We began this Lent Madness journey over five weeks ago on "Ash Thursday." We started with 32 saints and have now whittled the field down to two: Mary Magdalene and Emma of Hawaii (who staged a wild comeback against Dietrich Bonhoeffer yesterday).

Along the way we've met some truly remarkable holy women and men. Perhaps you learned about some folks you'd never heard of 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 Lent need not be gloomy or depressing. After all, what could be more joyful than a season specifically devoted to being drawn into deeper relationship with the risen Christ?

In the process of this whimsical Lenten devotion we have 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 had a lot fun along the way.

We literally couldn't have done this without our "Celebrity Bloggers" to whom we offer sincere gratitude. Dr. Meredith Gould, the Rev. Penny Nash, the Rev. Bosco Peters, Canon Heidi Shott, the Rev. (Bracket Czar) Adam Thomas, the Rev. Laura Toepfer, the Rev. Neil Alan Willard, and the Rev. Chris Yaw -- you guys rock!

Finally, thanks to all who have participated in this devotional 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.

Oh, wait, there's one more thing before we set our face toward the Triduum. Cast your vote for either Mary Magdalen or Emma of Hawaii -- the 2012 Golden Halo hangs in the balance! The polls will be open for 24 hours and the winner will be announced at 8:00 am Eastern time on Maundy Thursday.

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!"
John 20:18

Mary Magdalene: Giovanni Savoldo, c.1535-1540

Excerpts from a lament by the Pacific Commercial Advertiser upon Queen Emma’s death in 1885.

Auwe! Auwe! The bitter wail resounds,
From far Kauai to bold Hawaii’s shore;
The people’s grief and sorry know no bounds,
For their loved Ema-lani is no more.

---Auwe! Auwe! The mourning nation cries;
Auwe! Auwe! She does not heed its grief;
Auwe! No more she wipes the weeping eyes,
No more she gives the sick and poor relief.

The King and lowliest native equal share
The common grief, for each has lost a friend,
And closer draws the bond of sympathy -
The throne and hut unite their tears to blend.

And not alone Hawaiians grieving cry,
The Haoles join in universal moan;
America extends her sympathy,
And England’s Queen will mourn a sister gone..

Kaleleonalani is not dead!
She sleeps on earth, but wakes in Paradise;
Rejoince we then and lift the drooping head,
She is but veiled from our mortal eyes.

And so we leave her sleeping sweet in God.

Vote!

NOTE: At 4:13 p.m. EDT, the Supreme Executive Committee removed 120 votes for Emma, based on heavy repeating voting from a single location. We are glad you are enthused about your saints, but please vote only once!

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In anticipation of tomorrow's Championship Round between Mary Magdalene and the winner of today's Dietrich Bonhoeffer vs. Emma of Hawaii match-up, we thought we'd scour the interwebs for other Golden Halos. There is only one that counts, of course, and we will soon be driving these other folks out of business. But just so you don't get confused tomorrow, we thought we'd highlight these interlopers.

First we found an organization called Golden Halo Eldery Care. Who knew "eldery" was even a word? Since it has do with nursing homes and elder care, I can only imagine it's synonymous with "elderly." It's not clear whether the caregivers are saints or whether their services prepare those who will soon enough meet their maker to become saints.

Then there's the Golden Halo Foundation. It's hard to argue with an organization that helps children with long-term disabilities and their families. I didn't see any halos on the website -- just a plethora of butterflys. We wish them well even as we're slightly annoyed that they own the domain name www.goldenhalo.org.

We're less enamored with the Golden Halo Salon in Culpeper, Virginia, whose slogan is "Look hot and heavenly at the Golden Halo Salon." I guess if you're going for that saintly glow this would be your place though I think the closest thing they'd offer to an actual Golden Halo would be highlights. And anyway "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity," the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us.

In the same vein, Maybelline has a product called Dream Mousse Shadow Gold Halo. Neither member of the SEC is familiar with such products although we're both thinking of picking some up in time for Easter Sunday.

Believe it or not there's also a rose called the Golden Halo, technically the Rosa Savaholo for you gardening connoisseurs. A bouquet of these babies would make a perfect gift for that special Lent Madness-loving woman in your life. Or guy since we're all about equality around here.

