Lent Madness: The Reluctant Bishop vs the Discrete Musician

 Welcome to our second full week of Lent Madness 2024.     In our last matchup on Friday, I was surprised that the North African theologian Cyprian of Carthage beat Pachomius, one of the founders of monasticism.  That takes my record of predictions to 3 wins and 4 losses.

I didn't post on yesterday's matchup between Andoman and Joseph Vaz, and didn't have thoughts on who would win.    Anyway, congratulations to Andoman, our second Irish saint in this year's Lent Madness.    

In today's matchup, Ambrose of Milan squares off against William Byrd.   

It's always a good rule to be suspicious of clergy who desperately want to wear a purple shirt.  Ambrose, by contrast, wasn't even baptized before he was chosen by the faithful of Milan to be their bishop.  He would go on to be a fearless opponent of tyrants and heretics, and like his opponent today, managed to write a hymn or two, some of which survive today and which you might hear in church during Advent.

If Ambrose was reluctant, William Byrd was discrete.  He managed to keep his head down (and on) during the tumult of the Tudor period, even though he was a Roman Catholic.   Queen Elizabeth I was a fan.    Like that of his contemporary, Thomas Tallis, Byrd's music has a haunting beauty and took advantage of the taste in complex polyphony (multiple voices and parts) of the time.   Here's a taste.

I'm a fan of Tudor church music, so I'm going with Byrd to win.    We'll see if other birds of a feather flock to him.

Vote here.