260 comments on “Happy Nominationtide!”

1. I nominate St Chrysostom because I know nothing about him or her and we use his or her prayer every day in morning prayer

2. Yet again, I nominate St. Lucy! I can't say exactly what draws me to her, but I just am drawn. Also, she's the patron saint of the blind. My husband, after a terrible accident, had to have one of his eyes removed, and he's very worried that one day he will lose sight in his good eye as well.

3. Hello Tim and Scott,

   I would like to nominate Augustine Zhao Rong and co., Saint Day July 9, for bravery and persistence in evangelism in very trying circumstances, and for bringing the good news to so many.

   Thanks.

4. I nominate St. Barnabas, because he was a Son of Encouragement or Consolation. He also was a missionary partner with St. Paul in evangelizing the gentiles.

5. I would like to nominate Saint Rafqa of Lebanon. She is canonized by the Catholic Church with a feast day being March 23.

   I’m nominating her as I find her story uplifting and I have connected to her in surprising ways. I am an avid knitter and was looking for a saint that I could connect to with my hobby. She is known as the unofficial patron saint of knitting as she made many pairs of socks while bedridden from chronic pain and illness. I found out that she is also a patron saint for loss of parents and I have had to self-orphan for my mental health. She defied her father’s wishes to become a nun and that resonated with me in that I (in a way) defied my parents wishes so that I could become what I felt God was calling me to be (a present and loving mother to my own children).

6. I'd like to nominate Rev. Dr. Charles D. Martin (1873-1942), racial justice activist and Moravian pastor (most notably in Harlem). The Moravian Church does not recognize individuals with feast days, so Rev. Martin doesn't have one meaning this may disqualify him, but I hope not! Even noteworthy Moravian leader and 2022 bracket nominee Count Zinzendorf does not have a recognized feast day in the Moravian Church - but we give thanks to the ELCA for recognizing him in that way. That said, in the last few years, Rev. Martin's work has reemerged in the church and will greatly influence updated statements and ministries during the church-wide synod coming up in June in regard to racial justice.

   During his life, Rev. Martin was most known for his role as Secretary of the NAACP during the Negro Silent Protest Parade in New York City in 1917. He wrote the press release calling people to march, part of which is known today as "Why We March." Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_D._Martin_(minister). I'm sure if more info is needed, other members of the Moravian Church would be happy to contribute. Thanks for all you do!

7. I would like to nominate John Chrysostom (c. 347 – 14 September 407). He was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, his Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, and his ascetic sensibilities. The epithet Chrysostom means "golden-mouthed" in Greek and denotes his celebrated eloquence.
   This was the liturgy I grew up with in the Byzantine Catholic Church.

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8. Maria Skobtsova aka Mary of Paris. Eastern Orthodox saint. Came across her in a book about the French Resistance.

9. I nominate Fred Rogers, commemorated on the Holy Church of the Great Glowing Screen every Saturday morning. He has done more than almost anyone in modern history to live and teach the gospel message of Who Is My Neighbor.

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10. I wish to nominate Saint Anthony of Padua. He was proclaimed Doctor of the Church by Pope Pious XII. He was canonized very quickly. He is known as Patron Saint of the lost, pregnancy, lost people, lost souls, elderly, poverty. His feast day is June 13th.

11. How about Peter Faber? “He was born in 1506, and this year the Society of Jesus celebrates the 500th anniversary of their births, together with the 450th anniversary of the death of Ignatius of Loyola. Faber who may best have exemplified what a missionary to the church of the Reformation era needed: attention to personal experience, openness to God’s action in one’s own life, love of the church and gentleness in dealing with everyone, including those who thought and acted out of convictions different from his own. These traits may be equally of value to us today.”

12. I nominate Thomas Cranmer for his role in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m sure some celebrity blogger will be able to tell me more about the man whose book & rubrics therein we pick up practically everyday & surely on Sundays!
    In addition, I love the Advent & Lent Pathway Posters. Please made one for the 50 Days of Eastertide. We have enjoyed Easter Triumph, Easter Joy.

13. I nominate St. Benedict (c.480-c.550), the founder of Western Monasticism and author of the Rule by which many of us try to live. This remarkably humble man has greatly influenced millions of Christians down through the centuries.

