260 comments on “Happy Nominationtide!”

1. I nominate Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045 - Nov. 16, 1093), also known as Margaret of Wessex. Besides all the wonderful things she did in her life, I have a very personal reason for nominating her: She's one of my direct ancestors (not that saintly ways necessarily carry down through the generations).

2. St. Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha was made known, famously, in the Gospel of John for being raised from the dead. That may be enough to qualify him for Lent Madness, but a peek behind the curtain reveals him as a more significant, if not silent, influencer of the faith.

   A quick exegesis of his death points to the unique particularity of his sainthood. Tens of thousands, irrespective of belief, culture, or context, tell the same story of death (if they happen to return to do so). They see a light, they go towards the light, they hear their name called, and they are met by people who love them. If that’s the general framework for what happens at the moment of death, then it happened to Lazarus, twice.

   Four days in the tomb, and the stinketh has set in. Jesus arrives, the rock is rolled away. He calls to Lazarus in a loud voice, and Lazarus emerges. Now think about this same scene from Lazarus’ point of view. He sees a light. He turns toward the light, and hears his name called by a familiar voice. He goes toward the light, and as he crawls up out of the tomb is embraced by people who love him.

   What Lazarus experiences is something that no other person will ever experience, Jesus on both sides of the tomb. This is what makes Lazarus unique in the communion of saints.

   But a further twist, one that will take courage to publish, is this unique experience of Jesus gave Lazarus the insight to write: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

   If you had seen Jesus after you died, then again when you were resuscitated… If then, you quite by accident found yourself nearly as popular as Jesus, wouldn't you write the story while also writing yourself out of this story?

   Introducing the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved. This guy loved Jesus. He stuck to him like glue. He leaned against him at the Last Supper. He followed him into the high priest's house. He remained at the foot of the cross with Mary. He outran Peter to the tomb and knew what it all meant. He recognized Jesus from the boat as Jesus cooked fish on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. And then, at the very end of the Gospel of John, he sought to clarify the misconception that the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved would not die. What an odd rumor, unless the person had already died. No, he tells the readers, Jesus did not say he would not die. What Jesus said was “If it is my will that he remains until I come, what is that to you?”

   Lazarus, raised from the dead and did not stinketh, the Beloved Disciple, the hidden author of the Gospel of John, the only person to who knew first-hand that Jesus is the Second person of the Trinity. St. Lazarus, celebrated by Orthodox Church the Saturday before Palm Sunday, he is the saint uniquely worthy for the Lent Madness calendar, if not the trophy itself.

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3. I nominate St. Etheldreda. Her feast day is June 23, and she's the patron saint of throat and neck ailments. She died of what some say was an unsightly tumor on her neck, and others say was the plague, with a large bubo on her neck. I am nominating her because there was a dorm room in my high school (Kemper Hall) named after her and I always thought is was a strangely cool name and after reading about her, found her to have a strangely cool story. She is sometimes referred to as St. Audrey. That in itself is strangely cool, but maybe if I had to go through life as Etheldreda I'd tell people my name was Audrey.

4. Matthew Shepard. He was Episcopalian (interred at National Cathedral) and was martyred because he was gay.

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5. I nominate Elizabeth of Hungary.
   This remarkable woman seems to have accomplished so much within a few short years before her death. She had visions and miracles, helped the poor and sick and orphans.

6. I would like to nominate Elizabeth of Hungry. She was faithful in a time that was difficult and women did not have very much power. She trusted God which is the sign of a Saint.

7. I nominate Sr Thea Bowman (1937-1990)cause for canonization opened 2018 when also declared Servant of God by Catholic church.Raised in Protestant family in Mississippi influenced deeply by Black culture and spirituality she converted to Catholicism in her teens and joined Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. A popular preacher and speaker she highlighted her full experience of faith as a Black woman and urged respect for diversity in Black worship practices and inclusivity in the church. Her influence on church leaders continues to this day.

8. Chaplain Emil Kapaun who saved many in Korea and helped in a North Korean Prison camp and helped and cared for the sick an dying and his fellow captured comrades and eventually died in 1951; Medal of Honor recipient
   Army chaplain Emil Kapaun, a priest from Wichita, Kansas, shipped out to Korea in July 1950, soon after the outbreak of war, along with the Eighth Cavalry Division, Third Battalion. From the moment he arrived he shared every danger with the troops, often rescuing wounded soldiers under fire and taking his turn digging latrines.

9. I nominate Fr. (now St.) Maximilian Kolbe who stepped forward to
   take the place of a man (a complete stranger) with a family condemned to die in July 1941 in the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.

