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“A saint is a person who behaves decently in a shockingly indecent society.”

We dedicate Sacred Legions to Vonnegut’s secular saints by highlighting the people behaving decently in our part of the world.

Sacred Legions grew from an unlikely friendship which formed in 2014. Pat LaMarche and her daughter, Becky, visited the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, then located on Senate Ave. in Indianapolis, Indiana, where they met Max Goller, the sole employee working at the museum that day. Max gave them a personal tour of the collection and struck up a friendly and extensive conversation that illustrated their common beliefs and objectives. These shared goals have cemented their friendship ever since.

Fast forward to 2023, Pat and Max agreed to collaborate on this endeavor, Sacred Legions. With even a cursory glance, you will see the many influences of Kurt Vonnegut on Sacred Legions, rightly earning him designation as our patron saint.

During one of his many commencement speeches, Vonnegut recounted to the audience, “He [Uncle Alex] said that when things were really going well, we should be sure to NOTICE it. He was talking about simple occasions, not great victories: maybe drinking lemonade on a hot afternoon in the shade or smelling the aroma of a nearby bakery; or fishing, and not caring if we catch anything or not, or hearing somebody all alone playing a piano really well in the house next door. Uncle Alex urged me to say this out loud during such epiphanies: ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’ So, I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’”

At Sacred Legions, we have identified 12 secular saint characteristics listed in the menu and the buttons above. We are motivated to recognize the secular saints, past and present, who exemplify these characteristics. Of equal importance, we want to promote organizations dedicated to these sacred works in the hope that it will inspire you, the visitors to this website, to actively make the world a nicer place by practicing your own unique brand of secular sainthood.