A Feminist Reading of Saint Wilgefortis by Sofia Meskhidze

The legend of Saint Wilgefortis tells the story of a Christian woman who was martyred for her faith. While there are numerous women martyrs in the Christian tradition, Wilgefortis is distinguished by her gender non-conformity. She is often referred to as female Christ^[1] and is almost always depicted with a beard, in a dress, and nailed to a cross. According to the legend, she was a Christian princess from Portugal whose father had promised her to the pagan king of Sicily. Wilgefortis, refusing to marry, prayed all night for God to make her unmarriable and as a result miraculously grew a beard, causing her father’s rage, after which he had her tortured and crucified^[2]. The origin of the legend is thought to be the Volto Santo sculpture in Lucca, Italy, one of the most well-known examples of a clothed crucifix^[3]. Misinterpretation or not, it is without doubt that the legend spread wide and Wilgefortis was in medieval times venerated almost as much as the Virgin Mary. In fact, this popularity displeased the Catholic Church, who actively discouraged it and even removed Wilgefortis from the official list of saints in 1969^[4]. Here I argue for the importance of Wilgefortis to feminist theology, feminist and queer Christians, and her potential as a non-binary/gender non-conforming icon.

When addressing inclusion of women in religious traditions, according to Rita Gross, feminist theologians claim that while all religious tradition and theological thinking is grounded in human experience (even that which is claimed to be “revelation”), it is largely androcentric. This is why it is necessary to recover and speak about women’s experiences. In addition to that, women should have the power of “naming reality” (to quote Mary Daly), i.e. talking about life around them and their humanity^[5]. From this point of view, it is important to discuss Wilgefortis because she has been known to be the patron saint of women who have suffered domestic and/or sexual abuse^[6]. Medieval women would bring oats to the statues of Wilgefortis and pray for escape from their unfortunate and unhappy marriages^[7], which shows that at least in the medieval period, Wilgefortis was a powerful symbol of freedom and feminine solidarity to these women. Skoda points out the fact of growing a beard as an act of disobedience and refusal to accept the marriage Wilgefortis was being forced into. Skoda also juxtaposes her with other female martyrs or folk figures who have born abuse with saintly patience, thus making the point that Wilgefortis challenges the patriarchal culture of women’s abuse and presenting her as a symbol of resistance^[8].

When it comes to her beard, Skoda names Wilgefortis next to saints whose hair became a means to protect their virginity or a symbol of their devotion to Christ.  Together with other saints, Wilgefortis provided comfort and hope of chastity to women who could not refuse the unwanted advances of their husbands^[9]. Friesen also discusses the case of female hirsutism (defined as “abnormal hair growth”) which can occur as a result of hormonal imbalance, or sometimes severe trauma and emotional distress (which Wilgefortis would most likely be under)^[10].

Feminist theologians write about the importance of including women in religious tradition through symbols and images that would feel their own and welcoming. Rosemary Radford Reuther talks about Christian feminists reconstructing symbols to be equally inclusive for women and men and searching the tradition for those symbols and interpretations^[11]. Carol Christ, too, quotes Clifford Geertz on the importance of symbols in religious life and their power to shape moods and motivations of people^[12]. Wilgefortis, even by the way of her name of a female Christ, gives women the option to worship Jesus not as a distant figure, but with a possibility to identify with him through her. She challenges the idea that being created in God’s image means solely being a man and instead encompasses all forms of gender expression^[13]. 

Women are not the only group excluded by the mainline Christian tradition that Wilgefortis has provided comfort to. Her obvious gender non-conformity is a powerful symbol to everyone who does not conform to the strict gender binary presentation, and it is not surprising that the Catholic Church actively discouraged her veneration. Budwey quotes Kittredge Cherry to show that Wilgefortis remains the patron saint of many people, among them “intersex people, an asexual person, a transgender person, a person with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or a lesbian virgin”^[14]. She also talks about modern depictions of Wilgefortis, giving an example of Alma López, a queer Chicana artist, who included Wilgefortis in her Queer Santas: Holy Violence series^[15]. This proves that while the official Church might ignore Wilgefortis and her influence, she remains a powerful image to those marginalized by the Church.

If, as scholars write, Wilgefortis was once embraced and venerated as much as the Virgin Mary, I see for her the potential of returning to that popularity and becoming a widely-known image of a saint who stands outside of gender binary and provides comfort to queer people and women who need it.

Bibliography

Budwey, Stephanie A. “Saint Wilgefortis: A Queer Image for Today.” Religions 13, no. 7 (July 2022): 616. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13070616.

Christ, Carol P. “Why Women Need the Goddess.” In Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a Journey to the Goddess. New York: Harper & Row, 1987.

Friesen, Ilse E. “Introduction.” In The Female Crucifix: Images of St. Wilgefortis since The Middle Ages. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2001.

Gross, Rita M. “No Girls Allowed? Are the World’s Religions Inevitably Sexist?” In Feminism and Religion: An Introduction. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.

Ruether, Rosemary R. “Christian Feminist Theology: History and Future.” In Daughters of Abraham: Feminist Thought in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, edited by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and John L. Esposito. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001.

Skoda, Hannah. “St Wilgefortis and Her/Their Beard: The Devotions of Unhappy Wives and Non-Binary People.” History Workshop Journal 95 (April 2023): 51–74. https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/dbad005. Wallace, Lewis. “Bearded Woman, Female Christ: Gendered Transformations in the Legends and Cult of Saint Wilgefortis.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 30, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 43–63. https://doi.org/10.2979/jfemistudreli.30.1.43

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^[1] Lewis Wallace, “Bearded Woman, Female Christ: Gendered Transformations in the Legends and Cult of Saint Wilgefortis,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 30, no. 1 (Spring, 2014): 52, https://doi.org/10.2979/jfemistudreli.30.1.43.

^[2] Hannah Skoda, “St Wilgefortis and Her/Their Beard: The Devotions of Unhappy Wives and Non-Binary People,” History Workshop Journal 95 (April 1, 2023): 51–52, https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/dbad005.

^[3] Ilse E. Friesen, “Introduction,” in The Female Crucifix: Images of St. Wilgefortis since The Middle Ages (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2001), 2.

^[4] Skoda, “St Wilgefortis and Her/Their Beard”, 52.

^[5] Rita M. Gross, “No Girls Allowed? Are the World’s Religions Inevitably Sexist?” in Feminism and Religion: An Introduction (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), 109–111.

^[6] Wallace, “Bearded Woman, Female Christ”, 45.

^[7] Skoda, “St Wilgefortis and Her/Their Beard”, 60.

^[8] Skoda, 59–60.

^[9] Skoda, 61–62.

^[10] Friesen, “Introduction”, 3.

^[11] Rosemary R. Ruether, “Christian Feminist Theology: History and Future,” in Daughters of Abraham: Feminist Thought in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, ed. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and John L. Esposito (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001), 67–69.

^[12] Carol P. Christ, “Why Women Need the Goddess” in Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a Journey to the Goddess (New York: Harper & Row, 1987), 117.

^[13] Stephanie A. Budwey, “Saint Wilgefortis: A Queer Image for Today.” Religions 13, no. 7 (July 4, 2022): 616. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13070616.

^[14] Budwey, 7.

^[15] Budwey, 8–9.

BIO: Sofia Meskhidze – Queer feminist from Tbilisi, Georgia, currently in my last semester of the Gender Studies MA program at Charles University, Prague. My interests are queer theory, reproductive justice and feminist literary criticism.