10. I nominate Saint Macrina the Younger for Lent Madness 2023! She exemplifies an early Christian consecrated virgin, devoted herself to scripture and adherence to an ascetic ideal, and turned her family estate into a convent for virgins. Plus, with her you also get a whole family worth following-- the Elder, Basil, Gregory, Peter..... Thanks!

11. Saint Leonides of Alexandria, patron saint of large families. was martyred during the persecution of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus in the year 202AD. Condemned to death by the Egyptian prefect Lactus, he was beheaded, and his property seized. He was a Christian philosopher, and excellently versed both in the profane and sacred sciences. He had seven sons, the eldest of whom was Origen.

12. I nominate St. Verena, the woman who taught Europeans to wash their hands.

    Many Egyptians do not know that this Egyptian woman - Coptic Saint Verena - was buried in Europe in the fourth century. Many historians consider her the mother of nuns in Europe. She died in 344 AD, a church was built over her body in Switzerland. 70 churches in Switzerland and 30 churches in Germany bear her name.
    Verena, whose name means ‘the good fruit’, is originally from Garagous near Luxor. Her icons are always drawn uniquely. In one hand, she holds a jar of water and in the second a comb because it is she who taught the Germanic and Gaul tribes the traditions of personal hygiene and herbal medicine. She succeeded with her love and dedication in attracting the pagan Germanic people to faith and civilization while the swords of the Romans had failed.

13. Dear Tim and Scott,
    I wish to nominate the Reverend Mister (Fred) Rodgers for the 2024 Lent Madness calendar of saints. Mister Rogers was a good neighbor to everyone and was a kind soul. He explained to children that their fears were normal and gave them hope in overcoming them. His talents in writing music and dialogue plus his study of child psychology made his neighborhood a safe place for children for 30 minutes each day. He actually hated television which is why he wanted to make his neighborhood a safe place without violence and more about feelings and understanding. His life was about service to children who were told that were special just by being themselves. Fred McFeely Rogers was a recipient of many accolades and honors during his life and his memory lives on in his message for all of us to be who we are.
    Thanks for making Lent so meaningful.
    Kathy Garrett

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14. I nominate Abbé Pierre who is such an inspiration to me and many others around the world.
    Here's why: https://www.emmaus-international.org/en/our-history/abbe-pierre-the-man-and-his-struggles/

    (...and looking at the nominations, 2024 will be wonderful!)

    Thank you.

15. While the Anabaptist churches (Mennonite, Brethren and Amish, and their allies) do not recognize “saints” as distinct from the whole body of believers, Menno Simons is recognized as an important early leader. He was not a founder, but followed on very early, and in particular established the very strong peace-centered belief that, along with community and service, characterizes the Anabaptist churches more than anything else. We Mennonites use his name to identify ourselves, and strive to follow Christ in humility, peace and service as he did.

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16. I nominate St. Therese of Lisieux. She shared her humble "little way" to God with the world. She desired to be a missionary, but God kept her in the Carmel to write her autobiography before she died young. I find her inspiring.

17. I nominate St. FIACRE. He is the patron of gardeners and those that love the outdoors. He is also my grandson's middle name.

18. Hermione is the third woman to be given the title of “unmercenary physician.” She is reported to be one of the daughters of Philip the Deacon (Acts 6). After studying medicine in Caesarea, she went to Ephesus in the hopes of meeting the Apostle John, but he found that had already died. She therefore used her income to open up a medical clinic, with the help of her younger sister Eukhidia. Eventually, she expanded the clinic into a residential facility to allow for more extended treatment. Orthodox Christians believe that this was the first example of a Christian hospital, and it became the inspiration for later developments in Christian medical care, particularly in the Christian East.

19. I nominate Fr. Hiram Hisanori Kano, seconding nominations by Carol Harlow (May 20) and Emily Schnabel (May 22). Born to privilege in Japan, Kano came to Nebraska to study agriculture and farmed for several years. Bishop George Beecher encouraged him to minister to Japanese immigrants who were agricultural laborers in Western Nebraska. He served their churches (separate parishes at the time), helped them with legal affairs, taught them English, and advocated for the rights of Japanese Americans. After conducting a Sunday service on Dec. 7, 1941, he was arrested and imprisoned for 3 years. He served the spiritual, educational, and legal needs of those in internment camps and jails. After WW2 ended, he earned a Master of Divinity degree from Nashotah House and continued to serve his people until his retirement in 1957.

20. I nominate Katherine Drexel. She established a congregation for Native Americans and founded Xavier University among other things.

21. Thurgood Marshall

22. I nominate Dorothy Day, the amazing American woman (1897-1980) who started the Catholic Worker Movement. Pope Francis mentioned her in an address to the U.S. Congress, and she is being considered for canonization. (I don't know if she appears as a saint on any calendars) Her life story, which includes almost constant giving to the poor, is incredibly inspiring. Thank you for this opportunity.