For some reason neither Tim and Scott were not asked to be the featured speakers at the Golden Halo Banquet put on by the Christian Chamber of South Florida. So rude.

Finally, here's a product with which to celebrate the winning of the Golden Halo. Drink to your favorite saint with Golden Halo Blonde Ale from Red Rock Brewery in Utah. If the St. Pauli Girl-esque label is too much for you, perhaps you'll prefer the more staid yet much creepier older logo.

Well, there you go. I hope this little exercise makes you appreciate the Lent Madness Golden Halo even more. We'll see you at 8:00 am Eastern Time to start the voting.

The Faithful Four continues today as Dietrich Bonhoeffer takes on Emma of Hawaii for the right to face Mary Magdalene (who dominated Margaret of Scotland yesterday) for the 2012 Golden Halo. This match-up features one of the favorites to make it to the Faithful Four (Bonhoeffer) along with the true Cinderella of Lent Madness (Emma).

If anyone who completed a bracket before the start of Lent Madness had Emma of Hawaii making it this far, we commend you for your prophetic voice. Though we secretly believe you're lying. Seriously, did anyone out there pick Emma to make it to the Faithful Four?

To get to this point, Dietrich Bonhoeffer defeated James the Apostle, Brigid of Kildare, and Jerome while Emma of Hawaii got past Catherine of Siena, Paul of Tarsus, and Thomas Cranmer. And now, in the final battle before the Championship Round, we turn it over to celebrity bloggers Neil Alan Willard (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) and Heidi Shott (Emma of Hawaii).

Just as a reminder, the polls for the Golden Halo will open at 8:00 am on Spy Wednesday and close at 8:00 am on Maundy Thursday. Here's the updated bracket.

Easter Monday will mark the sixty-seventh anniversary of the execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer at the Flossenbürg concentration camp in Nazi Germany and of his last words: “This is the end – for me the beginning of life.” Those words, it seems to me, testify to the Easter faith that will be proclaimed this weekend throughout the world. In proximity to human suffering on a scale that is unimaginable to most of us, Bonhoeffer was able to declare that the ultimate word, a word of life, belongs to God.

The St. Stephen’s Martyrs – a group of men at my church – gather weekly for an hour or so of theology and a pint or so of beer. About a year ago we talked about the Holocaust. While having that discussion, there were related artifacts, Nazi and otherwise, in the middle of the table. It’s one thing to see those objects in old black and white news reels and quite another to see them in living color as we wrestled with suffering, revenge, justice, doubt, and – yes – faith, too. I can’t imagine how much harder it must have been for Bonhoeffer and others as they together wrestled not with relics but with realities. These were imperfect people, including Bonhoeffer, making imperfect decisions that they would have to live with for the rest of their lives.

Would we have returned home to Germany rather than stay in the United States? Would we have supported an underground seminary for the Confessing Church? Would we have chosen to jam the wheel of injustice by helping the conspiracy to assassinate the Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler?

Bonhoeffer made a decision, as a result of his faith in Christ, to stand with his own people and with the innocent in the midst of their experience of Good Friday. That, I think, was his most important and courageous decision.
Here’s a final endorsement from a higher authority in the Anglican Communion. Soon after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, announced that he would be resigning his position at the end of this year, he was interviewed about his various roles and secularism and faith by a parish priest in the Church of England. Archbishop Williams was asked, as the final question, with whom he would like to have dinner if he could sit down with anyone who has lived over the last hundred years. He answered, “Dietrich Bonhoeffer.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury has cast his vote. Now it’s your turn.

-- Neil Alan Willard

After such hefty and regular doses of saintliness these past 40 days, the notion of what constitutes a saint is somewhat clearer in my mind. Several characteristics stand out: faithfulness to God despite hardship, fierce loyalty to one’s people, extravagant charity outside the bounds of cultural and social expectations. Queen Emma of Hawaii displayed all of these in boundless measure. Ultimately saintliness - our own included - is determined by the choices we human beings make over the course of our lives. Emma’s remarkable witness and legacy is defined by her choices.

Despite the tragedy of losing her beloved young son and her cherished husband as a woman still in her twenties, she chose to overcome her grief and become a staunch advocate for the Anglican mission in Hawaii and for her people. Despite her high station in life, she chose to work tirelessly to improve the health, the education, and the spiritual well-being of native Hawaiians of all ranks as well as haolies and foreigners.

