251 comments on “Happy Nominationtide!”

1. I nominate St. Clare of Assisi ... oh, wait ... You said you had already used St. Claire of Assisi. Could there be two female Saints of Assisi or perhaps St. Claire of Assisi is a spelling error (tee-hee)

2. Nominating Mother Maria of the Open Door, a 20th century Orthodox martyr who established a convent in Paris which housed refugees, particularly Jews who were provided baptismal certificates to protect them from Nazi persecution. The convent also became a center for theological conversations. She was arrested and sent to Ravensbruch concentration camp, where she was gassed on Holy Saturday.

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3. I would like to nominate St. Columba. Not only is there a really nice hymn in the 1982 Episcopal hymnal with his name on it,Columba founded the monastery at Lindisfarne. This scenic Scottish coastal retreat provided Scott's and my Gunn ancestors with a lovely summer holiday location.
   Aut Pax,aut bellum!
   Sincerely,
   Mary Ellen Cook
   Deputy Commissioner
   Clan Gunn Society, North America
   St. Peter's Episcopal Church
   Kerrville, Texas

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4. I nominate the Martyrs of Lubeck (d. 10 Nov 1943 in Hamburg, Germany): Karl Stellbrink, Johannes Prassek, Eduard muller, and Hermann Lange, who gave their lives together in a matter of 10 minutes for their outspoken opposition to Naziism. Modern martyrs are a rare phenomenon, and an ecumenical group of martyrs is most unusual.

   For more information see the wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCbeck_martyrs

   and the website at https://www.luebeckermaertyrer.de/en/index.html

5. For your respectful consideration I would like to nominate St. Jude Thaddeus, Apostle and Patron Saint of Hopeless and Lost Causes. I know St. Jude takes his mission seriously because I have pretty much been lost most of my life.

   Thank You St. Jude!

6. Archbishop Desmond Tutu
   He helped bring down South African apartheid and preached peace with the Dalai Lama.

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7. I nominate St. Edmund, the former patron saint of England. When the Vikings invaded East Anglia, the young king refused to renounce Christianity. The Vikings tied him to a tree and shot him full of arrows. They then cut off his head and threw it into the woods. When his followers searched for his head, they found it guarded by a wolf. His shrine at Bury St. Edmund's abbey was a place of pilgrimage for hundreds of years, and is the location of the actual signing of the Magna Carta. For his defense of Christianity and for the rights of the people signed at his shrine, St. Edmund deserves the Golden Halo.

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8. I nominate Jan Hus (John Hus) of Bohemia. He was the first church reformer. He spoke out against the sale of indulgences and believed that both the bread and the cup should be given to the congregation and not just to the priests. He was martyred for his beliefs in 1415 (burned at the stake) after being driven past the burning of all his published works on his way to the stake. He is "venerated" in the Moravian Church, although we do not call people saints in the way other faiths do. (Side Note: the Moravian Church actually began in Bohemia and not Moravia, so we should really be called the Bohemian Church. However, that would cause all sorts of wrong interpretations about our worship practices. Wink.)

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9. Once again, I propose Dr. Wilfred Thomason Grenfell who is remembered in the Episcopal Church on October 9, the date of his death in 1940. He brought the first medical care to the people of Labrador and northern Newfoundland, devoting his entire adult life to them. He travelled by dogsled in winter and hospital ship in summer to remote settlements and outports inaccessible by road. He was a gifted writer and fund raiser, and by the time of his death, there were 6 hospitals, 7 nursing stations. 4 hospital ships, and handicrafts industries that provided a means of income besides the seasonal fishery. He aspired to do what Jesus would have done if he had been a doctor, and I believe he did very well. I know you love wordplay, so I suggest you pair Wilfred against a certain female saint (can't say her name lest I be accused of nominating two saints) and voila! The Battle of the Freds, or Freddies if you prefer!

10. I would like to nominate Bishop Tutu for his living example in following Christ’s teaching and his untiring action for racial equality and peace in a very volatile world.

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11. I nominate Dorothy L. Sayers, whose writing I first learned to love from her mysteries featuring the noble sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, traveling salesman Montague Egg and numerous other interesting characters. I next read her translation of Dante (one of the few English translations in verse). In later years, I began to enjoy her essays ("Unpopular Opinions", "The Mind of the Maker", etc.) and Christian writing. However, I had not yet read (or heard) what I consider to be the work that places her squarely in line for the Golden Halo.
    In 1941-1942, during the darkest days of the Blitz, Sayers wrote a twelve-part radio play about Jesus of Nazareth's life and acts, "The Man Born to be King" for the BBC. It was controversial (among other things, some listeners considered it blasphemous to have an actor voice Jesus), yet it earned wide support from religious leaders, was broadcast in its entirety and received heartfelt approval from the BBC's listeners.
    This broadcast had an enormous impact during Britain's time of trial, and (if you are able to get a copy of the book or the recordings) will fundamentally affect your understanding of the Easter story today. C. S. Lewis himself wrote to Sayers that he listened to "The Man Born to be King" each Holy Week. I hope that those reading this post will take the trouble to locate either a library copy or a recording of "The Man Born to be King" and enjoy it.

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    1. I second this!

