Today in the Saintly smackdown it's the Flower Follies as Hyacinth faces Rose of Lima. Every member of the Flower Guild should cast a vote! And maybe be a little judgy about their choice?
Yesterday, on Opening Day, Thomas the Apostle defeated Thomas Cranmer 56% to 44% with nearly 5,700 votes cast, to become the first saint to advance to the Saintly Sixteen.
It wasn't the smoothest start to our little bracket competition as so many people tried to vote early in the day that the server crashed. A few times. But we're up and running and looking forward to another full season of saintly thrills and spills. Please note that you cannot vote from the email we send out, you can only vote directly from the website. All of the extra steps involved are to protect the Lent Madness Global Public from voter fraud (yes, it's a thing). Thank you for your patience when you have trouble voting. You were patient, right?! it's supposedly a virtue.
Don't forget that tomorrow is the ONLY WEEKEND VOTE of Lent Madness as Kassia takes on Casmir.
Now go exercise your right to vote!
Hyacinth
Hyacinth was born in 1185 to a noble family in Silesia, Poland. As young nobleman of his age did, he received a thorough education and was trained as a priest, where his uncle (a bishop) appointed him as a canon at a local cathedral. This same uncle took Hyacinth with him when he traveled to Rome, a trip that would change Hyacinth’s life.
During his time in Rome, Hyacinth encountered Dominic of Osma, who had recently founded the order of Dominicans, a group of avowed people committed to sharing the Gospel through preaching the Good News and preaching against heresy. Hyacinth received his religious habit in 1220 from Dominic himself.
Hyacinth then returned to Poland and Kyiv to establish the Dominican Order in the Northlands and preach to the people of Poland. Through his efforts, Dominican friaries soon existed in all the major cities in Poland and thousands of lay people were converted to Christianity through the preaching of Hyacinth. Tradition holds that Hyacinth evangelized throughout northern Europe in city squares, markets, and streets and if necessary, churches, leading to his title as Apostle of the North.
When Hyacinth was in Kyiv, the city was invaded by Moguls. Hyacinth ordered his friars to flee for their safety. He finished praying Mass, then prepared to move to safety himself. In full vestments, he took the Blessed Sacrament with him. As he was leaving, legend holds Hyacinth heard the voice of the Blessed Virgin Mary asking Hyacinth to take her, too. Hyacinth realized the statue of Mary, Mother of God, was quite large and heavy, but he complied, and to his surprise, he was able to easily carry the large statue. Images of Hyacinth frequently show him carrying a monstrance (even though monstrances weren’t used until over a century later) and a statue of Mary. He is also the patron saint of weightlifters.
A Polish saying, “Swiety Jacek z pierogami!" (St. Hyacinth and his pierogi!) comes from another miracle attributed to Hyacinth. The saying is one of pleasant surprise, and comes from the story that Hyacinth, while walking from one village to another, came upon the town of Kościelec, where the crops had been destroyed due to hailstorms. The villagers faced certain starvation with no crops to harvest for bread. Hyacinth invited the villagers to pray with him. They all knelt, praying for God to deliver them. The next day, the crops were restored, and the harvest was plentiful. In gratitude, the villagers made pierogi for Hyacinth to celebrate the miracle.
Hyacinth died 15 August 1257 in Kraków, Poland. He is buried in the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, which also houses a Dominican monastery founded by Hyacinth.
Collect for Hyacinth
O God, who didst make Blessed Hyacinth, Thy Confessor, glorious amongst the people of divers nations for the holiness of his life and the glory of his miracles, grant that by his example we may amend our lives, and be defended by his help in all adversities. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Rose of Lima
Rose of Lima was born around April 20-30, 1586 in Lima, Peru. She is the patron saint of all of Peru, South America and the Philippines and is known for being the first saint canonized in the western hemisphere. She is also the patron saint of embroiderers, gardeners and those that suffer because of their piety.
Rose’s story is one of parental conflict, coupled with extreme devotion and chastity. She was a beautiful woman. Her story is one that is uncomfortable: in conflict with the physical beauty she was bestowed, she preferred to seek the beauty of God. Early in life, Rose felt called to serve God. She was drawn to a penitential and spiritual life focused on study, prayer, and self-denial.
