Next up in the Elate Eight is the highly anticipated matchup between two modern saints, Emily Cooper and Sundar Singh. Good luck choosing between these two!
Yesterday, Zechariah narrowly defeated Irenaeus 52% to 48% to snag the first spot in the Faithful Four.
Here's your Daily Lenten Showdown...
Vote now!
Emily Cooper
Emily Cooper, Deaconess and Saint, spent her adult life dedicated to the children of Louisville, Kentucky. Because she is a fairly recent saint in the calendar of saints and a modern saint, the traditional saintly kitsch – garden statues, gilded devotional candles, and fringed holy pillows – is somewhat lacking.
Never fear, though. Another Emily Cooper, who is better known as Emily in Paris, inspires us to take a look at the saintly Emily Cooper’s beloved Kentucky. Without further adieu, we present Emily in Kentucky.
Emily was a woman of her time in one of Kentucky’s premier cities, Louisville. She graced the Episcopal Church’s General Convention held in Louisville this past summer, where she soundly defeated several other notable Kentucky saints to be included in Lent Madness. Here she is hanging out with Thomas Merton, another Kentucky saint, as she shares how she won the General Convention saintly smackdown. Go Emily!
Emily lived in Louisville. During her lifetime, a new game was taking the United States by storm – baseball. Baseball and Emily both had a profound impact on Louisville. Emily through her ministry with the Home of the Innocents and baseball with the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory. You can almost imagine Deaconess Emily and the other deaconesses playing a great game of baseball on a warm Kentucky evening.
Emily’s Kentucky is rich in kitsch, but the Vent Haven Ventriloquism Museum has been named by several notable sources as the kitschiest (or creepiest) in the state. Over 1,100 dummies grace the walls of this museum, all ready to creep you out and invite you to pray none of them come alive and follow you home.
Emily’s Kentucky was and remains horse country. Kentucky is among the top five states for horse breeding and training. Emily without a doubt would have known of the annual Kentucky Derby, run not far from her residence in Louisville. While Emily’s habit would have been her Derby Day finest, you could wear these stunning earrings to watch the horses Run for the Roses.
Horses and holiness and Kentucky are almost the complete summary of Kentucky.
Almost.
Kentucky has been a major distiller of bourbon since, well, bourbon was a thing. Emily and everyone else in Louisville would have been aware of the major impact bourbon distilling and sales had on Kentucky, including the distillers who were major contributors to area charities. While bourbon may be the elegant, smooth adult beverage, it is not without its tacky side. Just don’t think any bourbon that comes in this is worth drinking.
For all the fun kitsch is, Emily’s beloved Kentucky is currently experiencing a very unfunny reality with massive flooding. Emily’s Louisville saw at least three major floods during her lifetime, so she would have been familiar with the devastation flooding causes, especially to the poor. This is a current image of flooding in Louisville. The damage is significant all through the state, so if you’re able, please consider a contribution to Episcopal Relief and Development in memory of Emily and all those she helped during her life.
Sundar Singh
By now, we’ve all come to love Sundar Singh’s passion, compassion, and his iconic yellow Sadhu robes. He’s a favorite of Fr. Michael, as we’ve seen in the Monday Madness videos, but how can we incorporate more Singh into our lives? Thankfully, we live in 2025.
You’ve likely seen this image around Lent Madness, and it’s an image created by Redbubble creator LansingCreative, and you can get it made as a print, sticker or magnet and place it wherever you might need to be reminded of Sundar Singh’s great and powerful witness.
But Lent is a time for doing, not just seeing, so if you want to emulate the ways in which Sundar Singh became the “apostle with the bleeding feet,” can I interest you in these Sadu Boards for your feet? Don’t worry, they use smooth, flat nails.
Or perhaps you would like to lean into a more meditative path around Sundar Singh’s teachings, maybe this pillow could provide support, but you can also get this icon as a phone case, notebook, or tote bag.
One thing is true–in this house, we support artists, so if you connect with any of the icons, prints, or representations of Sundar Singh, go support their work. This block print quote and icon of Sundar Singh on Etsy may or may not be your style, but it is a good reminder that the Saints guide us to orient ourselves to God.
And lastly, the gift of these more recent saints is that we can read them in their own words; Sundar Singh wrote eight books between 1922 and his disappearance in 1929 in Urdu and have been translated widely. There are many versions and compilations,
"One day I saw a flower and began to contemplate its fragrance and beauty. As I thought more deeply, I recognized the creator of such wonders- not with my mortal eyes but with my spiritual eyes. This filled my heart with joy, but my joy was still greater when I recognized that same creator at work within my own soul. How wonderful is God, separate from creation yet ever filling it with his glorious presence."