12. Elizabeth Fedde (1850– 1921), Deaconess, Norwegian Relief Society.
    Sister Elisabeth Fedde, a light of hope to the sick and suffering, was a woman of vision, character and enormous accomplishment. She answered God’s call to be a deaconess, left her home in Feda, Norway and received her training at the Deaconess Institute in Oslo. She came to Brooklyn, New York in 1883 after her brother-in-law challenged her to work among Norwegian sailors and immigrants. Her foresight, good humor, and sheer grit made it possible for her to lay the ground work for what are now large medical complexes in Brooklyn, Minneapolis, and Chicago. She founded the Lutheran Deaconess Home and Hospital (later the NYU Lutheran Medical Center) in Brooklyn and the Norwegian Lutheran Deaconess Hospitals in Chicago and Minneapolis. The roots of the Fairview Hospital system in Minnesotga and its nursing program go back to the 1888 establishment of a deaconess home on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis.
    In 1941 Sister Elisabeth was named by the Johnson and Johnson Company as one of twelve nursing pioneers in the world. She is commemorated every February 25 in the ELCA. In "Elisabeth Fedde: To Do the Lord’s Will," Gracia Grindal, Professor Emerita at Luther Seminary writes, “It is a legacy of surprising substance for a single woman of her time.”

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13. I nominate St. Hervé the Bard. Feast day June 17. He was a 6th century blind bard with a talking wolf and is the patron saint of the blind, bards, musicians, and eye disease. My son developed glaucoma as a teenager and St. Hervé and his wolf are our family's personal saint and mascot.

14. I nominate Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.
    Her shrine is located right down the road from my house in Emmitsburg MD.
    She inspired Father Guido Sarducci of Saturday Night Live to focus on "Forever" vs. "Forever and ever."
    On a more serious note, I met with a friend of mine one day at the Shrine to meditate. The two of us held hands and breathed our prayer out loud together for souls enduring strife and suffering in Ukraine. It was so powerful that we had to stop after a couple of minutes with tears running down our faces.
    Never doubt the Mystery of God is Real and reveals itself anywhere. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton's Shrine is indeed a holy place. Please include her in 2025 Lent Madness.

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15. I once again nominate St. Francisco Marto, one of the three shepherd children who saw Our Lady of Fatima nearly monthly from May to October, 1917. Francisco and his companions are proof that you do not have to be any age to be devoted followers of Jesus Christ. When I was confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church, I took his name in the hopes that I could live up to his devotion and piety, even as an adult.

    1. He is commemorated by the Roman Catholic Church every February 20.

16. Pope Francis led a canonization Mass for Mother Teresa in front of 120,000 faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on September 4, 2016 to name her a Saint.

    Has anyone offered up her name? She was alive during my lifetime and I would love to know more about her. I am not a catholic but admired her determination to serve.

    I suspect it would be easy to find kitch too.

17. I WANT TO NOMINATE JOHN LEWIS, A LEADER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND AN HONORABLE AND EFFECTIVE CONGRESSMAN FOR MOST OF HIS ADULT LIFE.

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18. St Gerard of Majella Patron Saint of Women and childbirth.I’m named for the his Saint.

19. St Harriet Bedell of Florida

20. Anne, Mother of Mary.
    In addition to being my confirmation namesake, Anne is the patron saint of pregnant women or those who wish to be pregnant, mothers and grandmothers. Advocating for women these days is a full time job and worthy of our admiration.

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21. I nominate St. Catherine of Labor. She is the patron saint of senior citizens, and there are plenty of Americans who are over 60. She is the woman to whom the Virgin Mary appeared and revealed the design of the miraculous medal. Though she lived in the 1800s her prayer is timeless and as relevant to our lives as it was to hers.

22. Laboure - autocorrect spelled it wrong in my comment

23. I nominate the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, champion of civil rights, women's rights, and justice for all. She was a poet, a legal scholar and attorney whose work and writings influenced Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, and an Episcopal priest--the first African-American "perceived as a woman" (I like that phrase in her bio on one of the web pages devoted to her life and work) to be ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. The US Mint recently honored her with a commemorative quarter--let's honor her with a Lent Madness nomination!

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24. I nominated Toyohiko Kagawa, but haven’t seen it posted yet, so I’m doing this from fb not e-mail. His day on the kalendar is April 24. A social reformer, 1960 according to his bio in the blue book, even his enemies came to him for assistance, he combined compassion, reform & peace. Thank you for your diversity in saintly selections. Thanks also for the Eastertide Devotional poster. I haven’t celebrated the 50 days before. ✝️ Hope I see this comment when I re-check back!

25. I nominate Hadewijch of Brabant! You could choose any of the Beguines, really -- lay women who weren't part of any official order, and yet ordered their own lives in community and in service to God and their fellow travelers on the Earth. Hadewijch's She was a poet and mystic, as well as a leader in her community.

26. I nominate James the Just. Not only was he the brother of our Lord but he lead the Church in Jerusalem from the earliest days until his martyrdom about 62 ad. Additionally, a letter attributed to him is in our Canon of the new testament.

27. Could you include twins? Cosmos and Damian had fascinating lives.

28. I nominate Aidan of Lindisfarne. He has not been seen in Lent Madness since the inaugural season of 2010 when he was paired against George Herbert in the first round. George went on to win the Golden Halo, so that was clearly an unfortunate and unfair pairing for Aidan. Bede lists Aidan's virtues as "his love of peace and charity; his continence and humility; his mind superior to anger and avarice, and despising pride and vainglory; his industry in keeping and teaching the heavenly commandments; his diligence in reading and watching; his authority becoming a priest in reproving the haughty and powerful, and at the same time his tenderness in comforting the afflicted, and relieving or defending the poor." But I must admit that this nomination is also a crass ploy to get the good people of my congregation, St. Aidan's, fired up about Lent Madness.

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29. I wish to nominate St. Frances Xavier Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who became the first American saint in the Catholic Church. Mother Cabrini was told to get on a boat and go back to Italy. She arrived in New York City to help the Italian immigrants who lived in poverty. Against much opposition Mother Cabrini established schools, orphanages, and medical care for the poor.

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30. My Lutheran 8-ball read “This is most certainly true”.