On this second day of Lent Madness 2025, we continue our alphabetical journey through the bracket as Emily Cooper faces off against Dunstan. 19th century American deaconess vs. 10th century English bishop. In other words, the kind of wacky matchup you will only find right here at Lent Madness.
Yesterday, Athanasius of Alexandria deterred Richard Meux Benson 61% to 39% to become the first saint to advance to the Saintly Sixteen. Yes, there were a few Opening Day glitches, but in the end, everyone's votes got counted -- despite the occasional error message. Thanks for your forbearance as we continue to address issues as they arise.
We're excited to offer another fun and helpful resource created by Lent Madness super fan Lindsey Hardegree. Click here to download a free template to help you track your saintly predictions, keep notes on saints that particularly inspire you, and keep a personal record Lent Madness history. Thanks, Lindsey!
And don't forget that tomorrow is the ONLY Saturday matchup of the season as Elizabeth of Hungary takes on Felicity. After this matchup, all voting will take place exclusively on the weekdays of Lent (it's a math thing, you wouldn't understand).
Time to vote!
Emily Cooper
Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, is the final resting place for many historical figures. Harlan Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken; Muhammad Ali; and Patty Hill, composer of the song Happy Birthday, all have prominent grave markers at Cave Hill.
In an older part of the cemetery is the grave of Emily Cooper. She served as one of the early deaconesses trained and commissioned out of St. Mary’s Church in Brooklyn, New York. A forty-four-year-old widow, Emily relocated to her native Kentucky after her commissioning and, in 1880, became the first director for The Home of the Innocents in Louisville, Kentucky.
This Home provided a safe place for infants and small children who were abused, orphaned, or abandoned. Children whose parents could not rear them, because of the systemic pressures that created mass poverty, also came to live at the Home. Local hospitals and orphanages frequently sent infants who had been left, often to die, to the Home so that they would be loved in their final weeks and months. Many children were simply placed in baskets on the front steps of the Home. Regardless of how they arrived, Emily and the many women who worked there nurtured, cared for, and loved the children. She oversaw the creation and development of the first kindergarten in Kentucky.
Emily named the infants who arrived nameless. She created a community that loved them and protected them in a culture that too often saw the poorest children as disposable. She assisted at the baptism of almost three hundred of the children at the Home. And she cared for those who were dying until they drew their final breath. Under her guidance, the Home became one of the leading charity organizations in Louisville and remains a vital ministry today.
Two hundred and twenty of the children who died at the Home are buried, along with Sister Emily, at Cave Hill Cemetery. While records indicate the plots, most of the graves are unmarked. Two sculptures of Deaconess Emily mark the area. In one, she is holding an infant heavenward, and the infant is releasing a dove. The other is of Deaconess Emily shaking out a blanket with a butterfly pattern, with the butterflies coming to life and ascending to God. Its base has the names of the children buried in the plot, as well as an inscription to those children whose names are known to God alone.
Collect for Emily Cooper
God of the holy innocents, we thank you for the motherly witness of your deaconess Emily Cooper, who, in naming and baptizing, did not forget the children: Draw our hearts and minds also to the plight of little ones, always remembering your Son’s teaching that in receiving a little child in his name, we receive Christ himself, who lives and reigns with you and the Spirit, as one, caring for ever and ever. Amen.
Dunstan
Dunstan is an incredible English saint. He was a monk, bishop, and statesman.
Dunstan was born in 909. He studied under Irish monks and excelled in all forms of learning and craftsmanship. He ultimately was tonsured and came into the service of King Æthelstan.
Dunstan quickly became one of the king’s most favored of the court. His jealous peers accused him of witchcraft and magic, and he was expelled from the court. As he left, he was savagely beaten, bound, and thrown into a cesspool. He managed to drag himself to the house of a friend before he made his escape to Winchester.
As Dunstan recovered in Winchester, the Bishop of Winchester encouraged him to become a monk. Dunstan resisted the call, fearing that celibacy would be too much to bear. He developed sores all over his body (maybe because he was bound and thrown into a cesspool???) He saw this as a sign and accepted the call, taking holy orders in 943.
He built a small cell (just five feet by two-and-a-half feet) and began his monastic life. There are many legends of Dunstan wrestling with the devil in that tiny space. In one story, he was tempted by the devil and resisted him by holding his face with hot tongs. The folk rhyme reads,
Saint Dunstan, as the story goes,
Once pull’d the devil by the nose
With red-hot tongs, which made him roar,
That he was heard three miles or more.
(For more of these fun tales, be sure to vote Dunstan into the Saintly Sixteen!)
Dunstan eventually became Bishop of Worcester, then of London, before becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury. He also eventually returned to court, serving as Minister of State to multiple kings. His work with King Edgar is often seen as a golden age for England.
He worked to rebuild the monastic movement in England, built and restored churches, cared for those who were poor, and established schools and even taught young schoolboys.
After the assassination of King Edward, Dunstan retired and focused his remaining days on ministry. Dunstan died May 19, 988, and was canonized in 1029. He is a patron saint of goldsmiths and silversmiths.
Collect for Dunstan
Direct your Church, O Lord, into the beauty of holiness, that, following the good example of your servant Dunstan, we may honor your Son Jesus Christ with our lips and in our lives; to the glory of his Name, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
182 comments on “Emily Cooper vs. Dunstan”
The graves of indigenous children in Canada has proven false. Excavations have found no graves. The church was wrongly accused.
Love Emily's heart and compassion.
