by Kittredge Cherry | | 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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Feb 1-15, Saints
Marriage equality has a surprising role model in Saint Valentine, a 3rd-century Roman priest who defied the restrictive marriage laws of his era to bless couples who were forbidden to marry. His feast day is, of course, Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14). Saint Valentine was...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Nov 16-30, Saints
Oscar Wilde is a 19th-century Anglo-Irish writer whose reputation as a gay literary martyr and LGBTQ role model often overshadows his spiritual journey as a follower of Christ and Anglican convert to Catholicism. He died on Nov. 30, 1900, after a deathbed conversion....
by Kittredge Cherry | | Artists
Crosses draped in LGBTQ clothing and prayer beads made with a gay man’s blood call attention to queer experience with the church in the work of gay Polish artist Daniel Rycharski. He grabbed international headlines with his first solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Artists, News
Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry sent a letter protesting the recent arrest of a Polish LGBTQ activist for posters of the Virgin Mary and Christ child with rainbow halos. Elżbieta Podleśna was arrested recently for “offending religious sentiments” on charges that she...