Gay King Wenceslas, who famously “went out, on the feast of Stephen” with his faithful page, Podiven (who may have been rather more than that).
Tag Archive for Gay Saints
Queer Francis of Assissi: Breaking Boundaries
At Jesus in Love, Kittredge Cherry has uncovered more ground-breaking work on opening up the previously hidden history of queer elements in the lives of the saints – in this case, Francis of Assisi, whose feast day was yesterday, October 4th. The…
Henri Nouwen, on Andrew Sullivan and the “Blessing” of Homosexuality
Andrew Sullivan’s new book, Virtually Normal: An Argument about homosexuality, is on of the most intelligent and convincing pleas for complete social acceptability I have ever read. Andrew Sullivan is a Catholic. He is just as open about being a…
St Patrick: A Gay Role Model?
So why should we see St Paddy as a gay icon? In a notable book on Irish gay history (“Terrible Queer Creatures”) Brian Lacey presents some evidence that Patrick may have had a long term intimate relationship with a man: “St.…
Mar 15th: The Gay Centurion
In Catholic tradition, Longinus is the name given to the Roman centurion at the crucifixion who pierced Christ’s side with his spear. Some writers, like Paul Halsall of the LGBT Catholic Handbook, also identify him with the centurion who asked…
“Blessed Are The Queer in Faith”: Preamble
February is LGBT History month in the UK. 2012 is also the diamond jubilee year of Queen Elizabeth, who this week marked the 60th anniversary of her accession to the British throne. The jubilee will be the theme of this…
Nov 1st: All (Gay) Saints
Today is the feast of All Saints. For us as gay men, lesbians in the church, this begs the obvious questions: are there gay saints? Does it matter? Some sources say clearly yes, listing numerous examples. Others dispute the idea,…
Martha and Mary, Queer Saints.
The household of Martha, Mary and Lazarus is well known to us from the Gospels, where they are described as “sisters” and their brother Lazarus. They are also known to us as Jesus’ friends, and their home as a place…
Joan of Arc: Cross-dressing Martyr
Among all the multitude of queer saints, Joan of Arc is one of the most important. In her notorious martyrdom for heresy (a charge which in historical context included reference to her cross-dressing and defiance of socially approved gender roles),…