Well, friends, we've reached the end of our little romp through the saintly alphabet as Yvette of Huy takes on Zechariah. Luckily(?) for you, however, there are 32 saints in the first round and only 26 letters of the alphabet. So prepare to catch some ZZZZZs next week.
Yesterday, Francis Xavier left Wenceslaus out in the cold 64% to 36% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen.
This is, of course, the final matchup of the week. We'll see you first thing Monday morning as Katharina Zell takes on Zenaida.
Vote now!
Yvette of Huy
Born in 1158 into a wealthy family in Huy, Belgium, Yvette of Huy’s life “seemed to be planned out for her.”
“She was a daughter, then she would be a wife, then a mother, and if she were lucky she would live long enough perhaps to be a widow,” explains Lestra R. Atlas in “And She Learned from Experience: Motherhood and Womanhood in the Authority of Yvette of Huy” (10). By the time she turned eighteen, Yvette had checked all the boxes.
She’d already lost her husband, one of her three children and, as Atlas puts it, any clear road map for a young woman in medieval times. So she charted her own course. She went to Mass regularly, gave extravagantly to those who needed it, and declined offers to remarry.
But blazing new trails never comes without obstacles.
Yvette’s father—who had arranged her marriage against her will when she was thirteen—now took her youngest sons from her, concerned that she might give away all her children stood to inherit. He brought Yvette before the local bishop, thinking that he would encourage her to remarry. The bishop instead was moved by her prayers and consecrated her as a “holy widow.”
Still, sainthood seemed reserved for the virginal in the Middle Ages. And even though new monastic orders were proliferating amid the religious reforms of the time, many excluded women.
Finding “no real place for women,” in Atlas’s words (6), Yvette went to those who also found themselves on the margins of church and society. She spent ten years caring for people in a leper community in nearby Statte. Eventually, she became an anchoress, joining a growing, informal movement of women withdrawing from the world to live a solitary life of prayer. She was enclosed in a cell in the community’s chapel, where she remained until her death on January 13, 1228.
From her cell, Yvette reclaimed motherhood, miraculously leading her son Eustachius of Huy to the faith and becoming a spiritual mother to the community. Her reputation spread beyond the four walls that entombed her. Pilgrims traveled from across the Low Countries to seek her mystical insight and maternal wisdom.
Both Yvette and her son Eustachius are considered “blessed” by the Catholic Church, and her feast day is celebrated on January 13.
Collect for Yvette of Huy
O God, by whose grace your servant Yvette of Huy, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Zechariah
As Luke opens his Gospel, he is careful to tie the Christ event to Israel’s larger story. The first person we are introduced to is the aged priest, Zechariah.
Zechariah is identified as a priest during the reign of King Herod, descending from the priestly order of Abijah. He is married to Elizabeth, who shares priestly lineage as a descendent of Aaron. They are old and childless.
Zechariah is chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary to offer incense. As he makes the offering, the angel Gabriel appears to him with the promise of a child. Unsurprisingly, as often happens in these types of stories, Zechariah is incredulous, and asks Gabriel, “How can I know that this will happen?” before going on to note that he is an old man and that his wife, Elizabeth, “is getting on in years.” For his lack of belief, Gabriel makes him mute and deaf until the day “these things occur.”
Zechariah is slow to emerge from his service, leading people to wonder about the delay. When at long last he emerges, he cannot speak, and they realize that he has received a vision while in the sanctuary.
He returns home to Elizabeth and, as Gabriel promised, she conceives. Nine months later, after the baby is born, on the eighth day after his birth, Zechariah and Elizabeth take him to be circumcised. “They” (who “they” are is frustratingly ambiguous in Luke’s tale) insist that the baby be named Zechariah after his father, but Elizabeth repeatedly refuses, stating that his name be John, and in so doing, fulfills the words from Gabriel. Finally, Zechariah approaches them with a tablet, on which he writes, “His name is John.”
At this moment his lips are loosed, and he utters the beautiful Benedictus, echoing promises of God found in the Scriptures.
John the Baptist will grow to become an important prophet who prepares the way for the Messiah.
In a later, apocryphal text, the Gospel of James, Zechariah bravely refuses to tell Herod’s soldiers where his child is hidden during the Slaughter of the Innocents. In a rage, they kill him. (According to Muslim traditions, which consider him a prophet, some hold that he, like the prophet Isaiah, was sawn in half).
Collect for Zechariah
Almighty God, you have surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses: Grant that we, encouraged by the good example of your servant Zechariah, may persevere in running the race that is set before us, until at last we may with him attain to your eternal joy; through Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
62 comments on “Yvette of Huy vs. Zechariah”
His good news Zechariah did doubt;
As a warning, his speech was snuffed out.
So for him raise your voice,
And vote him this day’s choice;
For it’s John that this whole bout’s about.
I love the Collect for Yvette of Huy, so my vote goes to her.
Zechariah spent three months living with a woman in her third trimester and a woman in her first trimester. Being unable to speak at the time was probably a blessing.
Interesting. Zechariah, not a 'real' person is ahead of a courageous woman. Torn between a 😉 and 🙁
Voting for Yvette on the grounds that she cared for lepers. Not so much for the "entombed" part, which freaks me out. And Zechariah's fourth place role in the Advent narrative (behind his wife, his son, and his kinswoman Mary) is not enough to overcome the suspicion that his story is entirely legend.
It is hard today for women to carve out a space for themselves, how much harder in Yvette's day. My vote goes to her for her courage, her persistence, and her faithfulness, and for the many women like her whose stories are lost.