Upon her death in 1885, Emma, whose baptism had been the first recorded in the parish register of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, was eulogized in Hawaiian by a congregational minister, the Rev. H.H. Parker. He posed the question to the grieving, “How did the late queen hold so supreme a place in the hearts of her people?”

He answered: “She loved the people. Love begets love. The common people believed that Queen Emma really did care for them.”

I am deeply inspired by the choices that Queen Emma made. She could have hunkered down in a cocoon of grief and privilege given her losses, her wealth, and her royal status. She could have abandoned the work of building the cathedral and the schools, but instead she sailed across two oceans to drum up funding for the cause. Indeed Bishop Wilberforce of Oxford, her guide in England, said, “...her energetic efforts and activities taxed his physical endurance.” By the time she left England - where she drew standing-room only crowds at numerous cathedrals - she had raised 6,000 pounds (about $640,000 in today's currency) for the work in Hawaii.

An obituary read, in part:

“The Queen is dead. We will not think of her as dead. Her good deeds will live after her, in them she will live, in that noble Hospital, in her Christian example she will live and those who knew her, loved her, cherished her can say with resignation:

There is no death!
What seems so is transition;
This life is of mortal breath
Is but a suburb of the life Elysian,
Whose portal we call death.”

Many saints are honored and venerated, but few are so beloved  - generation beyond generation - as Queen Emma of Hawaii.

“Love begets love” is right, and a standard for all the saints of God.

 -- Heidi Shott

Vote once!

NOTE: At 12:14 a.m. EDT, the Supreme Executive Committee removed 70 votes from Emma of Hawaii. We noticed that there were 20 votes in close succession from a residence in Hawaii and 50 from a residence in Arizona. While we commend your enthusiasm, we do not commend repeat voting. We're watching this one carefully, so don't vote more than once, please.

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This week Tim and Scott look ahead to the championship match of Lent Madness. They also contemplate a factfinding trip to a faraway destination and, as if that wasn't enough, they display the world premiere of what could become an Olympic event: Synchronized Blessing.

Monday Madness -- April 2, 2012 from Forward Movement on Vimeo.

Enjoy more videos on the Lent Madness video channel.

This is a guest post by the Rev. Josh Hale, pastor of Perritte Memorial United Methodist Church in Nacogdoches, Texas. You might know Josh from Twitter, where he is @expatminister.

With the Elate Eight narrowed down now to the Faithful Four, let’s pause a moment and reflect on all of the kitsch which helped catapult (or hobble) these saints toward the Golden Halo. Clearly we can see that tacky souvenirs are not just a modern, capitalist byproduct of religion, but something which has been around for centuries—even millennia!

So just how did we come by these knickknacks...and evaluate them as "tawdry"?

I'm glad you asked.

My first year of ministry was spent amongst the Methodists of rural northeastern England, and they had established vibrant and enriching ecumenical partnerships with the Anglicans in their area. One of my colleagues' villages was West Halton (North Lincolnshire) and its parish church dedicated to Saint Etheldreda, of whom I had never heard before.

St. Etheldreda holding a church, possibly a souvenir model with a tempting sale price.

Now Etheldreda (or Æthelthryth) was an East Anglian princess. As a Christian young lady, she took a vow of perpetual virginity, which caused a fair bit of strain as she kept getting married off to build political alliances. As I heard the story, Etheldreda was married to Egfrid, the King of Northumbria at the height of its power. He wanted children, she clearly did not…so she hoofed it. She made it across the boundary of the Humber River to freedom, and the spot where she prayed in celebration is where the West Halton parish church is now located.

Great, you’re saying, but what does this have to do with those St. Margaret tote bags from last week? We’re getting there! After our friend Etheldreda celebrates her escape with two female companions, she goes further south to Ely (which was a gift from her first husband) and founded an abbey there, which later becomes the diocesan cathedral. She finally dies in 679 after a life of exemplary piety and impressive administrative gifts.

But here’s what you need to know--another, more common, form of her name was Audrey. Pilgrims visiting her remains in Cambridgeshire, and later those who patronized the fair held in her name in Ely, often purchased local goods to remember her by, especially lacy clothing. These came over time to be considered low-quality or outdated goods, and among 17th century Puritans (who disdained frills and lace) they began to be sneered at by a corruption of her name: tawdry.

