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”
Trying to vote for Madeleine. The little balls go round & round but no confirmation of my vote. New system is not working so well.
Rolling balls.. using an IPad.
My vote won't go through. Tried on computer on Firefox and Edge and also on my phone not on our wifi. I just get a circle of think and it never resolves.
The changes to the voting system are causing it to malfunction. I tried three times to vote once. Each time I got an infinite display of circling white balls and the vote never registered.
It seems that in attempting to prevent voter fraud, the SEC has suppressed voter access ... hmm. I'm sure it was unintentional, but I hope it'll be corrected quickly!
I would have voted for Mashtots, if I could have voted.
My vote is also not going through. Please fix! I am not trying to vote twice! Help! Your new system is not working for me.
I was unable to vote on my computer, but it worked on my phone. Go Mashtots!
How cool is it to invent an entire alphabet! Even if I wasn't half Armenian, I would vote for Mesrop.
They both sound like great saints, though.
This was a tough one! I was wowed by the name "Mesrop Mashtots" - seriously, best name ever! And his story was interesting too! But I came down on the side of Sophie, working to educate girls and women.
I'm having issues with voting also...the little dots just going round and round for minutes(I have Micrsoft 10 with their Edge browser). I finally cancelled the web page and voted easily on my iPhone.
A whole new alphabet?! Who does that? A saint of course!
Having been around individuals of Armenian descent, and witnessing their profound faith in the face of hardship, I had to vote for Mesrop Mashtots. But as a woman who knows education is the only reason I have a secure retirement, it is hard not to vote for Madeleine Sophie Barat.
I was tempted to vote for Mesrop Mashtots even before I read about him because of his very colorful and interesting name! What a guy! What a brilliant mind to invent a whole new alphabet for a language that was only oral until Mr. Mashtots came along. Do we have any idea at all as to the total number of people whose lives were changed through the written word? While Mother Barat's accomplishments are very impressive and have provided light and truth to millions of women around the world, I had to go with Mestrop Mashtots. It's only day 3 of the 2022 smack down of saints and already I see I'm going to have to really bring my best reasoning ability to the game!
Sacre Coeur! What a difficult mashup!
How can I resist a lover of letters, language, and literacy who translated the Bible into the lingua franca back in the 5th century? No wonder Armenians have stayed strong and steadfast throughout their fraught history -- Mesrop Mashtots is a true rock star! (And what a perfect name for an indie/grunge band, somewhere in its own private Armenia, underground like a wild potato...)
And then Madeleine Sophie, wisely and at great personal risk championing both academic education and spiritual formation for girls and women!
Assuming voting is functional, I'll vote for the underdog, and hope to see whoever loses this round back in the brackets in the future.
I do not even get to the captcha. My vote seems stuck in the circling dots.
Reading comments, sounds like the system likes Apple products (just voted on my MacBook Air running Chrome) better than others.
Such a hard choice today, but Mashtot for me today. Even thought he created the alphabet (um, wow!) for the explicit purpose of the translation of the Bible, what that meant for knowledge of all sorts is impossible to quantify. He also had a great name (a name that is a combination of mashed potatoes and tater tots) supporter by others with names almost as amazing. And St. Madeleine is equally worthy, so brave and wise, a pure educator. My teacher heart loves her so.
Totally cool saints today and unknown to me. Voting finally worked, too
A tough choice for sure. I went with Mashtots over Barat, if only because he influenced more people with the creation of the Armenian alphabet.
On the very first day of Lent Madness
some cheater boosted Wenceslaus
by 600 votes;
he's now with the goats
in the outer circle of teeth-gnashing and badness.
Words matter. Language matters. As the granddaughter of a languages professor and daughter of a book editor, it’s Mesrop for me. The Word of God for the People of God in their own language.
Find the story of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat very compelling.
She has my vote.
Hurray! I found the “Like” button (I hope that’s what is - the heart changed from purple to red so..... And I was able to vote!!! Things are looking up.
Oops - didn’t proofread and left out an “it” and forgot to close the parentheses-I think I was too excited about the “Like” button.
Both of today's bios are very inspiring. As a logophile, I had to vote for Mesrop Mashtots. Thanks to the below YouTube video, the Armenian alphabet song will be stuck in my head for days. I would love to visit the Armenian Alphabet Monument!
https://youtu.be/8KxfnbRRRo8
Thank you, Jane, for finding and sharing the precious boys singing their alphabet song. What a peaceful scene to calm a too-busy Saturday!
I, ultimately, voted for Mother Sophie, considering the challenges she confronted in her effort to fulfill her calling.
Thank you for sharing that link. That child is adorable, the tune is catchy, and the idea of a monument to the alphabet and honoring literacy is truly the mark of a culture with its priorities in order.
I love that Mashtots (a truly great name!) invented a written language that brought the Armenians into reading and writing. However, I came down on the side of Barat because of her mission educating women and girls! Even today, several cultures on our planet refuse to educate half their population just because they are female. That is like throwing away half your brain!!!!
Voting did not work I tried to vote for Mesrop Mashtops, but the “check” registered for M. Barat.
So sorry…voting invalid, methinks. New system not working for me.
Such a hard choice! Creator of an alphabet or a woman who established schools for girls. I'm finding the choices much tougher this year. Well done SEC! This is down right devilish.
I can't tell if my vote was counted or not. The old system would bold-face the one I voted for, but none of the candidates is bold-faced after voting today. Instead, it shows three colored bars with different labels: a long one labeled "Mesrop Mashtot," a slightly longer one labeled "Madeleine Sophie Barat," and a really short one labeled "Thank you for your vote." I hope I did not just cast a vote for "Thank you for your vote"! 🙂 But seriously, the mid-Madness change in the interface is a bit disconcerting.
It does seem many are having trouble with the voting now. I haven't been but I can understand that it's frustrating. I also hear you on the disconcerting mid-madness aspect but maybe it would help to consider that "better voting security" may have been in the works with the new site already PLUS they did have someone try to submit 600 votes that first day. Someone trying to over-vote on day one?! I can imagine our SEC guys would have a massive headache (to put it mildly) trying to watch for and catch/correct cheat-votes for seven weeks and even if it's rough here at the get-go for us, trying to find a better way to ensure fair voting helps us all in the long run.
It was a hard vote but I went with Mastots because setting up the work he did in the time he was alive was extremely difficult. He also helped more people with this work and brought more people to Christianity.
Mesrop Mashtots Presages the Reformation a millennia early. His desire to put the word of God into the hands of the people makes him a radical Christian (right up there with Origen) and worthy of my vote and so much more. Mother Barat is a worthy contender but her endeavors fall short of Mesrop's cosmic collision with history.