John Cabot, another masterful limerick! However, it wasn't enough to regret my vote for Emily. I found Dunstan's story interesting, but it didn't move me like Emily's. Imagine caring for AND burying 300 children! Most parents can barely bury one. She was an amazing woman.
This is the second day, I have not been able to make a direct reply to someone.
I can’t get my vote accepted. Please add my vote for Emily Cooper
Is it just me or is the “reply” button not functioning?
Today's choice was a little tougher for me than yesterday's, but I finally came down on the side of Emily. I already knew Dunstan's story, but Emily was unknown to me until today. While I was reading Laurie Brocks mini-bio of Emily, I could hear Jesus saying, "Even as you did it to the least of these you did it to me." Thank you for introducing me to Emily Cooper, who never achieved the heights that Dunstan did, but lived a life of love and service.
Laurie Brock's write-up for Emily Cooper literally brought tears to my eyes. I may have already found my fave for the Golden Halo!
Why can I not vote
How sad to think I had never heard of Emily Cooper until today. So happy to have learned her story
Now that I have voted for her, I long to know whether Emily Cooper's ministry extended to children of color.
Can you explain how to enter ones selections onto - the chart to keep your voting record. The template supplied does not give direction and my tech-inability cannot figure it out. More user friendly details needed.
Deaconess Emily has my vote today!
Expecting Dunstan to be the underdog I was saddened but not surprised to see how far he lagged behind the redoubtable Emily. He won my vote because we are so sorely in need of people of great learning and statecraft able to influence governance for good today.
I agree, the multiple-picture captcha routine is excessive. Never seen that before! But thanks for all the new saints you're teaching me about. I voted St. Dunstan as the patron of our church, but Emily is superb & gets my vote next time. (That cemetery is lovely.)
I'm loving John Cabot's limericks. Also like the suggestion that the two biographies on any given day be written by the same person, to level the playing field.
From what I have picked up about Dunstan from the rector of a church named for him, there is a lot more that could be said about him than appears in today's profile.
Supreme Executive Committee: WHY does your site have so many glitches year after year???
I never seem to have any trouble, probably because I am using my laptop rather than a tablet or phone. But obviously, many others are stymied.
Surely you guys could do more thorough testing before rolling the site out on Ash Thursday every year. You've got months and months to do it.
As worthy as Dunstan is, I had to vote for Emily. Her story made me cry.
Carol Ann, good suggestion!
Having the same person write the biography could make a difference. It often happens in the later rounds that the same person has written the bio. I think, as many have seen in past years the more modern saints have more factual information than the older or ancient saints. I'm not a writer, but creating a compelling bio of someone that we only have a few sentences that may or may not be true must be hard especially when in competition with someone who had pretty meticulous records kept.
I just voted for Dunstan, whose saints day is May 19, my birthday date. But I’ve always loved him because he is responsible for the revival of monastic life for women, and more “elaborate and carefully ordered liturgical worship”. Episcopal liturgy is probably a big reason my southern Baptist parents became Episcopalian in 1950. But I also applaud Dunstan as patron saint of all craftsmen, particularly bells. So for all bell ringers, including handbells, I cast my vote for Dunstan.
Haven't had any issues voting, using Chrome on a non-Mac laptop and also Chrome on an Android phone. (Not on the same day!) However, the "reply" doesn't work. I posted a reply to an early comment and the reply was posted all the way at the bottom of the 92 comments. Is it possible to go back to threaded replies, please?
And both saints today have arguments for them -- and I bet Dunstan would run circles around Emily if he made it to the third round. How much kitsch could you find for Duncan vs. kitsch for Emily? Tongs for the schnozz of Him Down Below vs. a onesie with Emily's image on it. No contest.
I really dislike the new feature that shows later comments first and having to keep hitting the "older comments" after lots of scrolling. John Cabot gives us memorable limericks or poems, which I love, and he always comments early. I don't get up and vote early now that I'm retired but this new comments scheme makes it a real difficulty to see those early comments
I'd love to hear more fun stories of Dunstan, but Deacon Emily gets my vote.
I was adopted at 3 months old from The Cradle in Evanston, Illinois. Who knows where I would be without the work of the Emilys of this world? My biological mother, whoever she was, indicated that I had to be adopted by an Episcopal Family. I was and as it turns out, I was called to be an Episcopal Priest mid-life. Thank you God for Emily and you have my vote!
It is a math thing, we wouldn’t understand??? Excuse me?? Some of Episcopalians are actually mathematicians, scientists or teachers, you know!
My bracket is unbroken(if the voting keeps going as it is). Great writing, Laurie Brock!
What is supposed to happen after I tap “vote? (The word vote seems highlighted but the “number of votes cast” doesn’t change and there is no indication my vote was accepted.)
Lent Madness has been my discipline since it began and this is the first time I have had a concern! Keep it coming though - I love to learn and meet new saintly folks!
I voted for Emily not just because the state of Kentucky is a very spiritual area. Our pastor here in Central Florida is originally from Kentucky, as was her mother who was also a Kentuckian (Methodist) pastor. The famous Trappist monk Thomas Merton, stayed in a monastary just 42 miles from Cave Hill, KY. And who can mention Kentucky without acknowledging that great Disciple of Christ/Presbyterian clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, of Christian County, KY.
Emily gets my vote. Suffer the little children. Remember Gaza.
"Conquer" and "honker"--I love it! Thank you, John, you brighten my day even further.
AFter reading about EMily Cooper, Dunstan had a hard act to follow. --))