14. I would like to nominate Wilem Hosenfeld, a German Officer in World War II. Hosenfeld, a devout Catholic and who had been a schoolteacher, had been wounded in World War I, rescued Waldislaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew who was a concert pianist and had been in hiding. Hosenfeld discovered Spzilman's hiding place, but instead of turning him in, provided what little food he could and blankets for warmth. Hosenfeld went on to save more than 60 Jewish people by issuing forged labor documents. Unfortunately, when the Russians captured Poland, Hosenfeld was taken prisoner and sent to a Russian gulag where he died in 1952. In 2008, the Israeli Government posthumously awarded Hosenfeld with the Yad Vashem (Righteous Among Nations). Hosenfeld took a huge risk given that he helped the Jewish people who were despised by the Germans, but as was stated, he was a devout Catholic who thought more about what God would have him do than the German government.

15. I nominate Saint Lawrence.
    What a fascinating person to become the patron saint of school children, cooks, and comedians!

16. Polycarp. First of all because his writings are great (and lots of them still resonate today). Second because who doesn't like a saint named, literally, many fish 🙂

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17. I nominate St. Alban´s. He is the first Anglican martyr and an example of radical hospitality.

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18. St. Margaret of Scotland

    Did wonderful work with the poor

19. I nominate St. Hyacinth. He was a Polish saint in the 1200s and became a doctor of law and divinity. He studied in Rome and became a Dominican, and spread the Dominican order to what is now Ukraine and Poland. He also evangelized throughout northern Europe. My favorite story about him is that he was in Poland when a hail storm wiped out the wheat crop. He led the people in prayer and the crop was miraculously restored. The people made pierogies from the crops and fed St. Hyacinth. He also fed a starving village with miraculously produced pierogies. St. Hyacinth and his pierogies is a Polish saying asking for help in hopeless circumstances.

    1. Oh, his feast day is August 17 in the Roman Catholic Church

20. I nominate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968). As a minister and civil rights activist, he fought for civil & economic rights and to end racism in the United States. He was certainly a saintly soul.
    If Dr. King was alive, I wonder whether his famous speech "I Have a Dream" would have been realized in today's world.

21. I nominate Julia Chester Emery. She was born 9-24-1852 in Dorchester, MA and died 1-9-1922 in NY City. She is buried in the cemetery of St James the Less. Her feast day is celebrated on January 9th. She is honored in the Episcopal Church rather than the Roman Catholic Church. She was a Lay Leader and Missionary who introduced the UTO (United Thank Offering) which is still used today.

    I'd like to see more lay people honored in Lent Madness, and especially more from the Episcopal Church.

22. Ho Feng-Shan, Chinese consul in Austria 1938-40. Against official orders, he issued visas to thousands of Austrian Jews. Although he was an active Lutheran, I don't believe the Lutheran Church commemorates him. Israel honors him among the Righteous among the Nations (https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/ho.html), which ought to count as an equivalent.

    1. I recently read a book about him...truely extraordinary.

23. I nominate St Photini. I know she has been nominated before, and in fact I have nominated her. She’s special to me in particular because her story was my ordination pericope, but also because I love that illumination came to one so far on the margins.

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24. I nominate St. Oscar Romero. I spent 8 years as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in El Salvador and Archbishop Romero's witness to the voice of the poor and oppressed was what kept hope alive during the Civil War. He spoke truth to power which ultimately cost him his life. The evolution of his pastoral ministry was extraordinary and he received little support from the Church hierarchy in his lifetime and his canonization has taken a long time to be officially recognized because his death implicated the government and church authorities. However, the people of El Salvador and the Americas considered him a saint shortly after his assassination.

25. I nominate Johann Konrad Wilhelm Loehe, renewer of the church, who died in 1872. He is included in the list of lesser festivals and commemorations in Evangelical Lutheran Worship published for use by congregations of the ELCA. Löhe was a pastor in Neuendettelsau, a small village in Bavaria. From there he formed the Foreign Mission Society which supported pastors who were sent to German Lutheran communities abroad, including in the US, Brazil, Australia and Ukraine. Both the ELCA and LC-MS were shaped by pastors sent out by Loehe. But he also formed a deaconess community in Neuendettelsau that influenced the spread of the deaconess movement within the Lutheran church throughout the world. Deaconesses formed hospitals and social service agencies that touched and changed the lives of thousands.

