St. Wilgefortis: Bearded woman

St. Wilgefortis in the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows at the Loreta Sanctuary in Prague, Czech Republic

Photo by Curious Expeditions

St. Wilgefortis prayed to avoid marriage to a pagan king -- and her prayers were answered when she grew a beard! Her feast day is July 20. This virgin martyr has natural appeal for LGBT, queer and transgender folk.


For a new version of this article, click this link to Qspirit.net:
Saint Wilgefortis: Holy bearded woman fascinates for centuries

Here’s an account of her life by Terence Weldon, a gay Catholic who blogs on queer and religious matters at Queering the Church, where this summary first appeared.

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A wonderful example of a sainted bearded lady?

Unfortunately, Saint Wilgefortis may also be an example of a ‘saint’ whose biography is more popular fiction than recorded history. Still, she is listed in the standard catholic reference works, and has had an official feast day, as well as bewildering array of aliases, among them Liberata, Kummernis, Uncumber, and Livrade, Of the biographical details, take them as you will. For what it is worth, the legend says that she was the daughter of a king, who had taken a vow of virginity. When her father wanted to marry her off to the King of Sicily, she prayed for deliverance from this evil fate. Whereupon she grew a beard. What self-respecting king would want to marry a bearded princess? Her father was said to be so enraged at this that he had her crucified. This may be the reason she became known as the patron saint of difficult marriages – but crucifixion seems an extreme way to end one.

Modern skeptical scholars suggest that the story of her beard and crucifixion are sheer invention. Spoilsports! Why let facts get in the way of a good story? Sadly, her “cult was suppressed and she was dropped from the calendar in 1969.″
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[Note from Kittredge Cherry: Here are a few more fun facts about St. Wilgefortis. Her veneration arose in 14th century Europe, and her story is often set in Portugal. The name Wilgefortis may come from the Latin “virgo fortis” (strong virgin). Her English name Uncumber means escaper, while she was called Liberata in Italy and France, and Librada in Spain -- meaning “liberator” from hardship or husbands!]
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This post is part of the GLBT Saints series at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints and holy people of special interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year.

Cartoon shows GLBT rights on the cross

Gay Jesus cartoon by Mike Ritter from Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook

Jesus embodies GLBT civil rights as he is crucified by Christian fanatics in a political cartoon from Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook.

The cartoon uses art and humor to support LGBT equality and poke fun at the rightwing Christians who oppose our civil rights.

“Quit squirming! You’re oppressing our religious freedom!” shouts the priest who nailed Jesus to the cross.

Jesus wears a shirt labeled “GLBT civil rights.” He’s not passively accepting crucifixion, but kicks at the angry mob carrying a torch, a pitchfork and Bibles.

The cartoon does a great job of illustrating how fundamentalists seem to feel threatened by the idea of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. LGBT Christians really drive them crazy!

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Update on Feb. 24, 2014: It took years to track down the name of the artist, but he was finally identified today by an anonymous source. I am in the process of contacting Mike Ritter for permission to share his cartoon here.

Queer spiritual art appears in national magazine

“Jesus Appears to His Friends” by F. Douglas Blanchard was published in Tikkun magazine

Four friends of the Jesus in Love Blog are featured artists in the “Queer Spirituality and Politics” cover story of this month’s Tikkun, a major national magazine.

Robert Lentz, Matthew Wettlaufer, Douglas Blanchard and Paul Richmond have art in the July/August issue of Tikkun, which just hit newsstands.

You saw them here first! Tikkun asked me for help illustrating the 33-page special section on queer spirituality and politics. I posted a call for art, introduced Tikkun to our image archive and got busy contacting artists. I’m delighted that four of “our” artists ended up being published on the pages of Tikkun. Congratulations to all four on a real achievement!

The four artists are:

Brother Robert Lentz. His icon of same-gender loving saints Perpetua and Felicity became the cover art for Tikkun’s queer spirituality and politics issue. You can also see it in our post:
Friends to the end: Saints Perpetua and Felicity

Lentz is a Franciscan friar stationed at St. Bonaventure University, in Olean, New York, where he hopes to establish a school of Franciscan iconography.

