Welcome to the opening matchup of Lent Madness XV! If you’re a veteran Lent Madness participant, welcome back! If you're joining us for the first time, we’re delighted you’re along for this wild, saintly ride! And if you're just penitential-curious, check out the About Lent Madness tab on the website to find out what all the fuss is about.

To experience the fullness of Lent Madness, the Supreme Executive Committee (the somewhat benevolent dictatorship that runs this whole enterprise) encourages you
to do a couple things. First, like Lent Madness on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter. Second, subscribe to the Lent Madness e-mails so you never miss a vote — you’ll get each matchup hand-delivered to your inbox on the weekdays of Lent. You can do this by going to the home page of our website and entering your e-mail address. We highly recommend doing this. Finally, you can fill out a bracket online and daily see how you stack up against those who take their Lenten bracketology seriously (keep scrolling and you'll encounter the 2024 Matchup Calendar to determine when your favorite saint will be doing battle). Oh, and if you've ordered a bracket poster, and your handwriting's lousy, you can download these nifty Lent Madness Bracket Stickers and impress your friends with your beautiful penmanship.

But mostly, we encourage you to read about the 32 saints participating in this year’s edition of Lent Madness (download the FREE Digital Saintly Scorecard), faithfully cast your (single!) vote on the weekdays of Lent, and add your comments to the great cloud of participating witnesses that gathers as the online Lent Madness community each year.

To celebrate the 15th year of Lent Madness, all 16 first round matchups are themed battles. Some will be obvious, some less so. For instance, today it's the Thomas Throwdown as Thomas Cranmer faces Thomas the Apostle.

But enough of this idle chatter. It's time to cast your very first vote of Lent Madness 2024! We’re glad you’re all here. Now get to it!

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Dear friends in Christ,

On this one day a year, even Lent Madness pauses to reflect on our life, our blessings, and our mortality. The entire season of Lent is an invitation to recommit to following Jesus. This day, Ash Wednesday, is a poignant reminder that life is short. We are meant to savor our earthly life and to live it well.

At the end of life, few people regret not having worked more, nor do they wish they had spent more money on stuff. In fact, end of life regrets usually revolve around love. “I wish I had spent more time with my family. I wish I had forgiven the person who wronged me. I wish I had been a more faithful Christian.”

When we kneel before the altar and hear the words, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” we are reminded that we are mortal. We should not delay our decision to repent, to live more fully, to follow Jesus more faithfully.

Aside from the ridiculous competition and constant silliness of Lent Madness, we hope everyone who takes part will notice something about each of the saints. Every single one of the saints was a flawed human. You might be used to seeing them in stained glass or in marble, but they were living, breathing, messed up people not so different from us. And yet, each one of these saints managed to allow God’s grace to work in them such that Christ’s light shone brightly in their lives. They were witnesses to the world of the transforming love of Jesus Christ.

Over the course of this year’s Lent Madness, you will meet 32 new saintly companions. Perhaps they will inspire you to follow Jesus in new ways, so that you can be a witness of the Good News of God in Christ. Perhaps you will invite the saints to pray for you, for they are also companions with us in our earthly pilgrimage. You see, beneath the silliness of the saintly smackdown, there lies a brighter, deeper truth in God’s grace at work in the world.

This Lenten season, we invite you to draw closer to our Lord Jesus. Give up those things which keep you away from Jesus. Take on those things that bring you closer to Jesus. We hope Lent Madness is helpful on your journey.

We wish you every blessing in this Lenten season.

Tim+         Scott+

The Supreme Executive Committee

This post is a reprise of our Ash Wednesday post from 2015. In honor of the Fifteenth Anniversary of Lent Madness, we'll be bringing you some classic content throughout this commemorative season. Hey, it was either this or sell you #LentMadnessXV trinkets. You're welcome.

Photo by Annika Gordon on Unsplash.

It's the last pre-season episode of Monday Madness before the kickoff of Lent Madness XV. Tim and Scott preview the first contest of the coming tourney, which kicks off at 8:00 a.m. on February 15, 2024. That's this Thursday! ASH THURSDAY!

As you prepare for Lent Madness, you are encouraged to download the FREE Digital Saintly Scorecard. You can still buy Giant Bracket Posters, but they won't arrive in time for Ash Thursday. However, as Tim rightly says, you can still buy a bracket poster and enjoy it for the bulk of Lent. Especially if you buy them in bulk.

Need even more info about Lent Madness? Check out this news release from Episcopal News Service. Then put it in your church newsletter. Or make copies and drop them by helicopter around your neighborhood. Or encourage some monks to create an illuminated manuscript.