May we all see this world not with our mortal eyes, but with spiritual ones this last week of Lent.
From the Supreme Executive Committee:
Some tech hiccups today inadvertently resulted in voting going haywire for a bit. Not to worry, no votes were lost. We've created a new poll reflecting all the votes that have been cast so far.
53 comments on “Emily Cooper vs. Sundar Singh”
No vote button today, but Sundar for me.
Tried to vote. Voting area turned gray and little circle just spun. Finally it said my "I'm not a robot" check box had expired and voting box went away. Got back into lent madness and no voting box on my computer or my phone. Rude!
Is anyone else having trouble voting today? My vote doesn't appear to be going through.
There is no place to vote on my page. This is unusual as I have voted every day so far.
As a Louisvillian, I can first-hand talk about the work that is done at the Home of the Innocents. Thousands of children have lived there and had a place to be loved and cared for when families do not have the resources. We would be lost without them in this state.
No button for voting today. I don't want Emily to go away -
If I could, I'd wish her a big hurray!
I don't see a voting button either.
Sundar Singh -- not able to vote, except by completing this comment box.
I am not given an option to vote today. What's up?
It is is so much fun to have some of the saints we all hope to be listed in the "modern" saints of Lent Madness.
I like reading the comments about who people voted for and why, but I don't like the videos by our new Supreme Executive priests taking sides and trying to influence our votes.
I want to vote for Sundar, but the page DOES NOT have any vote buttons. Bummer! Sundar seemed totally dedicated to God in every aspect of his life.
Most difficult match-up yet!
I'm flummoxed! Nearly all of these comments are supporting Sundar... but he is losing? How is this possible?
Transparently, I want to see him go all the way to the Golden Halo. I only learned about him through Lent Madness, and he is wildly inspiring.
Come on, my Episcopal siblings! Let's get out of our Westernized mindsets... and honor one of our siblings from halfway around the world whose heart beat with the very same love that powers ours.
I pressed the vote button and nothing happened, so foolishly I pressed it again. I am sorry SEC, please do not cast me into the outer darkness. My vote, if it registered, was for Sundhar Singh, in part because of the tiger, but mostly because we need to be more attentive to voices from different cultures and learn from them.
Thanks for the quick repair. Able to vote after all.
I have to vote for Emily who took in children, saw that they were baptized, cared for the sick ones until they died. No greater saint than one who serves the poor, sick, and unwanted children!
Laurie did a great job today without kitsch!
Pray for those in Kentucky and others dealing with disasters.
(Donate too)
To the SEC- please do not keep voicing you favorites, it can influence the vote, thanks
As I'm looking at the results at 3:05 p.m. central time, it's crazy close! Which doesn't surprise me as these two saints are both awesome. And so very different in their particular awesomeness!
I'll only add in reply to Cecilia - since the Reply function has never been fixed for this year's round of Lent Madness (;_;) - that I do not think votes for Emily Cooper should generically be attributed to "Westernized mindsets." That's prejudice....
Had to go with the hands on girl for the neediest in Kentucky. My church is in Kentucky too and was also helped by Episcopal Relief and Development due to the recent flooding.
To Michael C Shea: are you so incapable of updating your own bracket that you feel the need to get belligerent to the Lent Madness folks? Your comments are getting annoying.
To Laurie Brock:I appreciated the thoughfulness of including a pitch for donating to Episcopal Relief and Development on behalf of Kentucky, which I will do.
However my vote went for Sundar Singh for the recognition to follow Paul in being like those to whom one is spreading the gospel knowing they will better receive it.
Captcha won’t show any pictures, thus I cannot vote, again today.
Sorry to keep mentioning this tiresome news. Also, I cannot access the Results button.
Voted in my mind for Emily Cooper because of her work providing for orphans.
A vocation both joyful and challenging.
Sundar Singh excelled at integrating his native culture with Christian culture and spreading the Good News in a logical way.
Both Emily and Sundar are outstanding, saintly leaders in evangelizing the culture for Jesus Christ.
How is Emily Cooper losing!? I wanted her to win the whole thing! Boo!
Checking in at 11:00 or so Eastern time -- only 12 votes separate the two candidates. Anybody undecided who's reading this -- vote for Sundar Singh. Please. Sundar Singh for the Golden Halo!