So the next time you’re visiting the megachurch coffee shop or a cathedral bookstore, think about St. Etheldreda’s life of faith...and how she too is likely facepalming at the tawdry stuff Christians are willing to buy.

Welcome to the Faithful Four, friends. After weeks of learning and voting and occasionally squabbling (in a holy, churchy kind of way) we have whittled the field down to four spiritual heavyweights: Mary Magdalene, Margaret of Scotland, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Emma of Hawaii. Collectively, it's a fascinating group of four heroes of the faith stretching from Biblical times to the 20th century.

As we like to tell our five-year-olds when they join their first soccer team (that's football for our friends across the pond), "there are no losers, everybody's a winner." Of course we're lying. Thus, while we can sing the praises of these saints, only one Golden Halo will be awarded.

Today Mary Magdalene (Meredith Gould) takes on Margaret of Scotland (Penny Nash); tomorrow Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Neil Alan Willard) battles Emma of Hawaii (Heidi Shott); and on Spy Wednesday the championship round will take place. In this round, we let our four remaining Celebrity Bloggers loose as they answer the question "Why should Saint XX win the Golden Halo?" In other words, they've been charged with letting us know why their particular saint is so awesome. And, in a nod to the fact that the SEC is responsive to the cries of (some of) the masses, we are including a few works of saintly art.

To make it to the Faithful Four, Mary Magdalene dispatched John Huss, Joan of Arc, and Evelyn Underhill with relative ease. Margaret of Scotland bested William Temple and John Cassian before squeaking by Enmegahbowh. See the updated bracket and then please vote just once.

What calls any of us to embrace a particular saint? Our saints are extraordinary models of Christian faith and fidelity.  Throughout history, all have endured conditions and situations that, despite our best imaginations, we cannot fully comprehend.

These women and men of God are spiritual Sherpas, guiding us along the path; welcoming us back when we wonder and wander away. What makes Mary Magdalene first among equals is simply this:

“When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene…” (Mark 16:9).

Jesus is indisputably the Christ, and entrusts Mary Magdalene with the near-thankless task of reporting his Resurrection from the dead. The disciples do not immediately believe her story of death defeated. Gospel stories about their resistance to hearing this liberating truth from a woman foreshadows a woeful and ongoing history of truth denied and evangelists mocked. (I sometimes find myself asking what has changed.)

While I have a (short) list of holy women and men who help sustain my faith, Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, is my radical go-to saint. Contemplating her love and loyalty to Christ Jesus keeps my heart from breaking whenever I focus too long on wreckage wrought in the name of religion. For all this and more, she’s already wearing a golden halo.

Click here to see my Mary Magdalene board on Pinterest.

 -- Meredith Gould

Why should Margaret of Scotland win the Golden Halo? Because she was an awesome, saintly saint! Oh, yeah? you may ask...well, read on.

-- Penny Nash

Vote!

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To follow up on the earlier post from today, here are excerpts from devotional sketches for the two saints who are duking it out on Tuesday, Emma of Hawaii and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. These are excerpts from Calendar of Saints: Lent Madness 2012 Edition, published by Forward Movement.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

As the Nazi ring closed in upon him and the Confessing Church he had an opportunity for asylum in the United States, which he declined. He was arrested and jailed in 1943, and from his cell in Berlin he helped plan an assassination of Adolf Hitler. The assassination failed and Bonhoeffer’s involvement was discovered, and he was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. But his life was spared, for reasons we do not know, and he was transferred to Schoenberg Prison. There he served as chaplain to fellow inmates until on a Sunday in 1945, immediately following divine services, he was summoned by the guards and taken by automobile to Flossenburg Prison, where he was summarily hanged. That was on April 9. Bonhoeffer was thirty-nine years old. The crumbling German Reich formally surrendered twenty-eight days later.

May we, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, count the cost of discipleship to be worthy of our whole selves. Amen.