Her mother wanted her to marry. In defiance, Rose cut off all her hair and burned her skin with hot peppers to make herself repugnant to the men her mother was parading for marriage. Their struggle continued for years. Upon taking a vow of chastity, her mother finally relented and allowed Rose to become a Dominican. However, they would not let her join the convent and instead confined her to their home with strict boundaries on where she could worship. Rose spent her days in embroidery and gardening. She would spend hours in prayer, adoration of St. Mary, and in taking communion daily. Unfortunately, Rose was known for self-flagellation, fasting, wearing a crown of thorns, and sleeping on a bed of potsherds. She lived a life of solitude, self-rejection, and denial.
To the reader, this life may seem repugnant. It appears that everything about Rose was uncomfortable. She was uncomfortable with her looks, the attention her looks garnered, her parents’ wishes for a “normal” life of marriage and children, and discomfort with almost anything but prostration before the cross. It is often difficult to reconcile our understanding of God’s love in light of Rose’s story. However, we are reminded, that in the presence of a story of great suffering, great self-disgust, and self-loathing, the beacon of this story is God.
Collect for Rosa of Lima
Merciful God, you sent your Gospel to the people of Peru through Martin de Porres, who brought its comfort even to slaves; through Rosa de Lima, who worked among the poorest of the poor; and through Toribio de Mogrovejo, who founded the first seminary in the Americas and baptized many: Help us to follow their example in bringing fearlessly the comfort of your grace to all downtrodden and outcast people, that your Church may be renewed with songs of salvation and praise; through Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (GCW 2015)
— Anna Courie
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198 comments on “Hyacinth vs. Rose of Lima”
Ah, I see I am in the minority in voting for the beautiful, scarred Rose of Lima. I will just say that, although no great beauty myself, I resonated with her story. And I vote for her to honour all self-scarred women, and the gardeners and embroiderers whom I love.
I agree!
I voted for Hyacinth because he embodied Ephesians 3:20, in one of the concluding sentences at the end of Morning Prayer (BCP 102): "Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine."
OMG! what a pairing! Voted for Hyacinth. He seemed to be less mentally disturbed.
Hyacinth, because...pierogis are awesome!! Yum!
Wish I could vote for "none of the above," but at least I'm hopeful (or confident) that whichever flower wins today will lose next time.
Definitely voting for Hyacinth. He gave up riches to his belief in God.
Roses self harm is against God's will to take care of ourselves in body and spirit.
Can we truly know "'God's will"? Isn't this one example of the fundamental question, why does God let bad things happen? Lent Madness is hard. We are asked to choose not judge. Choose kindness.
I voted for Hyacinth, but I would like to know more about his parents. What kind of parents name their son after a flower?
Went to read a better biography of Rose, and was much more impressed. Both were Dominicans, but Hyacinth had better connections that put him on a path of leadership in the church. Although Rose wanted to be a nun, she had to fight for her status as a third order Dominican. So between the two, I went for Rose, who had to create her own religious life every step of the way.
I agree!
I'm sad that two days running I can't vote. Best of luck to the tech folks working on things. I will continue voting in spirit if not in practice for now. (Gotta go with divine lifting of heavy things and crop restoration and go with Hyacinth!)
Longer description of voting issue follows, should it be helpful to your tech folks. Yesterday I tried to vote with my iphone and today with my iPad - no go in either case. - the site will not allow me to select a candidate. I've consulted the voting help section - none of that is the issue. Have tried in safari and Firefox, and have not had this issue with other mobile sites with checkboxes so....I think it's your site not me. Captcha works, site doesn't crash, even pushing the voting button does something (advances me to the post voting page and logs me as having already voted, tried that yesterday) it's just clicking on the candidate options that's not doing anything.
It will not accept votes on the website on my iPad but will on my PC. No love for Apple?
I have voted on my iPhone two days in a row without issue.
My suggestion is to power your iPad completely off (Settings > General > Shut Down > Slide to Power Off) and wait a few minutes before you power it back on again. Making sure cookies are allowed and clearing your Safari history & cache might also help. TBH, it is amazing what power cycling an Apple device will resolve.
As a gardener who embroidered, I voted for Rose. Rather than being put off by her self loathing & self harm, I hope that we can feel true compassion for her & celebrate her commitment to service for the poor people around her.
I agree with you!
Rose gets my vote!
Because I make my own homemade pierogi, and know the amount of time and effort involved, I had to vote for Hyacinth. To receive pierogi as a "Thank you" means your actions are highly valued.
Thank you, Anna Courie, for your insightful comments about Rose of Lima's disturbing story!
