We're back! Welcome to the opening matchup of Lent Madness 2025 or, if you speak Latin in the home, Lent Madness XVI. This year we're going A to Z with our saints, and we kick things off with Athanasius of Alexandria vs. Richard Meux Benson (that's the A vs. B, for the alphabetically challenged). Of course, these two saints are much than their letter lineage. But that's what our amazing Celebrity Bloggers are here for -- to bring to life the varied aspects of our saintly lineup over the coming weeks.

If you’re a veteran of the Saintly Smackdown, we’re delighted you’re back for another year of saintly thrills and spills. If you’re joining us for the first time, we’re especially glad you’re along for this wild penitential ride. If you’re curious about what this is all about, or you've been coerced into participating by a friend, spouse, or member of the clergy, check out the About Lent Madness tab on the website. We assure you this is not fake news about a fake online Lenten devotion. Lent Madness is a real thing!

To experience the fullness of the Lent Madness experience, the Supreme Executive Committee (the somewhat benevolent dictatorship that runs this whole enterprise) encourages you to do several things. First, "like" Lent Madness on Facebook. 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 (near the top right). Third, you can support the ministry of Lent Madness by heading over to the Lentorium and purchasing Lent Madness swag, thereby impressing everyone in your virtual pew.

But mostly, we encourage you to read about the 32 saints participating in this year’s edition of Lent Madness, 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. If you’re wondering when your favorite saint will be competing – in order to rally your friends and neighbors (creative campaigning is encouraged, voter fraud is not) – you can check out the 2025 Matchup Calendar.

To aid in your enjoyment of Lent Madness this year, check out two excellent resources created by fans. Fr. David Simmons has once again created printable stickers for use on your giant bracket posters. You can print these stickers on standard Avery labels. Download for free here and here. And as the Supreme Executive Committee highlighted in this week's Monday Madness, you can also use these fantastic Lent Madness trading cards created by Allison Bird Treacy.

Now, go cast your VERY FIRST VOTE of Lent Madness 2025!

Athanasius of Alexandria
If the story of a bishop’s life includes five separate periods of exile, four depositions from their see, and a nickname that explicitly points to their contrary nature, they either are doing a whole lot of damage or a self-sacrificial amount of good. In the case of Athanasius of Alexandria in the fourth century, whose ministry changed the course of the church’s development, his story was a marker of his devotion to the full divinity of Jesus Christ.

Athanasius was born in the Mediterranean port of Alexandria in 295, receiving a good classical education before becoming both a deacon and a secretary to the local bishop. To say he was noticed is an understatement—his opposition to Arius, whose denial of the eternity and full divinity of the Second Person of the Trinity was becoming quite trendy among those close to the Emperors Constantine and Constantius, was profound. In 325, Athanasius attended the Council of Nicaea. Athanasius was successful in his advocacy—in the creed which first took shape after Nicaea and was then perfected at the Council of Constantinople in 381, the phrase “of one Being with the Father” removed all doubt as to the full divinity of God the Son.

Athanasius would become Bishop of Alexandria in 328, and would continue fearlessly in his defense of Nicene Christology against powerful opposition. He would be driven from Alexandria no less than five times under orders from emperors and others in power. Often left to seemingly stand alone, he was coined as being “Athanasius contramundum”—Athanasius against the world.

Yet he didn’t cease to write. From 339 to 359, he wrote, and wrote, and wrote some more—always defending the faith proclaimed at Nicaea and the divinity of God the Son. His most famous work, De Incarnatione, expounds on how God the Word, by the Incarnation, restores to a fallen humanity the image of God in which we were created. A popular turn of phrase from this magisterial work was that “God became as we are that we might become as God is”—speaking to the reconciling work of God in and through Jesus Christ. From 361 until his death in 373, Athanasius sought to reconcile differing understandings of the Nicene term “homoousios” (of one substance), including in the Council of Alexandria in 362. That same council also sought to clarify differing interpretations of the terms “hypostasis” (translated “person”) and “ousia” (or “substance”).

By the time of his final exile, Athanasius had become so popular among Alexandrines that he would be brought back into his see one final time in order to avoid civil insurrection. He was against the world no more.

Collect for Athanasius of Alexandria

O Lord, who established your servant Athanasius, through wisdom, in your truth: Grant that we, perceiving the humanity and divinity of your Son Jesus Christ, may follow in his footsteps and ascend the way to eternal life, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

— David Sibley

Richard Meux Benson

Richard M. Benson was a priest in the Church of England and founder of the Society of John the Evangelist (SSJE). He was born to a wealthy English family in 1824. Benson’s mother Elizabeth formed his faith from an early age. She belonged to the Clapham Sect, an early nineteenth-century Evangelical movement focused on a personal relationship with God, and which advocated for social justice issues, including the abolition of slavery. The importance of personal prayer life and social justice work would remain cornerstones of Benson’s faith throughout his life.

SSJE was the first male monastic order in the Anglican Communion since King Henry VIII had dissolved the monasteries in the 1530s.

He made his monastic promises against a backdrop of unprecedented societal change and contradiction: the promises of technological innovation contrasted against growing socio-economic disparity, presenting new questions for the Church. This era formed Benson as a young man when he attended Christ Church, Oxford, and met other churchmen listening for God’s call. Together, their theological explorations and reactions to the time led to the “Oxford Movement.”

The Oxford Movement was characterized by “high church” piety—doctrine and liturgical practices that  drew freshly upon pre-Reformation and contemporary Roman Catholic traditions—and social outreach to the poor and marginalized.

After his Oxford studies, Benson served as a parish priest in Cowley, England. Over the years, inspired by his mother and the Oxford Movement, Benson discerned a greater call to two interrelated purposes: deep prayer and mission to the wider community. Reaching into pre-Reformation English traditions, he invited other men into monastic life. He founded SSJE with the Cowley Brothers as both a contemplative and mission-focused community. Silence, retreat, and the singing of the Daily Office were elemental to the brothers’ practice together. Out of this prayer, they engaged in mission to the poor and marginalized. Throughout the nineteenth century, under Benson’s leadership, SSJE participated in a global missionary movement and planted communities in the United States, India, and South Africa. Benson died in 1915. Today, the brothers of SSJE are based primarily in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they welcome visitors for worship and retreat.

Collect for Richard Meux Benson

Gracious God, who kindled in your servants Richard Meux Benson and Charles Gore the grace to lead a revival of monastic life: Grant us also the resolve to serve you faithfully in contemplation and prayer, ministering to the world that you have made, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

— Ellie Singer