Welcome to the opening matchup of Lent Madness XV! If you’re a veteran Lent Madness participant, welcome back! If you're joining us for the first time, we’re delighted you’re along for this wild, saintly ride! And if you're just penitential-curious, check out the About Lent Madness tab on the website to find out what all the fuss is about.
To experience the fullness of Lent Madness, the Supreme Executive Committee (the somewhat benevolent dictatorship that runs this whole enterprise) encourages you
to do a couple things. First, like Lent Madness on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter. Second, subscribe to the Lent Madness e-mails so you never miss a vote — you’ll get each matchup hand-delivered to your inbox on the weekdays of Lent. You can do this by going to the home page of our website and entering your e-mail address. We highly recommend doing this. Finally, you can fill out a bracket online and daily see how you stack up against those who take their Lenten bracketology seriously (keep scrolling and you'll encounter the 2024 Matchup Calendar to determine when your favorite saint will be doing battle). Oh, and if you've ordered a bracket poster, and your handwriting's lousy, you can download these nifty Lent Madness Bracket Stickers and impress your friends with your beautiful penmanship.
But mostly, we encourage you to read about the 32 saints participating in this year’s edition of Lent Madness (download the FREE Digital Saintly Scorecard), faithfully cast your (single!) vote on the weekdays of Lent, and add your comments to the great cloud of participating witnesses that gathers as the online Lent Madness community each year.
To celebrate the 15th year of Lent Madness, all 16 first round matchups are themed battles. Some will be obvious, some less so. For instance, today it's the Thomas Throwdown as Thomas Cranmer faces Thomas the Apostle.
But enough of this idle chatter. It's time to cast your very first vote of Lent Madness 2024! We’re glad you’re all here. Now get to it!
Thomas Cranmer
If you have taken to heart the prayer to “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” the holy scriptures that are written for our learning, or felt in awe in considering how in Holy Communion “we continually dwell in [Christ] and he in us,” you can thank Thomas Cranmer for these memorable turns of phrase.
Born in 1489, Cranmer undertook studies at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he was ordained. There he first came into extended contact with the text of holy scripture and the thought of the Continental Reformation. By 1529, when it was becoming clear that Pope Clement VII would not grant an annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Cranmer, convinced of the superiority of the King over the pope in purely English matters, worked eagerly to sway learned opinion on Henry’s behalf. When Archbishop of Canterbury William Warham died in 1532, Henry swiftly arranged for Cranmer’s elevation to the see of Canterbury.
Upon becoming archbishop, Cranmer became the king’s chief instrument in asserting Royal Supremacy over the church in England. He annulled Henry and Catherine’s marriage in 1533 (later pronouncing similar judgments on marriages to Anne Boleyn and Anne of Cleves) and he agreed with Parliament’s Act of Supremacy in 1534 which split the Church in England from the Roman Church.
Yet Cranmer was also his own man, devoted to the reformation of the English church. Together with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the first widespread dissemination of the Bible in English. After Henry’s death, during the reign of Edward VI, Cranmer achieved his greatest legacy and highest ambition –-to revise Church services into a “tongue understanded by the people.” He published the Great Litany in English in 1544, and his embrace of the ideas of the Continental Reformation ultimately led to the production of the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549 and its subsequent 1552 revision. It was his intense devotion to the English Reformation that would ultimately be his undoing.
Upon the accession of Mary I, a staunch Roman Catholic, to the crown following a nine-day power struggle, Cranmer was accused of treason and heresy, and was arrested and held inhumanely. The stress of his captivity led to deep depression and two recantations of the doctrines he once prized. At his martyrdom, however, he renounced his recantations, and when burned at the stake in Oxford in 1556, he put his hand into fire, proclaiming “this hand hath offended.”
It is to that hand that Anglican churches worldwide owe the masterful prose and poetry and essentially scriptural spirituality that infuse the Book of Common Prayer, guiding us in prayer to this day.
