And...we're back for the first full week of saintly action as Gregory the Great squares off against Hugh of Lincoln!
In the only Saturday matchup of the season, Elizabeth of Hungary snatched a spot in the Saintly Sixteen by soundly defeating Felicity 70% to 30%.
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Gregory the Great
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, who thereupon retires to a monastery, must not be in want of a papacy. Yet if history teaches us but one thing, it is that the church often tends to come calling for leadership from those who sought to eschew the trappings of power and privilege. Such it was with Gregory I, one of only two popes to carry the title of “the Great.” The son of a Roman senator and a prefect of Rome, he sold his vast estates for the benefit of the poor and the foundation of monasteries—one of which he himself entered in 573. Later in life, Gregory would be filled with nostalgia for his austere life, and rightly so, seeing as his time in the monastery would last only six years.
Gregory was called by the pope to serve as Ambassador to Constantinople in 579; after six years of service in Byzantium, he returned to Rome, and again attempted to return to monastic life as the abbot of a monastery, convinced that the future of Christianity lay with monasticism rather than with the declining powers of empire. Although he had aspirations of leading missionaries to work among the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, he was elected as Bishop of Rome and became Pope Gregory I in 590. (Gregory would later send the monk Augustine to the Anglo Saxons in 596, earning him the title of “Apostle of the English.”)
Gregory inherited charge over the church in a stressful time. He had to organize the defense of Rome against invaders and arrange for its feeding from the riches of papal granaries away from the city. In 592, separately from the permission of the emperor, he made peace with the invaders and appointed Church governors to manage Italian towns and estates during the breakdown in imperial authority amid the crumbling Eastern empire.
Gregory’s impact on the church was profound. He set in motion the systematization and ordering of the Western liturgy—including in the codification and adaptation of preexisting forms of plainsong into what we now know as “Gregorian Chant.” He wrote the earliest account of the life of Benedict of Nursia, spurring the greater adoption of his rule among monastic communities. His Book of Pastoral Rule became a classic text on the work of ministry and is still commonly loved.
For all of Gregory’s centrality to the restoration of the Western church among the ruins of empire, it is his humility that is long remembered. A title he assumed for himself alone was later adopted for future Bishops of Rome—servus servorum Dei— servant to the servants of God.”
Collect for Gregory the Great
Almighty and merciful God, you raised up Gregory of Rome to be a servant of the servants of God, and inspired him to send missionaries to preach the Gospel to the English people: Preserve in your church the catholic and apostolic faith they taught, that your people, being fruitful in every good work, may receive the crown of glory that never fades away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Hugh of Lincoln
Hugh of Lincoln is the patron saint of many important things like cobblers and sick children, but, critically, he is also the patron saint of swans. Hugh is said to have had such companionship with the animals of the bishops’ palace in Lincon that wild swans would eat out of his hand and one white swan would follow him all around the grounds.
Long before the bishops’ palace in the mid-twelfth century, young Hugh was known to hold towels for his mother, Anne de Theys, as she washed the sores of lepers, which was undoubtedly a formative experience of faith in action. After his mother’s death, he was sent to a religious community, where he began to follow the Rule of St. Augustine. While not exactly a monastic community, this community dedicated their life to prayer, to service, and to the people of the churches around them. Hugh thrived and became a deacon while there, but ultimately desired a more secluded life of prayer and became a Carthusian monk in 1163, shortly after which he was ordained as a priest.
Hugh’s compassion, warmth, and humor flowed out of his conviction and work in the monastery to his fellow brothers, and even King Henry II soon learned of Hugh’s reputation. Henry II was desperately seeking repentance after Thomas Beckett’s death and was insistent that such a notable and faithful leader as Hugh come to be the prior of the Witham Charterhouse, the first Carthusian monastery in England: a truly great honor.
