And then there were eight! Welcome, friends, to the Elate Eight. We've moved from 32 to 16 to 8 saints still standing. Or kneeling. But either way, today it's Irenaeus vs. Zechariah, tomorrow Sundhar Singh faces Emily Cooper, on Thursday Elizabeth of Hungary battles Verena of Zurzach, and we round things out on Friday with Philip vs. Nicolaus Zizendorf (who advanced yesterday after defeating Francis Xavier 56% to 44%).
The Elate Eight is also known as the Round of Saintly Kitsch. After basic biographies, quirks and quotes, what else could there be? Now, there are always some folks who take offense at this approach — we call them Kitsch Kranks. Please remember that this round is not meant to belittle or demean our saintly heroes, but to have some fun and gaze in wide wonder at the breadth of devotional practice. So kindly relax and enjoy the spirit of the Madness as we push ever onward toward our goal.
And if you'd find it helpful to review the write-ups from the previous rounds, you can always click the Bracket tab and scroll down to find all the earlier matchups.
Here's your Daily Saintly Showdown with Christian and Michael...
Vote now!
Irenaeus
For a saint whose name does not roll off the tongue and lived almost two centuries ago, there is a lot of memorabilia depicting Irenaeus, his quotes, and his thoughts.
Most known for “The glory of God is a human being fully alive,” Irenaeus is one of only 37 doctors in the Church as declared by Pope Francis in 2021, during the height of the pandemic.
Unique about Irenaeus is his presence in the media. Not many saints can boast that he/she inspired a popular TV show, but Irenaeus did! Instigated by a paraphrase of his memorable statement, “The glory of God is man fully alive,” the TV series, Man Alive, was successfully produced and aired on Canadian TV for 33 years from 1967 to 2000 (currently available for viewing on Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) and Apple TV + in the UK).
Man Alive looked at faith and spirituality with in-depth features on leading religious figures like Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama as well as delving into such topical issues as The Holocaust, family relationships, and war. No doubt Irenaeus would have been proud that he sparked deep conversations among people!
In addition to his quotes, Irenaeus is remembered in the typical saintly ways: wood carvings, statues, prayer cards, stained glass windows, and icons.
The Church of St. Irenaeus in Lyon, where he lived and preached, is named for him. It is one of the oldest churches in France.
There are books by him (with surviving pieces on display in an English University library), books about him, and, yes, the usual kitschy items of mugs, hats, t-shirts, and hoodies emblazoned with his most famous quote.
When he died in 202 AD (or thereabouts), Irenaeus was buried under the Church of Saint John in Lyon, which was later renamed St. Irenaeus in his honor. Although the church was destroyed in 1562, relics attributed to St. Irenaeus are located in various places throughout Lyon.
Zechariah
Sadly, Zechariah does not have his own feast day. He shares it with his wife, Elizabeth. It thus makes sense to begin this splendid round of kitsch with this lovely Zechariah and Elizabeth ornament.
Let me just say, Elizabeth aged really well. Also, yay vowels.
And what would a kitsch round be without a keychain? I know woodcuts are tricky, but what exactly is Elizabeth doing with her hands?
Fortunately, we don’t have to linger here. This year it’s all about Zechariah.
Check out this nifty “Handmade necklace, religious Charm Jewelry, amulet, talisman” (exact words and capitalization from the original description, and shared with you for your, um, enrichment).
It’s cool because the icon depicts the OT prophet Zechariah. Not that it matters.
This pillow, however, is in the shape of John the Baptist’s dad. What’s with the tongue?
Zechariah (via Luke) gave us the Benedictus. No fewer than four wineries give us Benedictus wine. Blessed indeed.
Finally, I couldn’t resist, but when Zachariah motioned for a tablet, I wonder if they gave him something like this magic slate.
I mean, the technology is ancient. And it even has an image of the archangel Gabriel to remind Zechariah not to mess it up.
43 comments on “Irenaeus vs. Zechariah”
Admittedly this is the result only of 15 minutes of dedicated Googling, but I have not found ANY reliable scholarly evidence that Irenaeus burned books. Not personally. Nor by urging it in his writings. I invite everyone who has commented here stating that he burned books and/or urged that books be burned to post a link to a reliable scholarly source that quotes concrete evidence that he did so.
What he DID do was come out strongly against theology he thought was INACCURATE. On the wrong side of truth. I think today we often forget that "heresy" is not just sweet little "alternative opinions," especially in the days of the early church when they were working a lot of this stuff out.
We are also, especially now, accustomed to thinking that disagreement with and and suppression of ideas is always done by the bad guys. When is the line crossed between expressing an opinion, urging action, taking action, into infringement upon intellectual freedom? It's complicated and I don't even remotely know the answer.
But in my book, if you think someone is promulgating opinions that have the power to do damage and you don't speak out, that's not cool.
Black people--genetically inferior! Women--not capable of being doctors, or even of getting a credit card in their own name! Should these have been tolerated as "alternative opinions"?
In the spirit of standing up for what you believe in, I'm voting for Irenaeus.
Irenarus gets my vote, although I was certain I would be voting for Zechariah. But I love the idea of that TV show. I'll be trying to figure out how to watch it until next Lent.
I think you must have meant that Irenaeus lived two millennia ago--not 200 years ago--or maybe I missed something? In the end Zecharia got my vote.
I am afraid that my earlier comment may have made people believe that Irenaeus burned books. I do not mean that. What I meant was that he demanded that the books written by those he disagreed with be destroyed. To me this is equivalent to book burning because number one, one of the ways you destroy books is to burn them, and number two, no matter how you destroy them the goal and the outcome is the same.
Thank you, Barbara MacR, for looking up and posting about Irenaeus's supposed "book burning".
To Story: there is petty wanting to destroy things one disagrees with and there is attempting to stamp out things that are wrong from being constantly repeated.
My vote for Irenaeus the underdog with the bad-mouthed reputation.
I could not in all good conscience vote for Irenaeus this time. My book club studied E. Pagels book "Revelations." He was just not a nice person.
Zac got my vote.
The selection of kitsch for Irenaeus is outstanding, just as he was in his life. Going for the win, with Irenaeus.
Jan????!!! We went to Friends’ Central School together! Nice to see you here! ( I voted for Zac too…)
I had to vote for Zechariah after I saw the pillow and the magic slate. I had one growing up in the 1960s. I've always felt close to him. He reminds me of Sarah when God told her she was going to have a baby when she was past child bearing age. I understand both of their reactions. I would feel the same way.
However worthy Irenaeus might be, JtB's dad's kitsch is much more fun. And I don't think any scholarly writing can match the beauty of the Benedictus.
I wanted to vote for Irenaeus, my sister's name is Irene, and his stand against
Gnosticism but burning books solves nothing. So I'm not voting for him:)
I may have accidentally voted twice today. Please do not cast me into the outer darkness of Madness! I was so used to not being able to vote for the past 2 weeks that I did not realize my first attempt may have actually gone through. I voted for Irenaeus as an early Doctor of the Church.
I'm so sorry to see that Irenaeus fell behind today. But hey, he made the Elate Eight! That's something!