Emma of Hawaii

The Hawaiian Islands were first evangelized by sternly Calvinistic Congregationalists and by Roman Catholics. Neither group had much respect for the other or for the native Hawaiian culture and traditions. King Kamehameha IV, who was crowned in 1854, and his wife, Queen Emma, actively sought a branch of Christianity that was all-embracing, reconciliatory, and accepting of Hawaiian culture, yet orthodox and traditional. They found such in Anglicanism. Queen Victoria served as godmother to their son. Under royal patronage Thomas N. Staley became Hawaii’s first bishop, ground was broken for St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Honolulu, The Book of Common Prayer was translated into Hawaiian, the Queen’s Hospital was founded, and several schools were established in the islands with Anglican clergy as tutors. Kamehameha was only twenty-nine when he died. Queen Emma lived on for many years and became a symbol of dignity and Christian piety to the people of Hawaii. The Archbishop of Canterbury described her as one of the most saintly souls he had ever met.

We thank you for the witness of Kamehameha and Emma and for their work to build up your church. Amen.

By the way, for only seven bucks you can get your own copy of Calendar of Saints: Lent Madness 2012 Edition. It’s available as an ebook only for Kindle and Nook.

Today being Palm Sunday, the Supreme Executive Committee is focused on palms, processions, readings of the passion of Jesus, and so on. However, we also can't escape the fact that tomorrow begins the showdown in the Faithful Four. Bright and early tomorrow morning, both Mary Magdalene and Margaret of Scotland will compete. Only one will emerge, ready to enter the championship match on Wednesday.

After lots of kitsch last week -- and a little bit of, um, kontroversy -- we thought we'd encourage a more reverent contemplation today. As many of you know, Forward Movement (the sponsor of Lent Madness 2012) publishes a book called Calendar of the Saints: Lent Madness 2012 Edition. It's a set of devotional essays for every saint in the official calendar of the Episcopal Church, plus the saints who made it into the bracket of Lent Madness this year but who aren't yet officially commemorated. There are plenty of places to get facts and narrative hagiographies. These brief essays are intended for private devotional use, and they tend to focus on one aspect of the saint's life which can be applied to our own. Each entry concludes with a prayer.

Here are excerpts from the two essays for Margaret of Scotland and Mary Magdalene. Later today we'll post the entries for Tuesday's contentants, Emma of Hawaii and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Margaret of Scotland

Mary Magdalene

By the way, for only seven bucks you can get your own copy of Calendar of Saints: Lent Madness 2012 Edition. It's available as an ebook only for Kindle and Nook.

To help you through this weekend's likely bout of Lent Madness Withdrawal, the Supreme Executive Committee wishes to offer menu suggestions for Palm Sunday. We hope this will also aid in your discernment as to which of the Faithful Four you will seek to propel into the championship battle on Spy Wednesday.

Monday morning, Margaret of Scotland will face Mary Magdalene beginning at 8 a.m. Eastern time. One of two queens in the Faithful Four, Margaret will face the "Apostle to the Apostles."

Flickr user Meri Tosh gives us this picture of the classic Scottish food, haggis. Of course, whether it is food is debatable, but that's not our purpose here. Because the SEC seeks to be inclusive, we note (with some wariness) that there is something called "vegetarian haggis" too.

Finding food to represent Mary Magdalene was tricky. The one time in scripture we know she showed up for dinner, she brought ointment in an alabaster jar (or so Pope Gregory the Great said, referring to Luke 7:37). That seemed like a lousy choice for an illustration, so we combed through tradition. She is said to have confronted the Emperor Tiberius to tell him of Christ's resurrection whilst holding an egg. The emperor laughed and said that Christ's resurrection was as likely as that plain white egg turning red. Well, guess what happened? So here we portray Mary's red eggs (thanks to Flickr user jessmonster).

On Tuesday morning, Emma of Hawaii is up against Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The action begins promptly at 8 a.m. Eastern time.

People will argue about the quintessential German food. Here we shall go with the classic pretzel as portrayed by Flickr user avlxyz.

Finally, a photo which shows the ubiquity of Hawaiian influence on pan-Asian cuisine. A few years ago, I snapped this photo in Tokyo. Yes, that's a Hawaiian food truck. In Tokyo.

So there you have it. Tomorrow after church, have a meal with eggs, haggis, pretzels, and perhaps some fruit. As you say grace, ask God to inspire you through dining.

Be known to us, Lent Madness, in the breaking of the pretzel, the cracking of the eggs, the slicing of the haggis, and the peeling of the pineapple.