But Hugh’s motivation since his childhood of holding towels for his mother as she wiped the sores of lepers was never about seeking honor, and so he turned it down. It took two bishops whom he respected to talk him into it and he went to England in 1179. The focus of his work when he arrived was the condition of the hazardous living quarters for the monks and the lack of provision for the peasants who had been displaced to build this monastery. Rather than chastise the king when he happened upon him hunting on the grounds next to the monastery, he invited the king into a life of prayer for the people and for his own soul. Hugh was elected as Bishop of Lincoln in 1186, and after his death in 1200, he was canonized in 1220 and is celebrated on November 17th.
Hugh of Lincoln: patron saint of cobblers, sick children and people, and swans; friend to animals, peasants, and his fellow monks. He was faithful, prayerful, dedicated, and unyielding to his calling and work.
Collect for Hugh of Lincoln
Holy God, who endowed your servant Hugh of Lincoln with wise and cheerful boldness, and taught him to commend the discipline of holy life to kings and princes: Grant that we also, rejoicing in the Good News of your mercy, and fearing nothing but the loss of you, may be bold to speak the truth in love, in the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
96 comments on “Gregory the Great vs. Hugh of Lincoln”
I am brand new to Lent Madness....Loved the write up of Hugh of Lincoln
I've been enjoying Lent Madness for several years now, and have always received the email to vote the morning of. The 1st day of voting this year, I received the email late on Friday, not Ash Thursday, then Fridays vote on Saturday. I have not received mine for today. I voted by going to the website and voting there. Is it my email provider (comcast) or something on your end? Just curious.
I voted for Hugh by the way for his lifelong humbleness and, of course, the swans!
They both sound like great guys, but I had to go with Hugh, the fellow who is the Patron Saint of Swans. And how cool that even wild swans liked him and followed him around. Swans are gorgeous, but fierce & can be aggressive.
Becca, your penultimate sentence sealed the deal with my vote. Thank you.
I love them both but I "voted for Hugh, too". I often vote for the underdog
I voted for Hugh as you asked me to do.
It wasn't a difficult choice.
He was a good man who was beloved by swans,
So, my vote just gave him a voice.
Hugh...warm, compassionate, personable...just the priest for a king desperately in need of forgiveness and redemption. Despite his desire for a low profile, he meets the priestly challenge, later to become Bishop. Gregory, despite his attempts to abandon privilege and power into which he was born, becomes Bishop and Pope. He has to contend with invasions, "crumbling" social structures and the church in need of systemic change. "Great" gets my vote. (Did 6th century Gregorian Chant play a role in changes to our brains? There's a lot of research on music and our brains. See: "I Heard There Was A Secret Chord: Music As Medicine" by Daniel Levitin, if interested.
@poetpotterpriest
I cannot "reply" to you. But thank you for the reminder that people in positions of institutional authority often begin to protect the institution instead of the people that institution is supposed to serve. I think of Jesus' temptations at the beginning of Lent: "It would be so easy to solve the world's problems if I only allied with this amoral venture capitalist Satan. That money would help the poor! It's almost a sin to turn it down!" To leave the institution "vulnerable" while pursuing mission must seem risky indeed. And yet it seems to me that good churches do that, and we must keep on doing that. It's not easy . . .
I could never vote for Gregory. He’s the one who started that nasty rumor that Mary Magdalene was, in today’s parlance, a sex worker. Shame on him! She was the first evangelist. Jesus chose her for his first appearance!
So happy to have been able to vote from my ipad! Saints be praised, as it were. Another hard choice, but today I went for Hugh, as I seek to model the behavior I wish to see,
I couldn't vote for Gregory as he was the one who declared Mary Magdalene a "sinful Woman," and the idea of a prostitute stuck through the generations. Obviously he did many good things, but that one, because of its far reaching consequences prevented my vote.
I can not vote. The app doesn’t accept my vote. ( I’m using an iPad).
I voted for Hugh of Lincoln, because I refuse to vote for the man who named Mary Magdalene a prostitute.
