Yesterday Irenaeus of Lyons won a close victory over James the Just, in another win for early church fathers and church fathers, even though James had being brother of Jesus on his side.
Today's Lent Madness features a matchup between an early Christian martyr, Lucy of Syracuse, vs Hiram Kano, a faithful Japanese American priest of the 20th century.
Lucy was one of those virginal Christian maidens who chose death rather than renouncing her faith in Christ, and whose chastity was miraculously protected. According to some accounts, her eyes were gouged out, which makes her the patron saint of the blind and of opthamologists. Those of us with cataracts should pray to her. In an equally miraculous piece of cultural travel, she is known in Scandinavia as St Lucia and her festival in December is a festival when young women wear wreaths of candles in their hair.
Hiram Kano has something in common with George Takei, Star Trek's Mr Sulu, in that both were interned by the United States after Pearl Harbour for the crime of being Japanese. Hiram Kano, who became a Christian because of missionaries in his native Japan, was a faithful priest and farmer who cared for his people behind barbed wire. His story reminds us that societies today are equally capable of imprisoning groups of people when gripped by fear.
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