-that-be to educated women throughout the country. Not a difficult choice for me: Madeleine for the win.
I was not able to vote! I am old. I guess the new voting system was too complicated for me!
I did not know till today that devotion to the Sacred Heart is illegal in France. I am aware of the Sisters and their good work, so I voted for Sophie. Tell Macron to lift the ban!
That was only during the French Revolution. Think about the Sacre Coeur cathedral in Paris.
Just posted. I think in my efforts to vote, I may have voted multiple times. Really not sure. But I really WAS trying to vote ONCe.