Welcome to the Saintly Sixteen! With your help, we have successfully whittled our field from 32 saints to 16. For this round, rather than the basic biographical information, we enter the realm of Quirks and Quotes. Our brilliant Celebrity Bloggers will provide unusual information or legends surrounding their saints along with quotes either by or about their saints.

Yesterday, in the closest battle of Lent Madness 2022 to date, Thomas Aquinas narrowly defeated Jerome by the absolute thinnest of margins. See the update added at the conclusion of yesterday's post for a note on some voting irregularities. The SEC regrets confusion that was caused by several cheaters -- with a few more people cheating on behalf of Jerome than on behalf of Thomas.

If you’re a competing type and, well, maybe your original bracket blew up, you can start anew with the Saintly Sixteen! This new feature allows you to pit your predictions against others in the Lent Madness voting public. Give it a try here!

But enough jibber jabber. It's time to cast your first vote of the Saintly Sixteen, as Stephen squares off against Teresa of Avila. Go vote! (more…)

In yesterday's Biblical battle, Photini defeated Tabitha 58% to 42%, setting up an intriguing Elate Eight matchup with Martha of Bethany.

Today it's Canadian vs. Indian as Marguerite d'Youville faces Pandita Ramabai. You'll recall that Pandita made it this far by barely sneaking past Damien of Molokai in the closest ever Lent Madness vote, while Marguerite upset(?) Phillips Brooks.

In other Lent Madness news, we shared the incredible story of two merging California congregations who decided to name their community St. Anna's, after last year's Golden Halo winner Anna Alexander.

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