However, because in Lent Madness I look for inspiration, I cannot vote for someone so devoted to destroying her physical being. Our bodies are made by God, and the false dichotomy of spiritual vs. physical has caused nothing but trouble.
And I'm not voting just AGAINST Rose, I'm voting FOR Hyacinth! I'd never heard of him before. He sounds really cool! The fact that the villagers knew he would LOVE to have pierogi as a thank-you says a lot about what he must have been like. Certainly no "the body is evil" from this guy!
I voted for Hyacinth for the people of Kyiv, who are under attack again
The local Catholic Church in my town is "St. Rose of Lima" and so I have been familiar with her story. I appreciate your gentle approach to interpreting her life, but it is a pretty hard thing to exalt. I do feel sorry for her, though.
My vote along with most others, it seems, has to be for Hyacinth.
Hyacinth certainly was a man of deep and committed faith, as was Rosa of Lima. The difference is Hyacinth had his father’s blessing. It seems that although Rosa’s parents had other plans for her future, she was determined to give herself to God at all costs, physical, emotional, and socially. Only being permitted to pray at specified times, seems a bit severe. Rosa stayed true to her devotion and love to serve God and all the glory to God! I wonder if my faith is as devoted as Rosa’s.
Maybe if Rose had been allowed to enter the convent, her life of austerity may have been tempered. She certainly loved God above all others and lived the life she felt called to. That alone is worth emulating.
I am able to vote using my laptop, but now the site doesn't let me "like" the posts of others. Oh, well, at least I am able to vote. (Thanks, John Cabot...great limerick today!)
I’m disappointed that Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer will not be going forward. I was so looking forward to Cranmer Kitsch.
Anyhoo, despite dwelling in the City of Roses and having done both embroidery and gardening in my life I have a bucket of reasons to vote for Hyacinth. Amongst which is that my mother who was born in 15 August is interred in the memorial garden of a cathedral parish named Trinity.
[And BBC comedy fans will remember that bucket is pronounced boo-kay.]
My thoughts immediately went to everyone's favorite Hyacinth as well. Imagine my surprise to find out today's Hyacinth was a guy!
Ok, changed my mind and voted
This way of voting is impossible!
I had to vote for Hyacinth, as the patron saint of weightlifters. I will think of him whenever I do my squats & presses, for a long time. 🙂
Rose of Lima’s assigned celebrity blogger seems to have had little respect for her bloggee. I think that’s too bad. FSR there was no mention in the blog of what I read in Wikipedia, that Rose sold the lacework and embroidery she made in order to benefit the poor, and that she sometimes brought them to her home to care for them. Her parents made every effort to control her life - nevertheless she persisted. A strong and determined woman who insisted on putting God first in her life, in her own way. I believe she is worthy of my vote.
It was a tough decision; after reading about Rose of Lima on Wikipedia, she got my vote. She made and sold fine lace and used the money to serve the poorest of the poor. She was so strong in her faith and got no support.
I liked that Hyacinth prayed with the villagers and God restored their crops, and he spread the Gospel. Also liked that he is the Patron Saint of Weightlifters
I find pierogis much more relatable than potsherds. Hyacinth!
I was interested to see Rose de Lima described at the patron saint of embroidery, since I had already found that St. Claire held this position. So it seems each of them is *a* patron saint of embroidery. Perhaps the two of them are now sitting together in heaven, each working on her current project.
Nancy just jumped up into my lap to say, "St. Claire had a cat that retrieved her cloth when it rolled away from her. Did St. Rose have a cat?"
Anyway, as a passionate embroideress, I had to vote for Rose. It seems I'm batting 0 for two so far this year.
Although I admire Rose, you had me at pierogi!
I have been unable to vote for two days. When I touch the circle to register who I am voting for nothing happens.
As others have noted, while the biography is accurate, it's also incomplete and puts 21st century values onto a 16th century person without giving her her due. Yes, her mortifications are more horrifying than inspiring. But I feel for her in her struggle to live as she was called, as a lover of Jesus, while being constrained by the expectations and misogyny and patriarchy of her day. There is a kind of fierce integrity here. She refused to be married, and she must have been under intense pressure to do so. She wanted to join the Domenicans, and her father wouldn't allow it, so she pursued a life as a tertiary. And, as others have noted, she tended to the poor and the sick. Plus she grew all those flowers! There's so much strength of character here. What could she have done in a different age?