Welcome to the ONE AND ONLY weekend matchup of Lent Madness as Kassia takes on Casimir. Every other battle will take place on the weekdays of Lent - straight through until Spy Wednesday during Holy Week.
Yesterday, Hyacinth came up smelling like roses as he roundly defeated Rose of Lima 74% to 26% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen.
While some of the early struggles people had with voting have abated, please check out our (hopefully) helpful Voter Information Guide.
We'll see you bright and early on Monday morning as Canaire takes on Barbara. Time to vote!
Kassia
Writer, hymnist, poet, composer, and early feminist, Kassia is an important contributor to religious music, and is the only woman to have her works included in the Byzantine liturgy.
Kassia – also known as Cassia, Kassiani, Kasia, Kassiane, Kassiani, Casia, Ikasia, Cassia, Cassiane, Kassiana, Kassianh or Eikasia – was born to a wealthy Greek family sometime between 805 and 810 in Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, in Turkey. At that time, Constantinople was a thriving city of commerce, language, culture, and scholarship. Kassia was educated in the classics, the church, philosophy, and writing, and learned much from the many world-wide visitors frequenting Constantinople for business.
Kassia was known for her beauty. She was chosen to participate in a “Bride Show,” presented for Byzantine Emperor Theophilos to check out women for him to select as a wife. Although she caught his eye, Kassia’s interests and her feminist beliefs were not aligned with the emperor and his views on women. He chose another bride, and Kassia gladly turned to monastic living. She founded a convent in nearby Xerolophos where she served as abbess.
At that time, theological disagreements about religious images and icons placed her and Emperor Theophilos in opposite corners. Because of her beliefs, the same emperor whom she almost married subjected her to lashings and beatings. She was not swayed by his actions and continued to express her feminist views through her writings and music.
Kassia’s works, both music and poetry, focus on women in the gospels. She was the only composer of her time to write about redemption and salvation of women who had sinned.
Her creativity was evidenced in the many musical selections and hymns she wrote, with some still sung in the Byzantine church. Most well-known of her pieces is the “Hymn of Kassial,” also called the “Troparion of Kassiani,” still often chanted on Wednesday during Holy Week in the Orthodox churches. She also authored poems and non-religious literature, of which 261 have survived.
Kassia eventually made her way to the Greek island of Kasos, where she died between 867 and 890 and is buried.
She remains relevant and pops up in today’s culture, with her works performed by modern musicians Frank Turner, soprano Deborah Kayser and bassist/composer Nick Tsiavos and the American string quartet Kronos. Kassia also appeared as a character in the TV series The Vikings.
Her feast day is listed as September 7 in Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2022 and the Orthodox Church.
Kassia is the patron saint of feminism and gender justice.
Collect for Kassia
O God of boundless mercy, whose handmaiden Kassiani brought forth poetry and song: Inspire in your church a new song, that following her most excellent example, we may boldly proclaim the truth of your Word; even Jesus Christ, our Savior and Deliverer. Amen.
— Neva Rae Fox
Casimir
Prince Casimir Jagiellon, prince of the kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was born at Wawel Castle in Kraków in October 1458. He was the second son of King Casimir IV, but when his elder brother was elected King of Bohemia, he became the heir apparent.
Throughout his life, he was known for his piety and his devotion to the poor and sick. It’s hard to know how he had time for religious devotion or charitable acts, because he spent a lot of his time learning languages. He was fluent in Lithuanian, Polish, German, and Latin.
As he grew older, Casimir’s reputation for religious piety began to spread. Once when he was awaiting entry at the gate of a church before dawn, he contracted an illness. Another time, he refused physicians’ advice to have sexual relations in order to cure his illness. Perhaps because of his own ill health, Casimir was known for his compassionate care of the sick and the poor.
But it wasn’t all piety and devotion for the prince. Casimir spent much of his life enmeshed in palace intrigue, both in his own realms and those of neighboring areas. When his father attempted to arrange a marriage between Casimir and the daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III, Casimir refused. He said he preferred to remain celibate, perhaps sensing his own imminent death. Soon after, he developed tuberculosis, from which he died in March 1484 at the tender young age of 25.
Casimir was buried at Vilnius Cathedral. Almost immediately after his death, a cult of devotion arose. Complicated delays at the papacy hampered his cause, but Casimir was canonized as a saint in 1583. Among other miracles, he was said to have appeared to the Lithuanian army at the time of a miraculous victory.
You will often see the saint depicted with three hands, or at least two right hands. Some say this is the result of an early convention to depict Casimir’s ability to accomplish so much. How could someone with only two hands do all that?! But there is also a story that the painter of Casimir’s portrait in Vilnius Cathedral tried to move the hand in his painting, but the extra hand miraculously reappeared after being painted over. So if you ever see this saint depicted with the “wrong” hands, it's the result of a mistake, a pious symbol, or a miracle.
Today Casimir is recognized as the patron saint of Poland and Lithuania. He should probably also be the patron saint of errors in portraiture.
Collect for Casimir
O God, who didst preserve thy servant Casimir constant and faithful in thy service amidst the delights of a court, and the attractive allurements of the world, grant, we beseech thee, that by his intercession thy people may despise the transitory things of the world and eagerly pursue things which are eternal: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
— A. Nonny-Muss
174 comments on “Kassia vs. Casimir”
Another strong woman of the Church, with musical talents, like Hildegard of Bingen.
Who knew there was a patron saint of feminism? Thanks for the introduction to this cool lady
I wasn’t able to vote today and was sorely disappointed, as I was anxious to vote for Casimir—in memory of my late son of the same nameClearly he was not going to win but seeing Saint Casimir on the roster gave me a little thrill.