Tell your friends and neighbors it's almost time for the Biggest Roman Numeral Lenten Devotion in the world!

It's the penultimate pre-season episode of Monday Madness! Tim and Scott are here to help you get ready for Lent Madness XV.

Today's episode has the breaking news the entire Lent Madness Global Viewing Public has been waiting for: the Digital Saintly Scorecard is ready. If you want to download the Digital Saintly Scorecard, you can get your copy right now for free. That's right, FREE!

With just a few days until Lent, today is the last day you can order Giant Bracket Posters from Forward Movement with arrival before Ash Thursday. The full-color posters are just $15, and they're a steal at $10 each if you buy five or more. While you're stocking up on posters, you might like colorable Join the Journey through Lent posters, which are sold in packs of 25. If you're super on top of things, you could also order your Easter colorable poster calendar, too. But we realize that's a bit of a stretch. Even for us.

But seriously, you don't need to spend money to enjoy Lent Madness. You can print out your own bracket at home. It costs nothing to vote. So study up and be ready for the start of Lent Madness 2024 on February 15.

Tim and Scott are back with another action-packed, fun-filled episode of Monday Madness. This week, they review several resources that are available to help you prepare for Lent Madness (and Lent).

Watch the video to learn more, but you can get your very own giant bracket poster (in full color!) for just a few dollars. Order yours today. Put one up at home and at work. They look great on the wall in your parish hall or Sunday school classroom. No one's stopping you from putting one on your car. Or turning two of them into a sandwich board and walking around your neighborhood yelling "Lent Madness is Near!" at the top of your lungs.

And you might also like to get a colorable poster to support the whole family through the season of Lent. These colorable posters are sold in packs of 25, so they're perfect to give to your whole church. Buy the Join the Journey through Lent calendar poster or get way ahead of the game and order your Alleluia! 50 Days and 50 Ways to Celebrate Easter calendar poster.

Oh, and we would be remiss if we did not include links to the two books that Tim mentioned in the video. These are books inviting you to a humorous and joyful approach to Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter, written by Tim and illustrated by Jay Sidebotham. Check out Dog in the Manger: Finding God in Christmas Chaos and Dust Bunnies in the Basket: Finding God in Lent & Easter.

The digital Saintly Scorecard is coming soon, probably the next few days. Stay tuned!

The time you've been waiting for is here! Tim and Scott are back with the first pre-season episode of Monday Madness leading up to Lent Madness XV. This week they talk about the bracket for this year's competition, including a never-before-announced special feature new and exclusive to this year!

If you are looking for the Saintly Scorecard, they have some bad news. Due to...reasons, the Saintly Scorecard is not available in printed form this year. However, in their gracious generosity, Scott and Tim are going to provide a digital scorecard soon. It will be FREE of charge. Stay tuned for details. The good news is that the giant bracket poster is still available! You can buy your own bracket poster to follow along in style. And you probably want to get one for your church, your neighbors, and those nice people who sit across the aisle from you in church but you forgot their names. Since they're cheap, buy several!

And speaking of stuff to buy, Forward Movement, the proud sponsor of Lent Madness, are once again selling "Join the Journey through Lent," a colorable Lenten calendar poster. This fun calendar takes you through the season of Lent with suggestions for reflections and activities each day of Lent. You can color in your own calendar, so it's fun for all ages. (And there's an Easter one, too!) Buy yours right away, because they're likely to sell out.

With only thirty shopping days until Lent, you're going to want to get busy with suitably penitential gift items. And keep watch for the digital scorecard so you can study up on the saints. Meanwhile, we suggest a couple of excellent sources of information on the saints (first one and second one).

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It's the moment you've all been waiting for: the unveiling of the 2024 Lent Madness bracket! Stay tuned for the SEC's color commentary on the bracket, highlighting some of the epic contests that will take place over the course of Lent Madness 2024. Right now you should read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the bracket. Then brag to all your friends about how you've memorized all the match-ups and can't wait for Lent to begin.

Click the image to see a larger version. Or you can download a PDF for printing your very own copy.

Once you have the bracket in your hot little hand, don't stop by simply posting it on your refrigerator. The Supreme Executive Committee offers a few suggestions for helping spread the Lent Madness word.

