Welcome to the FIRST FULL WEEK of Lent Madness XV! Today Canaire takes on Barbara as two strong and beloved women, with some surrounding legends, square off for a shot at the Saintly Sixteen. As Barbara is the patron saint of miners, you could call this matchup Canaire in a Coal Mine. But that would just be silly.
On Saturday, Kassia trounced Casimir 89% to 11% in the first major rout of 2023.
Time to vote!
Canaire
Any woman who’s been called “stubborn” or “obstinate” or told her gender kept her from following God’s calling will relate to the story of St. Canaire.
Little is recorded about Canaire’s life (also spelled Conaire, Canir, and Canera), but as it neared its end in the year 530, she had a vision of all the churches of Ireland. A tower of fire rose from each church to heaven, but the greatest tower came from the monastery founded by St. Senan at Inis Cathaig, an island off the coast of County Clare in Ireland.
Naturally, Canaire followed the light to Inis Cathaig, crossing the sea “with dry feet as if she were on smooth land,” Senan greeted her at the harbor.
“You see, I have come,” Canaire said, according to her biography on the website of St. Canera Catholic Church in Neosho, Missouri.
But Senan refused to let her enter the monastery, as the monks’ vows of chastity prohibited them from having contact with women.
Canaire’s reply rings true through the ages: "How canst thou say that? Art thou better than Jesus Christ? He came to redeem women no less than men. He suffered on the Cross for women as well as men. He opens the kingdom of heaven to women as surely as to men. Why then dost thou shut women out from this isle?"
In the end, Senan, apparently unimpressed by the fact Canaire was standing on water throughout this entire exchange, permitted the saint to come ashore, though not much farther. She went to heaven “straightaway” after receiving communion and was buried on the coast, as she had requested.
Her story lives on in the “Life of St. Senan.” So does her righteous indignation.
Collect for Canaire
Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit you have made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth: Grant that in our earthly pilgrimage we may always be supported by this fellowship of love and prayer, and know ourselves to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy. We ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whom all our intercessions are acceptable through the Spirit, and who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Barbara
Barbara was born in the third century in either Heliopolis in Syria (or possibly in modern-day Egypt) or Nicomedia in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) to a wealthy pagan family. After the death of Barbara’s mother, her father was worried for her safety, so he built a large tower to protect her – and keep her isolated from men.
Despite her father’s shrewd sheltering of her early life, Barbara converted to Christianity and refused to marry, having chosen consecrated virginity. It’s said that a traveling physician introduced Barbara to Christianity during one of her father’s extended absences. She believed the message of faith and was baptized. While her father was away, she hired workmen to construct a third window in her tower to represent the Trinity. She also used her finger to etch a cross upon the wall. Upon her father’s return, Barbara explained the significance of the windows and told him of her newfound faith.
Her enraged father intended to give her over to the authorities, but she was miraculously whisked away to a mountain gorge. Her father pursued her and eventually persuaded a shepherd to betray her hiding place.
Like many women of her time who wanted to resist forced marriage and assert their autonomy, she committed herself to the church in order to avoid various crusty dusty suitors. Her father therefore sent her to her martyrdom, and in some stories, he beheaded her himself, so loath he was to pawn her off to another man.
Of course, since she was a holy woman, her evil father was punished by being struck by lightning and entirely consumed by fire on his way home. For this reason, St. Barbara is prayed to for protection from explosives. Which is kind of ironic.
Her feast day is December 4, and she is the patron saint of miners, military workers, including gunsmiths, artillery detachments, armor makers, and mathematicians. Her relics can be found at St. Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev. According to the Orthodox Church in America’s website, “The hand of Saint Barbara is kept in a special shrine at Saint Michael's Monastery in Kiev, on the left side of the church. The glove covering her hand is changed frequently, then the old glove is cut up and the pieces are distributed to pilgrims.” This does make me wonder, what do they do with the other glove of the pair?
If you like
Then you’ll love Saint Barbara.
Collect for Barbara
Embolden your church, O God, with the stories of your saints Catherine, Barbara, and Margaret, that we might face all trials and adversities with a fearless mind and an unbroken spirit, knowing that we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who strengthens us. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (LFF 2022)
108 comments on “Canaire vs. Barbara”
I enjoyed both of today's write-ups, though I have a hard time believing Canaire ever existed at all. Both stories seem entirely "fabulous." But I also like the idea of bad guys getting blown up, and I could readily compile a list of bad guys I would like to see get blown up. So Barbara it is. I was curious how her hand became separated from her body; was she careless with a molotov cocktail?
That is, the community extracted the ore, not the church!
Voting was odd...would seemingly not take my choice.
This is a hard one - both strong women. A shame one has to be eliminated so early in the match.