Vote for Yvette of huy
This is a tough one because Zechariah helps bring about John the Baptist and paves the way for Jesus. However, I'm moved by the fact that Yvette went to those who were on the margins of the church and society. They're often the ones who need help in some way and she was there for them.
another tough one. Yvette dealt with the difficulties for women in medieval times and achieved wonderful things for the church and humanity. But Zechariah is John the Baptist's father!! and died saving him from certain death..the implications are huge. How can that not be recognized??!! --)))
Yevette I my choice. I am crazy for Zachariah! And I am thrilled that he and Elizabeth conceived John at an old age. I can relate big time.
Ahh Yvette of Huy is burrowed into my heart. She has experienced great loss and great suffering. Yet she chooses an alternative life style and is generous, compassionate, and humble. She loves and serves without resentment. Her heart is transformed; perhaps she was always like that.
Luke does not say Zechariah became deaf, only mute. This appears to be an extrapolation from the neighbors' "making signs" to him. A more obvious interpretation is that this is humorous - people often falsely assume that muteness implies deafness (a trope of the Zorro story), just as tourists who don't speak the language of their hosts think speaking louder will make them understand.
A question about Yvette - why did she leave her charitable ministry for the anchorite's cell at age 30? Could it be that she had acquired the illness of those she served, whether Hansen's disease or something else?
I feel more weight to the more "real" person who endured so much for her faith. Fame doesn't hold as much weight.
As someone who was widowed at a relatively young age (and never remarried) by vote went to Yvette the "Holy widow".
Maybe Zechariah would have had more children, if he was silenced sooner!
My vote is for Yvette.
Voting for Yvette today, who had the strength of spirit to make her own way, after having everything chosen for her in her youth. I too kind of cringe at the "entombed part, but the rest shows a woman of spirit, and even that was her choice. I like having choices....
I have been playing Lent Madness for a number of.years now and never had a problem. This year has been AWFUL. I wasn’t allowed to vote for at least five different days. I am firmly convinced that Felicity lost her round because those of us who tried to vote for her weren’t allowed to vote. This morning I have finally given up trying to vote for Yvette. I hate to think that Lent Madness is “fixed,” but what else am I supposed to think? This year hasn’t been fun. I will continue to read the posts because I enjoy learning about the saints. However, I am finished even trying to vote.
Yvette’s work with the poor and lepers is more than impressive. Remember how women were chained by cultural conventions and Yvette found her way around the obstacles.
Why is Zechariah not a real person?
Tough choices, but my vote goes to Yvette of Huy because of her courage and generosity towards the leper community.
Zechariah's biggest action based on his faith in God was to write "His name is John," after having been given an unmistakable "sign" (i.e., his muteness foretold by the angel).
Come on, vote for Yvette! She devoted her life to Jesus, demonstrating great faith without having been given a sign (at least, as far as this write-up shows). She made a place for herself as a holy widow with no help but her prayers and devotion to the Lord.
I like both these figures. I was all set to vote for Yvette, as a woman who went her own way. But the vision of Zechariah was compelling to me. Something happened in the sanctum, and Zechariah was part of a miracle. And out of the miracle emerged John the Baptizer, a confrère of Jesus. I am reminded that humans are meant to be in community. Part of what makes people great (for good or ill) is the quality of community they belong to. Sometimes people have to create their own community (maybe by carving out a cell in the midst of need); others, like Jesus, are lucky to have been born into a charismatic and powerful family nexus. Jesus didn’t just show up all on his own; many people had primed the pump. Zechariah’s vision must have been remarkable.
Since I started participating in Lent Madness, I have been fascinated by anchoresses. I have often wondered about their calling and their lives. Of course, most if not all those who feel called to live their lives locked in an anchorage would have come from wealth in order to cover their care and feeding expenses by the monastery.
That not withstanding, I felt "called" to vote for Zachariah.
Voting for Yvette in honor of the Ven. Yvette Owens of the Diocese of Georgia
David Creech, in his description of Zechariah's encounter with the angel, says Zechariah was struck deaf and mute. Luke 1 mentions only that Zechariah could not speak. Which is it?
For the Benedictus.
I have long been moved by Zechariah's story. How can Zechariah know that it was really God speaking to him and not just his imagination? The sign that God gives him is silence. There's a poetry in that that speaks to me.
So frustrating to be able to vote one day (yesterday) and not the next (today). But I did prove I am not a robot, although no one will know that because I couldn’t vote. Sigh. I would have voted Zechariah, mostly because he protected his son from the slaughter.
The Gospel of Luke is my favourite of the four gospels and the story of the faith of both Zechariah and Elizabeth is profound - not to mention their son's story. All in all, however, I found the story of Yvette of Huy more compelling. As a wife/mother/widow (even though, thank God, widowhood came much later for me than age 18!), I can identify, and the fact that her faith never wavered even when her father took her sons from her, fearful that she would give away their inheritance, is touching. She went right on doing good works, tending lepers and devoting herself to a life of prayer.Yvette all the way today.
Today was the first day this year that I read the comments before voting. A hard choice. I ended up voting for Yvette because of her life of service in many different ways after the life that had been programmed for her ran out early. One thing I have always liked about the story of Zechariah, however. How did Elizabeth know to name her son John? Zechariah couldn't tell her about his vision. He must have written it out, which means she must have been able to read. That's pretty remarkable for a woman of those times. I've often wondered if through all those years of childlessness, it wasn't Zechariah himself who taught her to read.
The voting tabs have been greyed out this week and I’ve not been able to vote. Can you fix the glitch?