1. Post a copy of the bracket on the front door of your church. In fact, why stop at your church? Channel your inner Martin Luther and nail the bracket to the doors of every church in your neighborhood. With giant Lenten nails!
2. Get the bracket tattooed to your back. You'll be a big hit when you go swimming at the Y.
3. Mail them out with all your Christmas cards this year. "Lent Madness: It's the Reason for the Season."
4. Go to the mall and put them under the windshields of every car in the parking lot. For Jesus.
5. Get front row seats at televised sporting events and hold up the bracket. Consider it the new John 3:16 sign. Rainbow wig optional.
6. Turn the bracket into a sandwich board and wander through Times Square. Bonus points if you simultaneously hand out copies of the bracket as if you work for a discount electronics store.
7. Staple a copy of the bracket to your dog's collar and let her roam around the neighborhood sans leash.
8. Rent a helicopter (or “borrow” one) and make brackets rain down upon the local populace.
9. Now that those Halloween pop-up stores have closed for the season, convert one into a Bracket pop-up store.
10. Memorize all 16 matchups and yell them out to everyone on the village green like some kind of penitential town crier.

Feel free to share other ideas (with photo documentation) of course. They may just end up on the Lent Madness Facebook page.

Don't forget to order your very own 2024 Lent Madness Bracket Poster! They're just $15 each, or pay only ten bucks if you order five or more. Get one for home, one for the car, one for work, and one for everyone on your street. Your parish priest will be delighted when she or he sees you've added a bit of Lent Madness spirit by attaching a bracket to the altar frontal or pulpit. Pre-order now, and be among the first to enjoy the poster!

Remember, Advent is coming. Especially if you use purple vestments at your church, think of this as a dress rehearsal for Lent. You can keep your perspective by buying Lent-themed gifts for everyone on your shopping list this Christmas.

Happy Lent!

For one full week, the Supreme Executive Committee will be accepting nominations for Lent Madness 2024. The nominating period will remain open through Saturday, May 27, at which point this brief exercise in Lenten democracy will cease and the SEC will return to their regularly scheduled benevolently authoritarian ways.

Nominationtide, the most underrated of liturgical seasons, never begins at the same time other than the vague "sometime after Easter Day." This is partly because Tim and Scott have day jobs and partly because "whim" is one of their ecclesiastical charisms. But it's here! And the world rejoices!

To insure your SUCCESSFUL nomination, please note the Nominationtide Rules & Regulations, which reside in an ancient illuminated manuscript tended to by aged monks who have been set aside by saints and angels for this holy calling.

1. The nominee must, in fact, be dead.
2. The nominee must be on the official calendar of saintly commemorations of some church.
3. We will accept only one nominee per person.
4. You must tell us WHY you are nominating your saint.
5. The ONLY way to nominate a saint will be to leave a comment on this post.
6. That means comments left on Facebook, Twitter, attached to a brick and thrown through the window at Forward Movement headquarters, or placed on giant placards outside the residences of Tim or Scott don’t count.

As you discern saints to nominate, please keep in mind that a number of saints are ineligible for next year’s Saintly Smackdown. Based on longstanding tradition, this includes the entire field of Lent Madness 2023, those saints who made it to the Round of the Elate Eight in 2022 and 2021, and those from the 2020 Faithful Four.

Needless to say Jesus, Mary, Tim, Scott, past or present Celebrity Bloggers, and previous Golden Halo Winners are also ineligible. Below is a comprehensive list of ineligible saints. Please keep this in mind as you submit your nominations. Do not waste your precious nomination on an ineligible saint! (it happens more than you'd think)

For the sake of "transparency," the rest of the process unfolds thusly: Tim and Scott will gather for the annual Spring SEC Retreat at a secure, undisclosed location/coffee shop to consider the nominations and create a full, fun, faithful, and balanced bracket of 32 saints. Then all will be revealed on All Brackets' Day, November 3rd.

Time to nominate your favorite saint! But first, look over this list. Don't throw away your shot.

The Saints of Lent Madness 2023 (ineligible)

Augustine of Hippo
Hippolytus of Rome
Monica
Joanna the Myrrh Bearer
Simeon Bachos
Blandina
Brendan of Clonfert
David of Wales
Rutilio Grande
Josephine Bakhita
Eric Liddell
Dorothy Sayers
Enmegabowh
Florence Li Tim-Oi
Nicolaus von Zinzendorf
Martin de Porres
Maximus the Confessor
Cuthmann of Steyning
Leoba
J.S. Bach
Harriet Monsell
Scholastica
Richard Hooker
Olga of Kiev
Bertha of Kent
Stanislaus the Martyr
Edmund
Chief Seattle
Botulph
John Donne
Juan Diego

Past Golden Halo Winners (ineligible)

George Herbert, C.S. Lewis, Mary Magdalene, Frances Perkins, Charles Wesley, Francis of Assisi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Florence Nightingale, Anna Alexander, Martha of Bethany, Harriet Tubman, Absalom Jones, José Hernandez, Jonathan Daniels