I was thanked for my vote, but I didn’t vote.
Casimir received my vote. Yes, my Polish heritage influenced my vote. Kraków, Poland is mentioned in both Casimir and Hyacinth's stories. Kraków, Poland in near, what I believe to be my ancestral town of Brzezinka or Brzezinia, (which was call Birkenau during the occupation, the location of Auschwitz 2)
Can't vote. Says " thank you for vote" but i didn't vote yet.
"Kassia is the patron saint of feminism and gender justice" -- who knew! I will vote for Kassia for this reason alone.
I didn’t vote and I got thanked for voting!
As a life-long church musician, I had to vote for Cassia.
Someone else voted for me...I went to vote and was already thanked for voting! No big deal but thought you should know...Peace...
It says “thank you for your vote “ but I didn’t get to vote.
Hello. Both my husband and I tried to vote after reading today’s information, but instead of the voting buttons appearing, we immediately saw the vote tallies and a message that said, “Thank you for your vote”. But we hadn’t voted at all.
Is there an issue with the site?
Thanks,
Lynne Snee
Again, it’s thanking me for my vote before I get to vote. I’ll try again on my laptop. Sigh.
Can’t vote
Says thank you for vote???!?!
The site says, “Thank you for your vote.” before I have a chance so to do. Happened yesterday 2/16 and today 2/17.
Thank you. I enjoy the descriptions.
Same here. Several attemps, even removing reference to Lent Madness related items in browsiner history. I finally ‘curred” problem by going to the Subscribe field and then attempted to subscribe. Put in all the info, and quite rightly it said I already was a subscriber. But miraculously when I got back to the vote page I was able to do so.
I couldn’t vote on 1st day due to eternally spinning captcha. On second day did the subscribe thing, which it accepted, and then allowed to vote. That’s why I attempted to re-subscribe today. As there doesn’t seem to be any way to directly contact TPTB.
Add me to the list… it thanks me for my vote which didn’t happen
Here be Kassia’s Troparian:
Sensing Thy divinity, O Lord,
a woman of many sins,
takes it upon herself
to become a myrrh-bearer
and in deep mourning
brings before Thee fragrant oil
in anticipation of Thy burial; crying:
"Woe to me! What night falls on me,
what dark and moonless madness
of wild-desire, this lust for sin.
Take my spring of tears
Thou Who drawest water from the clouds,
bend to me, to the sighing of my heart,
Thou who bendedst down the heavens
in Thy secret Incarnation,
I will wash Thine immaculate feet with kisses
and wipe them dry with the locks of my hair;
those very feet whose sound Eve heard
at the dusk in Paradise and hid herself in terror.
Who shall count the multitude of my sins
or the depth of Thy judgment,
O Saviour of my soul?
Do not ignore thy handmaiden,
O Thou whose mercy is endless".
Cannot vote. CAPTCHA not working.
Both Kassia and Casimir have compelling stories, but I just love women who stay true to themselves in the face of social pressure.
I tried to vote using my iphone. Twice it told me my vote was not allowed. I voted on my laptop and that vote was accepted. Maybe others who have had trouble voting might try voting on a different device.
Is the Cassimir effect, where two pieces of smooth metal pull each other together, named after him? This could be a huge claim to fame!
Hey Lent Madness tech people - I may have found one of the problems? I'm using mobile, couldn't get voting to work last two days - today I just wildly stabbed my finger all around the names of the voting options and eventually hit success stabbing exactly in the middle and slightly up from the names and nowhere else - this makes me think something has gone wrong with your touch target size on mobile - too small or just off somehow. Could you have your web people check on the clickable target touch area for voting? All the best to you! Fellow commenters, if you wouldn't mind, could you like this comment so the developers have a better chance of seeing this comment? Thank you!
I didn't get a chance to vote today. 🙁
Looks like a landslide for Kassia, as it should be. I am definitely going to look for the Troparion of Kassiani for my Holy Week devotions.
I especially love John Cabot's poem today! Thank you!
Used to be very involved with Saint Casimir's Lithuanian Catholic Church is the Griffith Park area of Los Angeles, so had to give a shout out and vote for him!
Rebooted my tablet, as some have suggested that this might solve the voting problem, it didn't. The bubbles in front of the names still refuse to register when pressed. I even tried the interactive pen this time, to no avail. I really hope that this ongoing issue wih Android OS devices is solved soon as reading long texts on my PC has become a difficult task. I really enjoy this but having to use two different devices, one for reading and another to be able to vote, well..! I'll give it another try on Monday but if the glitch isn't resolved soon I'll have to reconsider further participation. A shame since I've been doing this since it's first year. FYI, I've used this same tablet for both the 2022 & 2023 seasons with no issues nor am I experiencing any issues except with your voting buttons.
I voted for Kassia. She was a dedicated and brave lady, very much before her time.
How wonderful to be introduced to a woman/poet/composer from 9th century Byzantium -- whose music is still being performed. Wikipedia has a nice list of contemporary recordings (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassia) of her work, so I am looking forward to tracking these down on Spotify. I wonder, Could I get our choir director interested? And if I could, How hard are her pieces to sing?
It's like getting to discover Hildegarde of Bingen all over again. Kassia, of course, got my vote.
I'vebeen playing for years but about ready to give up. I can't vote at all on my ipad and can't find a reason why. The captchas are so out of focus they are almost impossible to read. Please fix things
Still can’t vote