Lent Madness has announced the winner of the Golden Halo for 2017: Florence Nightingale. From the blog: “To celebrate this momentous victory, the SEC has commissioned Lent Madness hymn writer extraordinaire, Sister Diana Doncaster, to pen a hymn for the occasion. Enjoy!”
Ode to Flo
Tune: Hymn to Joy, Hymnal ‘82, 376, Joyful, Joyful we Adore TheeJoyful are the ones who voted for our Florence Nightingale.
Joyful more the ones whose lives and health she guarded without fail.
Joyful are the ones who’ve followed in her noble nursing ways.
Joyful we who still are learning how to live strong in our faith.Florence won the Golden Halo long before Lent Madness came.
Faithful to her call to service, faithful to Christ’s healing grace.
Longed to serve the church, but sent home, went forth into battle’s roar.
So we offer God our praises for such saints who’ve gone before.Let us join the happy chorus which Lent Madness has inspired,
With the saints who’ve taught us well that lived love is all God requires.
None are perfect, all have struggled, all have learned the ways of Grace.
May we fumble in their footsteps, ‘til we meet Christ face to Face.
The original post on Nightingale, who was initially up against Henry Beard Delany, can be found here. From that blog:
Florence was unique because #ShePersisted in a time when women were subordinate to men (especially in the medical profession); #ShePersisted despite being told by her well-to-do family to settle down and get married; #ShePersisted in improving the sanitary conditions of hospitals; and #ShePersisted to influence the health of the world long after her death through her treatise on public health practice in communities and segregated portions of society.