Why are these neat saints so seldom recorded . . . they make great homilies!
There is something spunky (or in this competition, spunkier) about Canaire that I have to support.
Hooray for St.Barbara and all independent women of Strong Will -- including me as I continue my Lent Madness voting in despite being dropped off the mailing list after all these years. 🙁 --- Sue Flexer
How could I not vote for Santa Barbara when she is our city's Saint?
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovered the site on Santa 's Saint's day in 1542.
While serving as a Chaplin with the First Cavalry Divisional Artillery, I was initiated into the Honorable Order of St. Barbara. So this Saint definitely gets my vote.
This was a hard choice. I normally would have unhesitatingly voted for Canaire because of her telling the truth to the misinformed male monastics about the love and respect Jesus has for women. But when I thought of the hand of St. Barbara in St Vladimir's in Kyiv, I had to vote for her,with a prayer that she will protect that besieged city from explosions and that her spirit will bring peace and power to the people of that city and to Ukraine.
This one was sort of a toss up for me, but I finally went for Canaire. I figured if she could walk on water she deserved my vote.
Sad stories, both. My vote went to Barbara because she is associated with a Cathedral in Kiev and my heart is with Ukraine at this time.
For four summers while I was in college, I worked at a Jewish camp in the NY Adirondacks. I was allowed to go to church on Sunday mornings and was picked up by whichever priest had the service that day at St. Barbara's, Newcomb, one of 6 of what were then the Adirondack Missions. St. Barbara's had been relocated to that site from Tahawus, to make more room for a titanium mine. Tahawus, originally known as Adironac for its iron deposits, had closed its iron mine due to an unknown impurity (titanium) which was found too difficult at that time to be extracted. I am grateful for my summers at St. Barbara's; for St. Barbara, who created an open window to express her faith; and for all those who find ways to make a way when there is no way.
Using my Android device your webpage still won't respond when I try to vote. All that happens is that the button of the selected name flashes blue.
I was speaking with a friend earlier in the day and she told me how frustrated she was with this year's set up as she has yet to be allowed to vote using her iPad. Sigh, not all of us have access to a Windows PC, which at this point seems to be the only reliable way to vote.
So sorry to see that sec has decided to ignore this ongoing glitch as it is causing long time players to quit playing!
I had to go with Canaire for the courage to speak truth to power. We could use a few more like her now.
In solidarity with Ukrainians, please use the Ukrainian spelling of “Kyiv” and not the Russian spelling “Kiev.” Slava Ukraini! Go Barbara!
I am trying to vote for Canaire, but am stuck in the never-ending 5 dot Circle of Doom, which never resolves and times out my reCaptcha. I am saddened by the technological issues this year, but I am happy to meet these very interesting saints. I love how Canaire scolded the abbot by reminding him that Jesus welcomed his female followers as equals. It has only take the Church about 2000 years to catch up.
(I will keep trying to beat out the Circle of Doom and get my vote registered!)
Unable to vote Canaire
I voted for Barbara. Her father was extremely over protective. Her devotion to Christianity is remarkable! She may not have wanted to marry and found a lifestyle in a tower with three windows to symbolize the Trinity. Her father was cruel, and abusive. Being safe in a tower away from her father was a far better lifestyle.
Why is the Russian spelling "Kiev" used? Why not the Ukranian "Kyiv"?
I voted for Canaire, but it was close.
As the wife of a retired Army chaplain who served with both Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery, my vote is with St. Barbara, patron saint of the artillery, among other things. May she protect the people of Ukraine and artillery soldiers.
I struggle a little with the more legendary aspects of these stories. However, whilst battles still rage over the place of women in the church, Canaire's righteous indignation rings like a bell today.
I’m voting on my iPad and I had to stab the circle next to the Saint I was voting foe’s name multiple times with my Apple Pencil before the selection registered. A Saturday comment mentioned there might be something amiss with the coding related to tapping instead of clicking. Anyhoozle, after much stabbing to get my selection selected, I had to attempt to vote sans Captcha before it would allow me to check that box to prove I’m not a robot.
I’m blessed to live in the state that started universal vote-by-mail (a voting system first used by the U. S. military during the Civil War) so I will get to vote in our elections this year with pen on paper sans any worries about the miscoding of bits & bytes. Unlike this website.
I wonder how many phone calls Forward Movement’s customer service people have gotten about the voting problems this year?
Also, did anyone else read about Saint Barbara’s tower and think of Rapunzel?
"...[S]he committed herself to the church in order to avoid various crusty dusty suitors." Picking between two candidates about whom we really know so little is tough. I was too late to actually vote; that part is my fault. I picked Barbara because I had heard of her before.