26. I nominate, as I have every year, Harry Holt and, if a dual award is possible, his wife Bertha. Harry and Bertha were prosperous farmers in Oregon with six kids, pear orchards, a logging operation and a sawmill. Harry heard about the plight of half American half Korean children after the Korean War and went to Korea intending to adopt one. He came home with eight. That was the beginning of Holt international. The Holts sold almost all their businesses and properties to finance the operation in the beginning which is now world wide and has placed thousands of children in “forever” homes.
    Harry died in Korea while rescuing yet another baby The president of South Korea spoke at his funeral and he is remembered in Korean churches Homemaker Bertha rose to the challenge and continued the work and expansion of Holt until her death at almost 100.
    The whole Holt family has made this their life’s work

27. I would like to nominate St. Barnabas. There are numerous churches, besides my parish, named after him so there must be plenty of reasons! He was a mentor, teacher and helped others to become their best. In order to grow our parishes, we need more leaders like him guiding the way of others.

28. I'd like to nominate the English Bishop Robert Grosseteste (1168-1253), the first "modern scientist." He is noted for his important contribution to the "metaphysics of light," seeing that light is a very special entity, a creative force, as per post-Christian Neoplatonists and Augustine. He worked in the fields of geometry, optics and astronomy and translated many Greek and Arabic scientific writings into Latin. He believed that the purpose of inquiry was not to come up with great inventions, but instead to learn the reasons behind the facts, and that experimentation must be used to verify a theory by testing its consequences. His feast day is October 9.

29. I nominate Frances Joseph Gaudet, Educator and Social Reformer. She deeply committed her life to the ministries of advocating for prison reform and of teaching our African American brothers and sisters. She was the first woman to support black youths arrested for misdemeanors or vagrancy. Her efforts help found the Juvenile Court. She believed that all children deserved the provision of a good education and founded the Gaudet Normal and Industrial School which still today offers scholarships and endowments.

30. I nominate The Rev. Frederick B. Howden, Jr. Fr. Ted, was born January 27, 1902 in Cumberland, Maryland, one of seven children of the Rev. Frederick B. Howden, Sr. and Angelica Constance Faber Howden. He was twelve years old when his father was consecrated Bishop of the Missionary District of New Mexico and Southwest Texas, and the family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
    After ordination,Fr. Howden was called to serve as the Rector of St. Andrew’s Church in Roswell, New Mexico.
    When World War II broke out Fr. Howden held the rank of Captain in the New Mexico State Guard, and was the Chaplain to the 200th Coast Artillery when it was federalized and sent to the Philippine Islands early in 1942. A friend who was with him daily said he was always walking over the hills of Bataan holding open air services here and there and doing everything possible to help the men who affectionately called him “Chappy”. He was, however, a real soldier as well as a chaplain which all the more gained him admiration and respect as he moved from battery to battery, holding services and distributing candy, soap, and cigarettes he had foraged for the troops. He was a spiritual presence to his men, and in him they saw demonstrated love, goodness of life, and joy in serving others in the Lord’s name and for His sake.
    At the Fall of Bataan and Corregidor to Japanese forces in April 1942, Fr. Howden and his fellow soldiers were made prisoners of war and were forced to endure the Bataan Death March during which some 18,000 died. During imprisonment in several prison camps including Camp O’Donnell and Cabanatuan and finally at Davao Prison Colony on Mindanao, his heroism and faith were always apparent through the humanitarian care he gave to those he served. At great cost to himself he often gave his own portion of food to others whom he insisted needed it more than he.
    Fr. Howden died of dysentery and starvation-induced pellagra on December 11, 1942, but his family were not notified until June 1943. He was buried by his men in a small cemetery in the shadow of the Mindanao jungle a mile or so from the camp at Davao. After the war, in 1948, his remains were reinterred in an Albuquerque, New Mexico cemetery.
    The Diocese of the Rio Grande and, in particular, the Cathedral of St. John in Albuquerque, observes Dec. 11 in remembrance of Fr. Ted and his name has been proposed in resolution to National Convention to be added to the church calendar. (Resolution 2018-CO58)
    I nominate Fr. Ted as an example of one who served humbly and selflessly, willing to die so that others might live.