From 2020 to 2022 (ineligible)

Teresa of Avila
Juliana of Liege
Origen
Madeleine Barat
Thomas of Villanova
Thomas Aquinas
James Holly
Camillus de Lellis
Benedict of Nursia
Ives of Kermartin
Arnulf of Metz
Albert the Great
Catherine of Genoa
Catherine Booth
Hildegard of Bingen
Elizabeth Fry
Joseph

Congratulations to 2023 Golden Halo winner Jonathan Myrick Daniels! In a final battle of the J's, Jonathan defeated Joanna the Myrrhbearer to take this year's crown. Both of these last remaining saints, one modern and one ancient, captured the imagination of the Lent Madness voting public, but only one can wear the golden headgear. And that is Jonathan Daniels, Civil Rights era martyr.

Jonathan joins previous Golden Halo winners George Herbert (2010), C.S. Lewis (2011), Mary Magdalene (2012), Frances Perkins (2013), Charles Wesley (2014), Francis of Assisi (2015), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2016), Florence Nightingale (2017), Anna Alexander (2018), Martha of Bethany (2019), Harriet Tubman (2020), Absalom Jones (2021), and José Hernández (2022).

To celebrate Jonathan's victory, perhaps you'd like a commemorative mug? You can enjoy your favorite warm beverage (the SEC recommends fair trade single-origin coffee, though they understand these also work well with tea) while remembering this epic season of Lent Madness 2023. Order your own mug today at the Forward Movement website! They're just $18 and should ship sometime in the early summer.

Would you like to nominate a saint for Lent Madness 2024? Tim and Scott will be opening up the week-long nomination process (aka Nominationtide) in the coming weeks. While many are called, only 32 are chosen. Stay tuned for details!

Finally, blessings to all as we head into the Triduum and enter into the death and resurrection of our Lord. It’s been a privilege to have you join us on our Lenten pilgrimage. Happy Lent!

Well, friends, we've come nearly to the end of Lent Madness 2023. It's hard to believe we kicked things off over five weeks ago on “Ash Thursday” with 32 saintly souls. With your help, the field has been whittled down to just two: Joanna the Myrrhbearer and Jonathan Daniels. Who will receive the coveted 2023 Golden Halo? Only the next 24 hours and your (single) will tell.

Regardless of the ultimate outcome, we’ve met some truly remarkable holy people along the way. Perhaps you learned about some folks you’d never heard of before or maybe you renewed acquaintances with saints who have long offered inspiration. Of course the entire notion of placing saints in a bracket is absurd — each “contestant” has already earned a crown of righteousness in addition to a “golden halo.” But at the heart of Lent Madness is the abiding conviction that encountering those who have come before us in the faith enriches and enlivens our own walk with the risen Christ.

In the process of this whimsical Lenten devotion we’ve all made some new online friends, encountered a community of believers who take their faith but not themselves too seriously, learned some things, were inspired by saintly witnesses, and hopefully had some fun along the way.

Of course we literally couldn’t have done this without our amazing Celebrity Bloggers, to whom we offer sincere gratitude: Laurie Brock, Megan Castellan, Anna Fitch Courie, David Creech, Neva Rae Fox, Heidi Haverkamp, Miriam McKenney, Emily McFarlan Miller, David Sibley, and Eva Suarez. Thanks to Bracket Czar Adam Thomas for his stellar behind-the-scenes work in keeping the bracket updated daily. You all rock!

Thank you to Richelle Thompson and everyone at Forward Movement for putting up with our shenanigans and producing a terrific Saintly Scorecard this year. Special gratitude goes to Ashley Graham-Wilcox for helping get words and images into the website each day.

Finally, thanks to all of you who participated by voting, commenting, drinking coffee out of Lent Madness mugs, filling in brackets, talking about saints with friends, liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter, and allowing us to play a small role in your Lenten journey. We’ve loved having each one of you along for the “madness” and on behalf of the Supreme Executive Committee we wish you a blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter.

Before we invite you to cast this final vote, we should note that Emily MacFarlan Miller has ably shepherded Joanna the Myrrhbearer through the bracket, while Eva Suarez has done the same for Jonathan Daniels. We’ve asked them for a single image and one quote either by or about their saint. We’ve already heard a lot about Joanna and Jonathan, so now it's time to make your final choice. If you want to refresh your memory, you can click the Bracket tab and scroll down to view the previous write-ups.

The polls will be open for 24 hours and the winner will be announced at 8:00 am Eastern time on Maundy Thursday. Now go cast your vote — the 2023 Lent Madness Golden Halo hangs in the balance!

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