Matthew Wettlaufer. His “Pieta” makes a point about AIDS activism for the article “The Transformative Promise of Queer Politics” by Alana Yu-lan Price. You can also see it in our post:
New paintings honor gay martyrs

Wettlaufer is a gay artist-philosopher who lived in El Salvador and South Africa before returning recently to the United States.

Paul Richmond. His “Noah’s Gay Wedding Cruise” goes with the same article, placed aptly near the subhead “A Cultural Sea Change.” You can also see it in our post:
Noah’s gay wedding cruise pictured

Richmond is an Ohio artist and illustrator who came out as gay after graduating from Columbus College of Art.

Douglas Blanchard. His “Jesus Appears to His Friends” (above) illustrates the article “Dismantling Hierarchy, Queering Society” by Andrea Smith. The painting comes from his 24-part series “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” which shows Jesus as a contemporary gay man. You can see more art by Blanchard in our 2010 Holy Week series.

Blanchard is a New York artist who teaches art at City University of New York and is active in the Episcopal Church.
 
And there’s a lot more to love about Tikkun’s “Queer Spirituality and Politics” section. It presents 16 articles by such respected writers as Jay Michaelson, Starhawk, Yvette Flunder and Emi Koyama.

The first articles look at “how lesbian, gay, bisexual, same-gender-loving, Two Spirit, and transgender people are moving forward in various mainstream or conservative religious milieus.” The last articles examine LGBT religious and political innovation. Overall they express an impressive religious range, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Native American Spirituality, Buddhism, Judaism and Wicca. With a circulation base of more than 15,000, Tikkun is estimated to reach over 37,000 people.

Our goal here at JesusInLove.org is to match LGBT-affirming artists with the people who are eager to see queer spiritual art. With this issue of Tikkun, I’m celebrating, “Mission accomplished!” (At least for today.)

A special thanks to those artists who submitted art that was not accepted -- this time. I hope that Tikkun’s high-profile presentation of LGBT-affirming religious art will inspire others to provide a forum for this kind of art in the future.

When Doug Blanchard told his Facebook friends that his art would be in Tikkun, he wrote some kind words about me and my work here. He gave permission for me to quote him:

“Kittredge Cherry is a courageous champion for gay and lesbian religious art. In an age where it is hard for any artist to get visibility, it is especially hard for those who pursue gay/ lesbian religious themes. That such artists are visible at all is almost entirely her work.”

Thank you, Doug. And congratulations to all.

Click here for Tikkun’s online preview with highlights from the queer spirituality and politics issue.

Invite your friends to visit our blog

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Please make a special effort to invite GLBT artists and writers with spiritual interests. Many of them get discouraged because there doesn’t seem to be a “market” for LGBT spiritual art. Our goal is to match these artists with the people who want to see their work

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Thank you! We appreciate your friendship and your help in building an online community that supports LGBT spirituality and the arts. As the Bible says in 1 John 4:7, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.”

1974 Gay Freedom Day float celebrates God’s word

Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco’s 1974 Gay Freedom Day float

Pioneers of LGBT liberation are shown in this historic photo from the 1974 Gay Freedom Day march in San Francisco.

“The 1974 float is symbolic of MCC San Francisco - marching proud and strong, to ‘We are Not Afraid Anymore’ - as a Phoenix rising out of the ashes after an arson fire destroyed our worship location,” says Lynn Jordan, who submitted this rare photo.

Lynn designed the float with the late Rev. Bruce Hill (third from the right behind the banner). The book on the float presents two scriptures: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) and “The Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (II Corinthians 3:17). The book was made from panels of sheetrock. The parade that year was going down Polk Street - not Market Street.

Arsonists burned MCC’s worship home at Stewart Memorial Church on Guerrero Street, so the float lists their new location at Mission United Presbyterian Church, 3261 - 23rd St., where they worshipped until 1979.

Wood from the annex of the burned church was used to build a cross that was displayed on the float and at MCC-SF worship services for many years..