Collect for Thomas Cranmer
Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, that, like your servants Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer we may live in your fear, die in your favor, and rest in your peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (LFF 2022)
— David Sibley
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas is simply named as a member of the 12 in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The Gospel of John, however, takes special interest in Thomas. And the disciple does not always look so great.
In John 11:16, when Jesus wants to return to Judea to mourn his friend Lazarus, Thomas sarcastically remarks, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” In John 14:5, during Jesus’s last meal with his friends, Thomas expresses confusion about Jesus’s plain teaching.
Perhaps most notoriously, Thomas refuses to believe the reports of the disciples when they announce that Jesus was raised from the dead. In John 20:25, Thomas famously says, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” (Though, to be fair, he only wanted what the other disciples already got to experience.)
Whatever beef the author of the Gospel of John may have had with Thomas, his assaults on Thomas’s character were effective. It probably does not help that Thomas’s name was attached to a collection of Jesus’s sayings that some would deem heretical. The image of “doubting” Thomas, the heretic, persists.
Such a view however, overlooks some of Thomas’s amazing triumphs. Shortly after expressing his desire to see the resurrected Christ for himself, Thomas makes one of the strongest Christological affirmations in the entire New Testament when, upon touching the resurrected Christ’s wounds, he exclaims, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)
Thomas also became one of early Christianity’s greatest champions. He took the gospel all the way to India. His bold proclamation was accompanied by many miracles. Several early Christian texts bear his name and recount his exploits. The Acts of Thomas tell of his many adventures spreading the gospel (if you vote him into the next round, I promise to share some of the juicier tales). The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (which is really mostly about Jesus’ childhood) is essential reading, and really, the Gospel of Thomas is worth careful study too. That his name is attached to so many early Christian texts betrays his importance to the nascent movement.
Thomas was killed in India, either by a spear or at the hands of some angry priests (maybe angry priests with spears!). His feast day is celebrated on December 21 in the Episcopal Church. His story is often told on the second Sunday of Easter.
Collect for Thomas the Apostle
Everliving God, who strengthened your apostle Thomas with firm and certain faith in your Son’s resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in your sight; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP)
260 comments on “Thomas Cranmer vs. Thomas the Apostle”
I tried voting on 3 different devices because it kept saying my vote was not allowed, then once it said captcha is required but wouldn't show the picture of the motorcycles (or whatever).
Finally after the 5th try it allowed my vote.
So strange.
Tough choice!
This was a really hard choice. A tough one to start!
I tried to vote just now and it says “vote not allowed” even though I clicked the “I’m not a robot” button 🙁
Tried again from Facebook and it worked. Yay!
I tried to vote for the first and only time today, but it says vote not allowed. How do I make sure that I’m not disenfranchised for all of Lent Madness?
The Gospel of John is full of characters who start out completely obtuse and gradually become examples to us in our faith journeys. Thomas might qualify as the ultimate one (if you take chapter 20 as the end, lol). Not sure John ever meant to put any of them down. Vote for T the A!
The website won't let me vote. On the phone we don't get the dot to vote I would say things are still not working right. Mine says not allowed. But I haven't voted yet
Thomas the Apostile.
Think, investige, learn.
The other apostles were in the upper room (hiding?). So why was Thomas not with them? Was it because he did not fear (had faith), or was it he out getting provisions (providing for and caring for the others)? Who knows, but an interesting to ponder.
I have been unable to vote either on the website or by email. This was a problem last year, too. I’ve tried all morning with no luck. Beginning of Lent Madness glitch? If I could vote, I’d vote for Thomas Cranmer.
Cranmer possibly saved three of Henry VIII's wives from beheading by annulling the marriages, but it is tough to vote against an apostle. I find myself in a position of voting for the apostle but hoping Cranmer wins so I can learn more about him.
My vote is not being recorded.
I find them both problematic characters. Cranmer's role in some of shady doings with King Henry VIII turn me off, but I do honor his liturgical work. While I agree that Thomas is unfairly targeted for his doubt (all the disciples doubted the women, but Thomas doubted "men"), I don't find much to be excited about with Thomas.
