France Archives - Q Spirit

Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Two-spirit Native Americans bridge genders

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, Oct 1-15

Two-spirit Native Americans are honored at Q Spirit for Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Oct 12, 2026). It is an alternative to the U.S. national holiday Columbus Day, which commemorates the arrival of European explorer Christopher Columbus in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492....

Bernard of Clairvaux and Malachy: Abbot and the archbishop he loved

by Kittredge Cherry | | Aug 15-31, Saints

Bernard of Clairvaux was a medieval French abbot who wrote homoerotic poetry about Jesus and had a passionate same-sex friendship with Irish archbishop Malachy of Armagh. Bernard is best known for founding 70 monasteries around Europe and for his mystical writings....

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

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 15-31, Saints, Top saints

Joan of Arc was a tough cross-dressing teenage peasant who led the medieval French army to victory 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 — gender-bending...

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....

Alcuin: Medieval scholar and abbot who wrote homoerotic texts

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 15-31, Saints

Alcuin of York was an 8th-century English scholar and abbot who served as advisor to Emperor Charlemagne and wrote homoerotic poetry and letters. His feast day is May 20 in Episcopal and other Anglican churches. Called “the most learned man anywhere to be found,”...

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...

Charles de Foucauld: Saint of the Sahara had gay connections | Canonized May 15, 2022 by Pope

by Kittredge Cherry | | Dec 1-15, Saints

Charles de Foucauld was a French priest and desert hermit in early 20th-century Algeria who had gay connections. He is one of 10 new saints canonized by Pope Francis on May 15, 2022. His feast day is Dec. 1. Sometimes called the saint of the Sahara, he created the...

AIDS spiritual resources: Art and books connect Christ, saints and HIV on World AIDS Day

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, Dec 1-15

AIDS spiritual resources for World AIDS Day include prayers, podcasts, artwork, books, and icons such as patron saints of the AIDS pandemic and Jesus wearing a red ribbon. They are presented here for World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. More than 40 years have passed since AIDS...

A same-sex marriage ceremony in… Renaissance Rome?

by Kittredge Cherry | | News

By Gary Ferguson, University of Virginia In the late 16th century, the famous French essayist Michel de Montaigne wrote about two marriages between people of the same sex. The first involved women in eastern France, the second a group of men in Rome. At the time,...