Europe Archives - Page 3 of 4

Joan of Arc: Cross-dressing warrior-saint and LGBTQ role model

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 15-31, Saints

Joan of Arc was a tough cross-dressing teenage warrior who led the medieval French army to victory when at age 17. Joan is a queer icon, girl-power hero and patron saint of France. Her belief that God was the source of her — or their or his —...

Rosa Bonheur: Cross-dressing painter honored “androgyne Christ”

by Kittredge Cherry | | Artists, May 15-31, Saints

Rosa Bonheur, the most famous female painter of the 19th century, was a queer cross-dresser who honored what she called the “androgyne Christ.” She had two consecutive long-term relationships with women. Her 200th birthday is March 16, 2022. She died on May 25, 1899....

Julian of Norwich: Celebrating Mother Jesus

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

Julian of Norwich is a medieval English mystic who celebrated “Mother Jesus” and had important relationships with women. Her feast day, May 8, always falls near Mother’s Day in the United States. She had some queer ideas about God, shared her hermit’s cell with...

Madre Juana de la Cruz: Queer saint of 16th-century Spain

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

Madre Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez was an abbess in 16th-century Spain who insisted that God changed her gender in the womb, transforming her from male to female. She dressed as a man to escape her family and join a community of religious women. Her feast day...

Medieval holy men Vivaldo and Bartolo: Love stronger than death for AIDS patrons

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

A pair of medieval holy men faced disease together with a love that speaks across the centuries to the LGBTQ community and all people in the age of COVID-19, AIDS and Ebola. Thirteenth-century Franciscans Blessed Bartolo and Blessed Vivaldo ministered in an Italian...

Christina Rossetti: Queer writer of Christmas carols and lesbian poetry

by Kittredge Cherry | | April 16-30, Saints

Christina Georgina Rossetti was a 19th-century English poet whose work ranged from Christmas carols to sensuous lesbian love poetry. A devout Christian who never married, she has been called a “queer virgin” and “gay mystic.” Her feast day is April 27 on the Church of...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Eberhard Bethge: Anti-Nazi theologians and soulmates

by Kittredge Cherry | | April 1-15, Saints

Influential German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an anti-Nazi dissident whom a few scholars believe experienced same-sex attraction. Speculation about his likely gay orientation focuses on his love for Eberhard Bethge, who was his best friend and biographer....

Anne Lister had historic lesbian church wedding in 1834

by Kittredge Cherry | | March 16-31, Saints

Historical lesbian Anne Lister married Ann Walker on March 30, 1834 at Holy Trinity Church in York, England. It is considered the first recorded lesbian wedding in the history of Britain and perhaps even the world. Her wedding anniversary falls right before the...

Saint Avertanus and Blessed Romeo: Monks shown as AIDS patrons

by Kittredge Cherry | | Feb 16-29, Saints

Saint Avertanus and Blessed Romeo are 14th-century French monks, traveling companions and “patrons of the AIDS pandemic” who died together of the plague and share the same coffin. They can also provide inspiration during other public health emergencies, such as the...

Saints Polyeuct and Nearchus: Brothers by affection

by Kittredge Cherry | | Feb 1-15, Saints

Saints Polyeuct and Nearchus were Roman soldiers in 3rd-century Armenia and “brothers by affection.” They are a prime example of same-sex lovers in the early church. Polyeuct’s feast day is Feb. 13. The earliest account of Polyeuct’s martyrdom, a 4th-century Armenian...