Greg all but successfully destroyed Insular Christianity in his attempt to impose the imperial patriarchal order of the Roman Catholic Church on Britain and Ireland. Hugh, one of our own, gets my vote.
Gregory the not-so-great is the man responsible for conflating Saint Mary of Magdala with the woman caught in sin, causing us to have Magdalene homes for fallen women for the next 1500 years or so. The Roman Church has repented and declared her an apostle on par with the others, but it is difficult to undo an error from so high a level so long ago. Fortunately, the Orthodox Church has declared her Apostle to the Apostle and Queen of the Apostles.
Oh, and I totally forgot that Greg the Not So Great was the misogynistic jerk who discredited Mary Magdalene's discipleship for all time by falsely portraying her as a happy hooker. Yet another strike against him.
I can’t vote for Gregory knowing that his conflation of biblical women led to centuries of misinformation about Mary Magdalene that continues to this day.
I swear I only voted once but my comment didn’t take! We sang the Great Litany Sunday do Gregory got my vote !
I can't vote.
No fair! Your voting algorithm won’t let me vote for Gregory. Has Big Lincoln had its thumb on the scales?
As a singer, I have always loved Gregorian chant. Gregory, as an early leader in the church, set important precedents for future Popes. However, having visited Lincoln and its beautiful cathedral with all its history, and learning about Hugh’s ministry to the sick, I had to vote for Hugh. Oh, and also his love of swans spoke to me, as today we are seeing a comeback of the endangered trumpeter swans of North America. Caring for creation and the animals in it is part of our calling as people of God.
Gregorian chant, or someone whose piety swayed the swans so that they followed him? (Swans can be SO nasty!) I had to go with Hugh of Lincoln.
I noticed things in your description of Gregory the Great, things that we may need today: Gregory organized defense and arranged for feeding the poor from the granaries, made peace and appointed governors to manage towns and estates during the breakdown in authority. As our own gov't becomes less able, we may need people like Gregory today, not seizing power for the sake of power, but for the safety and well-being of ordinary people.
But even more impressive was that Gregory didn't focus exclusively on secular world management, but set in motion the systematization and ordering of the Western liturgy, to "preserve the brand consistency" and assure the continuance of the church's first responsibility to worship, including the preservation of beauty in what we now know as “Gregorian Chant.”
It had to be Gregory; otherwise my brother would never forgive me!
I knew I had to vote for Hugh as soon as I read his bio. Someone who was dedicated to the welfare of animals will always get my vote. Assisting his mother who treated lepers is also a rare quality.
Gregory is the lead, but Hugh has my vote!
Tough choice today. I admire Hugh for his caring for animals and sick persons. Both he and Gregory did not seek the power and riches of high places in the church, but both were called to bring their humble preferences to high positions. I ended up voting for Gregory, who did so much to bring liturgy and music to the Church, and who sent missionaries to England. May those in power in the Church today emulate both of these saintly men.
Is there a reason why all the pictures of the saints beside their bios are in black and white and not colour? Or is this some tech-glitch that only I am experiencing?
Feeling sure Gregory "the great" would win, I had to vote for Hugh! Hugh helping his Mother with lepers, the apple did not fall far from the tree - and as a Mom, so proud!
PS I was right about Gregory! LOL
Gregory gave us Gregorian Chant
Tough choice between music and animals
Both are things that draw me closer to God
and how God communicates with me.
I voted for Hugh mainly because I am voting against Gregory. I used to love Gregory the Great, mostly because he started Gregorian Chant, until recently when I found out that he is also the reason celibacy is required for Catholic priests. Before him priests were allowed to have families. However, Gregory the Great became concerned that when the priests died they were leaving too much money to their families and not enough money to the church, so he decided they should no longer be allowed to have families. Not only do I think the reasoning behind the celibacy is suspect, I also think the celibacy requirement has led to a lot of problems for the church…