Before we head into the weekend and another bout with LMW (Lent Madness Withdrawal) we must first finalize the saints of the Faithful Four. Mary Magdalene? Check. Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Check. Margaret of Scotland (very close call yesterday as she barely squeaked past Enmegahbowh!) Check. Today you will decide whether Thomas Cranmer or Emma of Hawaii will join this august trio in forming the holy quartet that will move forward in their pursuit of the Golden Halo.

To get this far, Thomas Cranmer defeated Ephrem of Edessa and Columba while Emma's road included surprising victories over Catherine of Siena and Paul of Tarsus. Check out the updated bracket to see how things have played out thus far.

We will begin the Faithful Four straightaway on Monday morning with Mary Magdalene taking on Margaret of Scotland. Then on Tuesday it's Dietrich Bonhoeffer battling the winner of today's match-up. Finally, voting for the winner of the Golden Halo will take place on Spy Wednesday. Enjoy a breather this weekend -- you've earned it! And be ready to go on Monday of Holy Week.

To this writer’s dismay, it seems no one has yet made a Thomas Cranmer action figure. If anyone has pull at Mattel, please put in a good word for the archbishop. The kitsch surrounding the writer of the Book of Common Prayer is pretty thin; however, Cranmer has the distinction of being the Archbishop of Canterbury played by more film and TV actors than any other. Most recently played by Hans Matheson in The Tudors, 22 actors have stepped into the role since 1911 (according to IMBD.com). The character of Thomas Cranmer has even appeared in a film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture – A Man for All Seasons in 1966. This makes Cranmer the only member of the Elate Eight to appear in a Best Picture winning film.

Several Do-It-Yourself-ers provide goodies for those of us interested in Cranmer’s kitsch. Coffee mugs, T-shirts, bags, and mouse pads, among other things, are all available. If you head to England, you can stop by the site of Cranmer’s martyrdom, marked by a brick cross on Broad Street in Oxford. The Martyrs’ Memorial, built in the 1840s, includes a statue of Cranmer, and it stands in St. Giles Street, also in Oxford.

Looking to test your Cranmer knowledge? Take a ten-question quiz here. Finally, if you’re into historical fiction and mysteries, take a look at C.J. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake mystery series. Running into our archbishop is a real treat: he is a character in Sovereign (2006) and Revelation (2008). One last thing: I want a Cranmer bobblehead. Can someone get on that?

--Adam Thomas

While Queen Emma of Hawaii - unlike her opponent in today’s match-up - never composed beautiful language that I will babble from the depths of memory (along with all the words to the Brady Bunch theme) when I am old and eating strained carrots in a nursing home, she influenced and improved the physical, spiritual, and mental health of thousands, perhaps millions, of people in her time and moving forward to our own day.

Kitsch-wise, she has her share but, after a small sampling, we’ll take a look at her real influence.

This Queen Emma beer stein allows you to “Make any day Oktoberfest whether with this impressive stein on the shelf or in-hand. Cheers!” The same photo of Emma may be purchased on a regular mug, a throw pillow, or a journal in which to pour your soul to the kindly queen.

For those who wish to share their enthusiasm for Queen Emma on their person, there is the “Emma and Proud” tee-shirt (pink only).

If you feel the need to cuddle up, there is always the 14-inch Emma friend doll from Buns of Maui on sale for only $25.19.

The philatelists among us are not left in the cold in the Emma-Commema-ration department. There are postage stamps, both old and new, commemorating Queen Emma, including a $9 stamp issued in 2011 to celebrate the 175th anniversary of her birth. A nine dollar stamp! The U.S. Postal Service just issued stamps bearing the visages of José Ferrer and Danny Thomas for a mere $.45.

[Celebrity Blogger’s Note: “In 1989, the 500th Anniversary of the birth of Thomas Cranmer...was celebrated. Actually, the event barely raised a whisper in England, where the good man...was denied a commemorative postage stamp!” Journal of Anglican Studies, November 2009, Vol. 7, No. 02, p. 246. Just sayin’.]

But back to influence.

Beyond the legacy of creating the premier healthcare center in the Pacific, beyond her tireless promulgation of the Anglican way in the Hawaiian islands through the establishment of schools, churches, and the Cathedral of St. Andrew’s, she exerted a profound influence on western social and cultural trends.

To wit:

Hats

Parasols

Dresses

Accessories

A Renaissance queen indeed.

-- Heidi Shott

Vote!

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