Last Updated on July 21, 2024 by Kittredge Cherry
LGBTQ elders and mentors are honored in a new prayer to “sainted aunts” by Singaporean writer and artist Anna Onni.
It appears in “The Book of Sainted Aunts: The Illustrated Portraits of Mildly Martyred Sinners-Turned-Saints Since Queerdom Come.” Onni wrote and illustrated the book in 2021 as “a personal and mildly-heretic queer shrine.”
“Auntie” can be affectionate slang for older gay men, but Onni uses it for all gender identities and sexual orientations. The “sainted aunts” of Onni’s prayer are archetypal figures based on real people. Unlike saints who are officially canonized by the institutional church, the sainted aunts need not be sinless or dead. “We very much prefer them alive and kicking,” Onni writes.
Q Spirit thanks Anna Onni for permission to reprint the prayer here in full:
A Prayer to the Sainted Aunts
O ordinary sainted aunts, ever-human in the outpouring of caring love,
you are the elders we did not have in our fallen and straight-laced families.
By praying to you we recognise the wondrous healing
that comes through humble acts.
You sainted aunts, often cursed, rejected and neglected –
you formed us in your communities and for that we give praise and thanks.
(Pause for a moment of silent contemplation.)
Pray for us who are so lost; make use of our confusion,
awaken us to the privileges we have,
enable us to act with gentleness to ourselves and others.
(Pause for a moment of quiet meditation.)
Come to my assistance on days when the greatest struggle is getting out of bed,
that I may believe in the transformative power of daily rituals.
May my every breath remind me of the goodness that exists in these volatile times.
(Pause for a moment of muted gratitude to the littlest of things.)
Come to my assistance when I face [mention your concern],
that the varied attitudes, skills and coping mechanisms you have embodied
may find their ways of working in my specific circumstances.
(Pause for a moment to share this concern with another kindred spirit.)
I promise thee, O blessed sainted aunts, to be ever mindful of being within this world
as part of the magnificently diverse chorus your legacies have sustained.
I promise to do all in my power,
through acts of radical hope that seems ridiculous to the world,
to hold the space for miracles to happen.
(Pause for a moment to contemplate the graced lives of the sainted aunts.)
Sainted aunts are archetypal figures in a queer universe
“The Book of Sainted Aunts” is a creative mix of paintings, humor, spirituality and queer consciousness. Whimsical hagiographies use loving irreverence to present 14 sainted aunts in their many incarnations, including Saint Patience of the Mundane Microaggressions, Saint Vinaigrette of the Tossed Aside and Saint Bhagayya of the Pagan but Vegan.
“Unlike the prayers to saints of the past, the prayers to sainted aunts insist on the promise of the persons praying to commit to action. In living our own versions of action, we embody the saintliness of the sainted aunts, bringing changes to our present times. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is when you will be called to become a sainted aunt,” she writes.
“Saint Patience of the Mundane Microaggressions: The Minor Saint of Dying By a Thousand Tiny Cuts” by Anna Onni shows a test subject for female-to-male gender affirming surgery who providing legal aid to queers persecuted by unjust laws.
Language about “queerdom” sometimes gently echoes Biblical passages about the kingdom of God, as in “queerdom is always working in mysterious ways.” The book is dedicated to “the ones who were forced to believe that prayers would never be answered.”
“The Book of Sainted Aunts” is independently published and available for free download through Southeast Asia Queer Cultural Festival 2021. It is included on Q Spirit’s list of the top LGBTQ spirituality books of 2021. Author Anna Onni is an “asexual panromantic” artist and educator based in Singapore.
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Top image credit:
“Portrait of the Re-Resurrected Pope of the Supposed Sinners” by Anna Onni
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This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBT and queer martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.
This article was originally published on Q Spirit in February 2022.
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