23. I'm nominating St. Catherine of Alexandria, who is commemorated by the Church of England on Nov.22. A scholar, philosopher, and martyr, she is the namesake of my alma mater, St. Catherine's School, Richmond Va. (website http://www.st.catherines.org) which has been educating girls and young women for over 100 years. Each year in November Catherine of Alexandria's story is taught to the girls through a special worship service, where one senior who has been chosen by the faculty and students as representing the ideals of the saint, gives the homily. In the November 2022 service, middle school girls told the assembled worshipers the meaning of the symbols associated on our banner with St. Catherine's life. Here are the links to the FB posts photos of those young girls learning about St. Catherine, and the senior student chosen for the honor. For more photos and their captions click on the full posts. from.https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=6133427050020348&set=pcb.6133427506686969 AND https://www.facebook.com/StCatherines/photos/pb.100064241074426.-2207520000./6133325706697149/?type=3

24. I nominate Fred Rogers. He is remembered on the official calendar of the PCUSA on March 20. His life and legacy are beacons of joy we all can aspire to.
    “I hope that you'll remember
    Even when you're feeling blue
    That it's you I like,
    It's you yourself
    It's you.
    It's you I like.”

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25. I nominate Claudia Procula, wife of Pontius Pilate. She is commemorated by the Eastern, Ethiopian, and Coptic Churches. Beset by a dream, she tried to prevent the gravest injustice. We should all be beset by such dreams.

26. I nominate Edith Stein, also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross or Saint Edith Stein; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942. Stein was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Christianity after reading the life of the reformer of the Carmelite Order, Teresa of Ávila, and became a Discalced Carmelite nun. She is canonized as a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church (she was named a Saint in 1942); she is also one of six patron saints of Europe. Edith Stein was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar in 2022, with a feast day on August 9th.

    She was born into an observant Jewish family, but had become an agnostic by her teenage years. Moved by the tragedies of World War I, in 1915, she took lessons to become a nursing assistant and worked in an infectious diseases hospital. After completing her doctoral thesis at the University of Freiburg in 1916, she obtained an assistantship there.

    From reading the life of the reformer of the Carmelite Order, Teresa of Ávila,[5] Edith Stein was drawn to the Christian faith. She was baptized on 1 January 1922 into the Catholic Church. At that point, she wanted to become a Discalced Carmelite nun but was dissuaded by her spiritual mentor, the abbot of Beuron Archabbey. She then taught at a Catholic school of education in Speyer. As a result of the requirement of an "Aryan certificate" for civil servants promulgated by the Nazi government in April 1933 as part of its Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, she had to quit her teaching position.

    Edith Stein was admitted as a postulant to the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Cologne on 14 October, on the first vespers of the feast of Saint Teresa of Ávila, and received the religious habit as a novice in April 1934, taking the religious name Teresia Benedicta a Cruce (Teresia in remembrance of Teresa of Ávila, Benedicta in honour of Benedict of Nursia). She made her temporary vows on 21 April 1935, and her perpetual vows on 21 April 1938.

    The same year, Teresa Benedicta a Cruce and her biological sister Rosa, by then also a convert and an extern (tertiary of the Order, who would handle the community's needs outside the monastery), were sent to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands, for their safety. In response to the pastoral letter from the Dutch bishops on 26 July 1942, in which they made the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis a central theme, all baptized Catholics of Jewish origin (according to police reports, 244 people) were arrested by the Gestapo on the following Sunday, 2 August 1942. They were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they were murdered in a gas chamber on 9 August 1942.

    I learned of Edith Stein while reading James Carroll's book Constantine's Sword. A couple of things struck me about her. Stein wrote a letter to Pope Pius XII to inform him of what Hitler was doing to the Jews, begging him to take action. The Pope never responded and it is not known if he received Stein's letter. When Stein was at Auschwitz, someone offered to help her escape, but she refused and accepted death, not wishing to leave those who had come with her. Like her patron Saint Teresa of Ávila (who was also Jewish), Stein felt the burden of what her people "had done to Jesus" and in her spiritual last will and testament, she offered her life to God "for the atonement of the unbelief of the Jewish people." That last part troubles me a little, but at least she was not part of the thousands over two millennia in the Catholic Church who were deicides and killed Jews.

27. I know that others have already nominated her, but I feel like I *have* to do so as well.

    Saint Julian of Norwich (1343 – 1416-ish)
    Julian of Norwich was an English anchoress, meaning she was a monk who took a vow of "stability of place" (according to Wikipedia) and was permanently sealed within a cell (small room, not a prison) at her church in Norwich.