We're starting off with another really hard one! These were both courageous men, dedicated to their truth. Thomas Apostille gave us a legitimate reason for expecting proof and trying to share that proof! Thomas Cranmer gave us a liturgy and church that we can understand and love. Very hard. I voted for Thomas the Apostille.
I see I am not alone in having a soft spot in my heart for Thomas the Apostle. But Thomas Cranmer's contributions to the English language and my faith life are worth a vote.
I am no fan of Cranmer. His collaboration with Henry VIII strikes me as immoral since I believe in the sanctity of marriage. Cromwell and Cranmer as a team definitely is a problem if one looks at Cromwell's bloody hand in Ireland.
Lent Madness opened with a tough one. Neither Thomas has a squeaky clean c.v., but the biblical witness is that God can bring good things by way of fallible human beings. I voted for Thomas Cranmer because he had the courage to die in possibly the most horrible way possible rather than live with his recantations. In the process he also had the courage to stand up to Mary 1, no shrinking violet. Thank you, Abp. Cranmer, for some of the most beautiful prayers in the English language..
It won’t let me vote
It did finally let me vote for Cranmer because the burned him at the stake. I can’t think of a more horrible way to die
I was tempted to vote for Thomas the Apostle to learn more juicy stories, but the reality is that without Thomas Cranmer we would have the beautiful liturgies that sooth our souls. But my interest is sparked to learn more about Thomas the Apostle.
Had to go with Thomas the Apostle because I really, really want to see those Gospels!
Is it time for Lent Madness again? Didn't we just have Lent last year? I was too charmed by the image of "angry priests with spears" not to vote for Thomas the Apostle. I get Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell mixed up. Therefore I am going with the Ur-Thomas, and I am going to quibble with the collect, because I think we all doubt. I don't doubt for a moment, however, that I will enjoy Lent Madness, and I thank all the bloggers for their participation. Let the presbyterical spear hurling begin!
I was beginning to panic that you weren't here! Thankfully, you are, & I can anticipate another year of Lent Madness made even more satisfying by the addition of your commentary. When I began Lent Madness, 10 or 11 yrs ago, I was living north of San Diego; moved to the eastern shore of Mobile Bay; now in Brighton, UK---all different time zones from LM. Happy to access it once again & fully prepared to lose 75% of all voting!
I had to try three different devices with different browsers to finally vote! Not possible to vote from email whatever system!
Not able to vote. please cast one for Thomas Cranmer.
I visited the shrine/Basilica of St. Thomas in Chennai, India, where I was told that Thomas was attacked and killed by a mob of Kali worshipers. The local religious establishment was not happy with the numbers of converts he was attracting, he was upsetting the local order of things- much like his "Lord and God" Jesus. So here's a vote for the Apostle with apologies to Bishop Cranmer. I love the BCP but St. Thomas is foundational.
Same trouble as many others, the website says I already voted.
Kept trying to vote, would not accept I was not a robot.
When I tried to vote, I got the message, vote not allowed??
I have visited the church and museum remembering Thomas in Chennai, India. Chennai is a center of Christianity in India (although still vastly in the minority. Christians in India are under increasing pressure from a government which has stated its goal of removing all other religions from the nation save Hinduism, so I commend Thomas the Apostle to us today.
Gotta vote for the Apostle, since it is my priesting day!
This is such a difficult choice. The Apostle shared so much information about Jesus' early life and vocalised doubts that many experience today. On the other hand, without Cranmer's efforts there would be no BCP, and the average non-Latin speaker would remain ignorant of much of the liturgy of the church.
I cast my vote for Cranmer. Without his efforts, the English-speaking church would be much poorer in its communal services.
For some reason my vote was not allowed. I only voted once. It was hard to get my choice to display correctly, so I did have to push the button several times, but only once for the capta button and only once on the vote button. Can you explain what I did wrong so I can participate the rest of Lent. I always enjoy Lent so much due to your terrific site and information on all the various saints.
Thank you.