Lent Madness: Stanislaus the Martyr vs Edmund (the also martyred)

Greetings Halo Fans!

 

So another day, another hagiographic smackdown.    First, let’s honour Dorothy Sayers for coming in a surprisingly close second to Enmegahbowh, who I would say is a very strong contender for this year’s Golden Halo.   Dorothy, you can retire to the drawing room, but please don’t leave the house, the Inspector will want a word with you.

 

Today’s saints both have two things in common, in that they are both saints of national memory, and also that they both suffered a violent death.    It does rather make me wonder why poor Edmund isn’t known as Edmund the Martyr since he was done in by hostile Vikings, whereas Stanislaus, who was done in by his equally hostile boss, gets to call himself “Stanislaus the Martyr”.  Doesn’t seem fair, really.   

 

So two martyr saints, of which there are many in the church’s tradition.    Stanislaus’ death has strong echoes of Thomas Beckett, killed in his cathedral by a hostile king, and a much more modern martyr, Bishop Oscar Romero, also killed while saying mass.  

 

Perhaps because of modern terrorism, we think of martyrs today as being fanatics, often violent fanatics, so it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the word martyr originally meant witness.    In the Christian tradition, a martyr is someone who through their faith and willingness to suffer death pays tribute to Christ who voluntarily accepted his own death.

 

I mentioned in my comments about Olga of Kiev that the Dark Ages got their name for a reason.   The Netflix series The Last Kingdom is set in the England of Edmund’s time, and not surprisingly is incredibly violent.   The series depicts the death of Edmund, who is much less heroic than he is in legend, a not surprising portrayal given the secular bias in the entertainment industry.

 

I suspect that Edmund will get the nod because his Englishness will speak to our Anglican biases as voters.    We’ll see.  And speaking of English saints, spare a thought for another English saint whose day it is, St. Chad, a perfectly nice fellow who actually avoided a violent death!

 

Blessed be their memories.

 

You can vote here - scroll down to see the voting buttons.

 

https://www.lentmadness.org/2023/03/stanislaus-the-martyr-v-edmund/comment-page-2/#comments

 

Blessings this day,

 

Michael