    Julian was a respected advisor and spiritual leader in her time, recognized by people across England as a voice of wisdom and reason. However, she is best remembered for her writings "Revelations of Divine Love", an account of some 16 visions of Jesus which she had while on her deathbed (from which she subsequently recovered, and then became an anchorite). Julian's visions formed the basis of her theology, which in turn informed much of modern universalist theology.

    Julian was a theologian whose work continues to reverberate in our time, as well as a supremely wise and loving person, who recognized that the ultimate message of Jesus' ministry was love. She recognized that while we may suffer as humans, we will never be overcome entirely for the love of God is with us.

    "I did not say you will not be troubled, I did not say you will not be tried, I did not say you will not know sorrow, But I do say: You shall not be overcome. I who made all things for love; By the same love keepeth them, and shall keep them without end. And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be exceedingly well.”

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28. The season of Nominationtide has been swift. After careful consideration I hereby nominate St. Lucy to be a candidate for Lent Madness.

    St. Lucy, she looks very serene and carries a dish with eyes on it.

    Personally, my maternal grandfather lost his vision to diabetes in the early 1970s, and I know how important physical vision is to our time here on this Earthly plane.

    At this time in the Church, vision of the future is very important-Lucy comes from lux (light) and light and vision is super-metaphysical and we need to keep our eyes on the light to give us all a vision of the future we can walk into and carry on the Jesus journey together. That's how I see it. I also would love to see St. Lucy do great and make it to the Saintly Kitsch round because it is bound to be fascinating.

    Happy Ordinary Season!

    (from Wikipedia)
    Iconography
    The emblem of eyes on a cup or plate apparently reflects popular devotion to her as protector of sight, because of her name, Lucia (from the Latin word "lux" which means "light").[16][17] In paintings St. Lucy is frequently shown holding her eyes on a golden plate. Lucy was represented in Gothic art holding a dish with two eyes on it. She also holds the palm branch, symbol of martyrdom and victory over evil.[7] Other symbolic images include a lamp, dagger, sword or two oxen.[15]

29. I submitted a nomination, but don’t see it here, so I am submitting it again.

    I nominate Edith Stein.

    From Wikipedia:

    Edith Stein (religious name Saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce OCD; also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross or Saint Edith Stein; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942) was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Christianity and became a Discalced Carmelite nun. She is canonized as a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church; she is also one of six patron saints of Europe. In 2022, Stein was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar, her feast day is August 9th.

    She was born into an observant Jewish family, but had become an agnostic by her teenage years. Moved by the tragedies of World War I, in 1915, she took lessons to become a nursing assistant and worked in an infectious diseases hospital. After completing her doctoral thesis at the University of Freiburg in 1916, she obtained an assistantship there.

    From reading the life of the reformer of the Carmelite Order, Teresa of Ávila,[5] Edith Stein was drawn to the Christian faith. She was baptized on 1 January 1922 into the Catholic Church. At that point, she wanted to become a Discalced Carmelite nun but was dissuaded by her spiritual mentor, the abbot of Beuron Archabbey. She then taught at a Catholic school of education in Speyer. As a result of the requirement of an "Aryan certificate" for civil servants promulgated by the Nazi government in April 1933 as part of its Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, she had to quit her teaching position.

    Edith Stein was admitted as a postulant to the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Cologne on 14 October, on the first vespers of the feast of Saint Teresa of Ávila, and received the religious habit as a novice in April 1934, taking the religious name Teresia Benedicta a Cruce (Teresia in remembrance of Teresa of Ávila, Benedicta in honour of Benedict of Nursia). She made her temporary vows on 21 April 1935, and her perpetual vows on 21 April 1938.

    The same year, Teresa Benedicta a Cruce and her biological sister Rosa, by then also a convert and an extern (tertiary of the Order, who would handle the community's needs outside the monastery), were sent to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands, for their safety. In response to the pastoral letter from the Dutch bishops on 26 July 1942, in which they made the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis a central theme, all baptized Catholics of Jewish origin (according to police reports, 244 people) were arrested by the Gestapo on the following Sunday, 2 August 1942. They were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they were murdered in a gas chamber on 9 August 1942.

    There are several things that struck me about Stein after reading about her in James Carroll’s book Constantine’s Sword. One, she was given a chance to escape Auschwitz, but refused to leave those she was with. Perhaps it was because “In her spiritual last will and testament, she offered her life to God “for the atonement of the unbelief of the Jewish people.”

    Excerpt From
    Constantine's Sword
    James Carroll

    In addition, she had written a letter to Pope Pius XII warning him about the Nazi’s and begging him to take action. The Pope never responded, however it is not known if he received Stein’s letter.

30. Joseph of Arimathea...

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